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Estepa is a municipality in the extreme south-east of the province of Seville. The town is located north of the Sierra del Becerro mountains.

Estepa possesses a very ancient past and preserves its remains well. Some date back to the prehistoric times, with remains of silex, axes of stone, etc. Later, the remains reveal the accession of the Libyan-Phoenician (or Libyan-Punic) race. Two accessions are known, at least; one placed in Los Canterones, and the other under present-day Estepa.
Historians do not agree on the double denomination of which Estepa is mentioned in classic sources, as Astapa and Ostippo. In Roman Epoch, it was Ostippo, a free city linked to the Conventus de Astigi (Écija). The Roman city would have occupied the high part of the city, but little evidence remains. Numerous remains of agricultural developments suggest many small populations in the plains to the north of Estepa.
In the Middle Ages, it was home to the Masters of the Order of Santiago, conquerors' cradle, D. Juan Torres de Vera.
Estepa is well known for its production of Christmas-time sweets, mainly mantecado, or traditional Spanish crumble cake, notable for being based in pork fat. Estepa has 30 shortcake dough factories, and 15 factories are associated with Coexema A. I. E., that mainly deals with the export of products. Each factory employs up to 2,000 employees, from September to December, 90% of which are women. The factories produce about 20 million kilos of Christmas sweets annually.

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Additional Photos by Aleksandar Dekanski (dekanski) Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 34 W: 71 N: 78] (489)
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