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A ''cortijo'' is a type of traditional rural habitat in the Southern half of Spain, including all of Andalusia and parts of Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha.〔Antonio Alcalá Venceslada, ''Vocabulario Andaluz'', El Mundo-Unidad Editorial, Barcelona 1999, p. 173〕 ''Cortijos'' may have their origins in ancient Roman villas, for the word is derived from the Latin ''cohorticulum'', a diminutive of ''cohors'', meaning 'courtyard'.〔Manuel-Antonio Marcos Casquero, ''Marcus Terentius Varro'', (''De lingua Latina'': edición bilingüe ), Anthropos Editorial, 1990, ISBN 8476582382, pg. 69.〕 They are often isolated structures associated with a large family farming or livestock operation in the vast and empty adjoining lands.〔 ==Description== A ''cortijo'' would usually include a large house, together with accessory buildings such as workers' quarters, sheds to house livestock, granaries, oil mills, barns and often a wall enclosing a courtyard.〔Antonio López Ontiveros et al. ''Geografía de Andalucía'', Ed. Ariel, Barcelona 2003 ISBN 84-344-3476-8〕 It was also common for isolated ''cortijos'' to include a small chapel. In mountain areas, rough stone was often used for wall construction and ashlar for corners, doorways, windows and arches. In ancient ''cortijos'', mud or slaked lime were used as mortar. However, the traditional materials were replaced by cement and brick construction in more recent ones. In places where stone was hard to come by, adobe was more common as a construction material. Usually ''cortijos'' were whitewashed. Roofs were built with wooden beam structures and covered with red ceramic roof tiles.〔 The master of the ''cortijo'' or ''"señorito"'' would usually live with his family in a two story building, while the accessory structures were for the labourers and their families —also known as ''"cortijeros"''.〔 The latter buildings were usually of more simple construction.〔Gemma Florido Trujillo: ''Poblamiento y hábitat rural: Caracterización, evolución y situación actual'', p. 337〕 The ''cortijo'' as a habitat is surrounded by cultivated lands, such as olive trees or other kind of agricultural exploitation. In certain desolate areas of the southern Central Meseta, Extremadura and Sierra Morena, a ''cortijo'' would be the only inhabited center for many miles around. Thus, most of them were self-sufficient units, as far as that was possible.〔 Many ''cortijos'' became deserted following General Franco's ''Plan de Estabilización'' and the abandonment of traditional agricultural practices by the local youth, including the lifestyle changes that swept over rural Spain during the second half of the 20th century.〔Xavier Tafunell, (2004). ''Historia económica de la España contemporánea''. Crítica. ISBN 8484325024〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cortijo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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