Palmeral of Elche

The Palmeral or Palm Grove of Elche is the generic name used to designate a system of date palm orchards in the city of Elche .Currently, in the urban area of Elche there are a total of 97 different orchards containing about 70,000 date palms, mostly in the east bank of the Vinalopó. This number does not include other large plantations located around the city proper. All together, the number may be close to 200,000 palms. The Palm Grove covers over 3.5km2, including 1.5km2 within the city of Elche.It is the only palm grove of its type anywhere in Europe,the northernmost of its kind and one of the largest in the world, surpassed in size only by some in Arab countries.HistoryThe first date palms in Elche could have been originally planted as early as the 5th century BC by Carthaginians who settled in south-east Spain. The Romans introduced the first elaborated forms of agricultural water management. Under the Moors the city of Elche moved from its Roman location 7 km away to its current location. The moors further developed the irrigation system with the brackish water of the Vinalopó, which is basically the same as the one still in use for the palm orchards. The formal landscape of the palmeral that still exists today was created when the city was under Moorish control between the 7th and 10th century. Following the Reconquista by the Christians (14th century), a local handicraft developed involving desiccated palms and their weaving for processional use in Palm Sunday. Also, improvements were added by the new settlers, such as the construction in the 17th century of Elche's dam in the Vinalopo, some 6 km upstream of Elche, for a better management of the Palm Grove irrigation. Similarly, laws were passed to protect the plantation.