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During the XVI and XVII centuries, El Puerto is a wintering place and base of the Royal Galleys and seat of the General Captaincy of the Ocean Sea. This fact will determine its prominent role in the preparation of important naval expeditions of a military nature. When Felipe V is proclaimed king, the city asks to be incorporated in the Crown, which happens on May 31, 1729. During the XVIII century, it reached its maximum splendor with an important mercantile activity and a great number of rich traders who erected sumptuous mansions, thus known as "The City of the Hundred Palaces".

In the XIX century, it becomes the Headquarters of the French army during the siege of Cadiz. When Fernando VII is proclaimed king and imprisoned by the liberals in Cadiz, another French army, The Hundred Thousand Sons of St Louis, freed him, and he disembarked in El Puerto, where he abolished the Consitution of Cadiz and established absolutism.

It is in the XX century when, thanks to the wine trade, it acquires its current appearance.