Accessibility Tools

Skip to main content
issuu

History of Marbella

Discover us

Read 5875 times

Thousands of years before Christ's birth, human settlements already existed in Marbella's  Sierra Blanca mountains, proven by the Palaeolithic and Neolithic remains found on it's slopes.

Recent discoveries show that since the VII century before Christ, Eastern cities (Phoenician and Carthaginian) were established around the Río Real river.


The passage of ancient Rome through our district is seen in various remains, such as the Roman Villa of Río Verde, the Roman Baths of Guadalmina and various discoveries in the Old Quarter.

The first reference to Marbella is found in the writings of Muslim geographers and travellers from the Middle Ages.


During the Islamic era, Marbella became a walled city. The Muslims built a castle and surrounded the city with a strong wall containing three access points or portals: "del Mar", "de Ronda" and "de Malaga". The remains of the castle still exist today.

After the Reconquest, and during the XVI century, Marbella's town structure underwent significant change. The centre of the Muslim "medina" (the present day "old quarter") was demolished to open up a town square ("Plaza Mayor" or "Plaza Real" now known as "Los Naranjos") and a new street "Nueva" to link the plaza with the "Puerta del Mar".

In the XIX century, with the foundation of the first blast-furnaces in Spain at el Angel and La Concepción, in order to make use of the iron from the Sierra Blanca mines, Marbella joined the industrialisation of Malaga, which became the second largest industrial region in Spain.


70 years ago Marbella was an agricultural and fishing town, with a mining industry and 10,000 inhabitants. Today there are 141,163 inhabitants on the electoral roll, quite apart from the floating population.

 

  • Roman civilization

    The Roman civilization left varying evidence of its past on our region. In the heart of the Old Town are traces of the Roman occupation: three capitals can be made out on the Castle walls; recent work in calle Escuelas has brought to light the remnants of a Roman monument, before the Castle was built; ceramic remains of sigillata or pipe clay, in Plaza de los Naranjos; and a grave in plaza de la Victoria. There are also many signs of the Roman occupation in our locality. Burial chambers have been uncovered in Las Chapas (Carril del Relojero); slag that came from mining activities in the area around erro Torrón and cerro del Trapiche a start-up device for a Roman bridge in «Puente Romano»ceramic fragments around the San Pedro Alcántara cemetery area; also next to the Torre del Duque or Duke´s Tower, in Puerto Banús. Marbella´s most significant archaeological sites, «Villa Romana de Río Verde» (Rio Verde Roman Villa) and «Termas Romanas de Guadalmina» (Roman Baths of Guadalmina) belong to this period.

  • The Muslims

    The configuration of our town during the first two hundred years of occupation is still not clear. It was in the 10th century that the Castle was built. In a later era a large wall was erected to protect nearby settlements.

    Marbella was the head of what was called the «Tierra de Marbella – ‘land of Marbella», which incorporated a number of villages such as Ojén, Istán, Benahavís, Alicates, Nagüeles, Cortes, Almáchar, Tramores, Daidín, Montemayor, Arboto, Fontanillas, Benamarín, Arbunjendín, Benimaydu, Velerín, Benidrís, Benibolás, Montenegral and Esteril.

    The town surrendered to King Fernando the Catholic on 11 June 1485. The act of handing over the keys probably took place at the spot named «Cruz del Humilladero» in calle Málaga.

  • Christian Marbella

    After the reconquest, it was repopulated by people from many different places. Marbella remained a town that depended directly on the monarchy who assigned a mayor as Governor.

    The key figure to emerge was Alonso de Bazán linked without question to the great Bazanes, the head of whom was the Marquis of Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán. He would in any case have been a distant family relation. However, it is this don Alonso who secured control of the castle with the post of governor on the council. With these powers, he amassed a large property and economic empire which, after his death, his descendants used to set up, by executive order, the charitable establishment called «Hospital de la Encarnación», but known as «Hospital Bazán».

    Another early personality in our folklore was Lorenzo Domínguez de Rioja who started up the powerful Domínguez clan, notable in Marbella public life until the 19th century and whose principal legacy is Cortijo Miraflores. One of the most important descendants of this lineage was José López Domínguez, General Captain of the Armed Forces and President of the Government.

  • The 19th century

    Marbella's main economic activity from the outset was agriculture, trade, fishing and the operation of large numbers of mines in the Sierra Blanca. Marbella, additionally, had five sugar mills. When Marbella was at war with the Muslims, who occupied the north of Africa, fishing activity was almost completely paralyzed as it was considered unsafe to venture out to sea.

    In the 19th century a series of laws were passed which benefited mineral operation. The existence in the Sierra Blanca of a highly important site of magnetic iron, combined with favourable economic circumstances, meant that our province came to occupy second place nationally in terms of industrialization and gave rise to the creation of two establishments for the treatment of this mineral on the shores of the river Verde The first tall blast furnaces were built for civil use in Spain: «La Concepción» or Fábrica de Arriba (Factory Above), and «El Ángel» or Fábrica de Abajo (Factory Below), The first tall blast furnaces were built for civil use in Spain: «La Concepción» or Fábrica de Arriba (Factory Above), and «El Ángel» or Fábrica de Abajo (Factory Below), but just as these favourable circumstances helped, others occurred which had the opposite effect and, combined with spurious interests, served to harm that industry. New laws which were passed to support agriculture in our country led to the creation of various farming colonies; the most important among these were in San Pedro Alcántara and El Ángel. The San Pedro colony was the origin of this most important centre of population and El Ángel was the germ of the flagship tourism insignia: Andalucía la Nueva (Andalucía the New) and Puerto Banús.

  • The 20th century

    As an agricultural town, Marbella languished, welcoming those who were first known as holidaymakers, not tourists, a relatively modern term.

    It wasn't until the 50s when, led by Ricardo Soriano and later the Hohenlohes, Goizuetas, Banús, Guerreros, Cocas, that the current Marbella came about: symbol and indicator of quality tourism, which came to definitively change the physiognomy of Marbella, San Pedro Alcántara and the entire district as well as the economic activity and lifestyle of its inhabitants.

    This reality came about in the second half of the 20th century, when the progressive tourist development which began in the sixties transformed this area into one of the most important components in the global tourist scene.

Image Gallery (22)

  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella
  • History of Marbella