Editing Doñana National Park (section)

==History==

===Antiquity===
[[File:Doñana National Park from the river.jpg|thumb|Banks of the River Guadalquivir in Doñana National Park ([[Almonte, Spain|Almonte]])]]
Although the topography of Doñana is a relatively new land feature as measured on the [[geological time scale]], remains of [[Neolithic]] tools have been found in the area. Various ancient civilizations may have had a presence there as long as 2,800 years ago, including the [[Phoenicians]], the [[Phocaea]]n Greeks and the [[Tartessians]], but archaeological remains attesting to such have not been found.<ref name="SheftonLomas2004">{{cite book|author=Adolfo J. Domínguez|editor=Brian Benjamin Shefton |editor2=Kathryn Lomas|title=Greek Identity in the Western Mediterranean: Papers in Honour of Brian Shefton|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-VmL59CfkcC&pg=PA430|year=2004|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-13300-3|pages=430–431|chapter=Greek Identity in the Phocaean Colonies}}</ref><ref name="Thomson2013">{{cite book|author=J. Oliver Thomson|title=History of Ancient Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpP0wKQ1lksC&pg=PA53|date=28 March 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-68992-3|page=53}}</ref><ref name="Dietler2015">{{cite book|author=Michael Dietler|title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107|date=22 September 2015|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-28757-0|page=107}}</ref> In 1923, the German archaeologist [[Adolf Schulten]], accompanied by Adolf Lammerer and [[George Edward Bonsor Saint Martin|George Bonsor]], searched for the location of the ancient Tartessian capital in [[Almonte, Spain|Almonte]], where the Doñana dunes are, but found nothing of interest. These excavations were carried out at Cerro del Trigo<ref name="Schulten2006">{{cite book|author=Adolf Schulten|title=Tartessos: contribución a la historia más antigua de Occidente|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErVFeCm-wvsC&pg=PA12|year=2006|publisher=Editorial Renacimiento|isbn=978-84-8472-240-3|page=12}}</ref><ref name="Bonsor2012">{{cite web|title=Tartessos: El Cerro del Trigo|url=http://www.historiayarqueologia.com/profiles/blogs/jorge-bonsor-tartessos-el-cerro-de-trigo|author=Jorge Bonsor|year=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140205035029/http://www.historiayarqueologia.com/profiles/blogs/jorge-bonsor-tartessos-el-cerro-de-trigo|archive-date=February 5, 2014 |publisher=Sonia Barja}}</ref> and funded by the Duke of Tarifa and Denia, then owner of Doñana.<ref>Schulten 2006, p. 20</ref> Nevertheless, in 1978 Schulten found the stele of Villamanrique<ref>{{cite book|title=Madrider Mitteilungen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxppAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Villamanrique%22|year=1997|publisher=F. H. Kerle.|page=50}}</ref> at the nearby town of [[Villamanrique de la Condesa]]. Surveys were made in 2007 in the Hinojos salt marsh, or "[[Marisma de Hinojos]]", of Huelva province, in an effort to discover traces of the mythical city [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyle |first=Rebecca |date=2011-03-14 |title=Scientists Say They May Have Found Lost City of Atlantis Near Spain |url=https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/scientists-say-theyve-found-lost-city-atlantis-swept-away-tsunami/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Popular Science |language=en-US}}</ref> Noteworthy finds included the remains of Roman settlements, dating from the 2nd through the 5th centuries AD, which had been primarily engaged in fishing and fish salting or the preparation of [[garum]]. The [[Guadalquivir Marshes]] (''Las Marismas del Guadalquivir''), an area of marshy lowlands near the left bank of the mouth of the Guadalquivir, was then a large inland lake known as the ''Lacus Ligustinus'' in Latin.<ref name="ManjarrésPlácido1994">{{cite book|author1=Julio Mangas Manjarrés|author2=Domingo Plácido|title=Avieno|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVimXgcW1AwC&pg=PA91|year=1994|publisher=Editorial Complutense|isbn=978-84-89039-00-1|page=91}}</ref> The lake slowly infilled with deposited sediment, gradually giving way to the current marshes.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Cambios Paleoambientales en la desembocadura del río Guadalquivir durante el Holoceno reciente.|journal=Geogaceta|author=F. Ruiz|author2=A. Rodríguez-Ramírez|volume=32|publisher=Sociedad Geológica de España|pages=167–170|url=http://www.sociedadgeologica.es/archivos/geogacetas/Geo31/Art42.pdf|year=2002|display-authors=etal|access-date=2014-04-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713175829/http://www.sociedadgeologica.es/archivos/geogacetas/Geo31/Art42.pdf|archive-date=2014-07-13|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
;Alfonso X the Wise
In 1262, after conquering the vassal kingdom of [[Niebla, Spain|Niebla]], King [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso X]] established a ''Real Cazadero'' (royal hunting preserve) in the Las Rocinas forest,<ref name="NovoCrawford1997">{{cite book|author1=Francisco García Novo|author2=Robert M. M. Crawford|author3=Mari Cruz Díaz Barradas|title=The Ecology and Conservation of European Dunes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtIFWx7ZskEC&pg=PA109|date=1 January 1997|publisher=Universidad de Sevilla|isbn=978-84-7405-992-2|page=109}}</ref> between the [[Rio Tinto (river)|Rio Tinto]] and the Guadalquivir, partly due to the abundance of deer there, as well as the small sanctuary of [[Santa Olalla]], since disappeared, on the ''Arroyo de la Rocina''.

