Niebla, Spain


Niebla is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, in Andalusia, southern Spain. It lies on the banks of the Rio Tinto, 30 km from Huelva and 60 km from Seville.
According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 4,200 inhabitants. A 2-km town wall surrounds the perimeter of the town. The Alcazar or castle dates mostly from the 15th century. Just outside the town a Roman bridge, still in use today, crosses the Rio Tinto.

History

Niebla's history dates back 3,000 years. The town's early importance was due to the silver industry, exploited by Phoenician traders by the 8th century B.C. The town was a commercial and political centre known as Ilipla in Roman times.
By 713 the town of Ilipla was under Muslim control. The town became part of the emirate of Cordoba in 756 and further fortifications were constructed. From 1023 Niebla became the capital of the Taifa of Niebla, whose army fought the Taifa of Seville. The battle was lost and Niebla fell under the control of Seville in 1053. Islamic rule began to weaken after 1212, and the town was conquered in 1262 by Alfonso X of Castile.
Descriptions of the siege suggest that this town was the place where gunpowder was first used in Spain.

Ecclesiastical history

Niebla has once been a Catholic bishopric, suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sevilla in the Visigothic Kingdom, founded probably around 400.
It survived the Muslim conquest of Iberia, until the arrival of the most intolerant Almohads in the 12 century, when its last bishop fled to Seville.
Its former territory is now entirely comprised in the Diocese of Huelva.
;''Suffragan Bishops of Elepla/Niebla
In 1969 the diocese was nominally restored as Latin Titular bishopric under the names of Elepla / Eleplen.
It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal rank :