The town has its origins in
Phoenician,
Roman, and Moorish civilisations. The foothills of the mountain range behind the town to the south are the site of
Sohail Castle, which contains remains of an early Phoenician settlement, later occupied by the Romans, which became a town known in antiquity as Suel. Suel was identified by the Roman historian
Pomponius Mela as one of the towns of the coast, and was cited by
Pliny in the 1st century AD as a fortified town or
oppidum. A later historian,
Ptolemy, identified it during the 2nd century as being located in the region of the bastulo-penos or Phoenicians. The inscription on the pedestal of a statue found near the castle mentions Suel as being a Roman "municipium". A funeral urn found in the same area has an inscription containing the word "Suelitana". Roman baths were discovered in 1961 and, close by, the remains of a Roman villa containing two sculptures, one of which is known as the "Venus of Fuengirola", exhibited in the town's museum. A series of architectural components, probably transported from the
Mijas quarry during the Roman era, were discovered in Los Boliches in 1984; these have now been mounted to form a temple entrance, and are on the promenade at Los Boliches. The castle was built by
Abd-ar-Rahman III in the mid-10th century. The city of Suel ceased to be mentioned at the beginning of the Middle Ages. 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. Suhayl became a fairly large settlement, which included farmland and small villages. Most of the surrounding area seems to have been used as pasture for the Moorish rulers' camels. Writer and scholar Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah bin Ahmed (known as Al-Allama Abdul Qasim Al-suhayli)
Al-Suhayli ("the man from Suhayl") lived there from 1130 to 1203, and later became known as one of the seven saints of
Marrakesh, where he was buried. 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, along with the rest of the
Kingdom of Granada, fell into the hands of the
Christian Monarchs in the final phase of the
Reconquista (reconquest). An attempt to repopulate the site with 30 people failed, and in 1511 it was registered as uninhabited, apart from the fortress and a watchtower. Land originally set aside for Fuengirola was reallocated to Mijas. In the 17th century, once the threat from Turkish and Moroccan pirates had disappeared, a new urban settlement developed; at the beginning of the 18th century, an inn was opened near the beach, offering accommodation to travellers, muleteers and seafarers. A few huts were built nearby, forming a small village. The
Battle of Fuengirola took place in the area during the
Peninsular War, on October 15, 1810, when approximately 400 Polish soldiers of the
Duchy of Warsaw defeated a mixed British-Spanish force numbering some 4,000 soldiers under
Lord Blayney. In May 1841, Fuengirola was administratively 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. ==Modern Fuengirola==