Marbella

Several millennia before Christ, there were already human settlements in the Sierra Blanca of Marbella, as attested by the objects and human remains from the Paleolithic and Neolithic times discovered on its slopes.

Recent discoveries indicate that around the 7th century BC, oriental peoples (Phoenicians and Punics) settled in the area of Rio Real.

The passage of Rome through our term is attested by numerous remains, such as the Villa Romana de Rio Verde, Las Termas de Guadalmina and various finds in the Old Town of the city.

The Paleochristian Basilica of Vega del Mar has remained from the Visigothic period; a unique construction with a double apse of which there is only another similar one in Spain.

The first references to Marbella are found for the first time in the texts of Muslim geographers and travelers from the Middle Ages.

During the Islamic period Marbella became a walled city. The Muslims built a castle and surrounded the city with a powerful fence with three entrances or gates: “del Mar", “de Ronda" and “de Málaga". Currently the Castle is preserved but the fence and gates have disappeared.

Marbella was taken by King Fernando El Católico on June 11, 1485 and this moment is represented in the choir stalls of the Cathedral of Toledo.

After the Reconquest and throughout the 16th century, the urban structure of Marbella underwent important changes. The center of the Muslim “Medina" (today the Old Town) was demolished to open a square (“Plaza Mayor" or “Real", today “Los Naranjos") and a street (“Nueva") to connect it with the " Gate of the Sea."

At that time the economic activity of our town was based on agriculture and livestock, although the sweet wine of which the English traveler Francis Carter (18th century, said: «Marbella wine is very good; more dry and tastier than that of Malaga and with a certain flavor of Madeira. I am sure that if they prepared it well it would be highly esteemed in England, it would increase its price and thus encourage its inhabitants to be more careful with their vineyards”.

During the 19th century and with the installation of the first Blast Furnaces in Spain, in El Angel and La Concepción, to take advantage of the iron from the Sierra Blanca mines. Marbella joins the industrialization of Malaga, which becomes the second industrial province on the Peninsula.

45 years ago Marbella was an agricultural town, with a mining industry and 10,000 inhabitants. Today there are more than 100,000 registered inhabitants apart from its floating population.

From the 90s is when our city can truly be understood as a “Universal City". The guidelines and policies of Jesús Gil as mayor of Marbella in the last decade of the 20th century mark an important milestone in our development. Infrastructures, Cultural Centers, Sports Facilities, Municipal Dependencies, Golf Courses, New Avenues, Parks, etc. and a sustained investment policy make Marbella a city desired by all and awarded in national and international forums for its safety, its cleanliness and that cordiality for which its people are distinguished.