Cabeza la Vaca

It is possible the region which nowadays is Cabeza la Vaca may enjoy a period of prosperity as the Roman road Ruta de Plata vía (Silver way in English) is close up connecting the south and north of the Iberian Peninsula.

In other parts of the peninsula, this first domain meant a stagnation stage; nevertheless judging by the number of scripts and remains found around the zone and in the same village (reused elements on fountains or columns), this epoch was important for those lands.

In this mountainous, steep and craggy landscapes there were resistors through to the 9th century, then the zone was depopulated, hence the scant remains related to the Muslim and lack of continuity of Cabeza la Vaca with other previous settlements.

After the Christian reconquest in the first half of the twelfth century by the Kingdom of Lion and the order of Santiago, around 1230, some huts and cabins, perhaps related to unknown and razed town from the Visigothic epoch and survivors of the Muslim domain, were gradually attracting settlers from the North, until the end of century the location was renamed to Cabeza de la Vaca de León, starting out the modern history of the town.

The proximity of another Spanish kingdom, Portugal, along with civil wars within Castilla y Leon and terrible plagues led to instability through to the 15th century, when Cabeza de la Vaca consolidated firmly.

Among the personages more important the village highlights Diego María de la Tordoya illustrious neighbor Cow Head, born probably in the decade of 1460-1470, was one of the companions of Columbus on the first expedition to the New World, and died there.

A lot of lands around Cabeza la Vaca were used for farming and specially livestock, according as the religious orders lost strength, configuring the current economic model of the village.

Franco's troops entered with little resistance into a village terrified by the excesses of the Republicans such as the confiscation of food or the burning of Churches in nearby towns.

View of Cabeza la Vaca