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Alicante
Alicante (Spanish language)
or Alacant (Valencian) is a city in Spain, the capital of the
province of Alicante and of the comarca of the Alacantí, in the
southern part of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic
Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper
was 322,431, estimated as of 2006, of the entire urban area,
434,505, ranking as the second-largest Valencian city. Population of
the metropolitan area (including Elche and satellite towns) was
725,395 as of 2006 estimates, ranking as the eighth-largest
metropolitan area of Spain.
Alicante is one of the fastest-growing cities in Spain. The local
economy is based upon tourism in the beaches from Costa Blanca coast
and particularly the second residence construction boom which
started in the 1960s and reinvigorated again by the late 1990s.
services and public administration also play a major role in the
city's economy. The construction boom has raised many environmental
concerns and both the local autonomous government and city council
are under scrutiny by the European Union. The construction soar is
the subject of hot debates among politicians and citizens alike. The
latest of many public battles concerns the plans of the Port
Authority of Alicante to construct an industrial estate on reclaimed
land in front of the city's coastal strip, in breach of local,
national and European regulations.[citation needed]
Luis Díaz Alperi (1945), of the Partido Popular (People's Party),
has been reelected city mayor with an absolute majority for his
fourth term in the Municipal Elections of May 2007, followed closely
by Etelvina Andreu (1969) of the Partido Socialista (PSOE).
The city has regular ferry services to the Balearic Islands and
Algeria, and an international airport is nearby, served by Iberia
and other airlines. The city is strongly fortified, with a spacious
harbour. Amongst the most notable features of the city are its main
castle, the Castle of Santa Bárbara, which sits high above the city,
and its port, which has become the subject of bitter controversy in
the city as residents battle to keep it from being changed into an
industrial estate.
The most important festival, the Bonfires of Saint John, takes place
during the summer solstice. This is followed a week later by seven
nights of firework and pyrotechnic contests between companies on the
urban beach Playa del Postiguet. Another well-known festival is
Moros y Cristianos in Altozano or San Blas district. Overall, the
city boasts a year-round nightlife, helped by tourists, fun-loving
residents, and a large student population of the University of
Alicante. The nightlife social scene tends to shift to nearby Playa
de San Juan (St. John's Beach) during the summer months.
The city is the headquarters of the Office for Harmonization in the
Internal Market and a sizeable population of Euro public workers
live here.
At the foot of the main staircase of the City Hall Building (Ayuntamiento)
is the "cota cero" (zero point), used as the point of reference for
measuring the height above or below sea level of any point in Spain,
due to the marginal tidal variations of the Mediterranean sea in
Alicante.
The population of Alicante in 2006 was 322,431 inhabitants (325,797
by the local authorities in 2005), 725,395 in the metropolitan area
"Alicante-Elx". About 15% of the population is foreign, mostly those
from Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia who have arrived in the
previous 10 years as immigrants. There are also immigrants from
other origins such as Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Morocco, many of
which are under illegal alien status and therefore are not accounted
for in official population figures. The real percentage of foreign
population is probably higher, since the Alicante metropolitan area
is home to many Northern European retired citizens, even if
officially they are still residents of their own countries. In the
same pattern, a sizable amount of permanent residents are Spanish
nationals who officially still live in Madrid, the Basque provinces,
or other areas of the country.
year population
1250 2,500
1350 3,250
1418 1,539
1609 5,040
1646 6,174
1717 11,019
1735 12,604
1754 14,394
1768 17,213
1786 17,345
year population
1797 19,313
1803 21,447
1857 27,550
1860 31,162
1877 34,926
1887 40,115
1897 49,463
1900 50,495
1910 55,116
1920 63,382
year population
1930 71,271
1940 89,198
1950 101,791
1960 121,832
1970 181,550
1981 245,963
1991 265,473
1996 274,577
2001 288,481
2006 322,431
Climate
Record high °C 29,2 29,4 32,6 32,6 35,1 37,8 41,4 40,4 38,4 36,2
30,6 26,6 41,4
Average high °C 16,8 17,8 19,2 20,9 23,6 27,2 30,1 30,6 28,4 24,4
20,4 17,6 23,1
Average low °C 6,2 7,0 8,2 10,1 13,3 17,1 19,7 20,4 17,8 13,7 10,0
7,3 12,6
Record low °C -2,6 -4,6 -1,0 2,6 4,8 10,4 13,4 13,2 9,4 4,0 0,2 -2,6
-4,6
Average rainfall mm 22 26 26 30 33 17 6 8 47 52 42 26 336
History
History of Alicante
The area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years,
with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from
Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC. Some of the earliest
settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil. By 1000 BC
Greek and Phoenician traders had begun to visit the eastern coast of
Spain, establishing small trading ports and introducing the native
Iberian tribes to the alphabet, iron and the pottery wheel. By the
sixth century BC, the rival armies of Carthage and Rome began to
invade and fight for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The
Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca established the fortified
settlement of Akra Leuka (Greek: Ἄκρα Λευκὴ, meaning "White
Mountain" or "White Point"), where Alicante stands today.
Although the Carthaginians conquered much of the land around
Alicante, the Romans would eventually rule Hispania Tarraconensis
for over 700 years. By the 5th century, Rome was in decline; the
Roman predecessor town of Alicante, known as Lucentum (Latin), was
more or less under the control of the Visigothic warlord Teodmiro.