In 1297, his son Sancho IV granted [[Alonso Pérez de Guzmán|Guzmán el Bueno]] the Lordship of Sanlúcar, consisting of the territory located behind Arenas Gordas on the left bank of the Guadalquivir estuary, and which remained in the hands of the House of Medina-Sidonia for over six centuries. The noble house was established in 1369, when [[Henry II of Castile]] granted the fourth Lord of Sanlúcar the County of Niebla.<ref name="Pierson1989">{{cite book|author=Peter Pierson|title=Commander of the Armada: The Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BINUUaNkJacC&pg=PA9|date=1 January 1989|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04408-9|page=9}}</ref> In 1493 the [[Catholic Monarchs]] donated part of the land of the present village of El Rocío to the royal secretary, whose son later sold it to the town of [[Almonte, Spain|Almonte]]. Previously, new breeding stock had been introduced among the local populations of wild boar and deer, while wolf hunting was encouraged for the benefit of cattle and horse ranching.

{{blockquote|text=In the region of Niebla, specifically at Las Rocinas, the land is flat, covered by thickets, and wild boars are always to be found there... ...one may not traverse this ground in the winter, which is generally very wet, except during a drought, nor in summer because it is then so dry and miserably uncomfortable. ~Alfonso XI in his ''Libro de la Montería'' (The Book of Hunting), written between 1342 and 1348}}

===Early modern===
Nearly a century later, [[Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia]] and commander of the Spanish Armada, bought back part of the land. His wife, Ana de Silva y Mendoza, daughter of the Princess of Eboli, moved to a country retreat there called "Coto de Doña Ana" (Doña Ana Game Preserve), which was the origin of the current name "Doñana";<ref name="RileyRiley2005">{{cite book|author1=Laura Riley|author2=William Riley|title=Nature's Strongholds: The World's Great Wildlife Reserves|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_icMuBQhW4vgC|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12219-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_icMuBQhW4vgC/page/n664 417]}}</ref> the house was renovated years later as a palace. Reference to the use of Coto Donana as a hunting lodge is made in the first verses of the ''La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea'' (Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea), which the lyric poet [[Luis de Góngora]] dedicated to the Count of Niebla, and in which he requests that the nobles suspend their hunting exploits to hear his verses. In 1624, King [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]] stayed at the estate for several days as a guest of the 9th Duke of Medina Sidonia, and joined in some large hunts. He brought with him a great variety of comestibles, which included such luxuries as snow from the mountains for the frequent banquets he held in honor of the duke. In 1797 [[Francisco Goya]] stayed in the palace as a guest of his patrons, the 15th Duke of Medina-Sidonia and his wife, the [[María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba|13th Duchess of Alba]]. Here Goya created his ''Álbum A'', a collection of drawings, and apparently painted his famous portraits, ''La Maja Vestida'' ("The Clothed Maja") and ''La Maja Desnuda'' ("The Naked Maja"), rumored to portray the duchess.<ref name="RileyRiley2005" /><ref name="Lowe2000">{{cite book|author=Alfonso Lowe|title=The Companion Guide to the South of Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vy_v0vWgkzsC&pg=PA148|year=2000|publisher=Companion Guides|isbn=978-1-900639-33-0|page=148}}</ref>

