The Birth of Salinas de Añana

The community that settled scattered throughout the Haniana valley environment, as it is mentioned in late medieval texts, suffered a new change between the eighth century and the first half of the tenth century. During that period, Añana was the main objective of two military expeditions of punishment (year 822 and 865) which the Muslim army usually did in these lands, known in their language as “Alaba wa-l-Qiba” or “Álava y los Castillos”. Due to various factors the big community that exploited the salt was divided into a network of six fully autonomous villages.

The strong presence of feudal powers in Añana, where more than fifty religious institutions participated in the exploitation, was slowed both by the strength of the communities themselves and their aristocracies as well as the increasing power of the kings since the twelfth century. Specifically, around year 1114 Alfonso I el Battallador gave the valley the first royal charter of the Basque Country. With this concession occurred the last change in the salt settlements. In particular, residents of six villages left their villages to go to live in the place chosen by the king to build the walled town of Salinas de Añana.