Jaén

A town may have existed here since ancient times, it was seized by Scipio Africanus away from Carthage by 207 BC, in the context of the Second Punic War.

Following the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the city became the head of an important territory with some similarities to the current province. Jaén was conquered by the Almoravids in 1091.

Taken in 1159 by Ibn Mardanīš (aka "Rey Lobo"), who was opposed to the spread of the Almohad Empire, it fell back to the Almohads in 1169. In 1225, Fernando III of Castile unsuccessfully laid siege to Jaén. The city was besieged again in 1230 by Fernand who lifted the siege after the news of the death of his father, Alfonso IX of León.

In 1246 Muhammad I of Granada surrendered to Fernndo. Following the conquest the Diocese of Baeza was moved to Jaén.

During the Spanish Civil War, the city remained loyal to the Second Spanish Republic and was therefore bombed by the infamous German Condor Legion flying squadron on April 1, 1937. Current estimates suggest that 159 residents were killed and several hundred injured in the bombing.