Xarq al Àndalus, la gent de la terra

This article  sets out the Arab-Amazigh origins of the outstanding Valencian, Spain, horticultural landscape (8th-10th centuries), the largest historical irrigated vegetable garden landscape in the western Mediterranean, which is still alive today, despite the pressures it suffers. It discusses the worldview, the values and communal systems of management and governance of that non-feudal society, where the land belonged to whoever plowed it. It narrates the changes of land ownership and the transformation of the governance imposed by the Christian conquerors, culminating in the expulsion of the Jews (15th century) and the Moors (17th century). Next, the elements that have survived to the present day are discussed, such as the Tribunal de les aigües (Water Court) one of the oldest popular justice systems in the world in operation. He concludes that the remaining ‘horta’ is the living memory that reminds us that it is possible to live in community and in balance with the land, and teaches that tradition is not the past, but what does not happen. Only available in Catalan.