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History of Zafra


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Human traces of great antiquity have been found in the area. In the "El Castellar" mountains are located caves with pictograms. Also, a fort dating to the Bronze Agewas found in the nearby chapel of Belén.

Roman era

Zafra has been associated with the Roman names Restituta Iulia Imperial,Contributa Iulia Ugultunia, and Segida Restituta Iulia, though this applies equally to some of the other towns in the area. The name Contributa Julia appears on an 1849 map of Roman Hispania (in the south-west of Spain, in the area namedBaeturia) alongside the name Regina (presently associated with the ruins of a small Roman town of the same name), lending some geographical support to the possibility of an association of the name Contributa Iulia or Contributa Julia with Zafra. Other sources, however, support an association of the name Segida Restituta Iulia with Zafra. Yet other, authoritative, sources associate no Roman name with Zafra. In the area round Zafra may be found the remains of as many as 20 Romanvillas. These, and associations between the name Restitutia Iulia and a migration from the legendary Segeda, may be linked to the origin of the town.

Under Moorish rule

A significant fact is that Zafra is located between Badajoz, and Seville, the capital of the province of Baetica.

In medieval times, Zafra was situated on the border which divided the domains ofSeville and Badajoz, and in 1030 a defensive fortification was constructed in the Castellar Mountains. This fort would be named Sajra Abi Hassan by the Moorishgeographer Abu Abdullah al-Bakri in 1094. The Arabs named the town Safra, or Cafra, from which derived the current name.

The Reconquista

During the Reconquista, Zafra was captured twice by Christian forces, first in 1229 byAlfonso IX, and then definitely by Ferdinand III, in a campaign through
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