Catalan Bay
Encyclopedia
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, on the eastern side of The Rock
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
away from the main city.
Etymology
The true origin of the name of Catalan Bay is unknown, but a couple of theories exist. The first suggests that the bay is named after a group of around 350 CatalanCatalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
(from Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain) military men believed to have settled here after having assisted the Anglo-Dutch forces who won the Capture of Gibraltar during the War of Spanish Succession on 4 August 1704. However, no evidence exists to prove that Catalans did in fact settle in Catalan Bay and although this theory is regularly used as the supporting argument for the origin of the name, it is only a supposition that they ever did.
The name La Caleta (meaning 'small bay or cove') considerably pre-dates that of Catalan Bay. The fishing villages of La Tunara (La Línea de la Concepción
La Línea de la Concepción
La Línea de la Concepción is a town in Spain, in the province of Cádiz in Andalucia. It lies on the eastern isthmus of the Bay of Gibraltar on the border with the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, with which it has close economic and social links...
, Spain) and La Caleta are mentioned in a Royal Dispatch of the 6 March 1634 of being under the jurisdiction of the "Tercio del Mar de Marbella
Marbella
Marbella is a town in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in the province of Málaga, beneath the La Concha mountain. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234, in 2010 approximately 135,000....
y Estepona
Estepona
Estepona is a town and municipality in the region of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Estepona is renowned for its beaches, which stretch along some 21 km of coastline...
" in the Kingdom of Granada. Since it has been called La Caleta for much longer than it has ever been called Catalan Bay, the second theory and the most probably just in 1704 on the capture of Gibraltar by an Anglo-Dutch combined operation, that expedition landing in that place around 350 catalans followers of Charles of Austria, third theory suggests that the latter could simply be an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
mispronounciation of Caleta.
History
Historically, Catalan Bay had been populated by GenoeseGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
fishermen who were part of a much larger settlement pattern along the eastern coast of The Rock during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 18th century Genoese
Genoese dialect
Genoese is a dialect of the Ligurian language, the one spoken in Genoa .Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right, of the Romance branch, and not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language...
was so widely spoken in Gibraltar that government notices were also published in this language (alongside English and Spanish). Genoese was spoken in La Caleta well into the 19th century, dying out in the early decades of the twentieth. There has been some discussion that the British may have mixed up Catalans with Genoese but it is by no means clear why they would suffer such a confusion especially since there is other evidence which demonstrates that the British were perfectly aware that the residents of La Caleta were Genoese: the orders for the siege of 1727 refer to this bay as the Genoese Cove and the numerous 18th and 19th century census record large numbers of people born in Genoa, not in Catalonia.
During the nineteenth century only fishermen were permitted to live in Catalan Bay. They were required to have a fishing permit granted to them by the Governor
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
and only a limited number of permits were issued. The families who live in the village today are mainly descendants of these Genoese
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
fishermen, and are colloquially known as caleteños.
Present
The beachBeach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
at Catalan Bay, is the second biggest sandy beach in Gibraltar. It is very popular with both Gibraltarians and tourists
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, and can often become overcrowded during the summer months.
Catalan Bay is home to the Caleta Palace Hotel, a number of restaurants (specialising in fresh seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
) and the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows. The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is carried to the beach each September when the Bishop of Gibraltar
Roman Catholic Bishop of Gibraltar
The Bishop of Gibraltar is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar which is immediately subject to the Holy See.The see is in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral of St...
blesses the sea in what has become the village's main religious festival
Religious festival
A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar...
.
To the north lies Eastern Beach
Eastern Beach, Gibraltar
Eastern Beach is the largest beach in Gibraltar, stretching for several hundred metres along the east side of the isthmus joining The Rock to Spain. The sandy beach extends from the north of Catalan Bay to the runway of Gibraltar Airport....
, Gibraltar's largest and most popular sandy beach. Beyond Catalan Bay to the south is the nearby beach of Sandy Bay
Sandy Bay, Gibraltar
Sandy Bay is a small bay on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Gibraltar, on the opposite side of The Rock from the main city. It is situated to the south of Catalan Bay and is accessible via Sir Herbert Miles Road.-Water Catchments:...
, where from 2002 the coast road ended due to the closure of Dudley Ward Tunnel
Dudley Ward Tunnel
The Dudley Ward Tunnel is a road tunnel through the south-eastern part of the Rock of Gibraltar. It is named after Sir Alfred Dudley Ward, Governor of Gibraltar from 8 June 1962 to 5 August 1965...
for safety reasons, only reopeing in late 2010.
See also
- Eastern Beach, GibraltarEastern Beach, GibraltarEastern Beach is the largest beach in Gibraltar, stretching for several hundred metres along the east side of the isthmus joining The Rock to Spain. The sandy beach extends from the north of Catalan Bay to the runway of Gibraltar Airport....
- Sandy Bay, GibraltarSandy Bay, GibraltarSandy Bay is a small bay on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Gibraltar, on the opposite side of The Rock from the main city. It is situated to the south of Catalan Bay and is accessible via Sir Herbert Miles Road.-Water Catchments:...