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History of Águilas
Águilas, 5000 years of habitation
The coastal location, natural water supplies and rocky Sierras of Águilas have ensured settlement since early prehistory, although the development of the town we see today has only occurred during the last 300 years.
Prehistoric Águilas
Águilas has been inhabited for approximately 5000 years, with several sites showing prehistoric settlements, amongst them Cope, Peñarrubia, Tébar, Chuecos, Fuente del Sol and Barranco de los Asensios. A common feature of these settlements is that they are close to supplies of fresh water for all or part of the year, and the archaeological findings are mainly stone axes and rudimentary ceramic pottery. Around 3,000 BC, at the end of the Neolithic, there was a group of human inhabitants in the cave known as C-6, where the remains have been found of a different quality of ceramics, as well as the residues of the food the inhabitants ate, such as seagull egg shells.
This is the first known site of permanent habitation in the area.
Águilas, Argaric Culture and Phoenicians
The second millennium BC in Águilas was characterized, as in the rest of the Region of Murcia, by the dominance of the Argaric culture, and here the Argaric settlements were a natural continuation of those which already existed in the Neolithic. The people lived off livestock and wheat, and used objects made from bronze, including weapons which allowed them to defend their territory. The Argaric culture was predominant from around 1800BC to around 1300BC, the next recognisable culture to populate the area being the Iberians, who were active between 525 BC, before they were absorbed into the process of romanisation which took place following the Roman invasion, a process which took until about 50BC. The remains of an Iberian settlement have also been found in Tébar, dating from the first millennium BC, and these settlers lived primarily by agriculture.
There is evidence to show that the Phoenicians used trading ports along the southern coast of the peninsula from the 7th century BC onwards, and various archaeological sites have been found along the coastline of Águilas which confirm that they traded here. The remains of salted fish factories have been found in Villaricos, La Huerta del Consejero and the Isla del Fraile, these salt fish factories producing pungent fish sauces which were traded throughout the Mediterranean, using tanks in which the fish were macerated.
Águilas and the Romans
The Romans played an important ròle in the development of the whole of what is now the Region of Murcia, when Cartagena was invaded 209 BC. The Romans controlled the coast and its trading ports meticulously, building the first watchtower on a hill they named “Aquilae”, giving rise to the name of Águilas in later centuries, and there are substantial signs of occupation in the area for the next three centuries. The thermal baths which are now part of a museum in the city centre were built in this period, as was the “agora” or main square which is nowadays the Glorieta de España.
The high point of Aquilae’s splendour came in the last centuries of the Roman Empire, the 3rd and 4th AD. At this time one of the main sources of income and wealth was the production of salted fish and garum sauce and in Aquilae there were also pottery factories where the amphorae for storing and transporting the food were produced. The salted fish factory in Águilas consists of a large central room where the fish was treated, with a series of adjoining areas, of varying sizes, for salting and other purposes. In addition to pottery and fish-based products, the town was also an important source of grapes and olives, and a centre for the harvest and export of esparto grass.
Near the Puerto del Hornillo various family burial areas have been found, and it is thought that ships and boats for the Roman fleet could have been built there.
In the 5th century AD the area fell into the hands of the Vandals, one of the northern European tribes who contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire, including the Iberian peninsula.
They were followed by the Visigoths who remained in control until the arrival of the Moors, although the main areas in which any trace of their activities have been found are further north in the region and in Cartagena.
The Moors in Águilas
After the last of the Romans left Águilas, there was little human activity in the area for centuries.
The Moors invaded southern Spain in 713 AD and occupied vast areas of Spain until the 13th century when the Christian reconquist took place.
However, there is little evidence of Moorish activity in the area during the earlier years of the occupation, most of the remains discovered indicating activity from the 11th century to the 12th.
During the later period of Moorish occupation, the Roman tower on the hill next to the town was rebuilt as a defensive “hisn”, or fortress, and there was sufficient local infrastructure for the port to operate independently from those of Cartagena to the east and Vera to the west. Lorca was an important Moorish stronghold and city, and it is likely that Águilas was used as its marine connection to Africa, a trading port and stop-off for traders and travellers.
