Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Encyclopedia
Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province
, part of the autonomous community
of Andalucía
in southern Spain
. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River
opposite the Doñana National Park
, 52 km from the provincial capital Cádiz and 119 km from Sevilla capital of the autonomous region Andalucía. Its population is 65,805 inhabitants (national statistical institute of Spain 2009)
Sanlúcar has been inhabited since ancient times, and is assumed to belonged to the realm of civilization Tartessus. The town of San Lucar was granted to His Lordship Guzmán The Good in 1297.
Due to its strategic location the city was a starting point for exploration, colonization and evangelization of America between the 15th and 17th centuries.
Sanlucar lost much of its strategic value after 1645 due to the disgrace of the house of Medina-Sidonia, the general decline of Spain under Charles II, the relocation of Cadiz capital in 1711 and the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
In the nineteenth century the economy of the city was converted to viticulture and summer tourism. The twentieth century brought destruction and political upheaval like elsewhere during the civil war. Sanlucar was declared a Cultural Historical-artistic site in 1973. Since the restoration of democracy (1975–1982) City Hall has borrowed heavily, making Sanlúcar the city with the lowest per capita income in Spain.
Currently (2010) Sanlucar is a summer tourist destination famous for its cuisine, especially the manzanilla (a variety of fino sherry) and prawns. It is internationally renowned for beach horse racing and flamenco music. Less well known but equally important is the historical archives of Medina-Sidonia located in the palace of the same name. The patron of the city is Our Lady of Charity dedicated in 1917.
It is part of the tourist area known as Costa de la Luz
(Coast of the light), about 44 km from the provincial capital of Cádiz. Which includes Pinar de la Bonanza Algaida-marshes and The marshes of the Guadalquivir part of the Doñana Natural Park.
It borders the municipalities of Trebujena
; Jerez de la Frontera
; Rota
; Puerto de Santa María y Chipiona
. Shown in MTN50 sheet (scale 1:50,000) No. 1047 National Topographic Map.
, it was reconstituted, becoming, during the 15th and 16th centuries, one of the most important ports for trade connecting the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean.
After the discovery of the New World
, Sanlúcar became a port for refitting ships, and it was the point of departure for various Spanish conquistadors. Christopher Columbus
, on 30 May 1498 left for his third voyage from Sanlúcar (See Voyages of Christopher Columbus
). Another historical departure was that of Ferdinand Magellan
on 10 August 1519, with a fleet of five ships under his command, that left Seville and traveled down the Guadalquivir to Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the river, where they remained more than five weeks. Sanlucar also witnessed the arrival in 1522 of the last surviving ship of Magellan's expedition, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano
, making it the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
Alonso Fernández de Lugo
, conqueror of the Canary Islands
, of La Palma
(1492) and Tenerife
(1495), and subsequently the governor of the islands, was born in Sanlúcar.
-producing towns. (The other two are Jerez de la Frontera
, for which sherry is named, and El Puerto de Santa María
.)
A seaside town, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, is also home to the oldest horse races in Spain and some of the oldest in Europe
. The races take place, just before sunset, along the beach at the mouth of the river Guadalquivir
every August within sight of thousands of spectators. Contested at distances of 1500 m and 1800 m, these were the first-ever regulated horse races in Spain. Riders wear distinctive colours and caps.
Events include the Sanlúcar Tapas
Fair, a local gastronomy competition, the Feria de la Manzanilla in late May, which is held at the beginning of the Noches de Bajo de Guía flamenco season, classical and jazz festivals, and the occasional first-rate concert. The city is also known for the Rocio
pilgrimage, one of the more popular manifestations of the Roman Catholic faith; it can be compared to the pilgrimages to Santiago
or Lourdes
.
These two activities (agriculture and fishing) were located in different parts of the town, and, until the modernizing trends of last few decades, there were marked distinctions between the people living in each area. People living near the sea, in the area known as Bajo de Guía, were almost exclusively dedicated to fishing. Nowadays these same people combine fishing with managing restaurants that rely on fresh fish and shellfish for their menus. People living in the higher elevations, away from the sea, in a part of the town known as the Barrio Alto, used to dedicate themselves to agriculture, but, nowadays, this sector requires less manpower throughout the year, and most farm workers only work seasonally during the grape harvest, in the so-called "sherry triangle".
The centre of Sanlúcar developed as a commercial hub, with a cityscape combining historic buildings (monasteries, churches, etc.) with more modern ones. This part of the city developed at the beginning of the 20th Century as the province of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. Sanlúcar was then a popular beach resort. The social classes living in this area are generally linked to local winemaking interests and the tourist industry.
(Parque Nacional de Doñana) and its natural wonders. Within the park lies the Marisma de Hinojos
(Salt Marsh of Fennel Plants), which some believe to be site of the lost city of Atlantis. Also within the precincts of the park is the likely site of another lost city, Tartessos
, the capital of an ancient civilization that predated the Phoenicians in Iberia
.
Cádiz (province)
Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, the southernmost part of continental Western Europe....
