Ajuntament de Tortosa - Turisme

Tortosa's rich heritage goes back more than two thousand years. The city has been declared a Historic-Artistic Site.

Ancient Tortosa should be considered a Mediterranean city used as both a port and a market for receiving and distributing products from the inland of the peninsula and from the whole of the Mediterranean area.

When occupied by the Romans, it was surrounded by walls and renamed as Dertosa.

In the 8th century it was conquered by the Muslims and their long domination of the city had a strong and profound influence on it. In the 11th century it became a very important "Taifa" or Muslim ruled kingdom.

The greatness of this "Taifa" or Muslim ruled kingdom can to an end in 1148, when Tortosa was conquered by Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona. The three city ports controlled the wheat and salt trade in the western Mediterranean. The city became a junction of the territories that made up the Crown of Catalonia-Aragon and was one of the large cities that often became the site of the "Courts" of the Crown of Aragon.

The expulsion of the Jews (1492) and, to a lesser degree, the Arabs, (17th Century) caused serious harm to the economic life of Tortosa.

It soon fell into the hands of the Castilians (1640) during the Harvesters' War, who were shortly after expelled by the French (1650); a period of political and cultural decline for Catalonia.

When Valencia fell into the hands of Felipe V (18th Century) during the "Succession War", Tortosa also went with it.

The 19th Century began with the Napoleonic invasion, during which a large part of the territory, including the whole of Catalonia, was ripped away from the Spanish Empire and included in the French Empire until 1814.

Despite having lost the territorial unity, which hence led to the transfer of the capital to Tarragona in 1833, the century stands out for the continuance and growth of creative activity within the cultural sphere and was marked by the Carlist Wars.

Tortosa was one of the places most seriously affected by the conflict of the Civil War in 1936, with the dramatic and bloody backdrop of the Battle of the Ebro.