The main activity of El Ejido has been characterized since the second half of the 20th century by an intensive agricultural exploitation, mainly with the production of vegetables in greenhouses, the municipality being known as the sea of plastic.
The history of this town dedicated to agriculture is linked to the archaeological site of Ciavieja, which has been registered in the General Catalog of the Historical Heritage of Andalusia since 2017, where there were numerous settlements ranging from Prehistory to Roman times.
Since the Neolithic and the Copper Age (with traditions known as the Culture of Almería), there is evidence of the existence of a town of cabins dating from the third millennium BC, being of great value the ceramic remains of the time, while its decline is recorded at the end of the Bronze Age with the Argar culture. Also, the site was occupied by a Punic community in the 5th century BC, which will last until the Roman conquest.
The Roman past of El Ejido is found in the city of Murgi, dated between 70 and 74 AD, a prosperous population at an economic and social level on which certain towns and rural nuclei depended, as well as a port.
In this Roman site, remains of baths, a mosaic, a possible circus, own currency or tombs have been found. It is estimated that the town was definitely abandoned in the 4th century due to the migrations that took place inland.
The Middle Ages were characterized in the area by the development of livestock activity, with the construction of numerous cisterns that today are part of the cultural heritage of the city, leaving the lands depopulated after the War of the Alpujarras (1568-1570) with the expulsion of the Moors.
The Modern Age came with the expansion of the cultivation of cereals in the interior during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while the coast continued with the fishing activity, the construction of traps and the obtaining of salt in the salt flats, as well as the raising of a defensive. System against pirates made up of the castles and towers of Balerma, Guards Viejas, Entinas and Cerrillos.
In the middle of the 20th century, the city experienced an exponential development of intensive agriculture with the modernization of the production process, mainly vegetables, giving rise to a great economic and demographic activity in the area that continues to this day. In 1982, the Plenary of the Corporation approved the segregation of El Ejido del Campo de Dalias, making it an autonomous municipality.