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The Phoenicians settled in Fuengirola on the hill outside the present town centre that the Romans later built a castle on, calling it Suel, and this soon became the focal point of the settlement. It also became an important part of the defensive line against pirate attacks from the coast. The ruins of the castle c an be clearly seen on the hill from the main coast road into Fuengirola from Marbella.
Fuengirola became an independent municipality in the 1953, quickly growing into the busy tourist town it is today. Among the most important of the archaeological remains in the municipality are the Roman hot baths at Torreblanca, the remains of various Roman roads in the area, Cañada Real and the marble pieces found in the Mijas quarries. These were used to build a monument in the form of a temple in the Plaza de Castilla in Los Boliches. The Visigoths were, in fact, the first to settle here, but more in passing than as permanent residents.
The Moorish presence in Fuengirola was consolidated from the 8th century onwards, and evidence of their settlements is the burial ground discovered near the hot springs at Torreblanca. It was from this period that we get the name Sohail, a bastardisation of the Latin Suel. It was destroyed in a Viking raid in 858, and the people took refuge in Mijas. 
It was not until the 10th century that the Cordoba leader, Abderramán III, reconstructed the fortress and re-built the urban centre, and it remained in Moorish hands until captured by the Christians in 1487.
Fuengirola castle was reconstructed again in the 18th century with the aim of fighting smugglers in the area, and from then on the town became an important supply centre for ships sailing towards the Straits of Gibrtaltar. It was at this time that the place became definitively known as Fuengirola, the name deriving from a Genoa ship called a "girona", that frequently made harbour here, trading in groceries (boliches). Thus the name Los Boliches, formerly separate from but now forming part of the same urban area as Fuengirola
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