Cártama

The green of the Guadalhorce valley and, in the citrus blossoming season, the fragrance of orange blossoms impregnate a large part of the territory of this municipality, whose centre of population is divided into two zones, Cártama Pueblo and Cártama Estación. They are very close together and stretch out at the foot of the low Espartales and Llanas mountain ranges, each of which, are 400 metres high, and which together form what is known as the Sierra de Cártama.

Given the abundance of water, the valley plains are ideal for raising citrus and vegetables, while in the north the territory joins the Málaga mountains, whose rounded heights seem to be covered with olive and almond trees, with farmhouses scattered here and there as is so typical of a region of small farms. Westward, well within the Guadalhorce region, rises the Gibralgalia range, where the municipal borders of Casarabonela, Coín and Pizarra meet.

Beginning with the Tartessians and Phoenicians the modern territory of Cártama has been occupied by all the succeeding civilisations. The Phoenicians called the primitive settlement Cartha (hidden city), and the Romans derived the name Cartima from this. In the year 195 B. C. the Roman consul Marcus Poncius Cato granted it the status of a municipality and provided it with strong defences. The archaeological sites that have been discovered from the Roman era show that the village must have had a good number of inhabitants. It is thus safe to say that during the Roman period the town was one of the most important in what is today the province of Málaga.

Both the Visigoths and the Arabs were to reinforce the original fortress in later years, but it would be the latter that, aware of its strategic location, modified and consolidated it to the point that during the Nazarite period the castle became a defensive, economic and political nerve centre.

In 1485, the Christian troops managed to enter the castle, although not without difficulty, and it was to become a kind of general headquarters of the Catholic Monarchs’ armies. It was in this castle that the conquest of Ronda and Málaga was prepared. After the taking of Granada the fortress fell into disuse until the War of Independence, when it served as a refuge for French soldiers.

How to Get There

The village is only 20 kilometres from the city of Málaga and is perfectly linked to it by the A-357. The trip, normally, does not take more than 15 minutes.