La Torre de Esteban Hambrán is a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 village and municipality in the province of Toledo

Toledo (province)

Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....

 in Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...

. It is adjacent to the municipalities of Santa Cruz del Retamar

Santa Cruz del Retamar

Santa Cruz del Retamar is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 2555 inhabitants....

, Méntrida

Méntrida

Méntrida is a Spanish Denominación de Origen for wines covering many municipalities in the northeast corner of the province of Toledo and which is divided into three distinct areas: Talavera, Torrijos, and Sagra-Toledo, with over 26,000 ha under vines, the majority being in...

, Casarrubios del Monte

Casarrubios del Monte

Casarrubios del Monte is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 4321 inhabitants....

, and Las Ventas de Retamosa

Las Ventas de Retamosa

Las Ventas de Retamosa is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 1782 inhabitants....

.

Origin of name

The village's name, which means "Tower of Esteban Hambrán" in English, may be derived from a 13th century Muslim

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 tower belonging to a Mozarab

Mozarab

The Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture...

 named Esteban Ambrán. The tower was used to communicate, by means of fire signals, with the distant Castle of Alamín.

History

The town was founded by the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 in 171 BC, but little is known about the Roman era of the village. After the Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

, the area around the "Esteban Hambrán" tower became populated. In the early 15th century, the land belonged to Pero López de Ayala

Pero López de Ayala

Don Pero López de Ayala was a Castilian statesman, historian, poet, chronicler, chancellor, and courtier. Ayala were one of the major aristocratic families of Castile; they were later claimed to be of the Jewish converso descent, but Pero's own father composed a genealogy tracing the family from...

. The village was bought in 1436 by Álvaro de Luna

Álvaro de Luna

Álvaro de Luna y Jarana , Duke of Trujillo, 1st Count of San Esteban de Gormaz, was a Spanish politician...

. When some years later John II of Castile

John II of Castile

John II was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454.He was the son of Henry III of Castile and his wife Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster by Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile.-Regency:He succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, at the age of...

confiscated the place, the village became crown property.

Monuments

• St. Anne's Chapel
• St. Rochus' Chapel
• St. Mary Magdalene's Parish Church
• St. John the Evangelist's Franciscan Convent
• Several fountains
• Funeral Catafalque

External links

• Delegation of Toledo.
• List of mayors: MAP.