Ronda - Casa del Rey Moro

Ronda was known to the Romans by the name of Arunda. At the end of the Roman Empire it was taken by the Suebi and later part of the Visigoth realm. In 713 it fell to the Berbers, who built a castle on the Roman foundations. The troops of the Marquis of Cádiz conquered Ronda after a siege in 1485.

The Spanish decreed that all Muslims must either convert to Christianity or leave Spain without their belongings. Muslims who converted were called Moriscos, they had to wear upon their hats a blue crescent. In 1566 Philip II decreed the use of the Arabic language illegal, required that doors open on Fridays to verify that no Muslim Friday prayers were conducted. This led to a rebellion. The Muslim soldiers defeated the Spanish army sent to suppress them. The massacre prompted Phillip II to order the expulsion of all Moriscos in Ronda.

Ronda´s Moorish old town, La Ciudad, is located on a steeply sloping rock plateau. The old town is separated from the younger part, El Mercadillo, by the "Tajo de Ronda" a narrow gorge almost 100 meters deep, formed by the Guadalevín River.

The "Casa del Rey Moro" was built as a fortress in the 14th century.
A staircase was carved into the rock under the building, a complex work that goes down 100m to the bottom of the Guadalevin river at the bottom of the Tajo de Ronda. The builders used a natural crack in the cliff and carved more than 200 stairs. The siege of 1485 ended, when the Christian troops in took the bottom of this staircase, as by then the Moorish population was cut off the water supply.