Protohistory

At least up to the 1980s and 1990s, the mainstream historians' view was that Huelva began as an autochthonous Tartessian settlement (possibly the very same Tartessos mentioned in Greek sources); later opinions have held that it was a multi-ethnic enclave, mixing natives with peoples with a mainly Phoenician, and later Greek, extraction.^[5] However, following the finding of Phoenician archaeological materials in the Méndez Núñez-Las Monjas site, the chronology as to the Phoenician presence was reassessed. The evidence favours solely viewing Huelva-Onoba as a very early Phoenician colony, a development which was parallel to a certain "dismantling" of the idea of Tartessos as a mainly autochthonous archaeological culture, even though the tentative identification of Huelva with Tartessos was not discarded, but rather kept.^[6] Tartessos has also been identified with the biblical Tarshish.^[7]

First contacts with the local Phoenician presence have been hypothesised to have taken place as early as 1015 to 975 BCE.^[8] However, remains such as those found in the Méndez Núñez-Las Monjas go so far as to show a likely Phoenician settlement of the 9th century BCE, especially to resemble a founding date of a Tyrian settlement from the reign of Ithobaal I between 875 and 850,^[8] although the Méndez Núñez-Las Monjas' archaeological finds have been brought forward as evidence of a 10th-century BCE founding chronology in the era of Hiram I (c. 975–950).^[8][9] The outpost was presumably populated mainly by continental Phoenicians, with some possible addition of the likes of Eteocypriots, Cypriot Phoenicians and Sardinian Phoenicians.^[10]

As a Phoenician outpost, it facilitated local exports such as silver, copper, purple dye and salted fish, while it also served as node in the trade routes connecting the Northern Atlantic, the Southern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.^[11] Population notably increased from the mid-8th century BCE onward, possibly connected to the arrival of refugees fleeing from Tiglath-Pileser III and, overall, from the economic crisis and social unrest induced by the Assyrian subjugation of the Levant.^[12]

It was called ʿunʿu baʿl ("Baal's fort") by the Phoenicians, which in most Greek texts corrupted to Ὄνοβα (Onoba). The Tartessian world entered a crisis in the 6th century BCE.^[13] The transition from the Tartessian period to the ensuing Turdetani period was presumably slow and not traumatic, degenerating from an economy based on mining to a new one focused on the trade of agricultural and fishing products.^[14] It was in the hands of the Turdetani at the time of conquest by Rome, and before the conquest, it issued silver coins with Iberian lettering.

Antiquity

Roman coin with the onuba inscription

The place was called both Onoba Æstuaria^[15] or Onuba (used on coinage) during Roman times, or, simply, Onoba.^[16] It was put in the Roman province of Hispania Bætica. According to the Antonine Itinerary: it was a maritime town between the Anas, (modern Guadiana) and Bætis (modern Guadalquivir); it was on the estuary of the Luxia (modern Odiel), and on the road from the mouth of the Anas to Augusta Emerita (modern Mérida).^[17] There are still some Roman remains. Huelva hosted a mint; and many coins have been found there bearing the name of the town as Onuba.^[18]

Middle Ages

Soon after the beginning of the Umayyad invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, Onuba was seized by the troops of Musa ibn Nusayr by April 712.^[19] Within a few decades, to both the broader Islamic world and the conquered locals, the town's name had corrupted to ولبة (Walba).

During the fitna of al-Andalus a weak and ephemeral taifa emerged following the demise of local Umayyad control: the bakrid, from 1012 to 1051. In the latter year, it was annexed by the more powerful Taifa of Seville,^[20] to be later occupied by the Almoravids in 1091. By 1262, Huelva—then part of the Taifa of Niebla—was taken by Alfonso X of Castile.^[20][21] From 1265 onward, Huelva enjoyed an exemption from the portazgo tribute, a portage tax.^[22]

Following the Christian conquest, the town became a royal demesne for a short time, until it was ceded in Lordship to Admiral Juan Mathé de la Luna in 1293 by Sancho IV of Castile.^[23] After a period during which Huelva was probably controlled by Seville, the tenencia of the lordship was passed to several lords, including Alonso Meléndez de Guzmán—brother of Eleanor de Guzmán—(in 1338) and Juan Alfonso de la Cerda (c. 1344).^[24] Huelva, again a realengo for a short time during the reign of Peter I, saw its privileges confirmed and was granted the right to choose the alcalde and the alguacil in 1351.^[25] The lordship was soon given to the king's mistress, María de Padilla.^[24]

Early modern history

18th-century depiction of the port and city

It suffered substantial damage in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

Huelva became a leading fishing town in Andalusia in the 16th century (thriving in the sardine and tuna markets).^[26] The town became a provincial capital in 1833.^[26]

Modern history

Mines in the countryside still send copper and pyrite to Huelva's port for export. From about 1873, the major mining company has been Rio Tinto.^[27]

New pier-jetty of the Minas de Riotinto railway station, about to be opened in 1876

Huelva acquired the status of city (ciudad) by means of a royal decree on 17 September 1876.^[28]

The ore-smelting caused severe sulfur dioxide pollution and was frequently met by the protests of local farmers, peasants and miners, allied under the anarchist Syndicalist leader Maximiliano Tornet. On 4 February 1888, the Pavi Regiment of the Spanish Army opened fire on demonstrators at the village plaza of Rio Tinto. Historians estimate the number of deaths at 100 to 200.^[29] One hundred years later, environmentalists defending the nearby village of Nerva referred to 1888 as the "year of shots", in their protests against the provincial government's plans to site a large waste dump in a disused mine in the 1990s.^[30]

The local football club, Recreativo de Huelva was founded in 1889 by workers of Rio Tinto Group. Nicknamed the Decano of Spanish football, it is the longest-playing football club in Spain.

The 17–18 July 1936 military coup d'état that started the Spanish Civil War failed in the city and much of the province. However, on 27 July, 500 guardias civiles rose in arms against the Republic in the city, with the authorities escaping and later being shot down.^[31] Two days later, on 29 July, a rebel column from Seville on behalf of Gonzalo Queipo de Llano took control of the city.^[31] For the rest of the conflict, it remained to the rear of the zone controlled by the Rebel faction. The ensuing Francoist repression took a heavy toll, with an estimated total of 6,019 deaths all over the province for the rearguard and post-war repression.^[32]

During World War II, the city was a hub of espionage activities led by members of the large British and German expatriate communities. German activity centered on reporting British shipping moving in and out of the Atlantic. Most famously, the outskirts was where Operation Mincemeat allowed a cadaver carrying forged identification to wash ashore.^{[27][33][n. 1]}

Twenty-five years after the city was declared a Polo de Desarrollo Industrial ("Pole of Industrial Development") in 1964, the population had nearly doubled.^[34]