===Late modern, creation of the National Park===
After 1854, with the publishing of a discussion of the area in a treatise called "Avifauna de Doñana: Catálogo de las aves observadas en algunas provincias andaluzas" ("Avifauna of Doñana: Catalogue of the birds observed in some Andalusian provinces"), by Antonio Machado y Nunez, the public began to appreciate its ecological value for the many different species of wildlife found there. Consequently, it was visited by British naturalists and hunters including Abel Chapman and Walter J. Buck, both of whom wrote books that alerted a wider audience in Europe to the strategic importance of Doñana for migratory birds traveling to Africa. Later, when José Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo y Caro (1865-1915) became the 19th Duke of Medina Sidonia, he inherited large debts and to pay them was forced to sell off various assets, including the Coto de Doñana, which he sold for 750,000 pesetas, finally detaching it from the noble house.

When the sherry baron William Garvey bought Doñana from the Duke in 1901, the estate was abandoned and in a state of ruin. Garvey restored the palace to its former splendor, and upon his death it passed to his brother Joseph and his niece Maria Medina y Garvey, who was married to the Duke of Tarifa, a [[Forester|forest engineer.]] In 1934 it passed to the sister of the Duchess of Tarifa, Blanca Medina and Garvey, who was married to the Marquis of Borghetto. In 1942, the Marquis sold it to a company formed by Salvador Noguera, Manuel Gonzalez and the Marquis of Mérito. Fifty years later the park was consolidated as a natural area.

===Conservation===
[[File:El Acebuche 03.jpg|thumb|View of Doñana National Park from visitors' centre at ''El Acebuche'' ([[Almonte, Spain|Almonte]])<ref name="Centro El Acebuche">{{Cite web |title=Centro de Visitantes El Acebuche |url=https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/medioambiente/portal/web/ventanadelvisitante/detalle-buscador-mapa/-/asset_publisher/Jlbxh2qB3NwR/content/el-acebuche/255035}}</ref>]]
The Spanish businessman [[Mauricio González-Gordon y Díez]], Marquis of Bonanza, whose family owned a large estate in Doñana, became interested in its ecosystems and their birdlife, and invited ornithologists from all over Europe to visit. In 1952, the Spanish ornithologists [[José Antonio Valverde]] and [[Francisco Bernis]] visited the property, with González-Gordon serving as their guide. Valverde and the González-Gordon family saw that the wetlands, with their richly diverse wildlife, were threatened by the Spanish government's proposals to drain them for farming and the planting of eucalyptus trees. Mauricio, together with his father, asked Bernis to try and influence Spanish dictator [[Francisco Franco]] into abandoning the plans.<ref name="SEO">{{Cite web |date=2 October 2013 |title=Co-founder of SEO/BirdLife and saviour of Doñana dies aged 89 |url=http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/co-founder-seobirdlife-and-saviour-do%C3%B1ana-dies-aged-89 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184754/http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/co-founder-seobirdlife-and-saviour-do%C3%B1ana-dies-aged-89 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=25 October 2013 |publisher=BirdLife}}</ref> The trio wrote a memorandum which was presented to Franco himself by Mauricio's father Manuel.<ref name="González2012">{{Cite book |last=Luis Mariano González |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qap5axpOZ-4C&pg=PA133 |title=El águila imperial ibérica: el resurgir de una especie amenazada |publisher=Fundacion BBVA |year=2012 |isbn=978-84-92937-38-7 |pages=133–}}</ref> By November 1953 Bernis had finished a report on the status of the Doñana which showed that the area had exceptional ecological value. The group sought and obtained international support for their goals. The efforts of González-Gordon to dissuade Franco exposed him to some danger, but the Franco government conceded and the drainage plans were aborted.<ref name=SEO/>

