Águilas

History

Possibly known in Roman times as Aquilae and later Aquila, Águilas belonged to the community of Bastetania and the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. With little to no local Iberian presence, the Roman town was founded during the Augustan period on the same isthmus where the city lies today. Several structures from the Imperial period, notably two Roman baths, have been discovered in Águilas. In the Late Roman period, the city specialised in the production of amphorae, probably for the transport of fish sauces. During this period, in the 5th century, an impressive construction project began on Isla del Fraile, where a considerable number of rooms for the production of fish sauces have been found. Various communities settled in Águilas, including the Alans, the Suebi, and the Visigoths. It formed part of the Eastern Roman Empire's Spania until the Arabs conquered the Iberian Peninsula. It was known to the Arabs as آقِلَة (Áqila). It belonged to the Córdoban caliphate and the Kingdom of Valencia, later coming under Almoravidan control, finally ending up definitively included in the Kingdom of Murcia in the 18th century. During the second half of the 19th century, a vast British colony arrived in Aguilas, an important presence that still lingers. Many of the buildings and much of the infrastructure built by the British still stand, such as the British cemetery, the municipal annex, the Hornillo Pier facing the Isle of Fraile, and the old home of an English merchant located on that island. The minuscule island of Fraile, off the coast, was owned by the Scottish banker John Gray, who sold it in 1910 to the British Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Borthwick, who in turn transferred ownership to his son Hugh, with the overt aim of exploiting its quarry. The town as it…

Most-observed species

• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  1,234
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,028
• Sardinian Warbler

  Curruca melanocephala (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  970
• Thekla's Lark

  Galerida theklae A.E.Brehm, 1857 · Aves
  832
• Audouin's Gull

  Ichthyaetus audouinii (Payraudeau, 1826) · Aves
  654
• Black Wheatear

  Oenanthe leucura (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  627
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  544
• Kentish Plover

  Charadrius alexandrinus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  508