Charles Binns - Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography

Malaga

All images (c) Charles Binns - Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography.

Malaga is a port city in Andalusia, southern Spain, on the Costa del Sol coast of the Mediterranean.

The Phoenicians founded the city Malaka here, in about 1000 BC. The name Malaka is probably derived from the Phoenician word for salt because fish was salted near the harbour.

About six centuries later, the Romans conquered the city along with the other Spanish areas of Carthago. From the 5th century AD it was under the rule of the Visigoths.

In the 8th century, Spain was conquered by the Moors, and the city became an important centre of trade. Malaga was first a possession of the Caliphate of Cordoba. After the fall of the Umayyad dynasty, it became the capital of a distinct kingdom, dependent on Granada. During this time, the city was called Malaqah.

At a late stage of the reconquista, the reconquering of Spain, Malaga became Christian again, in 1487.

Malaga did not undergo fierce bombing by Francoist insurgent air forces during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The well-known British jouranlist and writer Arthur Koestler was captured by the Franco forces on their entry into Malaga, which formed the material for his book A Spanish Testament.

Tourism on the adjacent Costa del Sol boosted the city's economy from the 1960s onwards.

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