The use of the river in an Andalusian territory governed by the Order of Saint John: water mills in Alcolea del Río during the 15th century

Abstract

In this paper we focus our attention on the study of a territory governed by the Order of Saint John in Andalusia at the end of the Middle Ages: Alcolea del Río, in the province of Seville (Spain). This town, due to its proximity to Guadalquivir river, was able to take advantage of this resource in order to improve its economic and demographic development, by constructing and using different groups of water mills. We study them in this paper. The development experienced by Alcolea during the 15th century was the cause of an important achievement at the beginning of the Early Modern period: its independence from Lora del Río in 1504.