Gines


Gines is a municipality in the south-west Spain, in the province of Seville, Andalusia. It is part of the metropolitan area of Seville. Gines has a population of 13,471 inhabitants as of 2018 and an area of.

Geography

Gines is located on the Aljarafe plateau, at an altitude of 123 metres above sea level and about 6 km from Seville. The municipalities closest to Gines are Bormujos, Valencina de la Concepción, Espartinas and Castilleja de la Cuesta, with which it is surrounded, forming a conurbation.

Climate

Gines has a Mediterranean climate, featuring very hot, dry summers and mild, partially wet winters. Like most Mediterranean climates, Gines is drier during summers and wetter during winters. The annual average temperature is. With an average temperature of, August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest one with. The annual average rainfall is, November is the wettest month with of rain and July is the driest one, with an average of.
Snowfall is virtually unknown. The last important snowfall was the 2 February 1954, albeit the 10 January 2010 some snowflakes fell down, without setting.

History

Ancient Gines

Gines was named Ab-Gena in the ancient times. Some small funerary ornaments from the time of the megaliths have been found, that would indicate that the inhabitants of this time professed the religion of the Sun and they known art of metal casting. We suppose that the few families that inhabited the land would lead an existence of small farmers and hunters. Later, Gines would be part of the Tartessian territory.
In Roman times, Ab-Genna was constituted as a villa. There are signs that Ab-Genna was commanded by a dismissed military, placing the villa in the vicinity of the current Hacienda of the Holy Angel, to which more dwellings were added around as the population increased. Although there is no documentation about this subject, we suppose that the small Ab-Genna should have had links to Italica, being a few kilometers apart.
After the fall of the Empire, Gines was occupied by the Visigoths until the 8th century, although there is little documentary information on the subject.

Islam and Christianity

After the Muslim invasion commanded by Tariq and Mussa in 711, the whole Aljarafe was occupied by Muslim leaders. Ab-Genna was renamed al-Genne or Gines, which in Arabic means Garden of Eden. The Aljarafe was used as settlements for Yemeni and Muladi families, who were at enmity after the conquest because of the distribution of the land.
From the Almohad period, underground galleries have been found in 2017, located about below the Conde de Ofalia street and measuring about in length. It is thought that they were used to store grain or oil.
The conquest of Isbiliya by Ferdinand III in 1248 led to the expulsion of the Muslim families of Gines to the kingdom of Granada and Gines was populated by Castilian settlers who had served as cookers and confectioners in the siege of Seville.
A century after the Castilian conquest, Gines already had a Town Hall and lordship that was handed over in 1370 by King Enrique II of Trastámara to the admiral of Castile Fernán Sánchez de Tovar, who bequeathed it to his son Rodrigo Tovar upon his death. The lordship was sold in 1388 until it reached the hands of Diego López de Zúñiga, Justicia Mayor of Seville, who in 1412 ceded it as dowry to his daughter Leonor de Zúñiga.
At the end of the Middle Ages, a Mozarabic-style church had been built on the parish plot, which disappeared in the works of the 18th century.

Modern Age

In the 16th century Gines was transferred to the Guzmán family, to which it was linked until the abolition of the lordships in Spain in the 19th century. Gines, with no more than 200 inhabitants, was left outside of the swaps led by the noble families to not pay taxes to the crown of Castile.
By 1840, according to Madoz's dictionary, Gines had increased its population to about 800 inhabitants, and had a parish church, a hermitage, two primary schools, a prison, a granary, a well and a cemetery. The economy was based on the production of wine, olive oil, vinegar and eau-de-vie, with a flour mill and an oil mill.

Historical documentation

At the parish we can find the sacramental and accounting books, which contains plenty of information. There are also booklets of population counts for the First Holy Communion from 1740 to 1954.
The municipal archive has documentation available from 1880 to the present day. A good part of it is digitized. The rest of the documentation about the municipality is available in the archive of the Chancery of Granada.

Demographics

The following table shows the demographic evolution of Gines since the 16th century, based on data from the INE and the 1571 census of Philip II. All data refer to the de jure population, except in 1857 and 1860, which refer to de facto population, and in 1571, which refers to families as was customary at the time. A factor of five has been used to convert them to inhabitants.
From the 1960s, and especially the 1990s, an exponential increase in the population began, which has continued until 2010, increasing the population by six in 50 years. This increase in population has recently come to a halt due to the real estate crisis, and to the fact that the municipality is almost entirely built-up except for small scattered areas .

