Minas de Riotinto - Museo Minero

The Riotinto Mines have been described as one of the most important mining districts of Antiquity. There is evidence of mining activities here already during the Copper Age and the Bronze Age, although it was in Roman times when the most important extraction activities were developed. The mining operations were operational until the last quarter of the 2nd century, when activity declined. The mining sites were inactive during the following centuries, well into the Modern Age.

In 1873, when the mines in the area were acquired by an international consortium that later transferred them to a British company, the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTC). The mining basin experienced a great boom, which undertook the construction of a railway to link the mines with the port of Huelva. This line was inaugurated in 1875. Likewise, there was a significant industrial development associated with mining.

The expansion of mining and metallurgical activities meant the need for a greater number of workers. During those years the population of Riotinto increased considerably: from 4,957 inhabitants in 1877 it rose to 11,603 inhabitants in 1900.17​ Faced with that eventuality, the RTC undertook the construction of housing for workers and their families. At the same time, a large British colony made up of RTC managers, technicians and engineers also settled in the area, who came with their families from the United Kingdom. A Victorian-style residential nucleus was eventually built, the so-called Bellavista neighbourhood. With the British also came their culture and traditions.

The 1980s saw the closure of the railway, as well as various industries and mining operations. The economic decline was accompanied by high labor conflict and an increase in unemployment. This had a great impact on the economy of the municipality, since ts main source of employment disappeared.