 
The surroundings of the town are divided into two natural areas parallely located in an East-West direction. The northern area is included in the Andévalo miner region with very degraded soil, whereas the southern one belongs to the Guadalquivir basin lands. Throughout the History, the natural diversity of this land has fostered and contributed to the steady development of societies with different economic models related to the technologic advance that made possible the exploitation of the natural resources available at different moments. That is why the importance of Niebla along the centuries stems from its location on one of the first bends formed by the river Tinto across the campiña, where it would be easily crossed at moments of "low water", and over the huge bridge that has been used for ages and is still in good conditions. Even though the first evidence of human settlements in this area are dated at 4000-3000 B.C., the site of Niebla would not stand out from other contemporary human settlements until the late 2nd millenium and the early 1st millenium B.C.. So, Niebla stood out politically and economically as one of the main centres of the Plain Land since the Bronze Age.  
In the early centuries of the 1st millenium B.C., in the final stage of the Bronze Age, the town must have been formed by some grups of huts spread on the plateau where the town is nowadays. The main economic resource was the farming activities. At this stage, a stone wall was built along the river Tinto that would help to isolate the upper area of the plateau, preserving it from any danger. In the early years of the 8th century B.C., the presence of merchants on the andalusian coasts would bring about considerable changes in the local societies of the late Bronze Age. As these Phoenician merchants demanded the silver extracted from the mines of Huelva, part of the population of Niebla, located in one of the main ways of communication, would work in the silver metallurgy, and would control the trade between the mines and the coast; the town would be used as port of fluvial shipment to Huelva's port That is why, during the 8th -6th centuries B.C., the town was surrounded by a stone wall that delimited a small fenced area located in the north-east of the plateau ensemble. The rest of the land was occupied by metallurgy workshops and, maybe, by farming areas. As a proof of the wealth of the inhabitants and the vitality of their social organization, assault weapons, a vase and a brazier made of bronze, jewellery, pottery with food, etc. were found in the tomb of an important citizen. The former stone wall was buttressed in the river area with a huge bastion made of big stone blocks, maybe in order to repair some sort of imperfection in it, or as an structural element of the new oriental-style enclosure built upon the first stone wall. This new enclosure proves the economic importance of the town at a time of political and economic conflicts in all the south- west peninsular area, as a result of a supposed crisis in Tartesos. Since then, the silver mining seems to discontinue, and the people living in the town would continue to work in the typical activities of a farming area strategically located in the main road of the Plain Land , halfway of the river Guadiana mouth and the low Guadalquivir. 
During the 8th to 3rd centuries, the stage prior to the romanization, when the town would be called Ilipula in some texts, there are important traces of the turdetana occupation of the town and of material culture, which is very similar to that of the south-western city-states. Though, there is no doubt that the town keeps playing a leading role as the political and commercial centre of the region. It cannot be known for certain if the traces of fire appeared in some archaeological excavations could be connected with Amilcar Barca's campaigns in the Península to finance his battles with Rome in the 3rd century .  From the early 2nd century, this land remained subjected to Roman rule for a long time, as a result of the second war between Rome and Cartago. Though, Ilipla would continue having its important role as an economic and political centre of the west end of the Betica region, and a proof of it are the coins appeared with the name of Ilipla on them. Ilipla was clearly described as a parvum oppidum (small walled city) in Roman texts, and a paved road linked this town, from the mouth of the Guadiana river, with Hispalis through Ostur (a deserted spot between Paterna and Villalaba) and Ituci (Tejada la Nueva). At that moment, thanks to the building of an enormous bridge, which is still in use and in good conditions, the town would stand out as an important spot in a way of communication, and it would draw together a number of villages around the town, whose main economic activity was intensive farming. Although not excavated yet -so, its chronological description should be taken with certain reservations-, there is a stretch of stone wall between the present Puerta de Sevilla and the river, with solid towers at regular intervals, that could have been part of the wall plan of the Roman town, or maybe it is a reconstruction of a part belonging to the former period (Protohistory). Nevertheless, important architectural Roman elements ,in marble or in local stone, have appeared, such as beautiful floors with mosaic, columns, capitals, sculptural remains, inscriptions, burial altars,etc. Some of these remains have been found by chance, and in some occasions have been reused in later works. There was also an aqueduct of this period whose remains can be seen nowadays to the north of the modern town. In the visigothic period Elepta would acquire religious and militar prestige as a bishopric see. Actually, their prelates were present in Toledo's conflicts since 590 and, as a proof of that, a lot of typical architectural remains have appeared inside the town, such as jails, columns,etc. Even a chair in stone, which, according to the legend, is said to be the bishops' cathedra, remains nowadays.  
