It is the most populated city in the Bay of Cadiz,
with 127,200 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly in the trade due to
the presence of shipyards and the Port activity of Cadiz. The other sector of the economy is
tourism Cadiz,
enjoys the popularity of its beaches, local festivals and the important
historical heritage it possesses.
It is a city of undoubted interest for his long and influential history, where
it is one of the oldest cities in the West, with a history of more than 3100
years. This City has its historical importance in involvement in the Punic
wars, the Roman conquest of Iberia,
the discovery of America and
the liberation of Spain
and its first constitution.
The City boasts many squares, gardens,
churches and other locations worthy of mention.
The San Fernando Cadiz is separated from
the Iberian Peninsula by the Cano de Sancti
Petri.
Historically this area was considered a
small archipelago named Gadeiras, however there is current debate regarding the
geography of the island. The sea around the Island
was named by Lord Byron as The Mermaid Ocean and is known popularly as Tacita
de Plata.
The city was founded under the name of
Gadir a Hebrew and Phoenician word meaning a castle fortress, or a Murado -
enclosure. The word has a counterpart Agadir which is prevalent in many place
names in Northern Africa, such as Agadir Morocco.
The name still is
used among the Berbers Agadir means a market or fortified granary. The
Phoenician Gadir was the most important enclave of antiquity in the Iberian Peninsula.
The Greeks also knew the town by a similar name Gadeira and under a different
spelling appeared in the works of Herodotus and Eratosthenes dating back to
Stephen of Byzantium as spelled in Latin and then in Arabic Qadis.
The historical and commercial city name
derived from the idiom Cadiz,
the name in Latin and later Italian then CADIC in French, Cadix, in English,
and Calo Peri Cadiz as depicted on many mediaeval maps of the time. The words
Cadi and Cai, are characteristic sounds used in the Andalusian dialect, are
common used in the field of Oral expression.
For other historical reasons, colonization and conquest, some cities that were
once under the sovereignty of the Spanish crown were also given the name of Cadiz and are in countries like the United States of
America California, Indiana, Kentucky
and Ohio and Philippines.
The first populated city in Venezuela was
called Nueva Cadiz, on the Isle of Cubagua, Estado Nueva Esparta, of which only
ruins remain.
The founder of Cadiz was Hercules Gadium Dominatorque. The
city of Cadiz is a municipality located in the
Spanish province of Cadiz, in the autonomous Province
of Andalusia, on the southern tip of Europe.
It is the capital of the Province and one
of the two main cities of the metropolitan area of the Bay
of Cadiz, Jerez being the other.
The city has the third largest population
of Andalusia and one of the most economically and industrially active, in Spain.
