page_title: History of Málaga
section_title: Restoration of Bourbon rule
hierarchical_section_title: History of Málaga / 19th century / Restoration of Bourbon rule
caption_attribution_description: Español: Retrato del rey Alfonso XII de España (1857-1885)
context_page_description: The history of Málaga, shaped by the city's location in southern Spain on the western shore of the Mediterranean Sea, spans about 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. The first inhabitants to settle the site may have been the Bastetani, an ancient Iberian tribe. The Phoenicians founded their colony of Malaka about 770 BC. From the 6th century BC, it was under the hegemony of Carthage in present-day Tunisia. From 218 BC, Malaca was ruled by the Roman Republic; it was federated with the Roman Empire at the end of the 1st century during the reign of Domitian. Thereafter it was governed under its own municipal code, the Lex Flavia Malacitana, which granted free-born persons the privileges of Roman citizenship.
  The decline of the Roman imperial power in the 5th century led to invasions of Hispania Baetica by Germanic peoples, who were opposed by the Byzantine Empire. In Visigothic Spain, the Byzantines took Malaca and other cities on the southeastern coast and founded the new province of Spania in 552.
context_section_description: After the tumult of the First Spanish Republic, Spaniards were willing to accept a return to stability under Bourbon rule. Isabella II had abdicated in 1870 in favour of her son, Alfonso, who was now duly crowned Alfonso XII of Spain. The Republican armies in Spain—which were resisting a Carlist insurrection—pronounced their allegiance to Alfonso in the winter of 1874–1875, led by Brigadier General Martínez-Campos. The Republic was dissolved and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, a trusted advisor to the king, was named Prime Minister on 31 December 1874. The Carlist insurrection was put down vigorously by the new king, who took an active role in the war and rapidly gained the support of most of his countrymen.
  A system of turnos was established in Spain in which the liberals, led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, and the conservatives, led by Cánovas, alternated in control of the government. A modicum of stability and economic progress was restored to Spain during Alfonso XII's rule. His death in 1885, followed by the assassination of Canovas del Castillo in 1897, destabilised the government, though constitutional monarchy continued under King Alfonso XIII.
  There were social changes as well as economic ones in Málaga during the reign of Isabel II—the bourgeoisie solidified its position as an oligarchy in control of local politics, while a laboring class of industrial workers developed in the factories. The presence of these large factories resulted in the growth of an industrial and workers' suburb on the banks of the Guadalmedina river, separate from the residential areas of the bourgeoisie in the center and the eastern part of the city. The city's population continued to grow, creating a need for the expansion of civil infrastructure.
  The monasteries were not only religious centers but also places where Málaga's cultural heritage  was preserved and even, occasionally, where political power was exercised. Their spatial distribution affected the development of the city outside the medieval center: on the western edge the urban landscape began to take shape under the influence of industrial activity, while at the eastern end villas and hotels began to appear. With the seizure and subsequent demolition of old church buildings, the city gained new opportunities for growth.
  Communications were improved in the province with the construction of new railway lines to transport raw supplies and industrial products. Jorge Loring and Joaquin de la Gandara acquired numerous small rail lines and unified their interests in 1877 to found the Andalucian Railway Company (Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Andaluces), which owned most of the rails in Andalucia. This consolidation and expansion helped create a common regional market for trade goods.
  Málaga had substantial economic development in the first half of the 19th century, and by 1850 it ranked second in industrial production among the provinces of Spain, after Barcelona. The textile and steel industries generated a number of ancillary industries, including factories for soap, paint, and salt fish; breweries; timber mills; potteries; brickworks; and tanneries. Their production necessitated the building of a rail network between Córdoba and Málaga, which was connected with the national network on 15 August 1865. The city acquired public gas lighting on 6 July 1852, the Gas Lebón Company supplying the city with gas until 1897, when electrification was introduced. A public tram service with horse-drawn carriages began on 19 November 1881; in January 1901, electric power replaced the horses.
  In 1880 the city council formed a corporation to promote the construction of the Calle Marqués de Larios, in honor of the textile industrialist and financier Manuel Domingo Larios, The project was capitalised to one million pesetas by selling shares distributed in lots of forty shares of 25,000 pesetas each, most of them acquired by the Larios family. The plans were drawn and the works directed by architect Eduardo Strachan; the grand street opened in 1890. This was the beginning of the modernisation of the city e
caption: Alfonso XII
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