Palmerar d'Elx |
Elche Information | Palmerar d'Elx Information | Palmerar d'Elx Map |

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.
