History

In the Al-Andalus period it had a different location to the current one. It was situated in a higher AREA of Urs al-Yaman, as one of the twenty castles that formed part of this territory. During the nazari period it formed part of the AREA of Marchena as a fief of the al-Nayar family. At this time the principal activity was agriculture with the production of silk, oil and raisins. A network of ditches and channels was created for irrigation, which descended to the river.
With the Christian conquest in 1489, the Catholic Monarchs ceded the AREA of Marchena to don Gutierre de Cardenas y Chacon in 1494 for services rendered, as the feudal estate of Cardenas and later as the dukedom of Maqueda.
The War of the Alpujarras (1568-1570), and the subsequent expulsion of the Moors brought with it practical desertion to this AREA. According to the Survey and Population Book (Libro de Apeo y Población), it had at that time 80 houses, 3 oil mills and 2 flour mills. Repopulation was carried out in 1575 with people from Castile and Levante and 2 French citizens.
The recovery of the population would not come about until the XVIII century. But it would not be until the middle of the XIX century, with the cultivation of the Ohanes grape, that its population reached a point of significant development. In 1877 it had 1,226 inhabitants. Its independence as a village came with the abolition of the landed estates in the year 1835.
With the arrival of the XX century the importance of the cultivation of the Ohanes grape began to decrease and that joined with the crises of the century and the Civil War, meant the economy and the population of Illar diminished considerably. From the 60s onwards the vines were uprooted and were substituted by citrus fruits and the grape in most demand on the market. At the same time new technology in irrigation started to be put to use.