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Located in one of the most
important and ancient communication routes in Europe (the Straight of Gibraltar)
and isolated from the rest of Spain by the Penibética Mountain Range,
Malaga has been a place of settlement for many peoples since ancient times:
the Phoenicians cave it its current name, the Greeks established flourishing
colonies (Mainake, Torre del Mar) and the Romans made it a part of their
empire. But it was Arab rule, lasting until the latter years of the 15th
century, which most contributed to the identity of Malaga. Muslim Malaga,
the seat of a reino de Taifas (a faction of the caliphate of Córdoba
which broke up in the 11th century) was part of the kingdom of Granada
until the Catholic Kings incorporated it to the rest of Christian Spain
(1487). The cosmopolitan character of its modern-day tourism was anticipated
during the period of Muslim rule, when it had important Berber, Syrian,
Italian, and Jewish colonies; in the 15th century the city of Malaga had
a corn exchange for Genoan merchants and a Jewish quarter. In the 18th
century, after trade with America became easier, Malaga entered a prosperous
period thanks mainly to its seaport. The plentiful trade of wines, dry
fruits and minerals fostered the settlement of English, German and French
colonies, which have left their mark through some of the family names of
the inhabitants. This stage of economic development continued in the 19th
century with the introduction of an important iron and steel industry:
Malaga bears the honour of having built the first Spanish blast furnace.
Afterwards the province
withered into a long period of decline which did not begin to subside until
the 1960s, when the tourist industry began to develop strongly, to the
point where it is currently the province's major source of incom. |
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