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Last modified: 2015-11-22 by ivan sache
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Flag of La Roda de Andalucía - Image from the Símbolos de Sevilla website, 8 November 2015
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The municipality of La Roda de Andalucía (4,351 inhabitants in 2013; 7,668 ha; municipal website) is located on the border with the Province of Málaga, 130 km south-east of Seville and 70 km north-west of Málaga, more or less at the geographical center of Andalusia.
La Roda de Andalucía, located on a main route connecting the Mediterranean coast and the valley of Guadalquivir, has been settled for ages. Some historians have identified La Roda with the Celtiberian town of Uragao. Madoz identified La Roda with the Roman town of Carruca, involved in the Civil War that opposed Julius Caesar and Pompey. Remains of a modest paleochristian basilica (5th-7th century) were excavated in 1985.
During he Moorish times, the place, known as Robdia, was part of the no man's land that separated the Muslim and Christian states; due to easy access and flat topography, the area was most suitable for raids and fighting. Conquered in 1251 by King Ferdinand III the Saint, the place was taken over by the Moors in 1262, to be eventually incorporated the next year into the Kingdom of Castile by Alfonso X the Wise. The king commissioned the Order of St. James to manage the ferry and the customs post of Al-Roa, established on river Yeguas, then the border with the Muslim states. The area remained unsafe and hardly populated until the fall of the Kingdom of Granada; in 1462, Altihacen, King of Ronda, raided the area, being eventually defeated in the bloody battle of El Madroño.
The re-settlement of the area was ordered in 1546 by the Catholic Monarchs. In 1559, the Marquis of Estepa established a feudal system unique in Spain, with full control on the local administration, justice and church; the system was left unchanged until the suppression of the feudal system in the 19th century.
In the middle of the 19th century, the railway station of La Roda was erected by the Ferrocarriles Andaluces company, as the important junction of the Córdoba-Málaga and Sevilla-Algeciras lines. The name of the municipality was changed in 1916 from La Roda to La Roda de Andalucía, for the sake of differentiation from other Spanish towns named Roda.
Ivan Sache, 8 November 2015
The flag of La Roda de Andalucía (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo) is diagonally divided white-celestial blue per bend, with the municipal coat of arms in the center.
The coat of arms of La Roda de Andalucía is prescribed by Royal Decree No. 3091, adopted on 7 November 1977 and published on 2 December 1977 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 288, p. 26,365 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The coat of arms is prescribed as follows:
Coat of arms: Quarterly, 1. and 4. Or[Argent on the flag] a bend checky argent and gules (Centurión - Estepa), 2. and 3. Gules a castle argent masoned sable. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The first and fourth quarters feature the arms of the Marquis of Estepa, from the Centurión lineage. The second and third quarters feature the castle from the arms of Castile [which should be represented or port and windows azure], recalling the incorporation of the place to the Kingdom of Castile after the Christian reconquest.
[Municipal website]
Ivan Sache, 8 November 2015
