Valenzuela, Spain


Valenzuela is a municipality in the province of Córdoba, Spain. In 2016 it had 1208 inhabitants. Its surface area is 19 km² and has a density of 63.58 inhabitants / km². It is located at an altitude of 341 meters above sea level and 84 kilometers from the capital of the province, Córdoba.
Belonging to the region of the East-Guadajoz Campiña. Located in the east of the province, its urban center sits at the foot of the Alto de la Dehesa or Cerro Boyero. The gentilicio is valenzoletana / o although the term "vinagorra / o" is used more.

Geography

The highest areas are the eastern one, where the elevations of El Gato, Cerro de Fuente María and Cerro Boyero or Alto de la Dehesa are aligned. This last hill is crowned by an oval plateau of about 14 hectares. Its altitude with respect to the foot is 180 m in the north, although in the other slopes the level difference is smaller. Its northern skirt, in which the town is, is the least steep and its opposite slope, the steepest.
In the center of the municipality, Las Barquillas, Haza Renta, El Cahíz and Los Terreros stand out. To the north, Las Albarizas, La Silera and Zamarrón.
The lowest level, 260 meters above sea level, is located in the Algarbe stream, northwest of the term.
Two types of soil predominate: vertisols and gypsisols.
Vertisols are found in depressions between loamy hills. They are deep soils, gray or brown gray more or less dark. They crack in summer and get muddy in winter. The dedication of these soils is the cultivation of cereals and cotton, although currently it is also dedicated to an olive grove.
Gypsisols have been developed on plaster marls of the trias. They sit in the gentle hills of the countryside. They have carbonates so they are classified as calcium gypsisols. They have a low content of organic matter, alkaline pH, are usually muddy clay or clay, dry hard and compact and wet plastics. In the lower horizons they have small pieces of crystallized plaster. They are largely grown in olive groves.

Hydrogaphy

Due to the low amount of rainfall, it needs to be supplied with drinking water from the Quiebrajano river swamp. The spring water that traditionally fed the fountain and the pillars is currently used to irrigate the orchards near the village and fill a cistern, which is available to farmers. This spring is born on the northern slope of Cerro Boyero. On the other slopes springs flow with less flow: Pozo Nuevo, La Añora and La Viña. The water in most other wells is brackish.
Streams are usually dry for most of the year. The most abundant is that of the Saladillo, which receives water from everyone else. It is born in the eastern part of Cerro Boyero, forms the limit along 4 km with the province of Jaén. On the left, the Huertas stream, the La Silera slope and the Terreros stream flow into the municipality. In the municipality of Porcuna, one kilometer from the provincial limit receives the flow of the Algarbe stream.
The basin of the stream of the Huertas is constituted by the northern slope of Cerro Boyero. The central current is joined by the one that comes from Las Erillas, to the East, and the one from Arroyazo, to the West.
The slope of La Silera collects water the western slope of Cerro Boyero and the eastern slope of Los Terreros. Los Terreros stream receives water from that hill.
The Algarbe stream is born at the end of Baena and runs through Valenzuela along 2 km through its lowest zone. Receive by the South the Carrasco stream, which forms the limit with that term.
Source for Relief and Hydrography: Cartographic Base of Andalusia. Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia.

Climate

It can be framed in the Mediterranean climate in the Köppen climate classification, although it approximates in some ways the continental climate.
Average rainfall between 1958 and 1985: 512 mm. It is an amount less than that of Córdoba, whose average annual rainfall is 605 mm.

Economy

38 companies are registered, 25 of them dedicated to trade, transport and hospitality, and 6 to the industry. Predominates the cultivation of the olive grove, followed by wheat.. Of the six companies dedicated to the industry, the two most important are oil mills. This fact, together with the practical monoculture of the olive grove, causes almost all employment to be seasonal.
The active population was 609, with the unemployment rate being 67%
Other economic data can be found in the "Economic data form". The external link is at the end of the article.

Main sights