Roman coin of Hispania with distinct rabbit, endemic to Iberia and exported elsewhere.The most widely–accepted theory says Phoenicians called Iberia i-shepan-im, the Land of Rabbits (or to be more precise the land of hyrax north African animals they confused) which became Hispania.
A remarkable photograph taken in 1938 shows a group of men unloading huge piles of esparto grass from barges on the River Thames. In the smoggy background is Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. The grass was shipped from the Murcian town of Aguilas and was probably destined as cellulose to produce high quality paper for book printing.
Before the arrival of synthetic fibres, Aguilas was the chief distribution centre for esparto, exporting shiploads across the Mediterranean and to northern Europe.
Ignacio Zuloaga (Éibar, 1870-Madrid, 1945) painted numerous landscapes of Spain including this bleak yet inviting evocation of Pancorbo ( 1917) in the province of Burgos. Espacio cultural Ignacio Zuloaga, Zumaia, Guipúzcoa. More here.
A train passing through Pancorbo was also depicted by Darío de Regoyos in 1901. From MNAC
The approach to the village also appears in this watercolour by Edgar Thomas Ainger Wigram’s Northern Spain (1906).
The Pancorbo gorge by Gustave Doré (1873)
The biggest olive tree in the world is reputedly the Oliva de Fuentebuena in Jaén. According to the Guinness Book of Records it is over 10m high with a girth of more than 4m.
Clay soils in parts of the Monegros are eroded easily leaving weird sandstone formations called torrellones, looking like something straight out of Arizona. This one is called Cabeza de Perro, Dog’s Head.
Image by Rodriguem on Wikicommons
The Pyrenees, according to Greek mythology at least, take their name from Pyrene, daughter of King Bebrycius who was raped by Hercules, after which she gave birth to a serpent. Terrified by how her father would react, Pyrene fled to these hills, where she was torn apart by wild animals. Hercules later came upon her lacerated remains, and overcome with grief, commanded the surrounding mountains help create a tomb for her by piling up rocks. Thus, the Pyrenees were created.
A more likely explanation is that the Iberian microcontinent began to crash into Europe some 55 million years ago causing a massive uplift and slowly and powerfully forming the range.
Memories of Andalucía, (1860) Mediterrean coast near Torremolinos. by Carlos de Haes, Museo del Prado. Difficult to imagine today.
A couple of interesting recent developments on the old presence of the Eurasian lynx in Spain and its hopeful reintroduction. It is thought the animal would have co-existed with the very edge of the Iberian lynxes range in northern Spain and the Pyrenees.
The possible presence well into the 20th century of the so-called gatillop in the Catalan Pyrenees as the animal is known in Catalan has long been discussed. There is now a Catalan government plan, as yet to be carried out, to release Eurasian lynxes in the Vall D’Aran in the Pyrenees. More here (2016)
Evidence now shows that the Eurasian lynx existed in Northern Spain in the Cantabrian mountains until at least 400 years ago. (2015 RTVE)
Stunning images in trailer for the WildMed documentary on the wildlife of Sierra Morena, the largest Mediterranean forest in the world.
