History and Timeline of Monda

The territory of Monda spreads out among a collection of mountain ranges that not only lend diversity to the landscape that they form but also a certain unique and unmistakable air to the area. It may not differ radically from other places in the Guadalhorce valley but there is an ineffable quality to the municipality that sets it apart from those it adjoins.
 
Be that as it may, places such as Moratan and Giamon, at the foot of the Canucha range and with their dense forests of evergreen oaks and cork oaks, are the sort that will be remembered even after one has seen many other natural beauty spots. It is with good reason that this area has been included in the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park. To the north the terrain smoothes out and broad extensions of grain fields and olive trees appear, and close to the village the country is given over to terraced orchards and market gardens.
 
For a time there was some benefit for it to be accepted as a fact that it was here in the territory of Monda that the famous Battle of Munda occurred, in which Julius Caesar confronted Cneo and Pompey in 45 B. C. to seize control of Rome. Actually there is no historical documentation that that battle took place anywhere in this municipality, but it continues to be a nice story to tell visitors, and one that at least one other municipality in the province of Malaga has appropriated. The historical confusion seems to have arisen from the similarity of the names Munda and Monda.
 
It is considered proven that it was Omar Ben Hafsun who built the Al Mundat castle for defence from the attacks by the Caliphate of Cordoba, against which he had rebelled. This castle would be part of the Guadalhorce valley defensive system, but it was levelled by the strongman Sain Ibn Al-Mundir in year 308 of the hegira (along about 932 of the Christian era) and rebuilt in the eleventh century.
 
After the conquest of Malaga by Christian troops Monda came under the jurisdiction of the present provincial capital. Apparently the conquerors and the conquered coexisted peacefully until after the Moorish rebellion when the residents of Monda, like the rest of the old Kingdom of Granada, were expelled and replaced by Old Christians who settled on a more level area.

Tourist Information

Town Hall, Calle Jose Macias, 1, 29110
   Telephone: 952 457 069
   Fax: 952 457 180