Cadiz

Cadiz was founded by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC. e. and claims to be the oldest city in Western Europe. The Phoenicians called him Gadir or Gader , the Greeks - Gadir or Gadeira , the Romans - Gadez . In ancient times, the city traded with nearby Tartess .

Agadir was taken from the Phoenicians by the Carthaginians . It was from here that their famous voyages Gannon and Gimilkon began . After the Second Punic War (206 BC), Hades passed to the Romans. Caesar gave the city municipal rights. At the end of the 1st century BC. e. the geographer Strabo mistakenly considered Hades the second most populous city in the Roman Empire ^[1] . Later, Agadir fell under the rule of the Vandals , Visigoths and Arabs .

Among the Greeks and Byzantines, Cadiz was considered the "end of the world"; there was even a proverb “beyond Cadiz and there is no way” (it is used, for example, by Gregory the Theologian in the “Commendable Word” to Basil the Great ), which is identical to the Russian “you can’t jump above your head”. In the first Spanish chronicle (1280s), prepared by King Alfonso X , it is said that there were border posts of Hercules himself in the city, and settlement of the area was erected to this ancient Greek hero ^[2] .

Moorish tradition attributed to Abd al-Mumin destruction of the "idol", whose evil spell blocked the way for the ships to Cadiz. In 1262, the city was conquered by Castile . During the era of the great geographical discoveries, Cadiz became the main port for sending Spanish expeditions to America. From the port of Palos de la Frontera, adjacent to Cadiz, ships of Columbus set off west. In August 1725, Russian sailors first anchored in the port of Cadiz; the expedition was commanded by Captain Ivan Koshelev .

The decline of Cadiz's welfare began with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which destroyed a third of the city. After 11 years, King Charles III granted autonomy to the island of Leon by decree, thus depriving the city authorities of authority to manage this island.

The siege of Cadiz by the French unsuccessfully continued from 1810 to 1812. During this siege, the Cadiz Cortes adopted the Constitution of 1812 . In 1823, Cortes found refuge in Cadiz, along with King Ferdinand , who was captured by them. The French king Louis XVIII detached his nephew to the south of Spain, who crushed the rebellion and rescued the Spanish monarch from captivity. In honor of the French capture of the Cadiz fort Trocadero was named one of the palaces of Paris .

In 1868, a rebellion broke out in Cadiz, entailing the abdication of Isabella II , the resignation of González Bravo and the formation of a new government led by Jose Concha . True, two years later, the Cadiz Cortes voted to return to the monarchical form of government.

• Fortifications and coastal forts of different times. The entrance to the old town of Cadiz is protected by the Earth Gate ( Spanish: Puerta de Tierra ).
• The colossal New Cathedral , built in the Baroque style , designed by Vicente Acero, rises above the promenade. The 13th-century old cathedral was badly damaged during the attack on the Cadiz by the British in 1596 and was converted into the Church of Santa Cruz .
• There is a pinhole camera in the observation tower of Tavira . It is the highest of more than 160 towers built by the Cadiz merchants by the beginning of the 18th century to observe the arrival of ships.
• In 1980, the ruins of an ancient Roman theater, built by Lucius Cornelius Balb , the second largest in the ancient world, were discovered.
• The archaeological museum of Cadiz exhibited objects testifying to the deep antiquity of the city. In particular, two Phoenician sarcophagi, allegedly brought here in antiquity from Sidon .
• Of the mansions of the aristocracy, the most remarkable is the so-called. Admiral’s house ( Casa del Almirante ), built at the end of the XVII century by the family of one of the admirals of the “ silver fleet ” on income from trade with the colonies.
• The Cadiz Opera House ( Gran Teatro ) was built in the style of " neo-Mudejar " in 1884-1905. and bears the name of composer Manuel de Falla (who rests in the city's cathedral).

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  Santa Catalina Fortress

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  Seafront

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  Square in front of City Hall

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  Fortress

• Kadiks, city // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.