The geographer, cartographer and traveller Al-Idrisi described the fortress as “a small fortress located by the sea, which is used as the “furda” (trading port) of Lorca, which is 25 miles away”.
Further evidence of Moorish occupation is given by the discovery of a burial ground dating from the same period in Calle San Juan. Although this proves that there was a town of sorts around the port, there is no evidence to suggest that it grew to the size of a “medina”: rather, it was a small civilian population protected by the fortress. Two further fortresses were built between the 11th and the 13th centuries, protecting the route inland towards Lorca, at Tébar and Chuecos. There are documents written by the Christian Castilians which testify to the fact that both these fortifications were built before the end of Moorish rule in the kingdom of Murcia, and this is corroborated by the studies made on the walls of the castle of Tébar.
Águilas during the reconquist.
As Moorish power waned and many troops were withdrawn from Spain to fight a succession battle in Morocco, the Christian forces of the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon moved south, slowly taking the cities and settlements of Spain in their relentless push for domination.
The Treaty of Alcaraz in 1243 meant that the kingdom of Murcia became a protectorate of Castile, and for Águilas this also meant that the town was practically deserted for two centuries, a dangerous place to live, as it was close to the border with the last remaining Moorish kingdom of Granada, border towns frequently subjected to skirmishes and incursions.
In the 15th century the castles at Tébar and Chuecos served as protection for the handful of Castilian farmers working the land, although they were also used for lighting beacons which warned of any Moorish raids, either by land through Vera, from the nearby border Nazarí kingdom of Granada, or by sea from the north of Africa. This was frontier territory, and the raids by land continued until the expulsion of the Moors from Granada in 1492, while Christian raids were also made in the other direction across the border. The maritime raids by the Berbers continued long afterwards, though, and made the area unsafe. For this reason the coastline of Águilas was not home to a significant population until the 18th century.
Defenceless against the Berbers: the 16th century
The early part of the 16th century in Águilas was hardly a prosperous time. The raids of the Berbers from across the Mediterranean made repopulation of the area a slow and difficult process, although in the time of the Habsburg dynasty Felipe II (1556-98) ordered that the Council of Lorca build the Torre de Cope on the coastline of Águilas. Until that point the responsibility for defending the area had fallen to the Marqueses de los Vélez, who were less than enthusiastic in their efforts to defend against the Berber raiders, due to the low rents coming in from the area.
The Torre de Cope was built to protect the fishermen and farmers in the area, and to warn those working on the fields of any imminent attacks. It took over 30 years to build, and when it was finished in 1573 it was manned by three soldiers who were paid by the Lorca Council. Since then it has had to be restored and repaired many times, due to both the damage caused by the Berber attacks and the ravages of time and neglect.
In the first few decades of the 17th century, the fortresses at Cope, Águilas and Terreros were all ransacked, and practically destroyed.
In the middle of the century it was decided that the Torre de Águilas should be armed with two cannons, and the addition of this firepower brought about a considerable reduction in the frequency of the raids. At the same time, the soldiers manning the defences were awarded a pay rise in an attempt to motivate them in their task, and they were also rewarded with wheat-growing land. These rewards meant that many soldiers re-enlisted into the garrison, and the family of Juan Fernández Valera warmed to the task especially: the last four commanders of the fortress all belonged to this family. It was they who placed over the entrance to the tower the image of San Juan, and from then on it was known as the Torre de San Juan de las Águilas.
Early Development of the Port
By the start of the 18th century there was already a small population in the municipality of Águilas, among them the beekeepers and shepherds who took up residence close to the castles in Tébar and Chuecos. This location, close to the defensive fortresses and some way inland from the coast, at least afforded them some protection from possible attacks. After the War of Succession, José de Balaguer, who was an official supplier to the royal household, saw in Águilas an ideal place to load and unload his merchandise, but in November 1727 a storm resulted in most of his stock being lost in the harbour. In order to avoid a repetition of this disaster he supervised the construction of a large warehouse, a guardhouse and a chapel, and these were the first new buildings on the site of the old Roman port of Aquilae.
