The famous writer Vázquez Otero once said, “when the Reyes Católicos took over Malaga and its province there was no such village as Colmenar, only a country estate, which was made up of several farm houses, one of which had some beehives. They all belonged to Hamet El Suque, a Moor who was the mayor from Comares and its castle.

During the siege of Malaga these country estates were sold, which was confirmed by the kings in a session on 6th June 1488 and they became part of Malaga. They were inhabited by Moors who carried on living in the area as Mudejares..

In the days of the King Felipe 2nd and in order to compensate for the low income the kingdom was receiving through taxes, the realm decided to emit a royal decree that said, “ sell as many as a thousand country estates or lands to people of any standing or class without taking into account their titles or any other position. Let people buy the rights to the uncultivated, fallow land around the towns and villages of the kingdom, keeping only what is strictly necessary for the kingdom. The land rights of the recently born village of Colmenar were put up for sale according to a royal order and at that time it consisted of the following farmsteads; Napolin Alto y Bajo, Barrancos, Peñones, Jaral, Ramos y Colmenar, which were registered in the land registry office under the jurisdiction of Malaga. It was bought by Gómez de Cohalla in 1777. From that moment on it began to grow in importance as a town until in 1814 it was declared as the most important of its kind in the area, although it cannot be said about it today.

The village is situated on a hill and at the top is the church, around which the ancient quarter of the village is organised. Although the streets are narrow, they are clearly signposted and relatively straight. The village becomes more open-spaced and spacious the lower down the hillside you get. It is in this lower part that visitors can find the Plaza de España, which is where the Town Hall is located. The Plaza de Carros is also on e of the most transited places in the village and is where all the horse-drawn carts used to stop in the past. All the houses built at the end of the 19th century have either two or three floors. It is quite common to come across a vaulted niche embedded in the facade of a house, but always in a very prominent position. One of the outstanding buildings in the village is the Parroquia de la Asunción, built between 1648 and 1658. Next to this splendid edifice there is another, which was once the Duke’s palace and is today an old people’s day centre.

The wealth of this small village is generated from agricultural industries in the area. The olive, citrus fruits and cereal crops are the three main sectors that the village as a whole works in. The “tinajeros”, which is a nickname for people from Colmenar, complete their economic activity with some animal farming, especially sheep and goats and with a small textile sector.