page_title: History of Málaga
section_title: 21st century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Málaga / 21st century
caption_attribution_description: Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga
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: The Metro in Málaga began with proposals in the late '90s to create a light rail network to relieve the problem of traffic congestion in the city. In 2001, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport commissioned a study based on suggestions in the Intermodal Transport Plan, which had initially proposed four lines. The first two lines are still under construction as of 2012.
  Since 1998 the Port of Málaga has been undergoing renovation and expansion as part of the project called the Plan Especial del Puerto de Málaga. There are major projects underway or planned to radically change the image of the port and surrounding areas. The total traffic of goods imported or exported was 2,316,780 metric tonnes in 2015.
  Cruise shipping has become an essential industry at the port and a major driver of investment in Málaga. In 2012 there were 651,517 passengers visiting the city onboard cruise ships calling at the port, including those who started or ended their cruise in Málaga. Meanwhile, the regular line of coast trade between Málaga and Melilla moved around 303,369 passengers, for a total of approximately 942,214 passengers traveling to, from or through the port. The development of the cruise industry is proceeding with a new passenger terminal, port museum and environmental education center planned for inclusion in the cruise ship facilities at Quay 2. A commercial marina will also operate from Quay 1, catering to 24 super-yachts of up to 30 meters, and the Eastern Quay passenger terminal will be remodeled to improve pedestrian access and double existing capacity to 560,000 passengers a year. The quays are connected by a system of internal roads and a network of internal and external railway lines. The internal rail network links the Harbor Services Area with the Málaga main rail station.
  AVE (Alta Velocidad Española, AVE), a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, inaugurated the Córdoba-Málaga high-speed rail line, a standard gauge railway line 155 kilometres (96 mi) in length, on 24 December 2007. Designed for speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph) and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects Málaga and Córdoba. The line runs through precipitous terrain in the Sierra Nevada and several viaducts and tunnels were necessary to complete the connections.
  Málaga Airport (Aeropuerto de Málaga), the fourth busiest airport in Spain, is important for Spanish tourism as it is the main international airport serving the Costa Del Sol. It is the international airport of Andalucia accounting for 85 percent of its international traffic and is the only one offering a wide variety of international destinations. Málaga Airport is one of the oldest Spanish airports that has stayed in its original location. The ambitious Málaga Plan has been established to meet the increase in the number of passengers, owing primarily to the growth in tourism on the Costa del Sol. It includes the construction of a new terminal and a new car park, as well as the extension of the airfield.
  A civic convention hall, the Trade Fairs and Congress Center (Spanish: Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga o Fycma), opened in 2003.
  The Club Málaga Valley e-27 is an initiative by a group composed of politicians and business leaders in the telecommunications and information sectors who want to design strategies and implement policies to move Málaga forward in information technology.
  The Picasso Museum (Museo Picasso Málaga), opened in 2003 in the Buenavista Palace, has 285 works donated by members of Picasso's family.
  The Museo Thyssen Carmen, housing a collection of 19th- and 20th-century Spanish paintings in the Palacio de Villalón and surrounding buildings, opened in 2011.
  The Contemporary Art Center of Málaga (CAC) was created by the city council to disseminate and encourage appreciation of modern art. The Center is located in the heart of the city, in the former Wholesalers' Market, designed in 1939 by the architect Luis Gutiérrez Soto, one of the preeminent exponents of rationalism in Spanish architecture.
  The M
caption: Trade Fairs and Congress Center
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