It is not known with certainty the date of the founding of the city, although it is known in Roman times and there was a small nucleus. The Muslims built in this place a fortress which they called Magerit, word from which its present name. Around the walls would be developed later, the town of Madrid. Alfonso VI took place in 1083 and transformed the mosque next to the barns (almudaina) of the town in a church dedicated to the Virgen de la Almudena.

During the Middle Ages the population did not exceed 3,000. In 1268 an epidemic left almost uninhabited. From the fifteenth century Madrid became the place of residence, intermittently, many Spanish kings, until the establishment of the court in this town under the reign of Philip II, in 1561, given its location in the center Peninsula. This boosted its population growth and, hence, the urban development in principle disordered: thus arose the suburbs outside the walls of the medieval and built numerous palaces and public buildings. But it was definitely Felipe III who consolidated the city as seat of government of the Crown. The population was in the early seventeenth century more than 80,000 inhabitants.

It was the Bourbons, especially Carlos III, who gave the town and cut their peak with the expansion of its perimeter, building walkways and numerous monuments, among which the Royal Palace which had been commissioned to build his father, Philip V.

During the War of Independence, the city showed their opposition to the change of dynasty and rioted against the French in the famous campaign of May 2. The nineteenth century was in Madrid as the main stage of Spanish politics. The position of the city was instrumental in all the political changes that occurred. The symbol represents the control of capital as an expression of state control, caused the Civil War became the main military objective of Franco's troops. In 1983 Madrid became the capital of an autonomous community, the Community of Madrid, whose territory coincides with the province of Madrid, which has added new political and administrative functions at the same time, a new identification sign . Population (1995 estimate), 3,029,734 inhabitants.