There are vestiges of both prehistoric and Roman settlements in Puerto Real that bear witness to the fact that the land on which the modern city is sited has been inhabited for a very long time. Along with the likes of
El Puerto de Santa María and Dehesa de Bolaños, Puerto Real is one of the proposed locations for the Roman settlement of ('the Port of Gades'), the maritime appendage of the Roman
colonia, Gades (Cádiz), across the narrow end of the bay. The
Catholic Monarchs founded the town of Puerto Real in 1483 as a
royal demesne powerbase (in an otherwise profoundly manorialized territory) for naval operations in North Africa, primarily involving privateering and coastal raids. Powerful nobles already dominated all of the other ports of western Andalusia (Cádiz, Huelva, and, to a lesser extent, Seville). From the time of its founding, Puerto Real's prosperity was closely tied to the fortunes of these other Atlantic ports, especially Cádiz, which soon grew rich from its commerce with America. In 1820, there was a popular liberal revolt in Spain, led by the constitutionalist and patriot,
Rafael del Riego y Nunez (1785–1823), that sought to reinstate the
liberal constitution that had been proclaimed in 1812. This revolt led to the imprisonment of King
Ferdinand VII in Cádiz and the convening of the liberal
Cortes in that city. An international conference of monarchist powers, the
Congress of Verona, in October 1822, deputized France to secure Ferdinand's release and restore absolutism in Spain. The invading French army, known as the
Hundred Thousand Children of St. Louis (France's patron saint), took Madrid, and, on 7 April 1823, laid siege to Cádiz from positions in Puerto Real and nearby San Fernando. Initially, French artillery barrages failed to cause the fall of the city. Riego's forces held the strategic Fort San Luis on the island of Trocadero at the extreme south end of the Bay of Cádiz, between Cádiz and Puerto Real. When the fort's defenders succumbed to a French assault on 31 August 1823, Trocadero was lost, and so, in effect, was the liberal cause. The remaining defenders of Cádiz, smarting from their loss at the
Battle of Trocadero and despairing of the possibility of reinforcement, sued for peace. They made an agreement that resulted in the release and reinstatement of Ferdinand VII. In exchange, the liberals secured promises of an amnesty for their fighters and for the members of the dissident Cortes; the agents of the king also agreed to the establishment of a form of constitutional monarchy where the principles of the 1812 constitution were supposed to be respected. In the process of besieging Cádiz, the French succeeded in destroying a large part of Puerto Real, including its water delivery and sanitation systems. Perhaps it was because of these events that Puerto Real was regularly beset by epidemics throughout much of the 19th century. Another reminder in Puerto Real of the time of the French invasion is the Cortadura canal that allows passage across the base of the peninsula of Cádiz. The canal is not a natural waterway; it was constructed by the Spanish in an attempt to prevent the French artillery from drawing closer to the walls of the city. At the end of the 19th century, Puerto Real experienced an industrial boom, thanks to the creation of modern shipyards by
Antonio López. New technological advances and the new industries drastically modified the appearance of Puerto Real. To make room for the new shipyards and warehouses, a working-class neighborhood,
Matagorda, was leveled, but new neighborhoods, like the
River San Pedro and
Marquesado districts, sprang up. ==Economy==