The open-air findings of the Upper Paleolithic have revealed that the settlers were modern human (Homo sapiens) hunters, besides pointing to a much colder climate at the time.

10 km (6 mi) east of the current city lay the Basque Roman town of Oiasso (Irun) which was subsequently incorrectly identified with San Sebastián for some time by many historians.

[citation needed] No written records about the place are known until, in 1014, the monastery of Saint Sebastian with its apple orchards for cider production, then located within the boundaries of the town of Hernani, was reportedly donated to the Abbey of Leire by Sancho III of Pamplona.

In 1200, the city was conquered by Castile, whose king Alfonso VIII, confirmed its charter (fuero), but the Kingdom of Navarre was deprived of its main direct access out to the sea.

New state boundaries were drawn that left Donostia located close to Spain's border with France; thicker and more sophisticated walls were erected, with the town becoming involved in the 1521–1524 military campaigns that formed part of the Spanish conquest of Navarre.

[20] Meanwhile, the climate of war and disease left the town in a poor condition that drove many fishermen and traders to take to the sea as corsairs as a way of getting a living, most of the times under the auspices of the king Philip II of Spain, who benefited from the disruption caused to and wealth obtained from the French and Dutch trade ships.

In 1813, after a siege of various weeks, on 28 August, during the night, a landing party from a British Royal Navy squadron captured Santa Clara Island, in the bay.

Situated on a narrow promontory that jutted out into the sea between the waters of the Bay of Biscay and the broad estuary of the Urumea River, the town was hard to get at and well fortified – "it was the strongest fortification I ever saw, Gibraltar excepted", wrote William Dent.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the local government was still ruled by the principle of nobility, while inhabitants of foreign origin or descent had always been numerous in the town, especially among the trading community.

Although San Sebastián benefited greatly from the charter system established in the Southern Basque Country (foruak, with borders in the Ebro river and no duties for overseas goods), the town was at odds with the more traditional Gipuzkoa, even requesting secession from the province and annexation to Navarre in 1841.

They modelled the new city according to an orthogonal shape in a neoclassical Parisian style, and Goicoa designed several elegant buildings, such as the Miramar Palace and La Concha Promenade.

In 1887, a casino was built, which eventually became the current city hall, and some time later the Regional Government building was completed in Plaza Gipuzkoa following Jose Goicoa's design.

Cultural life thrived in this period, giving rise to various events that still take place in the city, such as the Caldereros or the Tamborrada, and journalistic and literary works in both Spanish and Basque.

Following the outbreak of World War I, San Sebastián became a destination for renowned international figures of culture and politics,[23] including Mata Hari, Leon Trotsky, Maurice Ravel, and Romanones.

Mass immigration from other parts of Spain, spurred by growing industrial production, greatly increased the population, initiating rapid and chaotic urban development on the outskirts of the city (Altza, Intxaurrondo, Herrera, Bidebieta).

Protests and street demonstrations became more common, driven by Basque nationalists (especially the armed separatist organisation ETA) and various underground unions, triggering the first state of emergency in Gipuzkoa in 1968.

Other regeneration projects included the reshaping and enlargement of Zurriola beach and promenade, the opening of the Kursaal Palace cubes (1999),[23] the new university campus and technology facilities in Ibaeta, the creation of a wide network of cycle lanes, underground car-parks and significant improvements to public transport.

Districts of cutting-edge design have been erected, such as Ibaeta and Riberas de Loiola, while some other major public works are still pending confirmation of funding and approval.

The arcades of the Buen Pastor square were modelled upon those of the Rue de Rivoli, while the Maria Cristina Bridge was inspired by the Pont Alexandre III that crosses the Seine.

The Old Town is divided into two parishes relating to the Santa Maria and San Vicente churches; the inhabitants belonging to the former are known traditionally as joxemaritarrak, while those attached to the latter are referred to as koxkeroak.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a patch of land by the railway started to be used as a football pitch, eventually turning into the official stadium of the local team Real Sociedad before it was transferred in the 1990s to Anoeta,[14]: 111  south of Amara Berri (nowadays the site harbours houses).

The original nucleus lies between the railway and the Ategorrieta Avenue, where still today the farmhouse Intxaurrondo Zar, declared "National Monument", is situated since the mid-17th century.

In 1910 it was a quaint village comprising scattered farmhouses and a small nucleus, with 2,683 inhabitants, but the arrival of thousands of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s led to rapid and chaotic housing and building activity, resulting in a maze of grey landscape of skyscrapers with a population of 32,531 in 1970.

[32] Ibaeta stands on the former location for various factories (e.g., Cervezas El León) of San Sebastián, with the buildings of the old industrial estate being demolished in the late 20th century.

A stream called Konporta flows down along the eastern side of the area, but it was canalized under the ground almost all along to its mouth on the bay pushed by urban building pressure.

This part of the city features an industrial area, a football pitch for lower leagues, a disused vocational training building and enclosure as well as a prison, much in decay and due to be transferred soon to a new location, probably in the municipality's exclave of Zubieta, while this option is coming in for much opposition.

The exclave Zubieta (meaning 'place of bridges') was a village until recent years, with a number of houses, a pelota pitch (with a single wall as opposed to the regular two) and a church.

Since the San Sebastián Day was the first festival heralding the upcoming Carnival, exuberant youths began to follow them, aping their martial manners and drumrolls, using the buckets left at the fountains as drums.

This is a local festival held on the first Saturday of February linked to the upcoming Carnival, where different groups of people dressed in Romani tinkers attire take to the streets banging rhythmically a hammer or spoon against a pot or pan, and usually bar-hop while they sing the traditional songs for the occasion.

Traditional and typical produce is sold from the stalls; the main drink is cider and the most popular snacks are txistorra, a thin, uncured chorizo wrapped in talo flatbread.