Fuengirola
Encyclopedia
Fuengirola, in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality
on the Costa del Sol
in the province of Málaga, autonomous community
of Andalusia
in southern Spain. It is a major tourist resort, with more than 8 km of beaches, and home to a mediæval
Moorish
fortress. In common with much of this coast, it has been the subject of considerable urban development.
The area enjoys a subtropical Mediterranean climate, with annual average temperatures of 18°C and average summer temperatures of over 30°C
n, Roman
and Arab civilisations.
The foothills of the mountain range behind the town to the south are the site of Sohail Castle
, which contains remains of an early Ibero-punic or Phoenician settlement, later occupied by the Romans, which became a town known in antiquity as Suel. Suel was identified by the Roman historian, Pomponius Mela
, as one of the towns of the coast, and was cited by Pliny
in the 1st century AD as a fortified town or oppidum
. A later historian, Ptolemy
, identified it during the 2nd century as being located in the region of the bastulo-penos or Phoenicians.
The inscription on the pedestal of a statue found near the castle mentions Suel as being a Roman "municipium". A funeral urn found in the same area has an inscription containing the word "Suelitana". Roman baths were discovered in 1961 and, close by, the remains of a Roman villa containing two sculptures, one of which is the well known "Venus of Fuengirola" exhibited in the town's museum. A series of architectural components, probably transported from the Mijas
quarry during the Roman era, were discovered in Los Boliches in 1984; these have now been mounted to form a temple entrance, and can be seen on the promenade at Los Boliches.
The castle was built by Abd-ar-Rahman III
in the mid-10th century. The city of Suel ceased to be mentioned at the beginning of the Middle Ages. After several centuries, the name of the settlement changed from Suel to Suhayl, which became the name of the castle and surroundings during the Moorish
era. Suhayl became a fairly large settlement, which included farmland and small villages. Most of the surrounding area seems to have been used as pasture for the Moorish rulers' camels. One of the most famous people from Fuengirola from this period is the famous writer and scholar Al-Suhayli
(literally the man from Suhayl) who lived from 1114 to 1185 and is now especially well known as one of its seven saints of Marrakesh, where he was buried.
In the early Middle Ages the town was set on fire and its inhabitants fled to Mijas. Suhayl became a mound of ruins, and even its name was changed to the Romanised Font-Jirola, after the spring arising at the foot of the castle, according to historian Alonso de Palencia.
In 1485, when only the fortress remained, the settlement was reconquered by the Christian Monarchs. An attempt to repopulate the site with 30 people failed, and in 1511 it was registered as uninhabited, apart from the fortress and a watchtower. Land originally set aside for Fuengirola was reallocated to Mijas.
In the 17th century, a new urban settlement developed, once the threat from Turkish and Moroccan pirates disappeared, and at the beginning of the 18th century, an inn was opened near the beach, offering accommodation to travellers, muleteers and seafarers. A few huts were built nearby, forming a small village.
The Battle of Fuengirola
took place in the area during the Peninsular War
, on October 15, 1810, when approximately 200 Polish soldiers of the Duchy of Warsaw
defeated a mixed British-Spanish force numbering some 3,000 soldiers under Lord Blayney.
In May 1841, Fuengirola was administratively detached from Mijas; at the time its inhabitants were mainly engaged in fishing, agriculture and trading with ships that dropped anchor in the bay. For over a century, fishing and agriculture remained the main activities.
It was only in the 1960s that Fuengirola entered a new phase, to become a leading tourist centre.
Of the approximately 72,000 inhabitants registered in the municipality, 25% come from other countries, mainly European (England, Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Sweden, among others), and also from Morocco and Argentina. In the summer especially, the town plays host to throngs of visitors both Spanish and foreign, but in particular British. The English community in particular is large enough to support a fully developed programme of activities and local groups.
The Zoo is well known. Once an old-fashioned collection of cramped cages, the zoo was modernized in 2001 to feature "tropical-forest" dwellings. The zoo specializes in captive breeding for endangered species, chimpanzee-group research and tropical-forest education. Known as Bioparc Fuengirola since 25 March 2010, it now markets itself as a series of natural habitats for specific species.
Although Fuengirola is a comparatively developed resort, it does also have a number of historical sites and open parks. The old port is still used by the local Spanish fisherman. The Arab castle of Suhayl, or Sohail, remained an abandoned ruin until renovations began in 1995. In 2000 the interior of the castle was completely renovated and the Sohail castle begun to host festivals and concerts throughout the summer. Additional landscaping was completed in 2002 and the castle is now one of the highlights of Fuengirola's cultural and historical scene.
