Cotton, hot sun, and "gitanos" in southern Spain - HISTORICAL NOTES (part 2 of 2)

HISTORICAL NOTES:
For centuries, gitanos have been on the margins of Spanish society and economy.  But when they began to work in large numbers as farm laborers in southern Spain, all of a sudden they becamse desirable contributors, at least as far as the señoritos and their families, the large land owners, were concerned.  These large land-holding families helped protect the gitanos.

This happened mostly in Andalucía, a large region in the far south of Spain which includes eight provinces.  Because of its mild to hot climate and large farming estates,  it´s also home to large numbers of gitanos. The large farm holdings, a reminder of the Roman estates and the later Moorish period, have grown crops such as grapes and olives for many centuries.  The grapes are best in the lower land, and are used to produce some very fine wines.  The olives are more common on the hillsides and going up into the mountains.

Ripe cotton.

Cotton, and beans such as favas and garbanzos, were also planted extensively in the 20th century although they were not as important as the grapes and olives.

In the late 20th century, mechanization eliminated many of the farm working jobs.  By that time, the democratic government which succeeded Franco had set up a social safety net, so gitanos and other poor or marginalized people could live on their social security benefits when they didn´t have a job.

The singing that our little heroine was listening to in part 1, by the way, is what is called flamenco.  Had you already guessed?

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We are working on a documentary about flamenco and its connection to the gitano community.  Go HERE to see the web site and a trailer, and HERE to sign up for our newsletter so you can keep up with the progress on our work.