At the end of the 18th century, some 6,000 foreigners, mainly Germans and Flemish, came to the village of Sierra Morena. At that time this was a desert territory, the grass of banditry. The beginnings were not easy; they had to work hard to uncover and rotate the land and to build villages and villages in this beautiful but inhospitable territory. This amazing adaptation to a natural environment is what is done on this route: Aldeaquemada, Arquillos, Carboneros, La Carolina, Guarroman, Montizón and Santa Elena. To travel the area of the New Populations is to look back 200 years ago to know a project that was born under the new philosophy of the Enlightenment and its new ideas of the world, man and nature.

The colonization of Sierra Morena, which in the 18th century launched a handful of illustrations, led by King Charles III and under the intendence of Pablo de Olavide, was one of the largest reform projects in Spain and Europe. This project was a whole utopia in the middle of the Light century in which it was intended to put into operation a model rural society, based on equal cores and founded on the work of the earth as the main source of wealth.

It was a large urbanizing company that saw the creation of forty-four towns and eleven cities in Yermos places of La Parrilla and Sierra Morena. It was intended to both populate and plant semi-desertic areas, and to make the journey Cadiz- Madrid for travellers and goods safer.

The capital of the new towns was La Carolina, which has an orderly urban plot that has been valid for the appeal of Joya Urbanística de Andalucía.

The Andalusian legacy is a Public Foundation of the Junta de Andalucía attached to the Council of Culture and Historical Heritage which has the support of the Council of Europe and the collaboration of many public and private institutions. The activities of the Foundation are linked to the dissemination and preservation of the cultural and artistic heritage of Al@-@ Ándalus, and the role that Andalusia and Spain have played throughout history as both a cultural bridge between East and West and in relations with the countries of the Arab, Mediterranean and Ibero-American world. The routes of the Andalusian Legacy are therefore aimed at the value and dissemination of our cultural heritage with special reference to the Spanish-Muslim period, with emphasis on the mutual and fertile influences of the Mediterranean environment over the centuries. On the basis of this concept, the Foundation launched a network of national and international cultural routes and Itineraries (11 in total).

The territories that make up this route were influenced and benefited from the apogee of the Cordobese Caliphate, whose capital was the most brilliant cultural focus in the West.

https: / / www.andalucia.org / en / rutas-ruta-del-caliphate

The historical, monumental and landscape heritage is united in this path, which is marked by the endless succession of the castles and atalayas that constituted the impressive defensive system that both Muslims and Christians built, as these lands continued to pass from one hand to another during the 13th to 15th centuries. Part of the Navas de Tolosa and runs through the lands from which Nasar House, founders of the Nazi dynasty, originated.

https: / / www.andalucia.org / es / rutas-ruta-de-the-nazaries

The province of Jaén has the most important Renaissance legacy in Spain, thanks to the work of the master of works Andrés de Vandelvira. Its Renaissance is unique; it comes from Muslim inspiration. Discover an unforgettable route, full of rich monuments, customs, legendary legends, cathedrals that rise between olive trees, palaces full of history, fortresses, urbanism, etc. In short, everything that the traveller needs to discover an indelible footprint of centuries of history.

South Renaissance

The province of Jaén was for centuries the border between the Muslim and Christian kingdoms. The medieval struggles led to the construction of a network of unique strengths in Europe. In fact, in Jaén there are some of the most impressive castles in Spain whose supremacy was declining as Christian troops were reducing the Andalusian kingdoms. This route runs through strongholds raised in high hills, such as La Fortaleza de la Mota in Alcalá la Real, the Castle of Santa Catalina in Jaén or the Castle of Burgalimar, one of the oldest in Europe, of califal times, in Baños de la Encina. This route also shows the tracks of three battles that changed the course of the history of Spain, the Battle of Baécula (208 before Christ), the Battle of the Navas of Tolosa (1212) and the Battle of Bailén (1808).

Castles and Battlethe Kingdom of Jaén Today it is a testimony of peace and understanding, a fascinating cultural and tourist itinerary alive thanks to the programs of medieval cuisine and animation, which organize markets, tournaments and medieval dinners among the millennia stones.

In our microsite you will find all the necessary information:Castles and Battlethe Kingdom of Jaén

A kingdom of active, gastronomic, cultural and nature tourism is at stake and you should not miss it. A lot of adventures between the proud medieval castles with recreations and theatrical visits in the world's largest olive forest will make you remember episodes that changed the course of history.

Castles and Battle of the Kingdom of Jaén make up a tourist and cultural proposal that runs from north to south the western part of the province of Jaén and brings together proud castles located in strategic places of extraordinary beauty. It is the territory with the highest concentration of castles and fortresses in Europe and where two of the most significant battles in the history of Spain were developed: Bailén (1808, which was the beginning of the end of the French presence on Spanish soil and the first defeat of the Napoleonic army in the open field) and Navas de Tolosa (1212, which ended the Christian victory and accelerated the loss of Arab hegemony on the Iberian peninsula).

In addition, Castles and Battle of the Kingdom of Jaén allows you to enjoy hiking days or bike tours through the Green Way of Oil, to know and palate the extra virgin olive oil in the most productive territory of the world, to visit livestock farms of ligia bulls and pure-race horses, to dehesas of transhuman pastors, to make horse, donkey or 4 × 4 by their Natural Parks. Photographic hunting, bird watching or Iberian lince can complete a magnificent day in the saw areas. To know the mining heritage inherited from centuries of exploitation in the Linares- La Carolina district, the new populations of Charles III or to enjoy the gastronomy and the culture of the tapeum so rooted in this land, are a few more examples of what this destination offers you.

In short, it is a quiet, unmassified destination, of great rural authenticity with unique and excellently well-connected heritage resources, halfway on the highway that links Madrid with Seville.

Entre los atractivos de este destino sobresalen:

• Museo de la Batalla de las Navas de Tolosa, Santa Elena.
• Castillo de Baños de la Encina.
• Centro de Interpretación de la Batalla de Bailén.
• Castillo del Trovador Macías “El Enamorado”, Arjonilla.
• Castillo de Santa Catalina, Jaén.
• Castillo de Lopera.
• Torre de Boabdil, Porcuna.
• Castillo calatravo de Alcaudete.
• Fortaleza de la Mota en Alcalá la Real.
• Castillo de Castro Ferral, Santa Elena.
• La Carolina. Castillo de las Navas de Tolosa.
• Castillos de Vilches y Giribaile.
• Castillo de Santa Eufemia. Yacimiento Arqueológico de Cástulo, Linares.
• Murallas de Andújar.
• Aljibe y murallas defensivas de Arjona.
• Castillo del Berrueco, Torredelcampo.
• Castillo de Torredonjimeno.
• Castillos de la Villa y de la Peña, Martos.
• Castillo de la Yedra, Cazorla.
• Castillo de Segura de la Sierra.
• Castillo de Hornos.
• Castillo de Sabiote.
• Castillo de Jódar.
• Castillo de La Guardia de Jaén.
• Castillo de Villardompardo.
• Castillo de Canena.