Valverde led the first organised scientific expedition to the Donana in 1957, joined by the British naturalists [[Guy Mountfort]], [[Roger Tory Peterson]], and Sir [[Julian Huxley]]. A group of European conservation experts – including Guy Mountfort, [[Edward Max Nicholson|Max Nicholson]] and [[Luc Hoffmann]] –then demonstrated the crucial importance of the area as a stopover for birds migrating between the European and African continents. In 1959, the Gonzalez family sold part of their land in Doñana for development of the [[Matalascañas]] resort. This alarmed European conservationists, leading various institutions and anonymous donors to offer to buy part of the property. Valverde, Hoffman, and Nicholson, in partnership with the British Nature Conservancy, formed an association that organised an international drive for funds to expand the park. The campaign raised two million Swiss Francs to buy 7,000 hectares of land for annexation to that already donated by González-Gordon.<ref name="Nash2005">{{Cite book |last=Elizabeth Nash |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GC-Nu86-9LcC&pg=PA167 |title=Seville, Cordoba, and Granada : A Cultural History: A Cultural History |date=16 September 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972537-3 |page=167}}</ref> Finally, in 1963 the Spanish government and WWF bought part of the territory and created the first Doñana preserve, and in 1964 they established the Doñana Biological Station and the [[Spanish National Research Council]] (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - CSIC) to study the biodiversity of Doñana and other Spanish ecosystems.

[[File:El Porrón.jpg|thumb|El Porrón observatory ([[Almonte, Spain|Almonte]])<ref name="Observatorio El Porrón">{{Cite web |title=El Porrón Observatory |url=https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/medioambiente/portal/web/ventanadelvisitante/detalle-buscador-mapa/-/asset_publisher/Jlbxh2qB3NwR/content/porrÓn/255035}}</ref>]]
In 1969, the WWF again joined forces with the Spanish government to purchase another section of the Guadalquivir Delta marshes and establish the Doñana National Park.
That same year the Doñana National Park was created by decree, part of whose territory was owned by the [[Ministry of Economy and Finance (Spain)|Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness]] (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) and part still in private hands. Ten years later the protected area was expanded and the so-called "Preparque Doñana" was created. In 1980, UNESCO recognised the Doñana National Park as a Biosphere Reserve of 77,260 hectares. The Core Zone consists of 50,720 hectares in the National Park of Doñana.<ref name="Zouwen2006">{{Cite book |last=Mariëlle van der Zouwen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkBwwiVX5T8C&pg=PA108 |title=Nature Policy Between Trends and Traditions: Dynamics in Nature Policy Arrangements in the Yorkshire Dales, Doñana, and the Veluwe |publisher=Eburon Uitgeverij B.V. |year=2006 |isbn=978-90-5972-097-8 |pages=105–108}}</ref> The buffer zone is 54,250 hectares in the Natural Park of Doñana. The altitude ranges from sea level to 40 meters above sea level. Unesco considers Doñana of world significance, based on the variety of its ecosystems and the wide number of species they harbor. In 1982 it was included in the list of wetlands of the Ramsar Convention, and in 1989 the [[Regional Government of Andalusia]] converted the Preparque into the Doñana Natural Park. In 1994 it was listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, enabling the establishment of programs to preserve and manage the area. Historically, these vital wetlands have been constantly threatened by schemes to increase local agricultural output and tourism. WWF still supports the Doñana, and is fighting proposals to drain the marshes and syphon off water for irrigation of agricultural land along the coast and expansion of tourist facilities.

