The former settlement of
Sisapo has been identified as the La Bienvenida archaeological site, which is located near the hamlet of the same name. The foundation mark has been pushed back to the late-8th to early-7th centuries BC. There is doubt on whether
Sisapo was an
Oretani city, although
Plinius presented it as a
Turduli city. Sisapo thrived during the Roman era on the basis of the exploitation of
cinnabar, a
mercury ore. The mines decreased in activity by the late-2nd to early-3rd centuries AD. The etymological origin of
Almodóvar is the Arabic
al-mudawwar, meaning 'the round (one)'. In the mid-12th century, the forces of
Munio Alfonso handed a blow to the Saracen forces of
Texufin in the plains of Almodóvar. Part of the
Order of Calatrava's dominion in the Meseta Sur, the
Campo de Calatrava, Almódovar became the headquarters of one of the order's largest
encomiendas, and its economy thrived throughout the late middle ages thanks to the pastures. Almodóvar celebrated two fairs (created towards 1260), which eventually became a weekly open market from 1376 onward. Over the late middle ages, Almodóvar had minorities of
judeoconversos,
mudéjares and foreigners (Genoese, Portuguese, Flemish and French). Created towards 1456, in the context of the Calatravan interests to guarantee safety from
banditry in the area as well as to curb the influence of the Hermandad de
Ciudad Real, the so-called Santa Hermandad Vieja de Almodóvar del Campo came to exert judicial and policial powers in the area for centuries. An
Inquisition court began operating in Almodóvar in 1486. On the eve of the 1855
desamortización, the municipality of Almodóvar had 78,892.55
hectares of publicly-owned
monte. All of them were privatized between 1896 and 1897. The mining of Almodóvar's
oil shale resources fostered the 20th-century industrial development of neighbouring
Puertollano. Notable people from Almodóvar del Campo include
Mercédès Legrand. ==References==