Fuengirola in the Province of Malaga,
Andalusia |
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Fuengirola is a large town and municipality
on the Costa del Sol on the Mediterranean coast of Spain
and home to a mediæval Moorish fortress. The town has
its origins in Phoenician, Roman and Arab civilisations. The
foothills of the mountain range behind Fuengirola to the south
are the site of an Arab 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.
The castle
was built by Abderramán III in the mid-10th century.
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. 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.
But 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.
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 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. |
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