However neither the Romans nor the Goths put up much resistance to
the Arab conquest of Medina Laqant in the 8th century. The Moors
gave the city its modern name - Alicante is Arabic for "city of
lights".[2] The Moors ruled southern and eastern Spain until the
11th century reconquista (reconquest). Alicante was finally taken in
1246 by the Castilian king Alfonso X, but it passed soon and
definitely to the Kingdom of Valencia in 1298 with the Catalonian
King James II of Aragon. It gained the status of Royal Village (Vila
Reial) with representation in the medieval Valencian Parliament.
After several decades of being the battlefield where Kingdom of
Castile and the Crown of Aragon clashed, Alicante became a major
Mediterranean trading station exporting rice, wine, olive oil,
oranges and wool. But between 1609 and 1614 King Felipe III expelled
thousands of moriscos who had remained in Valencia after the
reconquista, due to their allegiance with Barbary pirates who
continually attacked coastal cities and caused much harm to trade.
This act cost the region dearly; with so many skilled artisans and
agricultural labourers gone, the feudal nobility found itself
sliding into bankruptcy. Things got worse in the early 18th century;
after the War of Spanish Succession, Alicante went into a long, slow
decline, surviving through the 18th and 19th centuries by making
shoes and agricultural products such as oranges and almonds, and its
fisheries. The end of the 19th century witnessed a sharp recovery of
the local economy with increasing international trade and the growth
of the city harbour leading to increased exports of several products
(particularly during World War I when Spain was a neutral country).
During the early twentieth century, Alicante was a minor capital
which enjoyed the benefit of Spain's neutrality during the First
World War, which provided new opportunities for the local industry
and agriculture. The Rif War in the 1920s saw numerous alicantinos
drafted to fight in the long and bloody campaigns at the former
Spanish protectorate (Northern Morocco) against the Rif rebels. The
political unrest of the late 1920s led to the victory of republican
candidates in the local council elections throughout the country,
and the abdication of King Alfonso XIII. The proclamation of the
Second Spanish Republic was much celebrated in the city on April 14,
1931. The Spanish Civil War broke out on July 17, 1936. Alicante was
the last city loyal to the Republican government to be occupied by
General Franco's troops on April 1, 1939, and its harbour saw the
last Republican government officials fleeing the country. Even if
not as famous as the bombing of Guernica by the German Luftwaffe,
Alicante was the target of some vicious air bombings during the
three years of civil conflict, most remarkably the bombing by the
Italian Aviazione Legionaria of the Mercado de Abastos in May 25,
1938 in which more than 300 civilians perished.
The next 20 years under Franco's dictatorship were difficult for
Alicante as it was for the entire country. However, the late 1950s
and early 1960s saw the onset of a lasting transformation of the
city due to tourism. Large buildings and complexes rose in nearby
Albufereta and Playa de San Juan, with the benign climate being the
best tool to bring prospective buyers and tourists who kept hotels
reasonably busy. The tourist development, aside from construction,
also brought numerous businesses such as restaurants, bars and other
businesses focused on visitors. Also, the old airfield at Rabasa was
closed and air traffic moved to the new El Altet airport, which made
for a convenient facility for charter flights bringing tourists from
northern European countries.
When Franco died in 1975, his successor Juan Carlos I successfully
oversaw the transition of Spain to a democratic constitutional
monarchy. Governments of nationalities and regions were given more
autonomy, and the Valencian region was not an exception.
Alicante is the Valencia region's second-largest town.
The port has been reinventing itself since the industrial decline
the city suffered in the 1980s (with most mercantile traffic lost in
favour of Valencia's harbour). In recent years, the Port Authority
has established it as one of the most important ports in Spain for
cruises, with 72 calls to port made by cruises in 2007 bringing some
80,000 cruise passengers and 30,000 crew to the city each year.[3]
The moves to develop the port for more tourism have been welcomed by
the city and its residents, but the latest plans to develop an
industrial estate in the port have caused great controversy. See
History of Alicante
Transport
Alicante Airport outranks its Valencian counterpart, being among the
busiest airports in Spain along with Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and
Málaga and keeps expanding. It is connected with Madrid and
Barcelona by frequent Iberia and Spanair flights, with many Western
European cities through carriers such as Jet2.com, EasyJet, Ryanair
and Air Berlin, and has also flights to Algiers and Russia. In
addition, Alicante's only link to South America, specifically
Bogotá, is provided by Avianca.
The Alicante Tram connects the city with outlying settlements.
Famous citizens
* George Washington Montgomery, (1804-1841), born in Alicante,
United States diplomat and editor/publisher of the first Spanish
language translation of the works of Washington Irving.[4]
* Carlos Arniches (1866-1943), novelist
* Gabriel Miró (1879-1930), novelist
* Antonio Gades (1936-2004), Flamenco dancer
* Juan Escarré (1969), field hockey player
* Belen Rueda, actress
* Miriam Blasco, judoka Olympic winner
* Isabel Fernandez, judoka Olympic winner
* Vanessa Romero, model and actress
* Maria Jurado, model and actress
* Esther Cañadas, model and actress
* Pedro Ferrándiz, basketball coach
* Hannibal Laguna, fashion designer
* Francisco Rufete, footballer
Courtesy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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