The town is largely urban in character, with many high-rise blocks of flats - many towards the seafront - although some narrow streets can be found with many low-rise villas. Considerable commercial development is underway further inland, towards to the north of the town, with the recent construction of a large shopping centre and retail park and ongoing development of housing areas. A large branch of El Corte Inglés
opened in 2006 in the inland suburb of Las Lagunas.
In 2010 Fuengirola opened a 50m swimming pool. At the beginning of 2010 a purpose-built skateboard
, rollerblade
and bike park complete with graffiti
wall opened.
.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
on the Costa del Sol
Costa del Sol
The Costa del Sol is a region in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the Mediterranean coastline of the Málaga province. The Costa del Sol is situated between two lesser known costas: Costa de la Luz and Costa Tropical...
in the province of Málaga, autonomous community
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
in southern Spain. It is a major tourist resort, with more than 8 km of beaches, and home to a mediæval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
fortress. In common with much of this coast, it has been the subject of considerable urban development.
The area enjoys a subtropical Mediterranean climate, with annual average temperatures of 18°C and average summer temperatures of over 30°C
History
The town has its origins in PhoeniciaPhoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n, Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and Arab civilisations.
The foothills of the mountain range behind the town to the south are the site of Sohail Castle
Sohail Castle
Sohail Castle is a castle in Fuengirola, Spain.It was built in 956 by Abd-ar-Rahman III on the ruins of a Greco-Roman settlement to strengthen the coastal defenses.-External links:* *...
, which contains remains of an early Ibero-punic or Phoenician settlement, later occupied by the Romans, which became a town known in antiquity as Suel. Suel was identified by the Roman historian, Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera and died c. AD 45.His short work occupies less than one hundred pages of ordinary print. It is laconic in style and deficient in method, but of pure Latinity, and occasionally relieved by pleasing...
, as one of the towns of the coast, and was cited by Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
in the 1st century AD as a fortified town or oppidum
Oppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...
. A later historian, Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
, identified it during the 2nd century as being located in the region of the bastulo-penos or Phoenicians.
The inscription on the pedestal of a statue found near the castle mentions Suel as being a Roman "municipium". A funeral urn found in the same area has an inscription containing the word "Suelitana". Roman baths were discovered in 1961 and, close by, the remains of a Roman villa containing two sculptures, one of which is the well known "Venus of Fuengirola" exhibited in the town's museum. A series of architectural components, probably transported from the Mijas
Mijas
Mijas is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, in Andalusia, southern Spain. It is a typically Andalusian white-washed village located at a mountain side about 450 m above mean sea level, in the heart of the Costa del Sol region...
quarry during the Roman era, were discovered in Los Boliches in 1984; these have now been mounted to form a temple entrance, and can be seen on the promenade at Los Boliches.
Abd-ar-Rahman III
Abd-ar-Rahman III was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus. Called al-Nasir li-Din Allah , he ascended the throne in his early 20s, and reigned for half a century as the most powerful prince of Iberia...
in the mid-10th century. The city of Suel ceased to be mentioned at the beginning of the Middle Ages. After several centuries, the name of the settlement changed from Suel to Suhayl, which became the name of the castle and surroundings during the Moorish
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
era. Suhayl became a fairly large settlement, which included farmland and small villages. Most of the surrounding area seems to have been used as pasture for the Moorish rulers' camels. One of the most famous people from Fuengirola from this period is the famous writer and scholar Al-Suhayli
Al-Suhayli
Sidi Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Rahman b. Abd Allah al-Suhayli , was born in Al-Andalus, Fuengirola and died in Marrakesh. He is one of the seven saints of that city. Al-Suhayli wrote books on grammar and Islamic law. He is especially well known as an Islamic scholar by his commentary on the sira of Ibn...
(literally the man from Suhayl) who lived from 1114 to 1185 and is now especially well known as one of its seven saints of Marrakesh, where he was buried.
In the early Middle Ages the town was set on fire and its inhabitants fled to Mijas. Suhayl became a mound of ruins, and even its name was changed to the Romanised Font-Jirola, after the spring arising at the foot of the castle, according to historian Alonso de Palencia.
