Archeological discoveries suggest that Cambil was once part of the Roman municipality of Virgilia, linked by a Roman road connecting Cástulo with Acci via Mentesa Bastia. However, it transitioned into the Middle Ages as one of the settlements mentioned by Al Udri in the tenth century within the Cora de Elvira, situated on the road from Córdoba to Almería and Pechina through Jaén. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, Cambil served as an advanced stronghold on the northern border of the Nasrid Kingdom together with Alhabar and Arenas. It briefly fell into Castilian hands between 1312 and 1369 due to the conquest of the Infante Pedro de Castilla.