The origin of the site is uncertain, as the exact date it was founded is not known. The archaeological remains found in the area surrounding Daimiel are very important because this town has the largest number of motillas (fortified settlements) in all of Spain within its municipal land.
Motillas are fortified settlements from nearly 4,000 years ago, dating back to the Bronze Age. They are located near the course of the Guadiana River and its tributary, the Azuer River. The most important of all these sites is the Motilla del Azuer, comprising a fortification with a centralised plan, surrounded by a settlement and its corresponding necropolis. It had an important role in the management and control of basic resources such as water, and they also stored cereals, occasionally stabled livestock and produced ceramics on a large scale.
In 1245, the first mention of the name Daimiel is found in an official document. This is an agreement between the archbishopric of Toledo and the Order of Calatrava referring to the tithes that each village belonging to the Order had to pay. However, the origin of Daimiel was most likely a Moorish castle along the defensive line of the Guadiana River, watching over the passage from Toledo to Cordoba, and related to Calatrava La Vieja. Daimiel became highly important for the Order of Calatrava, as there were pasturelands, fulling machines and water mills within its territories. In other words, it held great economic potential for the Order and thus, in 1299 the Encomienda de Daimiel (Daimiel District) was created, which also had the right to fish in the Guadiana River. We could assert that the Order of Calatrava helped protect this area of countryside because, due to its livestock interests, it created pasturelands that curbed the agricultural pressure on the wetland areas. The main area, the Zacatena pastureland, was used first as a pasture for the Order’s horses and later as a winter pasture for livestock.
In the late 14th Century, the church of Santa María was built, although it is likely that an older structure of Templar origins existed on the site before that. Over the 15th Century, society in Daimiel developed, thanks to the affirmation of its municipal institutions, the Municipality, District and Parishes. As a result of the population growth in the 16th Century, the church of San Pedro was built under a licence from the Emperor Carlos V. There were Jewish communities and Moorish settlements in Daimiel. The former, in the areas surrounding the synagogue, the present-day San Roque chapel, and the Moors, at the foot of the castle.
On 21 August 1887, the Queen Regent María Cristina granted the village of Daimiel its city charter. There is evidence of an airfield and blood bank in Daimiel from the Spanish Civil War period.