, part of the autonomous community
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
of Andalucía
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
in southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River
Guadalquivir
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...
opposite the Doñana National Park
Doñana National Park
-Conservation:In 1989 the surroundings of the national park were given more protection when a buffer zone was declared a natural park under the management of the regional government. The two parks, national and natural, have since been classified as a single natural landscape.In 1994 UNESCO...
, 52 km from the provincial capital Cádiz and 119 km from Sevilla capital of the autonomous region Andalucía. Its population is 65,805 inhabitants (national statistical institute of Spain 2009)
Sanlúcar has been inhabited since ancient times, and is assumed to belonged to the realm of civilization Tartessus. The town of San Lucar was granted to His Lordship Guzmán The Good in 1297.
Due to its strategic location the city was a starting point for exploration, colonization and evangelization of America between the 15th and 17th centuries.
Sanlucar lost much of its strategic value after 1645 due to the disgrace of the house of Medina-Sidonia, the general decline of Spain under Charles II, the relocation of Cadiz capital in 1711 and the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
In the nineteenth century the economy of the city was converted to viticulture and summer tourism. The twentieth century brought destruction and political upheaval like elsewhere during the civil war. Sanlucar was declared a Cultural Historical-artistic site in 1973. Since the restoration of democracy (1975–1982) City Hall has borrowed heavily, making Sanlúcar the city with the lowest per capita income in Spain.
Currently (2010) Sanlucar is a summer tourist destination famous for its cuisine, especially the manzanilla (a variety of fino sherry) and prawns. It is internationally renowned for beach horse racing and flamenco music. Less well known but equally important is the historical archives of Medina-Sidonia located in the palace of the same name. The patron of the city is Our Lady of Charity dedicated in 1917.
Etymology
On the etymology of both names, there is no consensus among scholars, several hypotheses exist:- Sanlúcar's name could come from Arab shaluqa (شلوقة) Arabic name for the Levante wind called sirocco or Jaloque
- According to the National Statistics Institute of Spain the Sanlúcar toponym does not exist. However, there is news of Brother Alfonso Sanlucar de Barrameda, a Franciscan who was bishop of the Canaries-Rubicon in the period 1404-1417 and Fray Juan de Sanlúcar, a Franciscan who served the same charge from 1470 to 1474. As to the name toponym Barrameda, it is unique to people born in the Canary Islands, according to census data from 1 January 2006. The historical relations between the House of Medina Sidonia, Sanlucar and the Canaries, easily explain the presence of these surnames in the Happy Isles, Barrameda was derived from bar-am-ma'ida, Arabic phrase for "water well of the plateau".
Geography
Sanlucar de Barrameda is located on the Atlantic coast of the autonomous community of Andalusia, in the province of Cadiz. Specifically on the left side of the mouth of the Guadalquivir River, which separates the provinces of Huelva and Seville. The municipality covers an area of 174.3 km2 with 6 km of beaches.It is part of the tourist area known as Costa de la Luz
Costa de la Luz
The Costa de la Luz is a section of the Andalusian coast in Spain facing the Atlantic; it extends from Tarifa in the south, along the coasts of the Province of Cádiz and the Province of Huelva, to the mouth of the Guadiana River....
(Coast of the light), about 44 km from the provincial capital of Cádiz. Which includes Pinar de la Bonanza Algaida-marshes and The marshes of the Guadalquivir part of the Doñana Natural Park.
It borders the municipalities of Trebujena
Trebujena
-External links:* - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía* - Trebujena.net, The forum, the pictures and the news of Trebujena....
; Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, situated midway between the sea and the mountains. , the city, the largest in the province, had 208,896 inhabitants; it is the fifth largest in Andalusia...
; Rota
Rota, Spain
-External references:*, official website * On-line since 1999! News, premiere information, pictures, weather, etc. Into Spanish, English... ****- External links :...
; Puerto de Santa María y Chipiona
Chipiona
Chipiona is a town and municipality located on the Atlantic coast in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2009 census, the city has a population of 18,583 inhabitants but this amount increases greatly during the summer holiday period. The town covers an area of 332kilometres...
. Shown in MTN50 sheet (scale 1:50,000) No. 1047 National Topographic Map.
History
In 1264, after Sanlúcar de Barrameda was taken from the Moors by King Alfonso X of CastileAlfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
, it was reconstituted, becoming, during the 15th and 16th centuries, one of the most important ports for trade connecting the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean.
After the discovery of the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, Sanlúcar became a port for refitting ships, and it was the point of departure for various Spanish conquistadors. Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, on 30 May 1498 left for his third voyage from Sanlúcar (See Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Voyages of Christopher Columbus
In the early modern period, the voyages of Columbus initiated European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of great significance in world history. Christopher Columbus was a navigator and an admiral for Castile, a country that later founded modern Spain...
). Another historical departure was that of Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
on 10 August 1519, with a fleet of five ships under his command, that left Seville and traveled down the Guadalquivir to Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the river, where they remained more than five weeks. Sanlucar also witnessed the arrival in 1522 of the last surviving ship of Magellan's expedition, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano
Juan Sebastián Elcano
Juan Sebastián Elcano was a Basque Spanish explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. As Ferdinand Magellan's second in command, Elcano took over after Magellan's death in the Philippines.-Early life:Elcano was born to Domingo Sebastián Elcano I and Catalina del Puerto...
