Costa del Sol Towns

Torrox History

 

Middle Ages

In 755 Torrox was established by the Umayyad prince Abd ar-Rahman, he left with his followers to Cordoba, where he founded the independent emirate.  But the town of Torrox, especially the Mozarabic (non-integrated native population in the Mohammedan religion, usually Hispanic Visigoths) were dissatisfied. This discomfort made him join in the late ninth century, the uprising known historically as the Mozarabic Omar ibn Hafsun headed against the Caliphate of Cordoba. The caliph Abd ar-Rahman III besieged the castle of Torrox at 914, defeated and captured all the rebels and burned the ships that came ashore in support of the besieged. The chronicles of those not killed in the assault on the castle were beheaded and their heads sent to Cordoba. Torrox was depopulated as was Mozarabic. In the eleventh century there arose a completely Muslim population.

During the Nazarite, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, one was influenced partly by the silk industry, which spread throughout the region and promoted the planting of mulberry trees. Torrox thus becomes the center of silk. The nazaritas also encouraged the production of nuts and sugar cane, reaching three grinders in the latter. It is speculated that the leader popularly called Mansur was born in Torrox. 

Age Contemporary

Two successive earthquakes struck the region in late 1884 and early 1885, whose epicenter was located in Zafarraya causing damage to the town of Torrox. In the village after the disaster, the waters at sea level fell and fishermen watched fish offshore. During the 10th to 20th January 1885, Alfonso XII visited the affected area. The night before his departure on 19^th January of the year mentioned, he stayed in Torrox at his current home in La Hoya, owned by Don Jose De Sevilla. 

Modern Age

Torrox was reconquered by the Catholic Kings on 29^th April 1487, after the capture of Velez-Malaga, but the victory was not consolidated until the following year. Torrox, near Nerja, was reconquered by El Zagal a year later in what may be regarded as a feat ephemeral. The Christian troops regained the town almost immediately in the year 1488. 
Since that time the territory was subject to a gradual depopulation motivated by the flight of its inhabitants the Moors, abandoning their lands to the difficult living conditions imposed upon them by the new rulers. The Catholic Monarchs granted the title of very noble and very loyal to Torrox village and in 1503 a royal decree of Queen Elizabeth I authorized the construction of a tower to protect the coast from attacks by Barbary pirates. 

As in the other villages of the Axarquia, Torrox suffered from the rebellion of the Moors, the expulsion of these and the following afforestation, and the effects of the yellow fever epidemic that struck Malaga in the early nineteenth century and the ravages of the Napoleonic invasion (1810-1812), whose troops used the Arab castle and fortress and then blew it up during removal. 

Ancient

On the right bank of the river mouth Torrox, just around the lighthouse is located the factory Roman city that had its heyday in the I-IV centuries and believes that is what gives rise to primitive people.  Prior to the Romans, the Phoenicians settled in these parts as in other parts of the coast of Malaga, as a few researchers have inquired about their presence in Spain. The discovery of this factory Roman city, whose name was Caviclum, is due to the lighthouse keeper Tomas Garcia Ruiz.  The Romans developed the canning industry of fish, highlighting the famous garum (sauce made of dried fish viscera) which was exported to Rome where it was so appreciated. During the fourth century to the VIII century, it was occupied by the Visigoths.