Abanilla and area
The major reliefs of the municipality of Abanilla are Sierra de Quibas (971m), Sierra de Barinas (855m), Sierra de El Cantón (910m) and Sierra de Abanilla (623m), the first three of which are in the north, and the latter in the northeast.
In the 12th century the Arabs called it"Al-Banyla" and they protected it with a strength located in the Lugar Alto, of which there are still remains.
The Palaeontological discovery in the Sierra del Quibas could be one of the locations with the oldest human remains in the whole of Europe.
In 713 after the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Teodomiro signed a pact of submission with Abdelaziz. The Visigoth who governed Orihuela, was converted by this treaty, and was the administrator of the territory between the Segura and Vinalopó rivers. From then Abanilla depended on Orihuela and was now an integral part of the Cora of Tudmir.
After this first phase of Gothic and Muslim coexistence, the territory was conquered in 779 and annexed to the caliphate, and until 1031 it remained in a region whose capital was Orihuela.
Later on in the 12th century the almohades arrived and the dependence of Abanilla on its Orihuela neighbour would be source of futures conflicts.
The Moorish quarter, the citadel and the mosque were the main constructions of the Arab time in Abanilla. The Mosque and the Arab cemetery were in the Calle San Benito. Both disappeared in Christian times but Muslim skeletons were unearthed in 1917, when the foundations of a school were being laid.
The Kingdom of Murcia was taken in 1243 by the troops of Alfonso X. Nevertheless, the Muslim inhabitants were allowed to live and work the land and preserve their religion, customs and institutions, in exchange for the payment of tributes.
The mudéjar rising in 1264 justified the presence of Jaime I, the Aragón king, in Orihuela, where he made a pact of peace with the Murcian king Aben Hudiel. In 1266 Jaime I granted the Aragonese nobleman Guillén de Rocafull, relative of Jaime I, the dominion of Abanilla, but it was ineffective as Alfonso X gave it to the Orden de Santiago. 15 years later, Ramón, son of Guillén, claimed Abanilla from Alfonso X, who gave the Order the castle of Cieza instead.
The 14th century had the continuous dispute for the lands of Abanilla between the crowns from Castile and Aragón. In the 1434 a descendant of Rocafull gave Abanilla to the Orden de Calatrava, which lasted until 1879.
Abanilla and Orihuela had separated, one belonging to the Crown from Castile and the other to Aragón. In border zone and they were constant the quarrels between both populations.
In 1501 there was the obligatory conversion of the mudéjares to the Catholicism.
The Gothic Church of San Benito replaced the old mosque and with it faded the last Muslim vestiges.
The village of Abanilla possessed more Moorish than any another municipality of Murcia, with their number surpassing 1000. When Felipe III decreed their expulsion of Spanish territory in 1613, the population suffered a serious decline.
The village was without agricultural workers and thus suffered an economic depression. The consequences of this expulsion took a century to overcome. Then the population increased from 1500 in 1713 to over 4000 in 1797.
