The Arabic name for the settlement founded by Muslims after the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula was al-Jazīrah al-Khaḍrāʾ (الجزيرة الخضراء, "The Green Island"), in reference to Isla Verde.[4]Al-Jazīra(t) gave the modern Spanish Algeciras.[5][n. 1] Algeciras' site was also that of Roman cities called Portus Albus ("White Harbor"), Caetaria (current Getares) and Iulia Traducta. In the later "Byzantine" period, the site would come to be known in Greek as Mesopotámenoi (Μεσοποτάμενοι), meaning "between rivers/canals".
History
The area of the city has been populated since prehistory, and the earliest remains belong to Neanderthal populations from the Paleolithic era.
Map of the Roman (purple) and Punic (orange) sites in the municipality of Algeciras.
Due to its strategic position it was an important port under the Phoenicians, and was the site of the relevant Roman port of Portus Albus ("White Port"), with two nearby cities called Caetaria (possibly founded by the Iberians) and Iulia Traducta, founded by the Romans.[6]
Roman coin referencing ivlia tradvcta
Recently it has been proposed that the site of Iulia Transducta was the Villa Vieja of Algeciras.[7][8]
After being destroyed by the Goths and their Vandal allies,[citation needed] the city was under the control of the Visigothic kingdom until Tarik landed in Algeciras and Tarifa in April 711.[9]
In the year 859 AD Viking troops on board 62 drekars and commanded by the leaders Hastein and Björn Ironside besieged the city for three days and subsequently laid waste to much of it. After looting the houses of the rich, they burnt the Aljama mosque and the Banderas mosque. Reorganized near the medina, the inhabitants managed to recover the city and make the invaders run away, capturing two boats.
It enjoyed a brief period of independence as a taifa state from 1035 to 1058. It was named al-Jazirah al-Khadra' ("Green Island") after the offshore Isla Verde; the modern name is derived from this original Arabic name (compare also Algiers and Al Jazeera). In 1055 Emir Al-Mutadid of Seville drove the Berbers from Algeciras, claiming it for Arabs.
Vowing to counter the Castilian expansion initiated by 1265, Nasrid Granada required assistance from Fez in late 1274 and ceded the place of Algeciras (together with Tarifa) to the Marinids.[10]
The Marinid grip over the town further increased in the ensuing decades, and the place turned into a Marinid stronghold from which razzias were launched into the still incipient Christian settlements in the Lower Guadalquivir and the Guadalete area.[12]
On winning the city, Alfonso XI made it the seat of a new diocese, established by Pope Clement VI's bullGaudemus et exultamus of 30 April 1344, and entrusted to the governance of the bishop of Cadiz.[13] The bishops of Cadiz continued to hold the title of Aliezira, as it called, until 1851, when in accordance with a concordat between Spain and the Holy See its territory was incorporated into the diocese of Cadiz. No longer a residential bishopric, Aliezira is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[14]
Left relatively unguarded during the Castilian Civil War, the town was easily seized in 1369 by the Nasrids from Granada with assistance from a Marinid fleet.[15] It was destroyed on the orders of Muhammed V of Granada.[16] While tradition asserts that it was torn down immediately after the 1369 occupation, the Nasrid scorched-earth policy has been also dated to 1375, once Granadan repopulation efforts should have failed.[17] The garrison was thus relocated to Gibraltar, with a worse port but more easily defensible, in Nasrid control after the Marinid retreat from the Iberian Peninsula.[18] While the jurisdiction was ceded to Gibraltar in 1462 after the Castilian conquest of the latter place, there are hints about the continued existence of informal settlements by farmers and sepherds in the area, at least after 1466.[19]
Illustration drawn c. 1716 depicting the ruins of Algeciras.
Algeciras was refounded after 1704 by refugees from Gibraltar following the territory's capture by Anglo-Dutch forces in the War of the Spanish Succession. As early as 1705, the place was described as "...a heap of stones,...only a few hovels scattered here and there, amidst an infinity of ruins".[19] The sense of temporariness among the displaced population and the hopes for a return to Gibraltar were shattered by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.[20] Besides Gibraltarians, throughout the 18th century repopulation was also participated by settlers from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and from elsewhere, standing out Italians in the latter regard.[21] Population rapidly increased (from 1,845 in 1725 to 6,241 in 1787).[22] The Algeciras' social structure featured a comparatively small number of nobles and comparatively larger weight of clergy.[23] Just like the rest of the Campo de Gibraltar, husbandry (cattle in particular) played an important role in the economy during the 18th century thanks to the rich pastures.[24] Given the abundance of international conflicts in the Strait area during the 18th century, corsair activities against ships belligerent with Spain or neutral ships provisioning the enemy also became an important part of the economy.[25]
It was fortified to guard against British raids with installations such as the Fuerte de Isla Verde built to guard key points. The city was rebuilt on its present rectangular plan by Charles III in 1760. In July 1801, the French and Spanish navies fought the British Royal Navy offshore in the Battle of Algeciras, which ended in a British victory.[26]
Aerial view of Algeciras taken in May 1928.
