Lepe 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...

 town in the province of Huelva, in the autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

 of Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

. It is situated near the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 border. According to the 2009 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, the city has a population of 25,886 inhabitants.

Economy

Until the late 1970s its economy was based on fishing but Lepe is now one of the wealthiest villages in the region thanks to its intensive farming of strawberries, which are exported all over Europe.

Lepe is known for its strawberries

Strawberry

Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...

.

History

Although deposits have been found of Neolithic and Bronze Age, there is not evidence of stable settlements in the municipality of Lepe. The influence of Tartessian people did not arrive to Lepe, except for a meager remains in the Tower of Catalan pointing to the silver trade. During the initial period of Roman rule, Lepe there was a rustics villas and fish farms at the present location of in Lepe and Valsequillo and El Terrón. The retreat of the coast caused the abandonment of the settlement of Valsequillo, while fishing by El Terrón has continued until today. It is during the heyday of Roman rule when it blooms Lepe settlement located in a small village, linked to farming their fields and fishing port of El Terron. Based on classical texts, several authors have identified the current location of Lepe settlements with Laipe Megala (Rodrigo Caro, 1634), Laepa (García y Bellido, 1947; G. Bonsor, JP and E. Garrido Orta, 1922) and Praesidium (Luzon, 1975). Of all these options is Laepa which has more support among historians, although as a small country villa rather than a village itself. It is after the second wave of Arab conquests when Lepe becomes the economic center of the area, growing from a small farmhouse to a "city about the Ocean Sea," as was described by the geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi later in the 1229. The name given during the period of Arab rule is Labb, which derives in the current name.

Several of Lepe’s former inhabitants played an important part in Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

’s discovery of the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, as the sailor Rodrigo de Triana

Rodrigo de Triana

Rodrigo de Triana was a sailor and the first European since the Vikings known to have seen America. Born as Juan Rodrigo Bermejo, Triana was the son of Morisco hidalgo and potter Vicente Bermejo and Sereni Betancour....

 was the first to sight the coast of the Americas.

In the late 16th century, Marcos Alonzo Garza Y del Arcon Falcon left Lepe and settled in what is today the Mexican state of Durango

Durango

Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...

, beginning a line of descendants, including Cpt. Blas Maria de la Garza Falcón

Blas Maria de la Garza Falcón

Blas María de la Garza Falcón was a Spanish settler of Tamaulipas and South Texas.- Biography :...

, founder of the state of Nuevo León

Nuevo León

Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...

.

Main sights

In the village is the 14th-century Iglesia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán built in the Mudéjar style. It houses Lepe's patron saint, the Virgen de la Bella (Beautiful Virgin). Just outside the village, off the road to El Terrón, is the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de la Bella, a 14th-century hermitage dedicated to the Virgin. On the second Saturday in May there is a pilgrimage from Lepe to the hermitage, where the figure of the Virgen de la Bella is carried from the Iglesia de Santo Domingo to the Ermita.

Built under Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 is the Torre del Catalán, a 16th-century lookout tower to warn of an impending invasion by Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

 pirates. You can climb the tower for great views of a nature reserve, the Paraje Natural Marismas del Río Piedras y la Flecha del Rompido.

Lepe's main beach is La Antilla, 5 km south of Lepe. Located 5 km northeast of La Antilla and 5 km south of Lepe is the small fishing port of El Terrón. It has fine views across to El Rompido and the a nature reserve of the Marismas del Río Piedras. At El Terron is also the environmentally educational Aula Marina de El Terrón (El Terrón Marine Centre).

Lepe's wines, which were exported to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, were mentioned in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...

.

External links

• Official website
• Lepe - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía
• Asociación Naturista de Lepe ANUDENU