Marbella: The City In Spain

Marcelo admires Spain's own culinary leaders Juan Mari Arzak, of longtime Michelin three-star Arzak Restaurant in San Sebastián, and Ferran Adrià, the creative force behind three-star El Bulli in Catalonia.

Marbella at a glance

Although Marbella is known for its great golf courses, it is much more than golf. It has been the play-ground of the rich and famous since the early 50's and since the inauguration of Puerto Banús in 1970, Marbella became legendary on the international scene. Yet, Marbella is also much more than this. When the city was founded is uncertain, but when the Romans inhabited the city before the birth of Christ, there had already been Neolithic settings in the area and the Romans left a town of considerable dimensions. The Muslims invaded the city in the 8th century and the city castle stems from their reign. They were finally expulsed in 1485 following the Spanish reconquista initiated by the Catholic Kings, Fernando and Isabella, and Spain was on the treshold of its long-lasting Golden Epoche and subsequent reign as a colonial power, which symbolically ended with their loss of Cuba in 1898.

Marbella was put on the map as an international jet set resort with the arrival of Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe in 1946, purchasing the finca Santa Margarita, which he later converted into an American-style resort hotel and the prestigious and legendary Marbella Club opened in 1954. The Guadalmina golf course opened in 1959 leading the way to the subsequent golf boom and the pioneering real estate developer José Banús initated the works with the residential area Nueva Andalucía in 1963, consisting of villa urbanisations, residential complexes and its very own bullring, along with the ever so famous leisure port in 1970. A modern parallell to Banús's efforts and touristic visions was the controversial mayor of Marbella, Jesús Gil y Gil, who after his election in 1995 effected the 2nd boom in Marbella with construction works characterized as "frantic," nevertheless, the honour of having restored some of that faded glory from Marbella's brilliant past has been attributed to him.

First an important mining town, then an avant-garde  agricultural zone, Marbella was converted into Spain's foremost resort town in the last half of the century. Marbella today, is a modern city with a large number of quality restaurants, art galleries, glossy magazines, night clubs and trendy cafés and bars, most of the in names in haute-couture are present, so are the exclusive car manufacturers and the chic interior designers. But it is also a city that lives out its roots, with traditional Andalusian customs and ways of life, its rich gastronomy - and the sun. The feel-good-factor is high in Marbella.

Ancient History of Marbella:

In modern and contemporary history, Marbella was molded on the elitist tourism that embraced its shores in the 1940s and the 1950s, laying the ground for today's mass tourism and sector for real estate investments. Yet its history goes much further back than this century and the area enjoyed certain importance both under Roman and Moorish rule.


The First Settlers

The first settlers date back from Paleolithic times, the "Old Stone Age," when ice covered most of the northern hemisphere of the earth, a period that ended 10.000 years ago. Neolithic remains in caves in the Sierra Blanca mountains date back to 3000 BC. More advanced civilizations point to the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Carthaginians.

The Phoenicians and the Greeks

There are important although scarce remains of Phoenician settlements close to the outlet of the Rio Real, at the entrance of Marbella and not far from Los Monteros. The objects found - some are related to Greek occupation - date from the 7th or 6th century BC, but the settlement itself probably dates back to the 8th century BC and lasted until the 4th century BC. Old writings refer to the Greek city of Mainake, by some thought to have been located at the very nucleus of today's Marbella, but its location is more likely to have been close to today's Torre del Mar.

The Carthaginians

Most likely there was a Carthaginian (Punic ) fish factory nearby the mouth of the Rio Verde, where Puerto Banús today is located. Around 500 BC Carthage gained ascendancy to old Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean sea, including Gadir, today's Cádiz, and with general Hannibal's crusade in the 220s BC, most of southeastern Spain was put under the control of Carthage. The Carthaginians eventually rivaled Rome in being the major political power in the Mediterranean sea and several wars were fought between the two mighty civilizations in the period 264 BC to 146 BC, referred to as the Punic Wars. A legend has it that Marbella received it's name from the Punic general Maharbal who fought under Hannibal's command in the 2nd Punic war (218 BC), and Marbella is believed to have been an important city under the rule of Carthage.

