Welcome history buffs. Our topic this week is Santa Gertrudis, a charming (and now quite fashionable) village, which marks the exact geographical centre of Ibiza. As one of the three island townships that does not give onto the sea (a landlocked condition it shares with Sant Rafel and Sant Lloren�), Santa Gertrudis has been preserved from the rapid pace of development that has transformed much of the coastline. Although, it must be said that a recent spurt of construction is attracting more and more people to the village. Despite these surface changes, Santa Gertrudis remains much the same as it was in the 19^th century: a quiet agricultural area, gently rolling rather than rugged, peaceful as opposed to glamorous.

Farmer's Dream

The noble traveller, author and draughtsman, Archduke Luis Salvador, recorded these impressions on his first trip to the village in 1867: "The road carried on changelessly through stony ground. All the fields were terraced by dry stone walls and you could see the usual trees, carob, fig and olive. Here and there, a few small houses punctuated the uniformity with their solitude and calm. All of a sudden, the Santa Gertrudis church appeared on a swell of land so subtle that it seemed no higher than the surrounding fields."

Historically, Santa Gertrudis has been an important farming area ever since Phoenician times and possibly before. The earth was fertile and moist, and the gentle contours of the land allowed for simple wide-spaced terracing (as opposed to the laborious, deeply cut terraces that characterize hilly areas such as Santa Agn�s and Sant Josep). Like Sant Lloren�, Santa Gertrudis was a farmer's dream.

Of course, no one ever called the area Santa Gertrudis until 1785 when Manuel Abad y Lasierra grouped several of the island's central farming v�ndes into a parish by the same name. For the sake of curiosity, these v�ndes, or rural districts, were: clas Ramons, Parada, la Picassa, Beniformiga, cals Savions, can Ll�tzer, Fruitera (the actual v�nda on which the church stands, ergo the denomination Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera), part of Santa Mar�a, and the Serres farmstead.

Font of Plenty

While touring the island, Abad y Lasierra made a note in his journal of the abundant fresh-water spring that surged forth in the v�nda of sa Fruitera. The locals referred to this natural source of ground water as sa Fontassa, meaning 'the great fountain'. Immediately, the bishop recognized that this location was ideal for the foundation of a village, in that water is the source of all life and here it was free for the taking. He saw that both field and house would be well served by sa Fontassa for what then seemed like perpetuity. Little did the people of day suspect that worldwide desiccation would eventually take its toll on the great fountain, which is now dry.

However, returning to the historical arena, Abad y Lasierra was not mistaken in his calculations: a lovely country village with a sizeable community sprang up almost immediately after the church was built. Irrigation canals were build to channel the water that issued from sa Fontassa far out into the surrounding countryside. Farming was clearly a going concern if we are to judge from a census taken at this time (late 18^th century) which records that 100% of the Santa Gertrudis population lived exclusively off farming. (The sole exception to this was the parish priest).

Good Intentions

So often in his attempts to improve the rural standard of living, Abad y Lasierra expected - rather ingenuously perhaps - that islanders would behave in one way, only to find that they reacted much differently, guided by some fierce, archaic code of conduct that was incomprehensible to the outside world.

Each and every one of the seven churches that Abad y Lasierra created was commissioned in the hope that it would serve as the foundation for a village that would draw people together and make them live in civic co-operation. This plan, however, rarely materialized. Most of the churches remained as isolated icons, monuments towering over the countryside, but not as hubs of day to day living. The Sant Miguel church, for example, was built in 1305 but remained village-less until the mid-17^th century. Even today, villages such as Sant Agust� or Santa Agn�s are hardly more than hamlets with a church attached.

Boom Town 

Santa Gertrudis, on the other hand, boasted 860 inhabitants by the year 1840. Ten years later, the population had grown to 1020 in habitants and, in 1860; it levelled off at 956 inhabitants, remaining more or less fixed at this number until the advent of tourism. One reason for the blossoming of civic cohabitation was, of course, sa Fontassa. Folk from all around had to come fetch water at the spring anyway, and when the church became part of the panorama, many families decided to set up house in the vicinity.

Easy Living

But there may be another explanation. The people of Santa Gertrudis, have always seemed to me to be easy-going, co-operative types. I cannot speak for past eras, but there is reason to believe they have always been one of the more placid pockets of island population. They lived on fruitful land, easy to farm and endowed with a constant water supply. This happy combination would, perhaps, have removed the rough, competitive edge that man often acquires from protracted hardship. It is known that the people did not oppose the bishop on his choice of a church site and that they were probably the second group, after Sant Rafel, to finish their church (1797), a sure sign of civic co-operation. Given this historical profile, they seem to have been a group that was especially suited to community life.

But, of course, this theory is mostly conjecture on my part. To prove the matter one way or another, one would have to test the affability of the villagers by personal interaction. The patron saint fiesta on 16^th November may be just the ticket. Barring that, one can learn all about Santa Gertrudis�s rich heritage in Mariano Mayans� book Santa Gertrudis: 200 Anys (1997), written in commemoration of the village's bicentennial. Thank you Mariano for your valuable help with this article.

Next week we will explore the mysteries of ball pag�s, Ibicenco folk dancing. Don't miss it, here at Ibiza History Culture.