page_title: Alkiza
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Alkiza / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Etxabe and Etxabegoien farmhouses, Alkiza
context_page_description: Alkiza is a rural municipality in the centre of Gipuzkoa, northwest of the Tolosaldea County, in the Basque Country. It is 27 kilometres south of San Sebastian. In 2019 it had 373 inhabitants, of which 88.8% were Basque speakers. Alkiza is an independent municipality since 1731; previously it depended on Tolosa and San Sebastian.
  Alkiza is connected with Anoeta and Asteasu through the GI-3630 road. The Asteasu branch was inaugurated in 1952 and the Anoeta branch in 1957. Until then, farm roads and paths linked Alkiza with the nearby villages.
  The village is 340 meters above sea level and there are the school, the town hall, the pelota-court and the parish church. The municipality has more than 40 scattered farms and houses.
  Its inhabitants are nicknamed in Basque oiloak.
  The village's main festival is on September 8.
context_section_description: The first human footprints in Alkiza date back to the Bronze Age. Ceramic pieces in the Olatzazpi cave and the burial mound of the place called Itzuregi are an example of this.
  The first written references to Alkiza are from 1348. In fact, by order of the King of Castile Alfonso XI, the list of noblemen of Tolosa was drawn up. In this list there are several Alkiza households. Alkiza is mentioned administratively associated to Tolosa. In 1396 Tolosa recognized Alkiza the right to choose its judges. Because of taxes Alkiza and other villages of Tolosaldea had disputes with Tolosa since 1435. Within this process, in 1450, Alkiza decided to join San Sebastián, but this did not materialize legally until in 1479.
  Between the XV and XVIII centuries, Alkiza self-governed as an open council, although judges and aldermen were also appointed for everyday decisions.
  At the end of the first third of the 18th century, the most important moment in the history of Alkiza arrived: it became a municipality. On January 21, 1731, Alkiza was declared a villa by King Philip V and separated from San Sebastián. The distance to San Sebastián was the most important reason to carry out this secession. Miguel Irazusta was the first mayor. That same year, the limits of Alqiiza with the villages in the area were officially defined and each of the cairns was signalled. The Asteasu boundary, for example, was delimited by the cairns of Olatza, Arizmendi, Zalminaga and Arraiaga. 54 houses constituted the new municipality.
  By becoming an independent municipality, Alkiza acquired the right to participate in the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa. This had an economic cost and Alkiza proposed Anoeta to join and to share expenses. In 1742 the two villages founded the Ainssu union for their representation in the General Assembly. In 1815 Hernialde joined Ainssu and the enlarged union was called Ainssuberreluz.
  At the beginning of the 19th century, the communal land was privatized in Alkiza. The first movement occurred because of the debts derived from the War of the Convention, and so in 1797 the local assembly authorized the City Council to sell communal land. The first auction of communal land was held in 1799 and the City Council sold 53 lots. From that date until 1814 the City Council held six auctions for the alienation of communal land. In 1810, other goods were auctioned, such as the Olaa and Goiko Errota mills in Aldapa neighborhood and Igaran in Arana neighborhood. At the end of the 18th century, half of the municipality's land was public and between 1799 and 1845 the City Council auctioned 682 communal plots, 5.3 km². The communal land was reduced to an area of 0.4 km².
  This privatization seriously affected the economy of the city council. In fact, the council obtained great economic resources by selling firewood, charcoal, chestnuts and others. This caused, for example, in 1801 the loss of the resident notaries that Alkiza had since 1749. The forest guards responsible for the municipal forests and nurseries also disappeared.
  The two Carlist wars of the 19th century had little effect on Alkiza. Although, in the Third Carlist War, the so-called Alkiza encounter happened in 1873. The Carlist guerrilla leader Santa Cruz priest was suspected to be somewhere in Hernio area and the miqueletes (police corp) and the liberal troops went looking for him. They found no one and decided to descend from Zelatun pass to Alkiza. Upon entering the village they were greeted with shots, but the liberals expelled the Carlists carrying a charge in bayonet. On the other hand, it was frequent that Santa Cruz took shelter in the priest's house of Alkiza, whose parish priest was a fervent Carlist.
  The mail service started in 1873 with two postmen. One of them made the Azpeitia-Alquiza-Larraul-Asteasu route and the other, Tolosa-Alquiza-Larraul-Asteasu.
  In 1885 the city council decided to bring up the telegraph and telephone to the village. These services were based in the municipal tavern. The phone was not extended to all households in the municipality until the beginning of the 
caption: Scattered farmhouses of Aldapa, Azaldegi and Hernio neighbourhoods
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