Costa del Sol Towns

Ojen History

Back in the Middle Paleolithic era, the area was inhabited by Neanderthals, who lived in nomadic groups, as seen in the Cueva de Pecho Redondo.

During the Roman Empire, it was well populated around the coast, and there is speculation that the area had a population operating the agriculture and livestock.

The first time Ojen was noted was is in the “Chronicle of the deeds of the emirs Cordoban.” According to the Chronicle, Abderraman III began a battle to bring the rebellion of the Mozarabic (Christians living in Muslim lands) and muladi to Malaga.

It is known that one of the battles between the rebels and the army was in front of the walls of the castle Ojen. The uprising resulted in the existence of a kingdom with its capital in Bobastro. In the year 921 Abderraman Ojen was released, and his church was converted into a mosque.

In 1485 Muslims capitulated to King Ferdinand the Catholic and firmly into the Modern Age. At that time Ojen sent for export to Africa for raisins, dried figs, almonds, silk, wax, and honey from their hives. Muslims became vassals of Castile, and in 1492 the Catholic Monarchs took over the Kingdom of Granada, ending the Reconquest.

Ojen represents council and is the boundary of the term. Ojen depends on Marbella, who appoints a regent with civil and criminal jurisdiction. The Kings did not allow the presence of Muslims from the coast, and many people were sent to Ojen.

In 1906 the Marques de Larios Palace built as a Refuge for Juanar, where he invited on one occasion the King Alfonso XIII. The Palace of John was entitled as a parador in 1965 and, since 1984, operates as a cooperative for workers of Ojen.

 

The measure was taken to avoid collaboration with the Muslim Turkish and Berber pirates. Ojen then had 114 residents, four of them Christians. In 1505, by order of the archbishop of Seville, Diego de Deza, was the canonical establishment of the current parish of Our Lady of the Incarnation.

In 1568, during the reign of Philip II, was the rebellion of the Moors of Istan, and in 1569 they were joined by the Moors of Ojen, fleeing with their families and belongings to the mountains nearby after killing the Christians and burning down the old church, houses, and crops.

Philip II appointed the Duke of Medina Sidonia and the Duke of Arcos to pacify the Serrania de Ronda and end the rebellion. The war ended in 1570, and Ojen was repopulated by Old Christians. The problem continued in Moorish Spain until in 1609, when King Felipe III expelled the Moors.

In 1772 the British chronicler Francis Carter describes Ojen as “a village of friendly people, easy to know the tea and coffee, but enjoy goat’s milk in their cups of mud.” In 1807 Charles IV granted Ojen jurisdiction of Marbella. In 1905 Pedro Fernandez built jets for a fountain, which was restored in 2006 by Enrique Salvo Rabasco and his team of restorers.