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In the middle of the 16th century, Adeje was home to the last sugar refinery on the island, fed by the waters of the Barranco del Infierno. This mill was located in the Casa Fuerte before its construction and its production was the most important in Tenerife.
In the year 1553, Pedro Ponte asked to build a fortification to defend the area from the continuous pirate raids that devastated the coast of Adeje. In the year 1555 it was authorized and in 1556 a strong house was built which became for three centuries the political, economic and social center of the jurisdiction of Adeje, under the majestic regime of the Bridge.
A fortified residence, a mixture of country house and fortress, with an almost square plan, occupied an area of 9,024 Castilian vara (7,200 square meters). It consisted of a castle and a keep, warehouses, granaries, a stable, a forge, a bakery, ovens, houses for servants and administrators, an oratory and the main palace. According to the French naturalist Berthelot “the most important room is the Archives Room”, which had four large cabinets full of documents, defined by the historian Viera y Clavijo “the Treasure of the Canaries”.