The city became the scene for settling a major international crisis as it hosted the Algeciras Conference in 1906. The international forum to discuss the future of Morocco which was held in the Casa Consistorial (town hall). It confirmed the independence of Morocco against threats from Germany, and gave France control of banking and police interests.[27][28] In July 1942 Italian frogmen set up in a secret base in the Italian tanker Olterra, which was interned in Algeciras, in order to attack shipping in Gibraltar.[29] During the Franco era, Algeciras underwent substantial industrial development, creating many new jobs for the local workers made unemployed when the border between Gibraltar and Spain was sealed by Franco between 1969 and 1982.
In 1982 there was a failed plan codenamed Operation Algeciras conceived by the Argentinian military to sabotage the British military facilities in Gibraltar during the Falklands War. The Spanish authorities intervened just before the attack, and deported the two Argentine Montoneros and military liaison officer involved.[30]
The municipality spans across a total area of 87.96 km2 (33.96 sq mi),[2] bordering with the municipalities of Los Barrios and Tarifa. The lower course of the river Palmones forms part of the boundary of Algeciras with the municipality of Los Barrios.[32]
The urban agglomeration formed by Algeciras and the surrounding settlements is the sixth largest in Andalusia and the third largest off the region's coast.[31]
Climate
Algeciras has a Mediterraneansubtropical climate (Köppen: Csa) with very mild, rainy winters and warm, dry summers with occasional heat waves, and temperature fluctuations are small because of the strong Oceanic influence. There are not snow registers in the city since the 19th century.[33]
Historical population of Algeciras (Source: INE (Spain))
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2017
Population
103,106
104,087
105,066
106,710
108,779
109,665
111,283
112,937
114,012
115,333
116,209
116,417
117,810
116,917
114,277
117,974
118,920
121,133
Economy
Port of Algeciras
Algeciras is principally a transport hub and industrial city. Its main activities are connected with the Port of Algeciras, which serves as the main embarkation point between Spain and Tangier and other ports in Morocco as well as the Canary Islands and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. It is ranked as the 16th busiest port in the world. The city also has a substantial fishing industry and exports a range of agricultural products from the surrounding area, including cereals, tobacco and farm animals.
In recent years it has become a significant tourist destination, with popular day trips to Tarifa to see bird migrations; to Gibraltar to see the territory's sights and culture; and to the Bay of Gibraltar on whale watching excursions.
Algeciras is the southern terminus of two principal north–south Euroroutes, the E05 and E15. Both routes, moreover, run to Scotland (the E05 terminates at Greenock and the E15 at Inverness) via France and England.
Algeciras BM, the professional handball club, played in the Liga ASOBAL between 2005 and 2008. The team was dissolved due to enormous debts after relegation to second level in 2008.
^José Soto Chica y Ana María Berenjeno (2014). «La última posesión bizantina en la península ibérica: Mesopotamenoi-Mesopotaminoi. Nuevas aportaciones para su identificación.». II Jornadas de Estudios Bizantinos: De Roma a Bizancio: el territorio en el sureste peninsular.
^ abO'Shea, Henry George (1865). A Guide to Spain. Longmans, Green. p. 91. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
Ocaña Torres, Mario L.; Sáez Rodríguez, Ángel; Castillo Navarro, Luis Alberto del; Gómez Arroquia, Maribel; Torremocha Silva, Antonio; Vicente Lara, Juan Ignacio de; Pardo González, Juan Carlos; Téllez Rubio, Juan José (2001). "Capítulo V: El siglo XVIII: el resurgimiento". Historia de Algeciras. Tomo II. Algeciras moderna y contemporánea(PDF). Cádiz: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Diputación de Cádiz. pp. 15–118. ISBN84-95388-34-0. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
.svg)