A few years later, the garrison at the Torre de San Juan successfully defended the bay of Águilas against two attacks by English forces, whose ships fled rather than risk being sunk by the cannons. However, the tower had been deteriorating ever since it was built, and in 1751 one of the walls collapsed. In 1754 work began on the Castillo de San Juan de las Águilas, but the threat from the Berbers was still present and the building workers had to be escorted by an infantry company from the militia of Murcia and the Algarbe cavalry squadron from Cartagena. The new bastion was completed in 1756, and a shield was placed on the Torre de San Juan bearing the inscription “Fernando VI ordered this construction. Year of the Lord 1756”.
Count of Aranda and Águilas
On 29th June 1765, the 10th Count of Aranda , Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, visited the Castillo de San Juan, and on climbing to the top and looking out over the deserted area below, he saw endless possibilities. In his own words, he imagined that “there could be an interesting settlement here, with houses and clean streets, and I for my part would provide the necessary plans and facilities in order for it to be as comely and comfortable as possible”.
The first town plan was drawn up by Sebastián Feringán, later to be modified by Mateo Vodopich, and the Count of Aranda sent a letter to the Council of Lorca, who in turn sent two councillors to supervise the start of the work. Permits were soon obtained for the construction work and the opening of commercial ventures. King Carlos III was informed of the project by the Count, and contacted the Town Hall of Lorca, where a special session was held in order to establish an administrative framework for the new town. Measures were taken to ensure the independence, defence and improvement of the town’s infrastructures, and when reports confirmed its growth the order was given for Lorca to grant Águilas its own Mayor. The Count of Aranda sent competent individuals who were charged with the task of founding a flourishing community.
When the Count of Floridablanca rose to the rank of minister, the project to attract population to Águilas was taken up again, and he appointed his brother-in-law, Antonio de Robles Vives, as superintendent of the development work. Robles Vives it was who completed the job started by the Count of Aranda, and after five year’s work on increasing the population the number of inhabitants had increased from 382 to 1,592.
When communications between Lorca and the coast became easier with the opening of the royal highway and the Tébar aqueduct, many people from inland came to live on the coast. The point was reached where Robles Vives informed his brother-in-law that a sufficiently well-qualified individual was needed to govern over the town, and in 1785 Carlos III gave his approval, appointing a royal governor.
But as well as competent government, the new town also needed a stimulus for its economic growth, and Robles Vives proposed to the Council of Lorca that some of the taxes paid by the inhabitants of Águilas should stay in the town, rather than going directly to Lorca. Unfortunately, further progress was halted by two events in the 1790s which had disastrous consequences for Águilas: first, the Count of Floridablanca fell from power, and then Robles Vives was stripped of his position at the head of the development work. Local politics took over, and the man substituting Robles Vives worked with the Mayor of Lorca to undermine and eventually eliminate the governor of Águilas. Águilas became nothing more than a borough of Lorca, with little say in the decisions affecting it which were made in the Town Hall.
To add to the trouble, the start of the 19th centuries was marked by two catastrophes. The dam at Puentes burst, and among the 607 who lost their lives was Robles Vives, and then a terrible earthquake caused severe damage to many of the buildings in Águilas. The town was dealt a further blow when it was attacked by French troops as part of their invasion of the peninsula. After the French had been repelled, though, the new Spanish Courts proclaimed that any town with more than 1,000 inhabitants automatically had the right to its own Town Hall, and the first Ayuntamiento Constitucional was inaugurated in Águilas. This situation lasted just two years, from 1812 to 1814, when Fernando VII repealed the laws of the Courts and Águilas was again subsumed into Lorca.
After one more temporary Town Hall had come and gone, on 7th June 1834 Águilas finally inaugurated its own municipal administration. The following years were hard ones for the town, though, with the Carlist Wars and the precarious economic situation almost bringing about its complete disappearance.
