The history of Estepona is the history of the Costa del Sol, is the history of Andalusia. Phoenicians, Romans and Arabs left their traces on these lands. There are still plenty of remains reminding us on the settlement of these people, best conserved ae the forts and torres vigías all along the coastal line.

The first human traces in Estepona go back to the Palaeolithic period and also traces are found of the Neolithic period. Furthermore, Stone age and the Bronze age left plenty of treasures.
The Phoenicians landed on the shores of Estepona almost 3000 years ago and they where the first settlers here who also founded the first economic activities. The Phoenicians, as every where else along the coastal line, here too, started the first fishing trades and constructed the salazones factories and started to export fish and seafood. From the Phoenician period witness discoveries of amphorae’s and statues. Following the Phoenicians, were the Romans who settled here around 300 AD. From the Romans was learned how to prepare red tuna fish and for the Garum, which was an exquisite dish of red tuna and which was well loved in all the Roman Empire. With the Salazones factories, some of the most prosperous economic income was gained in the region. The most important Roman remains in Estepona are found in the Torre del Río Guadalmansa, where some thermal bath were found, thought, of once belonging to the antic Roman town Saldaba. Around this antic town, excavations brought numerous interesting archaeological remains to light.

In the history of Estepota, we have to point out the Arabs, who where remaining on these lands more than anyone else. The Arabs reached these soils in the 8th Century and left it again in the 15th. However, Estepona existed like Urbe or town long before the Moslems, at was known as Estebunna or Alextebuna. From the times the Moslems where here, we point out the period of El Nicio, in the eastern Sierra of the region. This was the most important Arab settlement with the castle dated of the 10th century, ruling then was Abderramán III. Also in the centre of the town a castle was build, of which some remains can still be seen near the town hall.
This was the time of when several Arab tribes quarrelled who was to have sovereign power over the region. The Taifas Kings gained the terrain of the region in the 11th century.

In the year 1456, when Enrique IV de Castilla expelled the Arabs, the town obtained its actual name and it is from this year, in 1456, that Esteponas history begun. At fist, this town belonged to the jurisdiction of Marbella, however with Felipe V, it received its independence. This period was very important to discover the Estepona we know today. In those times, many torre vigias (watch towers) where constructed to avoid another invasion of the Arabs.
Agriculture, stock-breeding and fishing were without doubt the economic motor of the town for centuries until tourism reached these shores in the ‘70s and started a change of these soils, no-one would have ever dreamed of. With tourism, construction arrived and has since then, not stopped yet and there are no signs, that it will do so, for the next decades.