Alburquerque - Castillo de Luna

The origin of the town is usually associated with the reconquest under Ferdinand II in 1166, whose successes were, however, cancelled out by a Moorish counter-offensive in 1184. It was only under the young King Ferdinand III that the area finally fell to the Christians in 1217. In the following year, Alfonso Téllez de Meneses began building a border fortress, which was extended around 100 years later by Álvaro de Luna, the Constable of Castile and Grand Master of the Order of Santiago.

Despite the definitive demarcation of the border between the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal in the Treaty of Badajoz (1267), numerous military disputes continued thereafter, which only came to a temporary end with the personal union between the two countries, which lasted from 1580 to 1640. Conquistadors and colonisers from Alburquerque played an important role in the discovery and conquest of America and the Philippines, which is reflected in the founding of the cities of Albuquerque (New Mexico) and Alburquerque (Philippines).