Dénia’s History

Dénia is a historical coastal city in the district of Marina Alta in the province of Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain.  The seashore is known as the Costa Blanca (White Coast), halfway between the cities of Alicante and Valencia. Dénia’s historical heritage has been influenced by Iberian, Phoenician, Roman, Islamic and Christian civilizations. The population as of 2024 was 49,700. This figure more than quadrupled during the Summer months.

There is evidence of human habitation in the area since prehistoric times and there are significant Iberian ruins on the hillsides nearby. In the IVth century BC a Greek colony was said to exist, perhaps the one mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo as  Hēmeroskopeionον (meaning “watchtower”), never confirmed by archeological findings. The mount Montgó (753 m high), close to Denia, was an important landmark visible from far away that is believed to be used for navigation to guide ships to its port since romans’ time, and as a watchtower spot for ships sailing close to the coast and monitor the passage of shoals of tuna during their annual migrations, serving as a center for fishing operations. A temple dedicated to Ártemis Efesia, Greek godess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation and childbirth was reported to exist in The Montgó. No archeological discoveries of this temple or of an important Greek settlement in this area have ever taken place. The Greek godess Ártemis is the godess Diana of the romans. The name of the roman city was Dianium, after the godess Diana. In the first century BC, Quintus Sertoriun established a roman naval base operating from its port.

The new city reached great importance due to its port. Between the first half of the Ist century BC and the mid-IInd century AD, Dianium experienced an economic boom with large slaveholders, Vilas dedicated to the production of wine and oil, exported their products to Gaul, Liguria and Rome. This period is the start of production of amphorae and tiles in the roman Vila of Almadrava. It is believed that prestigious buildings such as public baths, a theater or a circus existed here.

In the late IVth century, the Roman Empire was divided into two, the Western and the Eastern Empires, and barbarians occupied Hispania. In the year 472 AD , the Western Empire collapsed. In 624 AD, Hispania was conquered by the Visigoths. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths ruled Dénia for a short period from 636 to 696 AD. Later on, the muslims conquested most of the Iberian peninsula and Dénia, in arabic Dāniyyait. Dénia was ruled by the Caliphate of Cordoba with the consequent Islamization and Arabization of the Iberic peninsula. At that time, the port and commercial activities in Dénia declined to be barely a haven for pirates. When the Caliphate desintegrated (1010 AD), Dénia was the capital of the muslim Tarifa Kingdom of Dénia (1037 AD) that reigned over part of the Valencian coast and the Balearic islands. At this time the citadel of the castle, a mosque, baths and Ravales (suburbs) outside the walls were built. It is a time of splendor in which Denia buzzes with cultural vitality, even minting its own currency.

On 1076, the reign was captured by Ahmad al-Muqtadir, lord of Zaragoza, under which it remained until the Almoravid invasion in 1091 to reunify Al-Andalus.  In 1238, Jaume I conquered Valencia and few years later Dénia in 1244. After the capitulation of Dénia, Muslims were expelled from the city. This caused the decline of the city, which remained nearly uninhabited after the expulsion of most of the Muslim population. The Muslim arabs originally built the castle fortress. The French, who occupied the city for four years, rebuilt the castle in the early XIXth century.

Denia was repopulated by the Valencian government. The city was returned to the Aragon crown in 1455. Diego Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas was named first Marquis of Dénia in 1487 by Ferdinand The Catholic. The county is in the hands of Sandoval for generations and in 1609, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, V Marquis of Denia and Duke of Lerma, promoted the expulsion of more than 40.000 Moriscos through the port of Dénia bound for Oran. The Moriscos were muslims from Al-Ándalus forced to baptize and convert to the Catholic religion. The city suffered a further period of decay after the decree of Expulsion of the Moriscos (1609), by which 25,000 people or 40,000 by other sources, left the marquisate, leaving the local economy in a dismal state.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Denia aligned with Archduke Charles who was proclaimed as King of Dénia. Dénia was besieged by 9,000 French troops in June 1707, but the siege was raised after 27 days. Later, on November it fell to the French forces, causing large material destruction. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht recognized Louis XIV’s grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, as King of Spain under the name of Philip V, so returning Dénia to Spanish rule.

On the morning of March 16, 1799, the frigate Guadalupe, ran aground in the area between Punta del Sard and Punta Negra, in Les Rotes, while fleeing from English ships. From the crew of 327 men, 147 lost their lives. This tragedy evidenced the lack of interest of the local authorities and precipitated the Royal Order of Charles IV to incorporate the port, the town and the city of Dénia to the Crown again in 1803, gaining an increasingly important role as a trading port. A community of English raisin traders established in Dénia from 1800 until the time of the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930’s.

With the arrival of the XXth century, Dénia left the raisin industry behind and the toy factories that would identify the city during the first half of the century, flourished.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Dénia remained in the Republican side. Its position in the rearguard allowed to experience the conflict with relative normality. If it were not, of course, for the multiple bombings that were experienced and the constant sound of sirens that warned of the presence of German and Italian aircraft flying over the municipality. In October 18, 1938, the city was directly bombed. The airplanes unloaded 44 bombs that sought to hit the docks, the esplanade and the warehouses. However, the bombs entered and fell on La Vía street causing several damage and a dead toll of human life: Fourteen dead and 50 people wounded. Between August 13, 1937 and March 28, 1939, 32 people lost their lives in Dénia, victims of the bombings of the city.

In the 1960’s the city was no stranger to its tourist attractions and became a focus of national and international tourism, an industry that still exists in the city today. Dénia is today an important touristic destination of the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, where thousands of visitors from Spain and abroad enjoy the city, its beaches, its Mediterranean cuisine and its history and culture.