The origins of Albufeira are not known, but one presumes
that where today lays the city, an important settlement with a marine port
existed in prehistoric times.
The Romans settled in Albufeira on the Cerro da Vila, a rocky formation
that constituted an almost unassailable peninsula between the sea and the
mouth of the river Albufeira. The Romans called the place Baltum and it
was probably a small fishing centre. They introduced a centralized administrative
organization and increased agricultural and commercial activity. They built
aquaducts, roads and bridges.
When the Arabs took over the city, they also gave it its actual name of Al-Buhera ("castle of the sea".) It was a prosperity period based on agriculture and trade with North Africa. The Moslems built solid defensive fortifications, turning it almost invulnerable. The development of agriculture was significant with the introduction of new techniques and crops. The Arabs introduced the plough and fertilizers and pioneered new irrigation systems, transforming uncultured land in vegetable gardens and orchards.
After a brief Christian occupation, in 1189 and 1190, Albufeira is finally integrated in the kingdom of the Algarve with its conquest by Dom Afonso III, in 1249.
The resulting decrease in trade with Moslem states around the Mediterranean led to a long lasting period of decline, two hundred years later followed by an economical upturn during the period of the discoveries (15º and 16º century).
In the 18 º century, several earthquakes, including the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, impoverished Albufeira, that only at the end of the 19º century recovers its prosperity with the growth of fishing and fish canning industry.
Tourism started in the 1960´s and turned the town into an important holiday destination. Albufeira got city rights in 1986.