History

Cañadas del Romero is just one of nine satellite hamlets known as PEDANIAS of the urban centre and principal town of Mazarron, in the autonomous region of Murcia. The geopolitical position of El Romero places it as the last outpost of the main town on the ancient routes to Totana and Alhama de Murcia.

While Mazarron was a historic mining centre, those who lived and worked there had to be fed, watered and nurtured. As a consequence El Romero was a farming area and supply route for the mines and miners of the main town. Throughout the centuries of its history these vital industrial support functions played an important part in the success of Mazarron since before the days of the mighty Roman Empire.

The traditional crops cultivated at El Romero have always included cereals, legumes, livestock and wood for fuel and pit props. Unhappily, the wood element was very poorly managed and replacement trees were seldom planted except for olive and citrus trees, which contributed to the deforestation of vast areas of the region and thereby erosion and loss of quality topsoil over centuries, particularly since the 15^th century. This situation arose because the landowners, after the restoration of the monarchy, did very little or nothing to manage their estates and were interested only in the revenues they could squeeze out of them.

Hence, while the mines of Mazarron town were very successful the land was left in an ever poorer state for production and continues to be so to the present. The soil of the area is mostly heavy clay, rich in minerals but poor in structure. Couple this with the decreasing water reserves and increasing temperatures of southern Europe the outlook for farming is now somewhat bleak for the longer term.

With its history of rising and falling fortunes of the mining industry, the population of the coastal zones of the region have experienced a proportional rise and fall in numbers. For example, the registered population of El Romero in the late 19th century was well above 800 souls while today it is less than 200. Meanwhile Mazarron and the Port of Mazarron have undergone meteoric growth in population but this is not linked to the traditional fortunes of the area. It is now based on tourism and the attraction of foreigners to the benefits of sun, sand and sea which has done nothing to sustain the support industries of years gone by. Traditional agriculture is in decline, replaced by intensive production of cash crops such as tomatoes, lettuces, artichokes, onions and broccoli, all of which are for local but mostly export markets.

On another time scale El Romero is geologically situated on the northern side of an ancient string of volcanoes which stretched from north of the Mar Menor down to Almeria some 10 million years ago. Since that time the Mediterranean Sea has come and gone and reappeared probably at least twice, two or three ice ages have occurred and new Sierras have been created, the old volcanoes having eroded away. This process is still in motion with the North Africa plate subsiding under the European plate causing earth tremors and land displacement over vast areas of the country. Evidence of the geological history of even Cañadas del Romero can be seen everywhere in this fascinating Aldea, la ultimate Pedania de Mazarron.

For more information click here

http://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=a,131&r=MuP-105-DETALLE_GUIA_BASICA

http://www.esparte.es/pg02_los_maestros_en.html#El_Collao

http://centros3.pntic.mec.es/cp.la.acena/pag3gb.htm