Hoya of Baza

[1] It was originally part of the Mediterranean basin, connected to the sea by the corridor of the Almanzora River.

Later, the action of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates raised it upward to become an endorheic lake (that is, one without an outlet) 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level.

The term "hoya" literally means "trough" and refers to the boxed in character of the area.

The Hoya is generally relatively flat, but cut by a dense network of rivers that form a maze of gullies and ravines known as badlands.

Apart from the fertile plains and other places that have been worked, the territory is steppe, bearing only shrubbery typical of cold regions.