Puerto Real
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Puerto Real | ||
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Postal code 11510 | ||
Website | Official website |
Puerto Real (Spanish pronunciation:
The town is located on the northern shore of the inner lobe of the
Geography
The town of Puerto Real has two separate zones with two separate characters, a maritime zone and a hinterland zone. Central Puerto Real lies entirely within the maritime zone, facing, as it does, the Bay of Cadiz and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The inland zone, the so-called hinterland, is far larger in area but far less populated.
Puerto Real borders the towns and cities of
A good portion of the periphery of Puerto Real lies within the
The San Pedro river, an arm of the
Other aspects of Puerto Real's geography are the many kilometers of gorges, ravines, and artificially created footpaths that traverse the municipality. Among them is a long green corridor, constituting one end of the
There are also two concentrations of population within the municipal limits of Puerto Real that are not contiguous with the central part of the city; they are called the District of Jarana and the District of the San Pedro (river).
History
There are vestiges of both prehistoric and Roman settlements in Puerto Real that bear witness to the fact that the land on which the modern city is sited has been inhabited for a very long time. Along with the likes of El Puerto de Santa María and Dehesa de Bolaños, Puerto Real is one of the proposed locations for the Roman settlement of Portus Gaditanus[2] ('the Port of Gades'), the maritime appendage of the Roman colonia, Gades (Cádiz), across the narrow end of the bay.
The
In 1820, there was a popular liberal revolt in Spain, led by the constitutionalist and patriot,
In the process of besieging Cádiz, the French succeeded in destroying a large part of Puerto Real, including its water delivery and sanitation systems. Perhaps it was because of these events that Puerto Real was regularly beset by epidemics throughout much of the 19th century.
Another reminder in Puerto Real of the time of the French invasion is the Cortadura canal that allows passage across the base of the peninsula of Cádiz. The canal is not a natural waterway; it was constructed by the Spanish in an attempt to prevent the French artillery from drawing closer to the walls of the city.
At the end of the 19th century, Puerto Real experienced an industrial boom, thanks to the creation of modern shipyards by
Economy
Puerto Real is a city with an economy based almost exclusively on
Shipbuilding and marine repairs
The shipbuilding industry, for centuries the backbone of the local economy, has experienced serious economic setbacks during the recent 10–15 years, due to competition from other shipbuilders, mostly in South East Asia. Shipyard industry in Spain and most of Europe has been unable to compete with their Asian counterparts, due to a number of factors, among them economies of scale and more efficient production methods.
Aeronautical fabrication
Unlike the shipbuilding industry, which is in decline, the airplane-building industry is doing well. Airbus operates a factory in Puerto Real responsible for the construction of the tail stabilizer assembly, the rudder, and the belly fairing of the Airbus A380 airplane. The Puerto Real facility is also involved in fabrication of the lateral drawer of the A320 airplane and rudder assemblies for the A330 and the A340.
Auto parts
Puerto Real was the home of a Delphi auto parts plant associated with General Motors. The plant was closed in 2007.
Large-scale construction
Local companies are involved in off-shore dredging. Also, a Puerto Real concern has built one of the largest off-shore natural-gas drilling platforms in the world.
Other industries
Many small and medium-sized companies supply services and manual labor for the other industrial enterprises in the area. The crisis in the shipbuilding industry has had a deleterious effect on these second-tier enterprises.
Economic transformation
Due to the decline in shipbuilding, Puerto Real has already lost an important part of its industrial base, and the economy of the entire Bay of Cádiz area has suffered. This has resulted in a dramatic shift in the regional economic model, away from a dependence on heavy industry, toward an emphasis on tourism. However, Puerto Real, an industrial community headed toward obsolescence, is not as well-positioned to trade on sunshine and beach sand as some of its neighbors. The transition to a tourism-based economy has proved to be slow and painful. Puerto Real persists in having a high birth-rate, and the age of its average citizen continues to decline. Young people lacking jobs are forced to seek work elsewhere in Spain or even leave the country altogether.
Lacking fine beaches, Puerto Real has turned its attention inland. For that reason, the city's efforts at tourism-promotion mainly emphasize "rural tourism" activities, like golf, horseback-riding, walking, hiking, bicycling, and nature sightseeing. The local countryside has become a prime asset, and now Puerto Real builds hiking paths and golf courses rather than ocean-going tankers. The situation is much the same in other communities of the Bay of Cádiz area, like
Politics
Since the time of the transition from dictatorship under Francisco Franco to democracy and a constitutional monarchy form of government (1975–1980), Puerto Real has remained to the left of the political spectrum. Leftist parties, sometimes in coalition with centrists, have dominated the local and provincial organs of democracy.
The anarcho-syndicalist union C.N.T. has helped to create mass assemblies after a dispute between shipyard workers and their bosses. Since then, the assemblies have focused on the issues such as health, taxes, economic issues, the environment and cultural preservation.[4] This method has been praised as a method of anarchist community organising.[5]
Main sights
- Campus of Puerto Real (University of Cádiz)
- Parque natural of the Quarries: the only place in Europe where chameleonsmay be found
- Lugares and the legends of Puerto Real
- Forest of the Quarries
- La Algaida
- The harborside walking tour with its "finishing nail of the wharf"
- The Trocadero (an old military settlement from the 18th century that gives name to the Parisian square, after a battle won by the French during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain).
- The river San Pedro's unique landscape surrounded by pine groves
- Saint Sebastian Church (16th-18th century, gothic, renaissance, baroque).
- Victory's Church (17th century, baroque).
- Saint Joseph Church (18th century, neoclassic).
- Municipal Market (18th century).
Culture
The social life of the city is based on neighborhood associations, religious organizations, and other social clubs. The yearly pre-Lenten carnival is a year-round preoccupation.
People
- Juan Antonio Campuzano Hoyos, writer, captain of artillery, Alcalde de la Real Villa y Vicepresidente de la Diputación de Cádiz.
- Eduardo Alvarez Alfaro, musician, letrista, composer
- Pedro Alvarez Hidalgo, composer and musician
- Francisco Corral Boat, politician
- Juan Jose Bottaro and Palmer, sculptor
- Canalejas of Puerto Real, flamenco singer
- Daily, comparsista performer
- Francisco Fernández Rodríguez, "Gallego", soccer player
- José Gámez Boundary, priest and writer
- Juan García, "Mondeño", bullfighter
- Ernesto Lopez, "Claudius Frollo", writer
- Pedro de Matheu Montalvo, painter
- Antonio Muro, historian ("father" of local history; adoptive son of the city)
- José Belizón Tocino, painter.
- Diego Vargas, "the Fillo", flamenco singer
- José Antonio Chanivet, Artist Painter.
- Pepin De La Fuente, Artist Painter.
See also
External links
- Official website
- Puerto Real - Multiterritorial Information system of Andalusia
References
- ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
- ISSN 1130-4340.
- ^ Iglesias Rodríguez, Juan José (2023). "En torno a los orígenes del Puerto Real moderno: la fundación de la villa y sus primeros años de andadura (1483-1496)" [Around the origins of Puerto Real in the modern era: the founding of the town and its first years of activity (1483-1496)] (PDF). Matagorda. 5: 15.
- ^ Anarcho-Syndicalism in Puerto Real: from shipyard resistance to direct democracy and community control
- ^ An Anarchist FAQ: Section J.5.1.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Puerto Real". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 634. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the