Costa del Sol Towns

Marbella History

In the borough remains have been found to prove that Marbella was inhabited since the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. In Roman times what is now known as Casco Antiguo probably corresponds with the city of Salduba.

During the Islamic era, the Muslims built in the 10th century a castle and then a fence that protected the city. The name may derive from the name they gave the Arabs: Marbil-la, which, according to recent linguistic studies, is derived from an Iberian location. On June 11, 1485, the Christian conquest reached the area.

Early in the 19th century there were blast furnaces in Marbella servicing the iron mine.

During the Second Republic, Marbella experienced major social transformations, which were driven by strong political and social mobilization. They were cut short by the outbreak of the civil war and the subsequent repression by the Franco regime.

After World War II Ricardo Soriano Hermensdorff von Scholtz and Marquis of Ivanrey came to Marbella and made a propaganda film of Marbella showing their rich and famous friends, like Prince Maximilian von Hohenlohe-Langeburg.

Ricardo Soriano bought a farm located between Marbella and San Pedro, where he constructed a resort hotel which then led to the beginning of tourism development in Marbella.