The Mines to the Rescue
In 1838, a seam of silver was discovered in the hills of the Sierra de la Almagrera, and soon the silver mines were joined by others which extracted lead and iron. The concomitant influx of capital investment saved Águilas from ruin, and as the economy grew so did the population, with outsiders arriving in search of work and riches. More and more streets and houses were built, and between 1830 and 1850 the population tripled, reaching around 10,000. Initially the mines had their own foundries, but two others were built alongside, named Iberia (1843) and La Aurora. Both of these were acquired by the English company of Edward Bates.
The mining companies of Águilas were not financially stable, and many came and went during the golden age of the mines. Immense fortunes were made and then lost, as the unpredictability of productivity, fluctuations in the market price and irresponsible management caused the downfall of most of the main enterprises.
In the early 1870s Águilas was twice occupied by forces from the Canton of Cartagena, who threatened the town with bombardment from the battleship “Numancia” and the frigate “Fernando el Católico” if money was not donated to their cause. Having taken their booty from the profits of the mines, the attackers then returned to Cartagena.
By the end of the decade the local mining companies had been replaced by English and French businesses, and at the same time the esparto industry grew in importance. Simultaneously, under the reign of Alfonso XII two major civil engineering projects brought about further growth in Águilas: the first was the railway, which was build by the Great Southern Spain Railway Company Ltd, from the UK, and the second was the port, where the Hornillo dock was built by the same company in order to maximize the town’s trading potential. Another curious legacy of the British involvement in the development of Águilas is that the town was one of the first in Spain where football was played, and Águilas CF was one of the first official teams in the country.
The 20th Century
Águilas at the turn of the century was home to two radically different social classes: the rich and the poor. The middle class hardly existed. On the one hand there were customs officials, the owners and managers of mines and esparto grass businesses, chambers of commerce, shipping officials and consular representatives, while on the other hand the families impoverished by the collapse of mining companies lived in the streets and sent their children to work in factories. This led to widespread illiteracy, and those who in times of prosperity frequented the cafés and casinos of the town were reduced to begging when times grew hard.
1931 saw the rise to power of the Republicans, and political activity was rife in Águilas. Various political organizations and workers’ associations were formed, and the conflicts between republicans and socialists meant that any further social development was impossible. When Franco’s coup arrived, Águilas was among the many Spanish towns to rise up against the insurrection, but of course Franco prevailed and eventually became the new head of state. During the Civil War the town was bombed by Italian forces and attacked by troops from Mallorca, and in the end the conflict left more than 200 dead in the town. After the war many of the inhabitants went abroad, and the population fell.
In the 1960s Águilas at last began to rise up out of the economic doldrums, thanks to the development of crop farming, and it is now a flourishing municipality, with the economy based on the twin pillars of agriculture and tourism. The first tourist boom of the 1970s saw Águilas become a destination of choice for Spaniards looking to spend their holidays on the Mediterranean, and in the 1990s numerous infrastructures were created and improved in order to attract overseas and residential tourists. The Paseo Marítimo de Levante was renovated, many of the beaches were improved, the cultural and historical heritage of the town was restored and museums were created, with cultural events and a busy programme of entertainment, including the famous Águilas carnival, drawing in the visitors.
More information about Águilas including beaches, what to see, what's on and tourist information can be found on ÁGUILAS TODAY
Cartagena
El Carmoli
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Manga del Mar Menor
La Puebla
La Torre Golf Resort
La Union
Los Alcazares
Los Belones
Los Nietos
Los Urrutias
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Pilar de la Horadada
Playa Honda / Playa Paraiso
Portman
Roldan and Lo Ferro
San Javier
San Pedro del Pinatar
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
Torre Pacheco
Aledo
Alhama de Murcia
Bolnuevo
Camposol
Condado de Alhama
Fuente Alamo
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Lorca
Mazarron
Puerto de Mazarron
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Sierra Espuna
Totana
Abaran
Alcantarilla
Archena
Blanca
Corvera
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Lorqui
Molina de Segura
Mosa Trajectum
Murcia City
Peraleja Golf Resort
Ricote
Sucina
Condado de Alhama
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Torre Golf Resort
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Mazarron Country Club
Mosa Trajectum
Peraleja Golf Resort
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
La Zenia
Lomas de Cabo Roig

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