Why is Rincón de la Victoria called that?

Why is Rincón de la Victoria called that?

EUGENIO CABEZAS Saturday, September 24, 2022, 00:23

COMPONENTS

Rincón de la Victoria is the municipality of the Axarquia closest to the capital and that has grown the most from a demographic and urban point of view. In just two decades, its registered population has more than doubled to reach almost 50,000 inhabitants. However, its historical roots are not linked to this denomination, but to the inner core of Benagalbón. It was not until 1948 when the City Council adopted the atypical decision to change the original name of Benagalbón to Rincón de la Victoria, a swap that became official in 1950.

This is explained by the local historian Miguel Alba, author of several works on the past of the municipality, who points out that another peculiarity of Rincón de la Victoria is that it is made up of several population centers that have maintained, over time, their own idiosyncrasies. , origin of historical tensions between Caleños, Benagalbonese and Rinconeros.

Like the historian from Velez, Francisco Montoro, who assures that he cannot determine exactly the origin of the name of Vélez-Málaga, the place name of Rincón de la Victoria does not have a precise origin either. «A term that has evidence of the imprint left by man about 30,000 years ago on the walls of its extraordinary caves. Phoenicians, Romans, Muslims and a long etc. passed through the Rincón de la Victoria. of visitors", highlights Alba.

Thus, the historian lists the Roman Villa of Torre de Benagalbón, which will soon be able to be visited in an interpretation center, the Vigías towers, El Castillón, La Casa Fuerte de Bezmiliana, among others, "are evident proof of this", he adds. According to this researcher, the continuous arrival of pirates, corsairs, the English and a long etcetera of looters was the reason why in the 18th century the Casa Fuerte de Bezmiliana was built, by order of King Carlos III, "a military enclave that was erected to counteract the incursions of these heartless?, he adds.

Alba points out that it was later used as a loading point for Axarquian sugar cane, as a police and Civil Guard barracks. «There is a story about La Casa Fuerte de Bezmiliana and the liberal general José María Torrijos, which, because it is unknown, has not yet been studied in depth. An event that, if it had been successful, would have changed the history of Spain?, reveals the researcher.

According to Alba, it was the year 1831 and the country was suffering the tyranny of the absolutism of Fernando VII. Torrijos, after trying several pronouncements that did not work out, left Gibraltar on December 2 with the intention of landing on the Bezmiliana beach, in front of the military enclave. "Everything indicates that this place was chosen by the general to carry out a new pronouncement that would restore the Constitution of 1812," he says.

However, the betrayal of several of his confidants frustrated the uprising, since from his departure from Gibraltar to Rincón de la Victoria his ships were chased and bombed, being forced to land on the Charcón beach, in Mijas Costa. Another relevant event that also took place in La Casa Fuerte de Bezmiliana, being a carabinieri barracks, was the birth of José Marfil Peralta, a survivor of the Nazi extermination camp at Mauthaussen. In 2018 he was named, posthumously, favorite son of Rincón de la Victoria.

Nasrid period

Alba details that the first writings about Rincón de la Victoria appear in the Nasrid era, in the 12th century, with the name of Bezmiliana, "a toponym that should never have been lost," he says. In that period it had inns, baths and traps and a population whose activity revolved around fishing and the traffic of goods and travelers. Later, in 1487, after the taking of Vélez-Málaga and on his way to the conquest of Málaga, Fernando el Católico camped with his army in the surroundings of Bezmiliana.

The occupation of this strategic Andalusian enclave caused the Muslims to flee, leaving the area practically deserted, being repopulated by old Christians who were granted, by royal mercy, a title deed for the abandoned houses as well as land and estates, if they complied with a series of requirements.

In 1948, the name of the Benagalbón City Council, the origin of the town, was changed to Rincón de la Victoria.

«Fernando de Unçibay, in response to the services rendered to the Crown in the Conquest of Malaga, was rewarded with properties and appointed mayor of Bezmiliana. A time when a house with vineyards was also donated to the Order of the Minims in gratitude for their spiritual support to the Catholic King in the capture of Malaga?, says Alba. In the words of the chronicler of the order, Father Lucas Montoya, "When the Catholic King gave us the hermitage and estates, he forced us to call ourselves 'friars of Victory' throughout Spain."

The new tenants found the houses abandoned, with large attics and flat roofs, where the Muslims extracted aloe vera juice and raised silkworms, «hence the explanation of why reviews of the mulberry tree appear in ancient writings in Bezmiliana?, says Alba. The Christianization of the term began with the purification of the mosques and their transformation into churches. In Benagalbón, according to the old books, baptisms began to be celebrated in 1680.

According to the strongest hypothesis, the name of Rincón de la Victoria is directly related to the arrival of the members of this religious order to the municipality. «The toponym, made up of Rincón and Victoria, following tradition, the first meaning may have its origin in the location of the religious monastery, in a corner between two rocky promontories; and Victoria, by the name of the place of origin of the religious, the Sanctuary of the Victory of Malaga?, he describes. There are no remains of this religious building, although Alba considers that it was close to the Cantal tunnels.

Rincón de la Victoria is a municipality that in 1835 achieved the separation of Moclinejo and founded its first constitutional Town Hall. This year, for the first time and after 187, the anniversary of its foundation was celebrated, yesterday in Benagalbón, today in Rincón de la Victoria.

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TopicsCivil Guard, Benagalbon, Moclinejo, Victory Corner, Routes through Malaga, SOUTH History

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