Urban structure

Gines is structured around three axes that have emerged over time: the old town, Europe Avenue, located south of the old town in an east-west direction, and Columbus Street, located west of the old town in a north-south direction.
As stated in the history section, Gines was formed near the current Hacienda of the Holy Angel, possibly because of its strategic location as it is situated in the most elevated area of the surroundings. Over time, the surroundings of this area would form what is the current old town, which was completed in the Middle Ages linked to several estates for the production of wine and oil. Today, the old town comprises the areas around the axis that runs from the Hacienda of the Holy Angel to the Hermitage of Saint Rosalie on the one side, and from the Bethlehem Street to the Count of Ofalia Street on the other, with the current Spain Square situated at the confluence of both.
At the beginning of the 20th century, bourgeoisie families in Seville started to build recreational villas around the axis of the former road to Huelva. Around the 1950s, both sides of the road were consolidated and new developments of detached houses were started, trying to give Gines a garden city character. These new housing developments, together with the growth of the old town, caused the two areas to merge. Some of these recreational villas are protected by their unique architecture.
In the 1960s, the area of the former road to Valencina began to be developed in a similar way to the Europe Avenue, but also semi-detached houses were built. As in the previous case, a few years later the east side of this area was merge with the old town, and in the 1980s the south side was merge with the Europe Avenue area, forming the single urban continuum that exists today.
About the 2000s, the land of Gines was almost completely built-up and reached the neighbor municipalities, forming the Aljarafe conurbation, within the metropolitan area of Seville. In the 1990s, the Servialsa Industrial Park was built at the southern end of the municipal boundary, to replace industries which were being relocated to other towns due to residential pressure. In the 2010s, the industrial park was extended and reached the limits of the nearby towns of Bormujos and Espartinas.

Government

The political administration of Gines is carried out through a democratic council whose members are elected every four years by universal suffrage. According to the provisions of the Organic Law on the General Electoral System, the Municipal Corporation is made up of 17 councillors.
The following table list the mayors since 1964.
LegislatureNameParty
1979-1983José Antonio Cabrera Pérez Independent
1983-1987José Antonio Cabrera PérezIndependent
1987-1991Manuel Camino MíguezIndependent
1991-1995Manuel Camino MíguezIndependent
1995-1999Manuel Camino MíguezIndependent
1999-2003Francisco Muñoz Quirós
Francisco González Cabrera 		PSOE
PP
2003-2007Francisco González Cabrera PP
2007-2011Manuel Camino Payán PSOE
2011-2015Manuel Camino Payán PSOE
2015-2019Manuel Camino Payán
Romualdo Garrido Sánchez 		PSOE
PSOE
2019-Romualdo Garrido Sánchez PSOE

Economy

Gines is among the 100 municipalities, with more than 5,000 inhabitants, with the highest declared income in Spain, according to a study carried out by the Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada. Another study by the Spanish Tax Agency published in 2018 indicates that Gines is the eighth municipality with the highest income in Andalusia.
According to the Statistical Institute of Andalusia, as of 2016 in Gines there are 858 establishments with economic activity, mainly dedicated, by the number of establishments, to commerce, professional and technical activities and hospitality. There is a local entrepreneurs and merchants society to look after their interests.
The Servialsa Industrial Park and the Gines Plaza Shopping Park are located within the municipal district. The Pétalo Business Park will be built jointly with the bordering municipalities of Bormujos and Espartinas.
Historically, olive production was of great importance, with the creation, especially from the 18th century onwards, of several haciendas for the production of olive oil and, from the 20th century onwards, related industries, mainly dedicated to the manufacture of barrels, packaging and logistics. The last major industry in the sector to have its headquarters in the locality was the La Española factory, known for its olives and pickles, which from 1956 to 2004 was sited in the municipality. The factory was moved to the town of Aznalcázar because it had no capacity for expansion, as it was surrounded by houses due to population growth.

Transport

Gines is connected to its surroundings by the Quinto Centenario motorway, the old Seville-Huelva national road and regional roads. Several lines of the Consorcio de Transportes del Área de Sevilla pass through the town, linking it both with Seville and with other towns in the Aljarafe area. Nearby is the Salteras suburban train station, which is part of the C-5 line of the Seville suburban trains. There is also a permanent taxi stand and the TNC companies Cabify and Uber provide services in Gines.

Bus lines

Gines forms part of the Seville Area Transport Consortium, which is included in zone B. With the card of the Consortium it is possible to take the buses that pass through the town and transfer to other lines of the Consortium, the Seville buses or the metro. The Consortium lines that stop go through Gines are:
M-102A External Aljarafe Circular

M-102B External Aljarafe Circular

M-105 Salteras - Ciudad Expo Metro Station

M-160 Seville - Gines

M-166 Seville - Sanlucar la Mayor

M-167 Seville - Villanueva del Ariscal

M-168 Sevilla - Benacazón

M-174 Sevilla - Las Pilas - La Gloria
In addition to the lines of the Consortium, the Seville - Huelva line of the company Damas has a stop in Gines.

Main sights

Winter