Our route through the places of the Events of Casas Viejas starts with a general perspective of the town, being able to compare, in turn, with the famous photograph of Campúa from 1993, taken from this very place.

At the background we can distinguish the church, The Almeda, the San Juan Street, the old Town Hall Square and the town entrance.

This photo, in addition to verifying the town’s location between the Lake of Janda and The Natural Park of Alcornocales, serves to remind us the way the economic circumstances related to the agrarian problem, the policies with the lack of political and administrative autonomy, social situation due to the existence of great imbalances, ideological, due to the radicalization of positions; or cultural … are at the base and they are the cause of the incidents in Casas Viejas.

The numerous altercations that took place during the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, due to what at that time were called “calamities”, were the result of underdevelopment. The cause of the so-called “calamities” must be sought in the situation of the laborer, caused by a model of extensive and traditional “latifundismo” – land owner-ships based on the exploitation of a lot of cheap labor. Its situation was terrible all year round, but sometimes, at the beginning of summer due to the drought and, above all, in the rainy season, it reached almost unsustainable limits.

This photo of Campúa shows us the waterlogging of the fertile valleys near the town and the lagoon of Rehuelga, which indicates that the first days of January 1933 had also been very rainy.