Marbella History

In the municipality remains have been found to testify that it was inhabited since the Paleolithic era and during the Neolithic. Some authors believe that the origin of modern Málaga could be a Phoenician settlement of which abounded on the coast of the province of Malaga. However, no remains have been found of any significant settlement, although several pieces have appeared in different parts of the municipality, as in the fields of Rio Real and Cerro Torrón.32 33

Is proved the existence of a Roman population center in what is now the Old Town: the stones of the wall three Ionic capitals embedded in it, recent discoveries in the street and many other schools in the population scattered remains testify to this. There are also other Roman settlements along the Rio Verde and Guadalmina: Villa Romana de Rio Verde, Guadalmina Roman baths and the remains of the early Christian basilica of Vega de Mar, surrounded by a Visigoth necropolis proves the continued human presence in the area later 34
Marbella’s old town still retains some of its medieval layout.
[Edit] Middle Ages

During the Islamic period, after the Normans lay waste the coast of Malaga, Muslims fortified the place, built in the tenth century a castle and later, several watchtowers and a fence that protected the city. This was made up of narrow streets and small buildings with large yards, being the most notable buildings and the fortress mezquita.33 The village was surrounded by gardens, with the most famous crop figs and mulberry trees for silkworm production . The current name may derive from the name the Arabs gave: Marbil-la, which in turn, according to some linguistic studies, derived from an earlier Iberian toponym.

During the first days of the Taifa kingdoms, Marbil-la was disputed by the Taifa of Algeciras and Malaga, eventually falling into the orbit of the second, which itself later became part of the Nazari Kingdom. In 1283 the sultan Abu Yusuf Marinid launched a campaign against the Kingdom of Granada in Malaga land. Peace between meriníes and Nazari be achieved with the signing of Marbella on May 6, 1286, by which the monarch are returned all possessions Nazari Al-Ándalus.35 meriníes
[Edit] Modern Era
Partial view of the main facade of the Casa del Corregidor, built in the sixteenth century in the Plaza de los Naranjos.

On June 11, 1485 the town passed into the hands of the Crown of Castile, without shedding of sangre.36 The Catholic Monarchs granted the title of city and county make header and royal. During this time when building the Plaza de los Naranjos, following the Castilian urban designs, and some of the historic buildings that rodean.37

From 1644 is introduced sugar cane, whose cultivation is expanding throughout the Malaga coast, resulting in the appearance of mills, such as Trapiche del Prado de Marbella.38 also rise in this century Fort of San Luis, on which now houses the Hotel El Fuerte, and churches of the Holy Christ of the True Cross and Calvary.
[Edit] Nineteenth Century

In the early nineteenth century came the blast furnaces of Marbella, who worked with iron and wood Ojén mine in the mountains, and blast furnaces were the first civilians in Spain, can produce up to 75% of the country cast iron 0.9 In 1860 the Marqués del Duero founded an agricultural colony, giving rise to the heart of San Pedro Alcántara. Simultaneously, in the decade beginning the dismantling of the steel industry based in the forges of the Angel and La Concepción, affecting the relations of production of the population who had to return to the occupations of agriculture and fishing. This situation is compounded by widespread crisis of traditional agriculture, compounded by the scourge of phylloxera, which accounts for Marbella unemployment and high rates of poverty and famine in many day laborers who come to die inanición.39
Manuel Gutiérrez de la Concha and Irigoyen, Marqués del Duero.

Infrastructure installation in the forge of the Angel in 1871 of British mining company The Marbella Iron Ore Company Limited & momentarily came to alleviate this situation, and even turned the city into magnet for immigration, increasing its population. However, this company did not exceed the industrial crisis of the century, closing its doors in 1893 due to the difficulty of placing the magnetite markets extraída.39

In the late nineteenth century, Marbella had a village composed of three parts: the main neighborhoods, Bairro Alto or San Francisco and New Town, and three smaller nuclei arranged around the former ironworks and farm-model the colony of San Pedro Alcántara also isolated dwellings in gardens and farms. The population is divided among a small group of oligarchs and the people, the middle class being almost inexistente.39
[Edit] Twentieth Century
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia until his death was a frequent visitor to Marbella. His entourage used to spend up to 5 million euros a day in the ciudad.40

In the early decades of the century are the first hotels: the Commercial, founded in 1918, and the Miramar, which opened in 1934.16

During the period of the Second Republic, Marbella important social experiences motivated by strong political and social mobilization. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Marbella was, along with Casares, the people of the western region of Malaga where he said more strongly anticlerical violence. Several religious buildings in the city were burned the day after the failed uprising that led to the Civil War, including the Church of St. Mary of the Incarnation and the Church of San Pedro Alcantara, of which only structures left standing. 41

Taken by the National Bank with the help of troops from Fascist Italy during the first months of the war, Marbella became a refuge of prominent Nazis as Léon Degrelle and Wolfgang minstrel, and a favorite place for leisure and business of many personalities such as José Antonio Girón Phalangists Velasco and José Banús, personal friends of the dictator and responsible for urban development that began in Marbella in 1960. In this process of urban expansion involves not only people so far outside the town, as mentioned, but also local authorities and leaders of the party only once physically removed and almost absolute opposition republicana.42

After World War II, appeared in Ricardo Soriano Marbella Hermensdorff von Scholtz, Ivanrey Marquis, who made propaganda of Marbella between its rich and famous friends. Ricardo Soriano acquired a property located between Marbella and San Pedro and there he built a resort named “Sales and home to the Rodeo”, initiating the development of tourism in Marbella. His nephew, Alfonso de Hohenlohe, acquired the Finca Santa Margarita, the embryo of what would be the Marbella Club 1954. The steps of these would be seconded later by other known members of European families: Bismarck, Rothschild, Thurn und Taxis, Metternich, Goldsmith, de Mora y Aragon, or the Thyssen-Bornemisza, turning to Marbella in a meeting of the international jet set.