The Ria Formosa area with its countless lagoons has been inhabited since
prehistoric times and a city emerges there named Ossonoba. It was an important urban centre
during the period of Roman occupation and the origin of the present city of Faro.
It was Bishopric headquarters from the 3rd century until the Arab occupation.
During the Arab rule, from the 8th century until the 13th century, Ossonoba continues to be an important place. It is fortified with city walls and the capital of a short-lived independent principality in the 9th century. The name Ossonoba changed to that of Santa Maria de Hárune, the origin of the name Faro. In the year 1249, after a troublesome period provoked by Islamic political unrest and military instability, Faro is conquered by the Portuguese.
In the following centuries, Faro becomes a prosperous city due to its geographical position, the safe port, and the exploration of salt. Agricultural products
from the interior were also traded.
Faro, in that period, had an important and active Jewish community that, in the end of the 15th century, prints the first Portuguese book.
In 1499, king Dom Manuel, aware of the growth of the city, encourages considerable urban changes: a hospital, a Church, a customs house, a slaughter houseand shops. They were build outside the city walls and close to the coast.
In 1540, Faro is granted the status of city. Curiously enough, it is bestowed that honour again in 1577 when the seat of the bishop of Algarve was transferred here from Silves where it had been for more than 250 years.
In 1596, English sailors under the Earl of Essex plunder and burn down most of the city, damage walls and churches, impoverishing the city.
The 17th and 18th centuries are a period of expansion for Faro, witch is then enclosed by new city walls that were build during the period of the Restoration Wars (1640 - 1668). They embrace the developed area and the cultured lands in a vast semicircle facing the Ria Formosa.
The city stays inside those limits until the end of the 19th century. Today it is a university town and capital of the Algarve.