Cave Painter's. UNESCO Heritage

The lands of the Maestrazgo were inhabited from remote times, as evidenced by the numerous archaeological excavations scattered throughout our country.

The pictographs found throughout the east of the Iberian Peninsula are known ''Levantine Art'', declared Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO. The prehistoric painters selected some refuges which were open on the hillsides or sunny escarpments and particularly those that were in a privileged location, due to their proximity to water sources or allowing for a broad view of the terrain.

Many of these refuges are located in complex places, far from the plains, at elevations ranking from 300 to 1000 meters above sea level, such as the Ravine of the Valltorta.

In these refuges and caves, hunting scenes, animals, archers, and female figures can be seen. These are works of art which reflect the lifestyle and concerns of the population which inhabited these lands for thousands of years.

The Ravine of the Valltorta is located in the vicinities of Albocasser, Tírig and the Caves of Vinromà, and is considered to be one of the most important centres of outdoor rock paintings in the world.

Templar

The Christian Reconquest of the territories and their necessary repopulation and maintenance was placed in the hands of the Military Orders. In 1196 The Temple acquired dominion of these places carrying out a number of ''Encomiendas'' or ''Baylías'', territorial divisions united by rigid organizational discipline, headed by the figure of the ''Maestre''(Master). The name Maestrazgo comes from this word.

Collective bellicose activities, exemptions, taxes immunity for criminals and assassins. The border with Islam became a place of refuge for people fleeing from their past: murderers, thieves, debtors, people with no family ties. A ''war-oriented society'' arose, which would serve as the foundation for the structure of the territory and its economic exploitation.

The Order of the Temple was dissolved in 1308 and after violent revolts in the area, its possessions were acquired by the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem or of the Hospital.

Some temple populations:

• Cantavieja
• Castellote
• Cuevas de Cañart
• Mirambel
• Villarluengo
• La Cañada de Benatanduz
• La Iglesuela del Cid
• Beceite
• Ares del Maestre
• Peñíscola

Islam in Spain

The ''Marca'' was the territorial and administrative division that the Muslims made in order to control the territory better. In Al Andalus there were three marcas: the Superior Marca, with Zaragoza as its capital, and occupying most of the land that is now Aragonese, along with other Navarran, Riojan, and Catalan lanas; the Middle Marca with its capital in Toledo, occupying the southernmost part of Aragon (Teruel and Albarracin) and the Lower Marca in the southwest part of the Peninsula.

Around 714, the Arab Tarik established what would be the first urban settlement, a small Muslim village located in the highest part of the hill, and it was called Tirwal, which means watchtower or military bastion. It later belonged to the Taifa Kingdom of Albarracin. Islamic presence in Aragon dates back to 714, extending to 1171, year of the conquest of the Teruel territories. According to legend, the armies of the king came to the place where the city of Teruel is today located, after following a fierce bull above which a star moved at the same speed. The origin of the name of the city is not clear. There are those who say that it came from the name of Tirwal, and others say that it comes from joining the Aragonese words Tor (Bull) and Uel (Star).

Teruel and Albarracín were a kingdom that was independent from the Cordovan Caliphate which belonged to the family of Beni Razin, who gave it its present name. With Ibn Ammar this territory attained great splendour as a centre of culture and refinement.

Civil War: Aragón and freedom

The uprising of July 1936 dominated the territory in the first days, followed by numerous settlings of scores and retaliations. Some time later, power fell into new hands with the arrival of the columns of anarchist militia. The vacuum of power produced upon the defeat of the rebels allowed Catalonian syndicalists and Zaragozan anarchist leaders to establish collectivism: Outside the republican State there arose revolutionary comitees protected by CNT militia.

Libertarian Communism and its groups: The establishment of a new social and political order which must be understood in the exceptional context of the war, and not as the result of violent imposition in all cases, was accompanied by the physical elimination of great landowners and businessmen, Falangists, members of Popular Agrarian Action and of the Church.

Nevertheless, the process of consolidation of the groups was cut short by factors Such as the failure of attempts to control them from the government, struggles between different conceptions of agrarian politics and the organizational chaos.

At 1937, The Maestrazgo became the rearguard of the republican army, which would take the city of Teruel after a bloody battle. However, the reconquest of this city by the Franquist army (February 22nd, 1938) was the beginning of the collapse of the front of Aragon and later, the taking of the entire territory. The advance of Franco's army thus put an end to the revolutionary experiments, through the use of violence and sending many Aragonese into exile.

Civil War and Maquis

From the French maquis=scrubland vegetation. This was the expression used by the Corsicans when, in their flight from justice, they took refuge in the mountains.

Maquis was the name given to the republican guerrilla movement which continued the armed fight against Franquism in Spain, once the civil war had ended, which thrived in the lands of Maestrazgo, Abarracín and Matarranya, where the G.A.L.A. (Guerrilla Association of Levante and Aragon) was founded.

The origin of the maquis in Spain was small bands of the popular republican army soldiers, militia, deserters, and others who could not or would not leave the country after the fall of the legitimate government of the republic. At first, they went from being soldiers fugitives from the repression of the Franquist regime alter the war to being small armies of organized guerrillas with clandestine support in some villages and behind the French border.

The maquis moved mainly through the mountainous areas of the entire Peninsula, as in the mountains it was more difficult to locate and ambush them. They knew the areas they moved in perfectly, occasionally going into villages and towns to contact allied agents, obtain supplies, or carry out attacks against military or civil objectives, mainly kidnappings or killings of military officers, civil guards, and especially traitors.

The propaganda of the Franco government, which labelled them bandits, the vacating by the civil guard of large mountain zones where they found support, even evacuating entire villages by force for years (some are still abandoned today), the creation of counter-guerrilla groups by the civil guard and the army, who ambushed and infiltrated guerrilla groups and the large reward offered for betraying a guerrilla, a collaborator or sympathizer, gradually brought about the end of this antifranquist movement.

Many guerrillas and collaborators were judged in an irregular manner and shot or jailed for many years in subhuman conditions. Many guerrillas were also killed by the civil guard in the same places where they were arrested, allowing them to flee and shooting at them in their flight.

Nevertheless, the maquis of the GALA were active from 1949 until 1954.