Since prehistoric times, the waterfront of the river Magro has been a preferent place to inhabit, due to the generous presence of water (Caudete and Requena springs), and to the fact of being a forced passage between the inland of the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea.
The significant ancient village called Los Villares -in the Municipality of Caudete de las Fuentes- was founded between the Valencian Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as La Peladilla -located at Bicuerca mountains-, Peladilla del Derramador and San Blas. There were found other minor settlements at Utiel and El Tejo mountains, as well as along the river Magro.

The Iberian culture left valuable deposits, sometimes superposed to those of the Bronze Age -like in Los Villares or La Peladilla- or at new places, like Molón -Municipality of Camporrobles-, La Mazorra -Municipality of Utiel-, La Muela de los Antones, Castellar de Hortunas, Los Villarejos del Rebollar, Cabeza de Tudela hill, and Cerro Hueco sanctuary, last two near Campo Arcís village. The Romanization was very intense. There were found many remains, again, along the river Magro and near Campo Arcís, being the most outstanding of them Casa Doñana, La Solana de Utiel, Los Tunos quarter, a necropolis near Requena town, another one near Campo Arcís village, and about half a dozen of rustic villas near there.

Under the Moslem domination, it was very renowned the Requena castle. There were important places like Caudete, Jaraguas, Benaca, Terbia, Campo Arcís and Hortunas, where Moslem and Mozarabic remains have been identified. The origin of the name of Requena is Arab: Rakkana -the Strongest One, the Secure One, though it's likely to have an origin even older, maybe Iberian or Visigoth. First reliable references about the town of Requena are from the Moslim period, and talk about itineraries followed by troops from Cordoba Caliphate in the X century, El Cid Campeador about 1087, and the Almohad army in 1172. In the beginnings of the XII century, writer Ibn Al-Abbar described Requena as a frontier of Valencia with Cuenca and Toledo. About the end of the Middle Age, the growth of the town out of the Moslim walls happened mainly in two places: The commercial way towards Valencia originated the Arrabal quarter, inhabited by Jew merchants, muleteers, smiths, innkeepers and monks. In the northern side of the town, far from any commercial way, the Moorish (former Moslims converted to Christianism) gathered together in Las Peñas quarter.

The Castilian conquest and the reign of Alfonso X did not mean the end of the trilogy of cultures (Moslim, Jew and Christian). Jews kept living in Torrutiel and Requena ghettos even after the ejection decree in 1492, as many families were bound to speculative interests in the customs between Castile and Valencia Kingdoms.
Moorish people kept working in the Agriculture in the numerous villages of La Vega (Caudete, Santa Bárbara, Terbia, Canteruela...), and other more distant places like La Sierra (Requena mountains, like in Benacas, Estenas...), Albosa (Jaraguas, Venta del Moro...), El Llano de Campo Arcís, Hortunas... After the Castilian conquest new settlers came from Cuenca, Soria and La Rioja, and were given residence permission -Carta de Poblamiento- by Alfonso X in 1275. In the end of the XV century, Valencian surnames, like Ferrer, became more common, surely showing a certain level of inmigration from what then was the neighbour Kingdom of Valencia. Valencian people were related to the customs trade and wool crafts. The origin of the heterogeneous population of this region is owing to the fact of standing as frontier between two kingdoms.
	The coming to the throne of Queen Isabel of Castile, and her later marriage with King Fernando of Aragon meant the end of frontier battles, and Requena became the main and nearest supplier of grain for the city of Valencia, which involved an important development of agriculture and cattle raising along XV and XVI centuries. The town of Requena lost its former military function while increased trade and communications between Castile and Valencia.

The victory of Felipe of Anjou in the Succession War involved the repeal of the Laws of the Kingdom of Valencia, and subsequent supression of the customs and the free port of Requena. However, it kept being a trade point between the inland of the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean coast. Also, as Requena supported Felipe of Anjou in the war, it was rewarded with some privileges about silk crafts, whose rise involved an extraordinary demographic and urban explosion along more than a century. The XIX century involved the end of the industrial character for Requena due to the ruin of silk industry, and the rise of vine growing. Many country houses and villages were created, so the town was the supplier centre of products and services that vine growers could not find in their small villages. Requena became also, with Utiel, in an export trade center of wines.

The first half of XX century was defined by the economic dependence on vine growing, with export crisis, phylloxera plagues, the Crash of 1929... which motivated a high emigration rate and a urban stagnation. In the second half of the century, a certain industrial development was started -furnitures, leather, textile...- which gave rise to the creation of factories, and later to El Romeral industrial estate, inaugurated in 1988. Although it was not spectacular, the industrial re-activation has made of Requena a solid and regionally influential trade center.