County of city: Cadiz
Location of city: SW ccorner of country
Founded: 1104 BC
Elevation: 11 m (36 ft)
Population: 118,919 (2016)
"Cádiz, Spain, was established by Phoenician traders around 1100 BC and is one of the oldest cities in Europe. With its picturesque, whitewashed buildings gleaming like a shiny, precious metal in the bright sunlight, it is not all difficult to imagine why the Spanish refer to this ancient port city of the southern coast as Tacita de Plata - "little Silver Cup."
"Cadiz was founded around 1100 BC by the Phoenicians, sea traders from Tyre, which is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what today is the country of Lebanon. The name Cádiz is said to be derived from the Phoenician word gadir, meaning "enclosure." In 501 BC, the city came under Carthaginian control, and after Carthage was defeated by Rome in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), the town fell under Roman control and acquired the Latin name Gades. In the fifth century AD, the town was sacked by the Visigoths during the fall of the Roman Empire. In AD 711, it then came under Moorish rule. At that time, the Roman name of the town was incorporated into the port's Arabic name, Jaztrat Qãdis. The city remained under Moorish control until 1262, when it was conquered by Alfonso X of Castile. Part of the town's Arabic name, the word gãdis, with its accent on the first syllable, is closest to the modern Spanish pronunciation of the name Cádiz, which to ears more familiar with English, sounds something like the English word "caddy."
"The location of Cádiz on a narrow peninsula made the city an ideal base for merchant shipping and warships throughout its long history. In the late fifteenth century, it became a base for the transatlantic expeditions that characterized what is known as the Age of Discovery. Christopher Columbus began his second and fourth voyages from Cádiz, and during the Spanish conquest of America, the city was whee Spanish galleons laden with treasure went when returning from the New World." ~ The Elks Magazine