Cadiz History

The whole is surrounded by a corona formed by two branches of laurel. The top is a real Spanish Crown, open with diadems, which is a circle of gold set with precious stones.

The descriptions are technical from ancient heraldry and continue composed of eight rosettes of acanthus leaves, visible with five interpolated pearls.

The open crown, also in early Spain is the traditional symbol in which the meaning dignity is recognised was introduced in the sixteenth century and called the The crown closed. It is often used in territorial heraldry and with newly proclaimed sites and less today with municipalities and other entities. The elements of the shield of the City of Cadiz are adopted in the Shield of Andalusia as well.

Cadiz is a city known for the strategic military and commercial position it holds as it is situated halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is the oldest Phoenician settlement on the West founded by Tiri according to the classical tradition, 80 years after the Trojan War, 1104 BC,

The city has a rich history dominated by sea and trade. Hannibal departed from the city to begin his conquest of Italy and Julius Caesar himself was granted the title of Civitas Federat of the Roman Senate.

The city enjoyed great prosperity in the Roman period, and the Romans built amphitheatres, aqueducts, and it become the second most populous city of the Empire for a short period of time. During this time the city enjoyed an equality rivalling that of Padua and Rome itself.

During the crisis of the third century of the Roman Empire, the fall of the Empire and the Visigothic conquests the city entered into a significant decline, entering a dark age and losing the provincial capital and its strategic and commercial importance.

The collapse of the Empires commercial networks, impacted on Gades as any other cities for the most part. The style of a wide open city of antiquity gave way slowly to a smaller town and a style common in the Middle Ages.

Desperate by economic necessity, many of these former inhabitants of Gades, were forced to give up basic rights for protection of large landowners and were incorporated into a feudal system.

People leaving for the interior grabbed the town of Caesarina Augusta which became the capital of The Byzantine province, centuries later. The province developed a half-free class of citizens called colonus.

The city was conquered by the Byzantines in the year 522AD, by the Visigoths in 620AD, the forces of Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711AD at the battle of Guadalete. During that time the wanders of the ancient world were destroyed by the demolition of the statue of Hercules and the Temple of Hercules.

The Coat of arms of the city of Cadiz.

The coat of arms for Cadiz City has the following heraldic description, in a field of azure blue, Hercules standing, naturally, dressed in a lions skin, in color, grabbing two lions lying in color and accompanied by two columns of silver with a gold belt loaded with non plus in the area at the right hand of the shield and ultra in the sinister, all referring to the old motto of the Pillars of Hercules.

The Romans symbology of the columns refers to the boundary of the continent, and the frame is highlighted in gold with gold border charged with the slogan Gadium founder Dominatorque Hercules Hercules The Master and founder of Cadiz , written in letters of black or black.

As a city it had the monopoly of trade with America, was the home of the Fleet and the scene of many naval battles and creating responsible for creating the first Spanish constitution.

Declining after the involvement in the Wars of Independence and depressed after the loss of Cuba the city continued to grow but never regained the heady place of power it previously enjoyed.

The conquest of Cadiz is part of the conquest of the Guadalquivir 1243-1262 which led to the incorporation in 1264 to the crown of Castile. The establishment of the Bay of Cadiz in the yards of the Crown of Castile at the beginning of the Age of discovery saw the resurgence of the city with great momentum.

Many famous excursions were planned from the Ports and voyages of discovery like that of Christopher Columbus or Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca conquering quests. These excursions during the Colonial period enabled the growth of a wealthy new class and centuries later the creation of a bourgeois society in Cadiz of liberal and revolutionary persons.