Since the15th century, hundreds of our inhabitants, whose majority live in dispersed settlements, have started to settle down around this town located in the Guadalquivir River plain. This marked the construction of the Mudéjar-style church, with columns brought from the Roman ruins of Itálica. Moreover, municipal power strengthened in the four streets surrounding the ancient military field hospital, now converted into a chapel. Despite the extensive territory granted to us, larger than many imagine, we remained under the jurisdiction of Seville, forming part of its alfoz. That is why the municipality received the title of “Garrison and Area of Seville”, similar to the nearby extramural areas of San Bernardo and Triana.

Our “submission” to Seville led us to participate among Sevillian troops in the conquest of Granada. Over the centuries, we have attracted the attention of various religious orders’ convents and monasteries that settle in Seville, such as the Carthusians and Santa Paula Monastery, and even the Archbishop. They saw our town as a place to invest in, as well as a place where they settled their main estates and country houses, from which they derived rental income rather than direct production. This marked a third phase of expansion and reestablish of our small town of La Rinconada (after the ancient military field hospital and the settlements around the Church). Many were drawn to the relatively cheap rental opportunities offered by convents and monasteries (and the Cathedral) for their allotment and country houses, due to the high quality of the land.

In the 17th century, this relaunch was repeated amid the deepest national crisis in Spanish history—even nature “was merciless” and a small glaciation occurred in that century. Our forebears were among the few who did not suffer widespread hardship, attracting a multitude of hungry people from the Sierra de Aracena mountain range and the towns of Castillo de las Guardas and Castilblanco, as well as numerous unemployed people who came from the Alcores seeking work and settling among us.

Written by Manuel Alfonso Rincón.
(Historian from La Rinconada)