Atarfe

Atarfe is a Spanish city, that belongs to the province of Granada, in Andalusia. It is located in the north central part of the Vega of Granada. It borders the municipalities of Moclín, Colomera, Albolote, Maracena, Granada, Santa Fe, and Pinos Puente. By this village run the Rivers Cubillas and Colomera. Its districts include Caparacena, Sierra Elvira, Hurpe and Cubillas.HistoryGranada dictionary of toponimos, authored by Amador Diaz Garcia and Manuel Barrios Aguilera says that its name comes from the Arabic al- Taraf, which in Granada would be a-tarf dialect, meaning strut, probably related to its Castillejo and Colorao peaks.This view is also shared by the linguist Jesus Martinez del Castillo. Other views situate its origin in the artarf Arabic word which means limit, as it was the limit in the vicinity of the city of Elvira. There seems to be, as some have thought, a Moorish dynasty Tarfe, a close relative of the kings of Granada. The first civilizations that settled into the soil date from the Neolithic, Iberian and Roman close to them, under whose domination Ilíberis city was founded in the foothills of Sierra Elvira. During the Caliphate, the city was renamed Elvira, and achieved great splendor as the capital of the Cora, one of the most important of al- Andalus.At short distance from the city center of thevillage, precisely in the annexe of Sierra Elvira, took place the decisive Battle of Higueruela between the troops of Juan II and King Muhammed IX of Granada. In July 1486, during the Battle of the Acequia Gorda, where died Martin Vazquez de Arce, better known as the Doncel Siguenza. It definitely became a Castilian power, after already indicated. They met at their church, around 1570, the Moors of Albolote, Atarfe, Armilla, Belicena and Pinos Puente, in order to be ken to Castile.