Torre-Pacheco

Torre-Pacheco (Spanish pronunciation: [torepaˈtʃeko]) is a municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain.

The only high ground in the municipality is Cabezo Gordo hill, the location of the protected Sima de las Palomas archeological site.

A British property investor who recently took ownership of the local football team EF Torre Pacheco.

There is evidence of occupation by Homo heidelbergensis between 150,000 and 125,000 BC at the Sima de las Palomas site on Cabezo Gordo hill.

Among economic activities in the area, fertile soils made it suitable for crop growing and livestock farming.

[11] Landowners settling in the area of today's municipality in the Late Middle Ages gave their names to its towns and villages.

[11] Settlements became established as families acquired land and built farmhouses, and the defensive towers that were their only protection given their distance from castles and mountains.

These tower structures served for communication with the local population, and sheltered inhabitants from Berber raids in the area between the 13th and 18th centuries.

[12] Los Álcazares, Fuente Álamo and Torre-Pacheco were the first settlements in the region where before there had only been sparsely scattered buildings.

They included Balsicas, Roldán, Dolores, and Lo Ferro, a settlement founded when a Genoese family acquired land and settled in Murcia.

Small churches and chapels were built the 17th century, and two of these gave their names to the villages of San Cayetano and Los Dolores.

[12] In 1813, under the first Spanish Constitution of 1812 the Torre-Pacheco area became independent from the municipality of Murcia, and its town council was established.

Since the 1950s, with the influx of technology and foreign farm workers, agriculture has become a major economic activity in the region.

[18] The partisans of Partido Independiente de Torre-Pacheco and Paritio Socialista Obrero Español are also members of the governing cabinet.

[19] Partido Indpependiente de Torre-Pacheco[22] The municipality is included in the Health area VIII (Mar Menor) of Region of Murcia.

Some villages such as Garre, Dolores, Alba, San Cayetano and Roldán host an early childhood and primary education centre.