In 1485, when only the fortress remained, the settlement was reconquered by the Christian Monarchs. An attempt to repopulate the site with 30 people failed, and in 1511 it was registered as uninhabited, apart from the fortress and a watchtower. Land originally set aside for Fuengirola was reallocated to Mijas.
In the 17th century, a new urban settlement developed, once the threat from Turkish and Moroccan pirates disappeared, and at the beginning of the 18th century, an inn was opened near the beach, offering accommodation to travellers, muleteers and seafarers. A few huts were built nearby, forming a small village.
The Battle of Fuengirola
Battle of Fuengirola
At the Battle of Fuengirola a small Polish garrison of a mediæval Moorish fortress in Fuengirola held off a much larger Anglo-Spanish expeditionary corps under Lord Blayney.- Background:...
took place in the area during the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, on October 15, 1810, when approximately 200 Polish soldiers of the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
defeated a mixed British-Spanish force numbering some 3,000 soldiers under Lord Blayney.
In May 1841, Fuengirola was administratively detached from Mijas; at the time its inhabitants were mainly engaged in fishing, agriculture and trading with ships that dropped anchor in the bay. For over a century, fishing and agriculture remained the main activities.
It was only in the 1960s that Fuengirola entered a new phase, to become a leading tourist centre.
Modern Fuengirola
Fuengirola now offers all the facilities to be expected of a major tourist centre - hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, discothèques, semi-legal sex trade, sports clubs, a yacht harbour, and broad beaches along a promenade extending east and west from the town, that includes smaller adjacent villages.Of the approximately 72,000 inhabitants registered in the municipality, 25% come from other countries, mainly European (England, Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Sweden, among others), and also from Morocco and Argentina. In the summer especially, the town plays host to throngs of visitors both Spanish and foreign, but in particular British. The English community in particular is large enough to support a fully developed programme of activities and local groups.
The Zoo is well known. Once an old-fashioned collection of cramped cages, the zoo was modernized in 2001 to feature "tropical-forest" dwellings. The zoo specializes in captive breeding for endangered species, chimpanzee-group research and tropical-forest education. Known as Bioparc Fuengirola since 25 March 2010, it now markets itself as a series of natural habitats for specific species.
Although Fuengirola is a comparatively developed resort, it does also have a number of historical sites and open parks. The old port is still used by the local Spanish fisherman. The Arab castle of Suhayl, or Sohail, remained an abandoned ruin until renovations began in 1995. In 2000 the interior of the castle was completely renovated and the Sohail castle begun to host festivals and concerts throughout the summer. Additional landscaping was completed in 2002 and the castle is now one of the highlights of Fuengirola's cultural and historical scene.
The town is largely urban in character, with many high-rise blocks of flats - many towards the seafront - although some narrow streets can be found with many low-rise villas. Considerable commercial development is underway further inland, towards to the north of the town, with the recent construction of a large shopping centre and retail park and ongoing development of housing areas. A large branch of El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés S.A. , headquartered in Madrid, is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks fourth worldwide...
opened in 2006 in the inland suburb of Las Lagunas.
In 2010 Fuengirola opened a 50m swimming pool. At the beginning of 2010 a purpose-built skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
, rollerblade
Rollerblade
Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Trevignano, Treviso, Italy.The company was started by Scott Olsen and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis as Ole's Innovative Sports; when they sold the company, it became Rollerblade, Inc...
and bike park complete with graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
wall opened.
Main sights
- Sohail Castle (Arabic castle)
- Harbour
- Plaza de Toros (bullring)
- Bioparc Fuengirola (zoo)
Transport
Fuengirola, and some of the intervening villages along the coast, are served by the C-1 commuter rail service from central Málaga, run by Cercanías MálagaCercanías Málaga
Cercanías Málaga is a commuter rail service between central Málaga, Spain, and towns in the province. The network consists of 70 km of track, with two lines and 24 stations in operation. The trains are powered by overhead lines and run on broad Iberian gauge track.- Line C-1 Malaga - Airport -...
.
Suburbs
- Los Boliches (in full: Santa Fé de los Boliches)
- Torreblanca
- Carvajal
- El Boquetillo
- Los Pacos
External links
- Official website (in Spanish, but with a Foreign Residents section partly in English)
- Battle of Fuengirola 1810
- Folk festivals and events at Fuengirola
- What to do in Fuengirola Festivities calendar
- News and articles for English residents in Fuengirola