History Of Malaga

Malaga has an enviable history, owing to the arrival of the Phoenicians through to the Romans, Moors and the Crusaders. The city flaunts a 1,000-year-old fortress that overlooks the city’s historical district as well as many museums, monuments and churches that tell the story of Malaga’s illustrious past.

The Phoenicians

The Phoenicians landed in Malaga in the 12th century BC and built a fortress on a hill – on the same site of present day La Alcazaba. Together with their burial grounds, they left many pieces of pottery and other items of interest behind which can be seen at the castle’s museum which is located near Alcazaba. Later, Malaga became a prosperous harbour town, well known as a centre for salting fish.

When the Romans eventually colonised Spain in the 3rd century BC, they rebuilt La Alcazaba fortress and greatly extended it as well as building a theatre below it. The Romans remained in Malaga for more than six centuries.

Moors conquest

Although the Greeks came on the scene sometime in the 6th century, the Romans remained the rulers until the Moors invaded Spain in the early 8th century and Malaga became a wholly Moorish city. The city continued to grow under the Moors, with quality products like figs and wine being traded, and it became one of the most prominent merchant centres on the peninsular.

Malaga remained under Moors rule for an unprecedented 800 years before the Spanish Christians captured the city in the late 15th century. Malaga remained in Spanish hands from then on, apart from when the city was held by the French from 1810 to 1812. Pablo Picasso, Malaga’s most famous son, was born 69 years later in 1881.

The tourism era

Tourism took off in Malaga with the opening up of the skies and the jet age in the 1960's and 1970's, although it wasn’t until the 1980's that millions of British and German tourists would begin spending their summer holidays on the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun), which runs from Mortil in the east through Malaga and towards Gibraltar in the southwest. Malaga perhaps wouldn’t be as popular as it is without the allure of the Costa del Sol beach resorts and the positioning of Malaga Airport, yet its own city beaches, its rich history and its party atmosphere are reason enough to warrant it being a popular destination in its own right.