History
The earliest evidence of settlement in Pinos Puente dates back to the Late Bronze Age. The Cerro de los Infantes settlement was particularly significant in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Granada province. Associated with the Tartessian culture, the main external influence, this settlement controlled the passage from the Genil River valley to the north. Later, at the end of the 8th century BC, the indigenous inhabitants of Cerro de los Infantes adopted the innovations introduced by Phoenician colonisation, including the potter's wheel and high-temperature firing kilns. Furthermore, Phoenician influence led to a change in housing models, with oval or rectangular huts being replaced by more complex square-shaped constructions.
There is evidence of trade in oil and wine in the Genil River Valley from the seventh century BC onwards. Alongside the Cerro de los Infantes site, the discovery of a potential tower-shaped monument in Trasmulas, dating from the 7th to 6th century BC and donated to the Archaeological Museum of Granada by Rosario Agrela, Duchess of Lécera and owner of the estate, is also noteworthy. Another notable discovery is the Iberian necropolis of Cerro de las Espuelas, an archaeological site related to Ilurco
The first historical mention of the Bastetano people appears in Titus Livy’s account of Lucius Aemilius Paulus's military activities. Paulus was defeated in 190 BC during the Roman conquest, near the Iberian oppidum of Lycon. Several hypotheses identify Lycon with Ilurco, located on the Cerro de los Infantes.
On 25 June 1319, during the reign of Alfonso XI of Castile, the Battle of the Vega de Granada (also known as the Desastre de la Vega de Granada) took place in the municipality of Pinos Puente in the Kingdom of Granada. The Castilian army was defeated by the troops of King Ismail I of Granada. According to numerous historians, it was on the Cerro de los Infantes that the infant princes Juan and Pedro of Castile, leaders of the Christian army and tutors of King Alfonso XI during his minority alongside Queen María de Molina, the monarch’s grandmother, died that day
In 1341, the town was known as La Puente de los Pinos, as the bridge served as a customs office and control point for travellers on the Caliphate route. In the surrounding areas of Sierra Elvira, La Vega and Moclín, Sultan Yusuf I, his Grand Vizier Ridwan and Ozmín, the general of the 'Defenders of the Faith', attempted to lure the troops of the Castilian king into a trap, forcing him to lift the siege of Alcalá la Real.
According to Hernando Colón's account of the Capitulations of Santa Fe in 1492, Queen Isabella I of Castile's acceptance of Christopher Columbus's proposal was communicated to him by an emissary who set out from Santa Fe in search of Columbus and caught up with him at Pinos Puente. Following the Granada War, the Crown granted various properties in payment for services rendered. These properties were organised into large estates, the owners of which constituted the Kingdom of Granada's oligarchy. Fernando de Bobadilla was granted the lordship of Pinos and Beas, which the Second Duke of Abrantes would inherit in the seventeenth century.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Madoz's Geographical, Statistical and Historical Dictionary recorded four hundred houses, a prison, a school and a granary. It also mentions places such as Caparacena and Alitaje as dependencies and highlights the numerous isolated settlements, including Ansola, Coscojar, Búcor, Casanueva, Cujaira, Alfornas, Asquerosa, Daimuz Alto and Bajo, Daragolga (also known as Daragoleja), Pañaflor, Chozuelas, Trasmulas and Albenzaide (also known as Albenzaire). The dictionary also mentions two looms, three water mills, and a soap factory, as well as high-quality crops of wheat, corn, beans, melons, and watermelons. Disentailment led to the sale and division of some farms, including part of the 650 hectares of the Ansola farmhouse, which belonged to the Jerónimos Monastery. The Jerónimos Tower in Casanueva is all that remains of this monastery.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the sugar industry boomed in Granada and two sugar mills were built to produce sugar from beetroot. The fertile soils and availability of irrigation in Pinos Puente and throughout the Vega de Granada allowed sugar beet to be cultivated. Granada province was a pioneer in introducing this crop to Spain; so much so that, in 1892, the Azucarera Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Azucarera Nuestra Señora del Carmen factories were inaugurated, with the former located next to the tracks of the Bobadilla–Granada line. In 1909, the Azucarera San Pascual factory was opened in Zujaira. Federico García Rodríguez, the father of Federico García Lorca, was the main shareholder. It is said that Lorca spent periods of his childhood and youth at the Daimuz Bajo farmhouse, which was acquired by his father in 1895.
In 1943, Guillermo Diezma, the mayor of Granada Provincial Council, was elected to the position of Member of Parliament in the First Legislature of the Spanish Parliament (1943– 1946), representing the municipalities of this province. The Fuensanta district was promoted by the National Institute of Colonisation, dates from 1956.
The local autonomous entity (ELA) of Valderrubio was segregated in 2013. This had been unanimously approved by the Pinero Town Hall on 18 August 2011 and by the Granada Provincial Council and the regional government on 18 December 2013.