Prehistory On the northern outskirts of the city there are two
Bronze Age burial mounds (
barrows or
dolmens), the
Dólmen de Menga and the
Dólmen de Viera, dating from the third millennium BCE. They are the largest such structures in Europe. The larger one,
Dólmen de Menga, is twenty-five metres in diameter and four metres high, and was built with thirty-two
megaliths, the largest weighing about 180 tonnes. After completion of the chamber (which probably served as a grave for the ruling families) and the path leading into the centre, the stone structure was covered with earth and built up into the hill that exists today. When the
grave was opened and examined in the nineteenth century, archaeologists found the skeletons of several hundred people inside. The
Dólmen del Romeral, which dates from about 1800 BCE, is outside the city. A large number of smaller stones were used in its construction.
Los Silillos, a significant Bronze Age prehistoric village was uncovered several miles north of Antequera. From the 7th century BC, the region was settled by the
Iberians, whose cultural and economic contacts with the
Phoenicians and
Greeks are demonstrated by many
archaeological discoveries. In the middle of the first millennium BCE, the Iberians mingled with wandering
Celts (see
Celtiberians) and with the civilization of
Tartessos of southern Spain. The dolmen complex of Menga, Viera, and Romeral was inscribed as a
World Heritage Site in 2016 under the name "Antequera Dolmens Site". The manifest for recognition from
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also includes Peña de los Enamorados (Lovers' Rock) and El Torcal.
Ancient history The city was known to the
ancient Romans as
Anticaria or
Antiquaria. It lay within the lands of
Tartessos and their successors the
Turdetani, the most civilized of the
Prehistoric Iberians.
Carthaginian Iberia developed along the coast from the sixth century BCE, with their port of
Malaca (
Málaga) on Anticaria's coast. The
Carthaginians expanded into the interior under
Hamilcar Barca during the 230s BCE following
Carthage's loss of
Sicily during the
First Punic War. The
Roman Republic slowly conquered eastern
Hispania over the course of the
Second Punic War, cementing its control with
Scipio Africanus's 206 BCE
victory at Ilipa. The territory was ceded by
Carthage in 201 BCE and Anticaria's region was organized as
Hispania Ulterior in 197 BCE. That year, the Turdetani rose in revolt, being put down a few years later by legions under
Cato the Elder. The area was then
heavily Romanized with many
colonies established nearby. The present street plan largely follows those of the Roman town. Following
Agrippa's
success in suppressing the
Cantabri in northern Spain, Hispania was again reorganized: Anticaria then formed part of
Hispania Baetica. Under the Romans, Anticaria was particularly known for the high quality of its
olive oil. Spain became increasingly
Christian after the second century. During the
fall of the Roman Empire, the area of Anticaria fell to the
pagan Siling Vandals in the 410s. After they were attacked by the
Visigoths, they voluntarily submitted to
Gunderic of the
Hasding Vandals and
western Alans in 419. His half-brother
Genseric succeeded him, eventually relocating his people to
Africa. Spain was then dominated by the
Visigothic Kingdom, which converted to
Arian Christianity.
Middle Ages The
Arab invasion of the Iberian peninsula began in 711 under
Tariq ibn-Ziyad. Anticaria was conquered around 716, becoming part of the
Umayyad Caliphate under the name
Medina Antaquira (
Arabic for "Antaquira City").
Umayyad Spain was formally
Muslim, but broadly (though
not entirely), tolerant of other religions. Amid the
Reconquista, a coalition of Christian kings drove the Muslims from Central Spain in the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. Over the next few years, the
Almohads were defeated and al-Andalus greatly reduced in strength. Medina Antaquira, which at that time had a population of about 2600, became one of the northern cities of the remaining
Nasrid Emirate of Granada and an important border town. To defend against the
Catholic Spanish troops from the northern kingdoms, fortifications were built and a
Moorish castle erected overlooking the city. For about two hundred years, Medina Antaquira was attacked repeatedly. On 16 September 1410, after a nearly 4-month siege, the city capitulated to a Castilian army led by the
infante Ferdinand of Trastámara. The Muslim population was forced to leave their homes, departing to
Archidona and
Granada. Following a compromise, they surrendered the castle and their Christian slaves in exchange for being provided with beasts of burden to carry their goods out of the city. For two days, they were able to sell their properties. 895 men, 770 women and 863 children left. The settling for new Christian population was tasked to Rodrigo de Narváez. After the conquest and up until 1487, Antequera was attached to Seville from an ecclesial standpoint. The city became part of the
Kingdom of Seville, a realm of the
Crown of Castile. On 20 February 1448, despite some earlier reluctance to take such a dangerous measure in a relatively big town,
John II granted Antequera the privilege of
homicianos, thus easing the conditions for the settling of criminals seeking redemption. However demographic growth in Antequera, a borderland that had been recently endangered by the military campaign undertaken by Muhammad X of Granada in the area, did not substantially improve. By 1477 the situation was critical. Nasrids attempted to conquer the city, ravaging the crops and firing housing. The city served as major military power base during the
War of Granada. Population boomed after the
conquest of Málaga by the
Catholic Monarchs in 1487 (and the ensuing conquest of Granada in 1492), as concerns about military insecurity were left in the past.
Early modern history Throughout the 16th century Antequera, that enjoyed a rich neighbouring
vega irrigated by the
Guadalhorce, was noted as cereal production centre, and was key in the food provision of Málaga. The economic fabric of the city shifted from a borderland military-focused economy to the strengthening of the agricultural role in the early 16th century. Antequera became an important commercial town at the crossroads between Málaga to the south, Granada to the east,
Córdoba to the north, and
Seville to the west. Because of its location, its flourishing agriculture, and the work of its craftsmen, all contributing to the cultural growth of the city, Antequera was called the "Heart of Andalusia" by the early sixteenth century. During this time the townscape also changed. Mosques and houses were torn down, and new churches and houses built in their place. The oldest church in Antequera, the
late Gothic Iglesia San Francisco, was built around the year 1500. In 1504, the
humanist university of the
Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor was founded; it became a meeting place for important writers and scholars of the Spanish
Renaissance. A school of poets arose during the sixteenth century that included
Pedro Espinosa,
Luis Martín de la Plaza, and
Cristobalina Fernández de Alarcón. A school of sculpture produced artists who were employed mainly on the many churches built, and who were in demand in Seville, Málaga and Córdoba and the surrounding areas. The newly built churches included
San Sebastián in the city centre and the largest and most splendid of the city,
Real Colegiata de Santa María, with its richly decorated
mannerist façade. Still more churches and convents were built into the eighteenth century (today there are 32 in the city altogether), as were palaces for the members of the aristocracy and the wealthier citizens, in the
Spanish Baroque style. Antequera's prosperity slowly came to a close at the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth. In the 19th century Spain had to accept the loss of its American colonies. That led to a deep economic crisis, which in some parts of the country, led people to turn to
bartering. Church, aristocracy, and the upper middle class — the great landowners — who had been the clients and sponsors of the creative arts, lost most of their fortunes and could not afford to build more churches or palaces.
Late modern history Starting from the mid-eighteenth century, Spain underwent a series of reforms, in particular a land reform and the reduction of the power of the Church (the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767) that produced a slow economic recovery. In Antequera, textile production became the main industry. In 1804,
yellow fever caused a setback, as well as the
Napoleonic Wars that broke out shortly after. In the 1960s, the nearby
Costa del Sol developed into an international
tourist hotspot and Antequera experienced another economic upswing. Today the city is an important tourist and cultural center, nationally, as well as regionally. == Main sights ==