The Romans

Rome finally defeated and utterly destroyed Carthage in 146 BC and all its colonies along the southern coast of Spain fell in the hands of the Roman Empire. There were later on important Roman cities along the entire coastline of Spain, along the Via Augusta, named after Emperor Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD), who renovated the road in the year 0 and converted it into an important transport and trade link between the Mediterranean cities, provinces and ports. It ran from the border with France, north of Gerona, to Cádiz (Gades) in the south, passing through Cordoba, Sevilla and Jeréz in Andalucía. Cities in the current province of Málaga were interlinked with this important road and enjoyed the fruits of the new commerce. Málaga itself was bestowed with the status of a confederate city of Rome, a privilege enjoyed by only three cities in Andalucía. As for Marbella, historians believe that the town was established in the 1st century AD as Barbesula, situated around the outlet of the river Verde (Puerto Banús), where once the Carthaginians had their fish factory. The remains of a manorial villa with splendid mosaic artwork have been preserved and can be seen in between residential complexes close to the Coral Beach hotel. Further west towards San Pedro de Alcántara and the Linda Vista beach, archeologists discovered the remains of a another Roman town, called Cilniara or Silniara. Preserved are the thermal baths close to Calpe College, called Las Bovedas (vaults), dating from the 2nd or 3rd century AD and which seem to have been part of a large country estate. Water was received by an aqueduct, until recently still preserved, and there are signs that salt manufacture was carried out here. Some historians believe that the town of Cilniara coincides with the Roman town mentioned by the Hispano-Roman geographer Pomponio Mela and called Salduba ("salt place"). It was allegedly destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century.

The Visigoths and the Vandals

In the 2nd century Germanic tribes battled the Romans and forced them southwards, and created successor kingdoms where once the Romans had ruled. The Vandals conquered most of the Iberian peninsula in the 4th century and allegedly gave their name to today's Andalucía: Vandalusia. On the peninsula they had, however, constant conflicts with the Visigoths, and were eventually forced further south into the North of Africa. The Visigoths, ruling Iberia, became the most powerful of the successor states to the western empire and reached its peak in terms of extension and power in 507. The Visigoth king Leovigildo overthrew the Byzantine rule (East Roman Empire) in Málaga in 570 AD. However, San Pedro de Álcantara had important Visigoth settlements before that and the town hosts one of the best preserved remains of Visigothic culture in Spain, the Visigothic Paleo-Christian basilica of Vega del Mar, which dates from the 3rd century.

Moorish Rule

In 711 the Visigothic rule ended with the tyrannic King Roderic's (Rodrigo) death in the battles following the invasion of the southern peninsula of Spain by the Omayyad Muslims, who during expansion of their Islamic culture took advantage of a civil war in the Visigothic kingdoms. The Moors entered through the strait of Gibraltar, led by the young general Tariq bin Ziyad with an army counting 10.000-17.000 men. The name Gibraltar is derived from Jabal At-Tariq which is Arabic for "Rock of Tariq" named after the place where the Muslim army landed. The battle was fought at Cordoba, with Tariq's men easily defeating the Visigoth King's much larger army of 100.000 soldiers. The Muslims conquered most of Spain and Portugal with little difficulty, and in fact with little opposition. By 720 Spain was largely under Moorish control, and the administrative seat was set up in Córdoba in Andalucía, or Al-Andalus, as the Moors called the land, derived from the Vandal's Vandalusia. During the peak years of the Arab rule in Spain, in the 8th and 9th centuries, Córdoba was one of the leading cultural and intellectual cities in Europe. In 1031 the Córdoba caliphate collapsed and and the Islamic territory in Spain came to be ruled by North African Moors.

In Marbella, possibly at the time called Barbella among the local people, the Moors built a fortress in the style of the Damascus Caliphate in the 10th century, believed by historians to have been built upon the ruins of a Roman town, be it Salduba or not. It has been said that the Moors called the town Marbi-la. Under Moorish rule it had around 3.000 inhabitants at its most and the town was characterized by its narrow, winding streets and the many orchards with the cultivation of fruit and plants, particularly figs, a result of the Arabs' predilection for sweets. The Moors also introduced oranges, lemons, peaches, sugar cane and rice. The town, covering about 90.000 square meters, was surrounded by a large wall with only three gates: Towards the mountains and in the direction of Ronda; towards Málaga and towards the sea. It was one of the most appreciated townships within the Moorish kingdom of Granada for its strategic coastal position.

