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A cortijo is a type of traditional rural dwelling (akin to the Germany Bauernhof, also known as a farmhouse in English) in the southern half of Spain, including all of Andalusia and parts of Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha.Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1999). Vocabulario Andaluz, El Mundo-Unidad Editorial, Barcelona, p. 173.
Cortijos may have their origins in ancient , for the word is derived from the Latin cohorticulum, a diminutive of cohors, meaning 'courtyard' or inner enclosure.Marcus Terentius Varro, Manuel-Antonio Marcos Casquero (1990). De lingua Latina: edición bilingüe. Anthropos Editorial, , p. 69. Google Books. They are often isolated structures associated with a large family farm or livestock management in the adjoining lands.
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. Cortijos were often . Roofs were built with wooden beam structures and covered with red ceramic .
The master of the cortijo or "señorito" would usually live with his family in a two-story building when visiting, while the accessory structures were for the labourers and their families —also known as "cortijeros". The latter buildings were usually of more simple construction.Florido Trujillo, Gemma. Poblamiento y hábitat rural: Caracterización, evolución y situación actual, p. 337.
The cortijo was usually a habitat surrounded by extensive lands, such as olive groves or other kinds 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.Tafunell, Xavier (2004). Historia económica de la España contemporánea. Crítica.
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