Send Gift Baskets to Benidorm, Spain

Settlements in the Benidorm area may date back as far as 3000 BC, and Roman and Punic remains have also been found there. During the era of the Umayad dynasty, however, settlements in the area were small, and it was only with the arrival of the Moors that the local population began to expand. Christian King James I of Aragon reconquered the region in 1245, and Benidorm’s town charter was granted in 1325 by Admiral Bernat de Sarrià of Polop to remove the Moors and allow Christians to live there. Aside from its strategic importance, Bernat de Sarrià also used the town to counter the rising power of Admiral Roger of Lauria, Lord of Altea, in the southern part of the Kingdom of Valencia.

Benidorm suffered attacks from Ottoman and Barbary pirates for the next few centuries. In the 17th century, they improved Benidorm and its people, including constructing an irrigation system that channeled water to the area in 1666. The Benidorm fishermen became famous and sought after throughout Spain and beyond by the 18th century. Their primary catch was tuna, which they perfected using an ancient technique from the Islamic period known as almadraba. In addition to the fishing industry’s success, local agriculture has been improving, fueling a stable local economy. The increase in coastal traffic also brought more wealth to the region, with the town becoming a base for sea captains and the construction of their vessels.

Due to Benidorm’s declining fishing industry, the town council approved numerous new development plans to attract tourists in 1952.