Torre-Pacheco


Torre-Pacheco is a municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain. It covers an area of 189.4 km² and its population in 2017 was 35,198. The only high ground in the municipality is Cabezo Gordo hill, the location of the protected Sima de las Palomas archeological site. The town has one secondary education institution, the I.E.S. Gerardo Molina.

Geography

Torre-Pacheco municipality is located in the Campo de Cartagena region. Cabezo Gordo is one of its highest hills, at 312 metres above sea level. It has no rivers with a permanent water flow, although during rainy periods streams in several arroyos flow into coastal saltwater lagoon the Mar Menor. Soil in the area mainly comprises sedimentary materials.
Torre-Pacheco is semi-enclosed by mountains. To the north lie the Columbares, Carrascoy, El Puerto, Escalona and Altalona ranges, and to the south the ranges of La Unión, Roldán, La Muela, Las Victorias and Cartagena.
The surrounding mountains have a significant influence on the semi-arid, Mediterranean climate of the municipality. Rainfall is usually below 300 millimetres, but when it occurs rain is often torrential. Highest rainfall occurs in autumn and spring, and the rainiest months are October and April. Temperatures are generally high, with a yearly average of 18 °C. Summers are hot, but can appear mild because of sea breezes. Winters are mild, with an average temperature of 10 °C.
Human activity has had a major impact on the territory, resulting in particular from the mechanization of local agriculture in the 1950s and 1960s.

Demographics

In 2017, the municipality had a total population of 35,198. Of its towns and villages, Torre-Pacheco had 18,003 inhabitants, with 6,642 in Roldán, 3,181 in Balsicas, 2,271 in Dolores, 1,192 in Jimenado, 1,207 in San Cayetano, 1,076 in Hoyamorena, 585 Hortichuela, 218 in El Abardinal, 185 in Santa Rosalía, and 173 in Los Camachos.

History

The territory of the current municipality has been inhabited since the Lower Paleolithic. There is evidence of occupation by Homo heidelbergensis between 150,000 and 125,000 BC at the Sima de las Palomas site on Cabezo Gordo hill. Neanderthals also lived in the area from 120,000 to 35,000 BC.
The 16 Roman villas found in the area date back to the period of Roman Hispania. The Romans quarried marble from a Cabezo Gordo deposit. Among economic activities in the area, fertile soils made it suitable for crop growing and livestock farming.
The first historic references to Torre-Pacheco date back to the 13th century.
Landowners settling in the area of today's municipality in the Late Middle Ages gave their names to its towns and villages. The Saavedra family came from Galicia, the Roda family from Navarre, and the Pacheco family from Portugal. On 7 November 1478, the council of Murcia granted land to Pedro Pacheco. The tower and country property he built founded the town of Torre-Pacheco and gave it its name.
Settlements became established as families acquired land and built farmhouses, and the defensive towers that were their only protection given their distance from castles and mountains. These tower structures served for communication with the local population, and sheltered inhabitants from Berber raids in the area between the 13th and 18th centuries.
In the mid-16th century, the population increased in the Campo de Cartagena comarca, to which the territory belongs. This trend continued during the 17th century, as more people arrived. Los Álcazares, Fuente Álamo and Torre-Pacheco were the first settlements in the region where before there had only been sparsely scattered buildings. New localities formed between the 16th and 18th centuries. They included Balsicas, Roldán, Dolores, and Lo Ferro, a settlement founded when a Genoese family acquired land and settled in Murcia. Small churches and chapels were built the 17th century, and two of these gave their names to the villages of San Cayetano and Los Dolores.
In 1813, under the first Spanish Constitution of 1812 the Torre-Pacheco area became independent from the municipality of Murcia, and its town council was established. The Constitution was repealed by King Ferdinand VII the following year. During the Trienio Liberal Torre-Pacheco's town council was reestablished. It was made permanent on 17 September 1836.
In 1900, the population of the area was 8,549. Fifty years later, it had increased to 10,409.
Unemployment in Torre-Pacheco was high for much of this period. Non-irrigated cultivation of cereal crops, almonds, grapes and olives was almost the only farming possible.
Since the 1950s, with the influx of technology and foreign farm workers, agriculture has become a major economic activity in the region. The main crops grown are artichoke, lettuce, broccoli, watermelon and melon.

Economy

One of the main economy activities of Torre-Pachecho is agriculture. 62.8% of the territory is occupied by crop lands. The most widely grown products are the artichokes, melons and lettuces. 83.12% of the agreements corresponded to agriculture jobs in 2018 and 85.28% were signed by labourers.
Other noteworthy sectors are animal husbandry and services. 14.09% of the contracts existed in the tertiary sector area in Torre-Pacheco.

Main sights