Guadix el Viejo, 6 km northwest, was the Roman Acci (also Accitum) mentioned in Pliny's Natural History and as Akki by Ptolemy, who placed it among the Bastetani, whose capital was Basti.

The existence of an oppidum with a well-defined urban plan from the 6th century BC has been documented; archeological excavations have revealed complex spaces with straight walls and red adobe floors.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire negatively influenced the status of Acci, whose population may have in large part moved to rural areas,[3] and the city is known to have been one of the first in the Iberian Peninsula to adopt Catholicism.

[4][5] According to Arab sources, the city was initially a rebel against the Umayyads, and after the Caliphate's decline, Guadix found itself located on the border between the territories of Zirids of Granada and those of the Banu Jayrán of Almería.

The city was integrated into the Almoravid Empire and then by the Almohad Caliphate, which conquered al-Andalus and later left the peninsula, leading to Guadix becoming a territory of the Emirate of Granada.

[4] By the end of the 19th century, Guadix had been famous for its cutlery; but its newer manufactures (chiefly earthenware, hempen goods, and hats) did not contribute to the city's economy significantly.

The Hoya Basin has been subject to erosion due to the presence of small rivers in the surrounding elevations, which have given the area its characteristic landscape of gullies and badlands.