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Palmerar d'Elx in Elche
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Palmeral dElx

Elche
Costa Blanca
03320

Map of Palmerar d'ElxMap of Palmerar d'Elx
The Palmeral of Elche is a plantation of palm trees in the Spanish province of Alicante. It is the largest palm grove in Europe and one of the largest in the world, surpassed in size only by some in Arab countries. The Palmeral includes the Parque Municipal and many other orchards covering over three and a half square kilometres, including 1one and a half square kilometres within the city of Elche. It contains more than 11,000 palm trees, mostly date palms, with individual specimens up to 300 years old. At its peak, in the 18th century, it may have covered an area twice as large, with up to 200,000 trees. The dates are harvested in December.

It is thought that palms were originally planted in this location as early as the 5th century BC by Carthaginians who settled in south-east Spain. The plantation survived under the Romans and the Moors. The irrigation system was extended in the times of Abd ar-Rahman I and remains in use. The formal landscape of the Palmeral that still exists today was created when the city was under Moorish control in the tenth century. Although the area has an annual rainfall of only 300millimetres, the palm trees planted along a network of irrigation canals from the salty River Vinalopó creates a patchwork of agricultural plots, each demarcated and shaded by the palm trees to create a protected micro climate. Laws were passed to protect the plantation after the Reconquista.

The Palmera was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

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These are straight line distances and do not account for terrain, land or sea masses.
These are straight line distances and do not account for terrain, land or sea masses.
   
Palmerar d'Elx in Elche
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