In the 8th century, this population already existed with the name of Beni Al Jali, which comes from the Berber tribe settled in the area after the Muslim invasion, and which for a long time was the capital of the region known as Ta Kurunna. The Beni Al Jali respected most of the customs of their inhabitants, including the name of the region itself with a slight modification, which proves the existence in those places of the influence of Roman civilization.
In the same way, the construction of the castle located below the town has a clear Roman origin, without the Berbers changing the shape of the enclosure.
For some time, the town and fortress were in the possession of Omar Ben Hafsum, a rebel to the Caliphate, which gives an idea of the large expanse of land that he came to rule from Bobastro. Later it formed part of the kingdom of Malaga and that of Seville, it was in the hands of the Merinites and, by a treaty agreed in the year 1286, it passed into the hands of the king of Granada, with the castles of Ronda, Setenil and Estepona.
Vázquez Otero points out that the castle of Benadalid must have been the border between the kingdom of Granada and Seville, forming part of a line of towers and castles that probably began on the Atlantic shore, near Vejer de la Frontera, to end on the Mediterranean at a short distance from Estepona”.
The fortress and consequently the town, were conquered by the Marquis of Cádiz who took possession of them in the name of the Catholic Monarchs in the year 1485.