Axarquía


Axarquía is a comarca of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the wedge-shaped area east of Málaga. Its name is traced back to Arabic الشرقية. It extends along the coast and inland. Its coastal towns make up the Costa del Sol Oriental - one of the sunniest places in mainland Spain with the average of 320 sunny days a year. The natives of the region are called axárquicos.
The comarca is composed of 31 municipalities, of which the capital is Vélez-Málaga. The Vélez, Algarrobo and Torrox rivers all run through the region. Its highest mountain is La Maroma, highest point of the Sierra de Tejeda, Penibaetic System.
The Axarquía comarca is also known as Axarquía-Costa del Sol, for it includes the Costa del Sol Oriental sector of the Costa del Sol, east of Málaga city made up of Rincón de la Victoria, Vélez-Málaga, Algarrobo, Torrox and Nerja municipal terms.

Etymology

The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy defines the word "jarquía" as "district or territory located east of a great city and dependent on it" and says that it proceeds from Arabic شرقية Šarqiyya, meaning "eastern part" or " eastern." It coincides with the region of Axarquia which lies in the east of Málaga. The Royal Academy, in its spelling of the Spanish Language, 1999 edition, explains that, in old Castilian, consonant fricative phoneme Voiceless velar fricative| represented the palatal Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant| as in English sh sound, found in words like Axarquía, Don Quixote, Mexico, Texas etc.

Municipalities

MunicipalityArea
Population
2011		Population
2018
Alcaucín45.12,6462,239
Alfarnate34.01,2951,105
Alfarnatejo20.4513394
Algarrobo9.76,2296,367
Almáchar14.41,8921,802
Árchez4.8456391
Arenas26.31,3391,177
Benamargosa12.11,6761,496
Benamocarra5.73,0662,999
El Borge24.41,025933
Canillas de Aceituno42.01,8731,620
Canillas de Albaida33.2900732
Colmenar66.03,5603,392
Comares25.51,5081,323
Cómpeta54.23,6293,745
Cútar19.4641614
Frigiliana40.53,1493,086
Iznate7.5924863
Macharaviaya7.2496442
Moclinejo14.31,2831,230
Nerja85.121,08621,061
Periana58.83,5023,068
Rincón de la Victoria28.541,04046,093
Riogordo40.03,0302,701
Salares10.3231174
Sayalonga18.31,4771,658
Sedella31.6672606
Torrox50.016,38716,465
Totalán9.2738715
Vélez-Málaga157.976,92280,817
Viñuela27.21,9492,020
Totals1,023.6205,134211,328