History of Old Marbella

The old town of Marbella is absolutely charming. The streets are narrow and cobbled, with chic boutiques and local cafés side by side. At the heart of the Old Town known as "El Casco Antiguo" lies the Orange Square, which is also where the tourist office is ready to give you maps and information. Cross the road from the Alameda Park fountain and walk through the Orange Square past the old castle wall and into the impressive Cathedral. The Old Town is perfect for shopping and relaxing in the many cafés, restaurants and bars.

Marbella has been blessed with a long history going back to the primal Palaeolithic and barbaric Neolithic Ages which left their testimonies in the Sierra Blanca mountain range. There, human remains and prehistoric relics have been dug up and have innocently revealed an important part of Marbella's history to us. Recent discoveries point to the fact that in the 7th Century BC there were Phoenician and Punic settlements in the Rio Real area. Coming up to more recent times, we have learned that Marbella was founded by the Romans in 206 BC and given the name of Saluba. Evidence of this time are the archaeological remains uncovered at the Rio Verde Roman Villa, the Guadalmina Thermal Baths and different discoveries in the Old Town of the City. But the weight of Marbella's history lies in the Arab influence through which it lived during almost eight centuries (711-1485). During the Islamic period, Marbella was a walled-in city which protected itself from invaders which knew of its privileged situation on the coast.

The first references to Marbella can be found in the geographic texts used by Muslim travellers in the Middle Ages. During the Islam period Marbella became a walled in city, which protected itself from invaders which knew of its priveleged situation on the coast. The Muslims built a castle and surrounded the city with a moat with just three entrances: "From the Sea" (del Mar), "From Ronda" and "From Malaga". The Castle remains today but the moat and the doors have disappeared.

The King Fernando the Catholic conquered Marbella on the 11th of June in 1485 and this is represented in engravings in the Choir area of the Cathedral of Toledo.

After the defeat and throughout the 16th Century, the urban structure of the town of Marbella suffered important changes. The centre of the Muslim "Medina" (today the Old Town), was demolished to open the square (Main Square, Royal Square or Today "The Orange Square") and a new street (calle Nueva) in order to connect them with Puerta del Mar. (sea entrance).

In the 16th century, following the Christian reconquest, Marbella started to grow again - but slowly - by developing the surrounding farmland for agricultural production. New houses and residential districts started to be built around the nucleus of the ruined Muslim town. But, even as late as the end of the 18th century there were only 820 buildings in total, and many of them were empty or falling down.

In 1725 the San Luis fort was constructed to protect the inhabitants of Marbella from Mediterranean pirate raids. The fort was later destroyed by the French during their retreat at the end of the Peninsular War (1808-14). All that remains of it is a tower, now to be found in the gardens belonging to the hotel El Fuerte.

In the 19th century Marbella started to grow more rapidly, expanding beyond the historic old town to areas along side what is now the Parque Arroyo de la Represa. Public building works of the time included new bridges and roads. In this spirit of progress, modern machinery and new industries arrived. Private capital financed the creation of an iron foundry that employed over one thousand men who came from all over Andalucía to work here. People are often surprised to hear that the first blast furnaces in Spain were installed in this factory.

However, agriculture continued to be the mainstay of Marbella's economy throughout the 19th century. The Marqués de Duero's famous, experimental model farm dates from this period. It was the most important privately financed agricultural colony in Spain and was situated where Sampedrena is today.

In the middle of the 19th century Marbella received artificial light for the first time by means of a primitive reverberation system, but it had to wait until the end of the century for the arrival of electricity and light bulbs. From the early part of the 19th century a number of plans were made to build a modern fishing port, but they all came to nothing until the 1950's when the port we see today was finally completed.

Yet for those day trippers, driving through Marbella, they would never notice the rich history that abounds in this beautiful town, so don't just drive through!

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