We can consider that the first settlers of the Lagunas de Ruidera go back to the Lower Paleolithic period. During the rest of the Prehistory, there is also record of the settlement in the surroundings of Ruidera.

Although it is in the Bronze Age, when there are visible remains, motillas and morras, scattered throughout Alto Guadiana.

From Roman times there are also a large number of sites, villas, isolated houses, highlighting a Roman road that ran along the lagoons.

The castles of Peñarroya and RochaFrida (X-XII centuries) are of Arab origin.

Between 1213 and 1217 Ruidera passed into Christian hands and the military orders of San Juan and Santiago administered the territory of the lagoons.

It is in the seventeenth century during the reign of Carlos III when the area experienced an important boom. Some buildings still stand, such as the house of the administrator of the gunpowder factory and the Grand Prior canal, among others.

On July 13, 1979, Ruidera is declared a Natural Park.