Fortificación y control estratégico del Camino de la Raya en el s.XV:análisis geoespacial del dominio visual de un territorio de frontera

• Juan José Fondevilla Aparicio ^[1]
  1. [1] Junta de Andalucía

     Junta de Andalucía

     Sevilla, España

     
• Localización: FORTMED2023. Defensive architecture of the mediterranean : vol. XIII, XIV, XV / Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua (dir. congr.), Denise Ulivieri (aut.), 2023, ISBN 978-84-1396-129-3, págs. 1037-1046
• Idioma: español
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • After de conquest of the domains of Niebla by Alfonso X in 1262 (García Sanjuán, 2000:89), a procces of ‘incastellamento’ of the territory began to reinforced the repopulating satrategy of these possession of of Gharb al-Andalus linked to the primitive vassal kingdom of Ibn Maḥfūz. In this process of structuring the historical territory, not only the incorporation of the primitive Andalusian fortifications, but also the strategic control of the main paths that crossed de border territory of Andevalo, putting in communication the center of power gained special relevance. For this purpose, the creation of new settlements around such paths near the Portuguese raya (Pérez Macías & Beltrán Pinzón, 1999; Pérez Macías, Beltrán & López Domínguez, 2001) was encouraged, building watchtowers and fortresses of new plant to ensure their guard, defense and visual dominance. Among them, the path named ‘Camino de la Raya’ (Fig.1), refered to in the medieval documentation as carrera de Gibraleón a Mértola (Anasagasti & Rodríguez, 2006). The councils of Niebla and Gibraleón struggle throught the Late Middle Ages to exercise effective control over it. Their jurisdiccional limits expand towards the spaces close to this tractor axis of commercial exchanges with the neighboring kingdom of Portugal for its tributary rival (Fig.11). The article develops the geospatial analysis from its visual aspect, restoring the perceptive landscape subjet to visual dominance over the historical territory from watchtowers and castles. However, the study involved complementary analytical developments already systematized in studies of the other defensive nets (Fondevilla et al, 2021; Fondevilla, 2020; Fondevilla et al, 2022).