In 1998, the Aznalcóllar Disaster occurred when a holding dam burst at the Los Frailes mine owned by Boliden-Apirsa (formerly Andaluza de Piritas, S.A.), the Spanish subsidiary of [[Boliden AB|Boliden]], releasing a flood of toxic sludge that entered the River Guadiamar, the main water source for the park. In 2000, after this major environmental catastrophe, the Spanish [[Ministry of Environment (Spain)|Ministry of Environment]] promoted the "Doñana 2005" program, aimed at regenerating the marshes. In 2006 the responsibilities of maintaining the park were transferred to the Government of Andalusia by the Royal Decree of 9 June; the functions and services of the Nature Conservation administration thus transferred to the Andalusian state were widened, and Doñana National Park and the Natural Park became the "Natural area of Doñana", a single territory divided into areas with different levels of environmental protection. In 2008 this park was twinned with the Regional Natural Park Camargue in France, with which it shares anthropological and ethnographic aspects.

During his tenure, the Spanish Prime Minister [[Felipe González]] began using Doñana as a vacation retreat, setting a precedent for his successors. In 2010, 9200 hectares of land on the coastline were expropriated by the former [[Ministry of Environment (Spain)|Ministry of the Environment]] for protection.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rafael Méndez |date=30 August 2010 |title=Medio Ambiente expropia y protege 9.200 hectáreas de la costa de Doñana |url=http://elpais.com/diario/2010/08/30/sociedad/1283119202_850215.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217020332/http://elpais.com/diario/2010/08/30/sociedad/1283119202_850215.html |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |access-date=6 April 2014 |work=El País}}</ref> In July 2012, Unesco approved the extension of the Biosphere Reserve of Doñana from 77,260 hectares to over 255,000 hectares and enabled compliance with the guidelines of the Man and Biosphere Program. This created a transition zone where the socio-economic interests of the various municipalities in the Doñana region are represented. In 2019, the police closed tens of illegal wells operated largely by fruit farmers around the park which had for many years been draining water away from the park's water table. In the same year, the EU commission decided to take Spain to the [[European Court of Justice]] (EJC) for violating EU conservation rules.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 December 2020 |title=Water News Europe |url=waternewseurope.com/spain-taken-to-court-for-over-abstraction-aquifers-coto-donana/ |access-date=6 December 2022 |website=Water News Europe}}</ref> The court ruled in favor of the EU commission, stating that Spain has not fulfilled its obligations concerning the prevention of illegal water extraction as well as failed to take necessary measures to stop significant modifications of the park's landscape.<ref name="Jones">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Sam |date=5 September 2022 |title=Over-consumption and drought reduce lake in vital Spanish wetland to puddle |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/05/santa-olalla-lake-dries-up-in-vital-spanish-wetland-blamed-on-overexploitation |access-date=4 May 2024 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>
In 2023 the [[Junta de Andalucia]] sought to approve some of the illegal strawberry cultivation taking place near the park, but was blocked by the central government. The Junta made an effort to mitigate damage to the national park by the acquisition of 7,000 ha of an estate called [[Veta La Palma|Veta la Palma]]. This property includes lagoons which had been used for a failed fishing farming enterprise within the natural park and which at the time of purchase were seen as a potential extension to the national park.<ref name="Sur">{{Cite news |last=Barbotta |date=2024 |title=Moreno presenta la adquisición de Veta la Palma como garantía de la supervivencia de Doñana |url=https://www.diariosur.es/andalucia/moreno-presenta-adquisicion-veta-palma-garantia-supervivencia-20240424203126-nt.html |access-date=4 May 2024 |work=Diario Sur |language=Spanish}}</ref><ref name="Pais">{{Cite news |date=2023 |title=La Junta andaluza compra 7.500 hectáreas para que las aves permanezcan en Doñana |url=https://elpais.com/clima-y-medio-ambiente/2023-09-12/la-junta-andaluza-compra-7500-hectareas-para-que-las-aves-permanezcan-en-donana.html |work=El País}}</ref>

In January 2024 the bird count was the lowest on record, reflecting low water levels in the National Park.