The Reconquista

Internal disputes propagated disorganization and decentralisation leading to the shattering of the single Islamic Caliphate into a score of small kingdoms early in the 11th century. They fell under the attack of Christain Kings and soonmost of the North Iberian peninsula was in the hands of Christian rulers. The first big Islamic centre to fall to Christianity was Toledo in 1085. After the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa 1212, where the Almohades were defeated, the Muslims lost most of the south: Córdoba fell in 1236, Murcia in 1243 and Sevilla in 1248. Marbella fell as late as 1485 when King Ferdinand the Catholic, on his way to Granada - the last important bastion of Muslim Spain - received the city keys from the Moorish ruler without further resistance. The place where the keys were handed over is called the Cruz del Humilladero, not because the Moorish governor was humiliated, but since King Ferdinand knelt before him to give thanks to God for having for been able to take the city without bloodshed. Granada fell in 1492 and the Moors where either expulsed (along with the Jews) or forced to convert to Christianity.

The New World

In the 300 years to follow Spain went from colossal colonial expansion with Columbus' discovery of the New World to serious decline, with Andalucía becoming one of Europe's most destitute areas. Marbella at first prospered from its strategic position in between the two important ports of Cádiz and Málaga. The new monarchs ordered churches and chapels to be built in Marbella and new streets were laid down, further developed by the rulers of the Habsburg Empire. Important remains from this epoche is the building that today hosts the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engraving and the Delegation of Culture, once the hospital of Alonso de Bazan, built in 1568. The Christian rulers demolished Moorish buildings and opened a square for reuniting the people of the city. The square is today known as the Orange Square (Plaza de Los Naranjos), and the town hall was ordered built here in 1568 by the Chief Magistrate, Juan de Pisa. Other buildings dating from the same era around the square count the chapel Ermita de Santiago (built shortly after the town was seized by the Christian Kings), the Chief Magistrate's house, built in 1552 and the Santísima Trinidad convent. The fountain in front of the town hall dates back to 1504. Work on the largest church in Marbella, the Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, was commenced in 1618 but large parts of it were completed in the 18th century. The large organ with its 5000 tin pipes is considered to be one of the most important to built in Spain the last 150 years.


Enlightenment and Industry

Despite Spain's colonial supremacy under the rule of the great Habsburg and later Bourbon World Empire, Andalucía suffered a set back due to poor harvests, famine, and epidemics along with huge floods in the years 1580, 1621 and 1661. An earthquake destroyed large parts of Málaga in 1680. Into the 18th century Spain embarked on a recession period failing to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions, which caused the country to fall behind Britain, France and Germany in terms of economic and political power. Yet, the ports of Málaga and Cádiz prospered from the issuing of new, free trade decrees widely facilitating the trade with the Americas. Other coastal towns benefited in their wake, Marbella included. Into the 19th century and particularly after the death of King Ferdinand II in 1833, Málaga established itself as an industrial citiy, with the province of Málaga becoming the 2nd most important industrial province in the country after Barcelona. Málaga had important textile factories and Marbella had three exceptional privately run iron plants in La Finca de La Concepción and yet other three in the El Ángel area, where Spain's first blast furnaces were installed. The iron came from the El Peñocillo mine in the Sierra Blanca mountains close to Ojén, which was run by an English company, delivering a full 75% of all the iron produced in Spain at that time. Halfway through the century Marbella also stood out for its pioneering agriculture: The most important privately financed agricultural colony in Spain was established in 1870 by the Marquis de Duero, Manuel Gutiérrez de la Concha e Yrigoyen (1808-1874), the then Capitán General of Cataluña, who designed a colony on 10.000 hectares located at today's nucleus of San Pedro de Alcántara. It was pioneering for its organization as well as for testing out machinery never used in Spain, such as the steam tractor. Houses were built for the workers, for administration of the finca and swamps and canals were built to irrigate the land. Eventually the colony acquired the entity of a town.

With the loss of Cuba in 1898, Spains swift donwfall as a colonial power was a fact and Andalucía lost to the northern regions in terms of development and production.