Las Alpujarras

Mountainous district (loosely defined, not an administrative area) in the province of Granada, southern Spain, lying to the south of the Sierra Nevada mountain range; population (1998 est) 35,000. The district is geographically unusual: the high-lying terraced farmlands are watered by the melting snow of the Sierra Nevada above, creating a green lush environment above the arid clay foothills below. There are several small market towns and large villages, one of which, Trevélez, is the highest village in Europe, at 1,475 m/4,840 ft above sea level.

After the city of Granada was reclaimed by the Christians in 1492, Moors who refused to convert to Christianity fled, and settled in the Alpujarra region. They adopted a distinctive form of architecture similar to that in the Er Rif and Atlas ranges of Morocco, constructing villages made up of white box-shaped houses with flat clay roofs, and tall chimneys.

A series of widespread violent uprisings by the Moors against the Christians, known as the Morisco Rebellion (1568), started in the district, but was brutally repressed – the leader, Ben Humeya, was executed in nearby Granada.