Pueblos blancos

The Pueblos Blancos, or White Villages

This term has been used in the terminology of state turism in Andalusia, southern Spain, to denote a series of villages in the 'comunidad' of Malaga where the houses are painted with whitewash or cal. Far from being an ancient custom, it was instituted by law by Miguel Primo de Rivera, the dictator, as a way of obscuring the relative economic status of the inhabitants of these upland villages, as only the more wealthy could pay for the red and yellow ochre tints used in the truly traditional Andalusian house. The aim of the dictator was thus to mask the yawning social/economic differences seething under the surface which would later reveal themselves in the Spanish Civil War. Indeed, during that war, many painted their houses red or blue according to their political stance.