Chella () is a municipality in the comarca of Canal de Navarrés in the Valencian Community, Spain.
Geography
Neighboring localities
The municipal territory of is close to that of the following municipalities: Anna, Bolbaite, Cotes, Enguera, Enguera, Navarrés, Sellent, Estubeny and Sumacàrcer all located in the province of Valencia.
History
Chella is of great archaeological interest and is well known through various explorations and surveys.
Ceramics and flints have been found showing a long human occupation, from the Mesolithic to the early age of the metal. From the Neolithic, vestiges are also present.
From the Iberian period, there was an abundant ceramic painted geometric decoration and fragments of vases black varnish. Nearby, in a northwestern ravine, two slabs serving as a bridge seem to be vestiges of the threshold of a Roman house.
In the Muslim era, Chella was a farm that James I of Aragon donated to Pere Dovit, although he later returned to the crown. In 1341, the king gave it to Tomás de Ulmis, who passed it in 1356 to the count of Denia and later to the duchy of Gandia. In 1611, Carlos of Borja published a mapping of the population after the expulsion of the Moriscos. Later, it belonged to the Marquis de Bélgida.
Despite the existence of archaeological remains of an Iberian village, located in Los Secanos de Arriba, as well as a Roman farmhouse in the current house of Fulgencio and remains Muslim remains that lived in spaces the caves of Peña del Turco, the current municipality of Chella has its origin in a Muslim farm, located in the current square of the old church, where there is still a part of the wall of the mosque which is currently a niche with the Virgin of Gracia patron saint of the town.
In 1244, James I of Aragon conquered the region and rebelled against Al-Azraq, a Muslim ruler, and against the inhabitants of Chella. After being defeated, they were expelled, repopulating the commune with Muslims loyal to the king. The population was given in stronghold successively to Thomas de Ulmis, the Count of Denia, Pedro Escintelles and the first Duke of Gandia (Alfonso el Vell), and after his death returned to the Crown.
During the Germanías, the Moors of Chella were forced to be baptized and the parish of Bolbaite dismembered from that of Chella.
With Carlos of Borja, he returned to the hands of the dukes of Gandia and the counts of Oliva; and in 1609 Philip III (King of Spain) ordered the expulsion of the Moors and Chella was completely abandoned until 1611. It was then that the letter was granted and the new settlers (Llobregat, Granero, Garcia Esparza, Palop, etc.) were installed.
During this century, the population is growing; the remains of the Muslim castle remain in the upper part, today the district of La Peña. This development is consolidated in the eighteenth century, when the feudal lords are no longer the Borja, but the Marquis de Bélgida. In the war of succession Chella ceases to belong to the government of Xàtiva and enter the village of Montesa with the neighboring municipalities of Anna, Enguera and Estubeny. All these cities were affected by the earthquake of 23 March 1748, which destroyed the old church of Chella, thus accelerating the construction of the new (1763) neoclassical style and Latin cross with bell-shaped corners towards the cardinal points, turn and that it keeps its first bell Maria de Gracia dating from 1789.
During the same century the transformation of dry lands in the orchard, thanks to the discovery of a new source (Le Abrullador) thanks to the examination of Cabanilles has generated significant economic growth.
In the nineteenth century, when territorial lordships disappeared, Chella became a municipality in the municipal sense. In the Madoz census of 1840, the population was 1200 inhabitants, whose economy was based on the cultivation of wheat, corn, barley and the production of oil, wine and silk. During the restoration, the agricultural social structure was made up of small and medium-sized landowners and day laborers, which led to the appearance of "caciquism" (the name given to all the political relations that animated the years of the Restoration of the Bourbons in Spain (1874–1931)).
There is a legend, with romantic hues, that El Chato, a true character in the service of caciquism, became a rodero (bandit) after a disappointment in love.
The phylloxera (destructive vine aphid) has brought about the end of vineyard cultivation and wine production. This caused many emigrations in Argentina or Algeria (Sidi Bel Abbés) and the extension of the olive growing.