, making it the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
Alonso Fernández de Lugo
Alonso Fernández de Lugo
Javier Alonso Luis Fernández de Lugo was a Spanish military man, conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma and Tenerife for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islands to be conquered by Europeans. He was also the founder of the towns...
, conqueror of the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, of La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
(1492) and Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
(1495), and subsequently the governor of the islands, was born in Sanlúcar.
Main sights
Sights include:- The Castle of Santiago, from the 15th century
- The palace of the Infantes of Orleans and Borbón, which is now used as the City Hall
- Church of Nuestra Señora de la O
- The palace of the dukes of Medina Sidonia, which now houses the municipal archives
- The Convent of Santo Domingo, a 16th-century building
Culture
Sanlúcar de Barrameda is one of Spain's three better-known sherrySherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
-producing towns. (The other two are Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, situated midway between the sea and the mountains. , the city, the largest in the province, had 208,896 inhabitants; it is the fifth largest in Andalusia...
, for which sherry is named, and El Puerto de Santa María
El Puerto de Santa María
El Puerto de Santa María is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Spain. , the city has a population of c...
.)
A seaside town, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, is also home to the oldest horse races in Spain and some of the oldest in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The races take place, just before sunset, along the beach at the mouth of the river Guadalquivir
Guadalquivir
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...
every August within sight of thousands of spectators. Contested at distances of 1500 m and 1800 m, these were the first-ever regulated horse races in Spain. Riders wear distinctive colours and caps.
Events include the Sanlúcar Tapas
Tapas
Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold or warm ....
Fair, a local gastronomy competition, the Feria de la Manzanilla in late May, which is held at the beginning of the Noches de Bajo de Guía flamenco season, classical and jazz festivals, and the occasional first-rate concert. The city is also known for the Rocio
Rocio
Rocio is a small genus of cichlid fishes from Mexico and northern Central America. The genus currently contains 3 species. It was established in 2007 as the genus for the Jack Dempsey and its close relatives.-Species:...
pilgrimage, one of the more popular manifestations of the Roman Catholic faith; it can be compared to the pilgrimages to Santiago
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
or Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
.
People
People in Sanlúcar used to work primarily in agriculture (for the most part, the vineyards) and fishing (especially for the famous Sanlúcar prawn).These two activities (agriculture and fishing) were located in different parts of the town, and, until the modernizing trends of last few decades, there were marked distinctions between the people living in each area. People living near the sea, in the area known as Bajo de Guía, were almost exclusively dedicated to fishing. Nowadays these same people combine fishing with managing restaurants that rely on fresh fish and shellfish for their menus. People living in the higher elevations, away from the sea, in a part of the town known as the Barrio Alto, used to dedicate themselves to agriculture, but, nowadays, this sector requires less manpower throughout the year, and most farm workers only work seasonally during the grape harvest, in the so-called "sherry triangle".
The centre of Sanlúcar developed as a commercial hub, with a cityscape combining historic buildings (monasteries, churches, etc.) with more modern ones. This part of the city developed at the beginning of the 20th Century as the province of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. Sanlúcar was then a popular beach resort. The social classes living in this area are generally linked to local winemaking interests and the tourist industry.
Doñana National Park
Because of its position at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, Sanlúcar is a convenient home base for exploring the nearby Doñana National ParkDoñana National Park
-Conservation:In 1989 the surroundings of the national park were given more protection when a buffer zone was declared a natural park under the management of the regional government. The two parks, national and natural, have since been classified as a single natural landscape.In 1994 UNESCO...
(Parque Nacional de Doñana) and its natural wonders. Within the park lies the Marisma de Hinojos
Marisma de Hinojos
The Marisma de Hinojos is a salt marsh about 50 km north of the city of Cadiz, in the autonomous region of Andalusia, Spain. "Marisma de Hinojos" means "salt marsh of fennel plants". It lies within Doñana National Park on the Costa de la Luz.It is one of the sites suggested for the location of the...
(Salt Marsh of Fennel Plants), which some believe to be site of the lost city of Atlantis. Also within the precincts of the park is the likely site of another lost city, Tartessos
Tartessos
Tartessos or Tartessus was a harbor city and surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting in the middle of the first millennium BC, for example Herodotus, who describes it as...
, the capital of an ancient civilization that predated the Phoenicians in Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
.
See also
- Costa de la LuzCosta de la LuzThe Costa de la Luz is a section of the Andalusian coast in Spain facing the Atlantic; it extends from Tarifa in the south, along the coasts of the Province of Cádiz and the Province of Huelva, to the mouth of the Guadiana River....
- Atlético Sanluqueño CFAtlético Sanluqueño CFAtlético Sanluqueño Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Province of Cádiz, in the autonomous community of Andalusia...
- History of SherryHistory of SherryThe history of Sherry is closely linked with that of Spanish wine production, particularly the political fortunes of the Cádiz region, where it originated with the early Phoenician settlement of the Iberian peninsular...