In the year 713 A.C. Ilipla passed into muslim hands and a group of yemeni origin settled in the town. When Abd-al Rahman I got hold of power in Al-Andalus in 756, the town and its cora become a part of Córdoba's emirate and a new fortified enclosure will be built from that time through the califal period. The walls are superimposed on the former enclosures; in some cases some parts were wholly made use of , and in other cases some parts were pulled down in order to make use of the same building materials. The history of Lebla throughout the muslim period is rich and varied as the history of any andalusí town of its political and economic importance is expected to be. In the fitna, the dismemberment that means the end of the omeya caliphate, the Beni Yahya dinasty took power of the town and Yahsopi became an independent taifa king in 1019. During the political events of the 11th century, Niebla's army stood out as an ally of the taifa kingdoms of Mértola and Silves which, together with the one of Badajoz, met the kingdom of Seville for the control over the al-Garb. Their armies fought at the gateway of the town in 1048, three years before the town finally surrendered to Al-Mutadid and lost its independence becoming a part of the kingdom of Seville in 1051. Dhese fight for the hegemony brought about the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by the almoravides, very religious and warlike tribes from the Sahara desert. With the presence of the bereber tribes in the Peninsula, Labla al Hmra lived a thriving period. In 1091, the almoravides ruled all Al-Andalus, and the town would not be under the rule of Al-Mutadid of Seville any longer. In this period, the town reached a high degree of development and the tolerance was an essential feature of this town; as a proof of it, a number of christians retained their faith and habits, including their churches, bishops and cults. Nevertheless, the pressure wielded by the almoravides, made Al-Andalous's aristocracies seek the protection of the new almohade power, for at that moment they had taken possession of most North Africa. Niebla was accupied by their troops, although some time later the town would rebel against the garrison that remained there. That is why, in 1154, Abú-Zacarya ben Yumar, sent by the almohade emir to pacify al-Garb, took Lebla by storm, put all the men who had defended the cora to the sword, and sold all the women and children as slaves. The former enclosure would probably be severely damaged, so a new enclosure would be reconstructed by people of the Beni-Yahya dinasty who settled in the town. During the almohade period, Niebla became one of the most important cities of the south -west, not only because of its location, but because of the quality of its inhabitants as well; one of them, al-Qasim, stood out by his religiosity and prestige, thanks to which he said the first Friday prayer in the new mosque built in Seville by the almohades. 
After the Navas de Tolosa battle in 1212, the power of almohades would decay progressively and Al-Andalus would be desmembered again into several independent kingdoms. The last of the muslim kings of Niebla was Ibn-Mahfoh, who became vassal of Fernando III the Saint to avoid the conquest of Niebla.  The Lebla of Ibn-Mahfoh, transformed into the Algarve kingdom, would be conquered by Alfonso X in 1262, who gave the town the same fuero (regional law code) as that of Seville. In spite of the vassalage of the muslim king, Castile undertook this action because Portugal had brought a lot of pressure to bear on the castilian king during the first half of the 13th Century. The siege was not easy either for the besiegers or for the muslim inhabitants due to the importance of the town defences, so the siege lasted nine months and a half. Hunger was responsible for the eventual surrender of the town. Which has been connected with the use of gunpowder in Spain for the first time. It is also said that there was a plague of flies that, setting especially upon the besiegers, was about to make them surrender. Besides, Ibn-Mahfoh was said to have tried to trick the christian army by sending them a fatten ox -maybe the last remaining one- to show that the siege out of hunger was useless. That is why the western gateway is called The Ox. After the conquest, Niebla was organized according to the fuero of Seville, and its lands were given out to the new inhabitants. Some mosques remained as churches, such as San Martín and Santa María de la Granada , the only ones of the four collaciones established by Alfonso X that remain nowadays. 
In spite of the strategic importance of Niebla in relation to the Portuguese border, its position in the rearguard of the kingdom of Grenade was far more important strategically speaking. This position would be negative for the town and the costly contributions for the war drained its resources. For this reason, in 1327 the king handed over the almojarifazgo rents of his villages to repair the walls ( GARCÍA FERNÁNDEZ, 1986). In 1369, after some frustrated attempts, the king Enrique II transferred the town to Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Count of Niebla, as he was called from then on; so, the period during which the town had been ruled as a town council and had had royal fuero came to an end. In the 15th century, the fourth Earl of Niebla started a very active policy of reconstruction of the town. As a result, new elements of this period can be seen in San Martín and Santa María churches, and most of the remains of the former muslim alcazaba were pulled down to build the alcázar on that site. In the early 16th century, in 1508, Niebla was sacked by the troops of Alférez Mercado, because the town had refused to recognize Fernando the Catholic as their king. So terrible and gory was this sacking that, from that moment on, it would be given as an example with the name of The Sacking of Niebla. Most of the inhabitants were killed, and this kind of event was not new for the town, as we have seen above. During the reign of Carlos V, the town continued belonging to the Casa de los Guzmán. After the 16th century, only the works to adapt the former barbican to the strategic needs of that moment are worth mentioning, for a economic decline, which had started in former times, can be noticed in the town from that century on all. In 1755, as a result of the earthquake of Lisbon (according to Amador de los Rios), most of the Towers of Homage of the fortress collapsed. That tower was one of the tallest ones in Andalucía after the Giralda of Seville. There were other damaged structures not recorded in chronicles. During the Independence War, the town would be put in defence by the marshal Soult, who would leave the town to general Lazy, after blowing up some of the reconstructed defensive structures. After these events, the town monumental ensemble would reach the 20th century in bad conditions. |
iebla is a small andalusian village of about 4,000 people located in the Plain Land of Huelva. It is 30 km away from the capital city and 60 km away from Seville. Its socio-cultural homogeneity throughout the History in contrast to the diversity of its countryside is remarkable; at the present time, Niebla is shown as an only common and tangible reality at the edge of the Andalusian Community. The Guadiana river forms its natural border with the Algarve Portuguese.