San Roque, Spain
Encyclopedia
San Roque is a small town and municipality
in the south of Spain
. It is part of the province of Cádiz
, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Andalusia
. San Roque is situated a short way inland of the north side of the Bay of Gibraltar
, just to the north of the Gibraltar
peninsula. The municipality has a total surface of 145 km² with a population of approximately 25,500 people, as of 2005. Its name is Spanish
for Saint Roch, a Christian saint who was revered in a shrine dating back to 1508 that predates the foundation of the town.
(the later name for the diminished Tartessan empire
). It became a Phoenicia
n tradepost and evolved into a Carthaginian town by 228 BCE. Its major trade was in local wine
and garum
or salazón, a fish-based sauce.
Carteia was captured by Rome
in 206 BCE. A few years later, in 171 BCE, Iberian-born children of Roman soldiers appeared before the Roman Senate
to request a town to live in, and were given Carteia, named Colonia Libertinorum Carteia.
After the fall of Rome, the Vandals
briefly established themselves in the area until 428 before they embarked on the conquest of North Africa
, via an invasion fleet across the Strait of Gibraltar
. The Visigoths replaced them around the 6th century. The Byzantine Empire
made incursions into Andalusia between 554 and 626, occupying Carteia for a number of years, before finally being ejected by the Visigoths.
In 711, Carteia and the surrounding area became the beachhead for the Ummayad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula led by Tariq ibn Ziyad. Alfonso XI of Castile
took control of the territory by defeating a Muslim Merinid army in the 14th century. Over the next few centuries, the population was gradually Hispanic
ised and Christian
ised.
In 1649 a quarter of the Gibraltar population perished from epidemic disease. A number of residents retreated to the area of San Roque, and survived the outbreak, believed to be typhoid.
The modern settlement of San Roque was established by the former Spanish inhabitants of Gibraltar, after the majority fled following the takeover by Anglo-Dutch forces and their Spanish allies during the War of the Spanish Succession
in 1704. The establishment became a new town in 1706, addressed by King Philip V of Spain
as "My city of Gibraltar resident in its Campo" and "My well beloved", because it remained loyal to his cause during the War of Succession. Gibraltar's City Council, banner and records were moved there. San Roque official motto
is "Very Noble and Very Loyal city of San Roque, where Gibraltar lives on" (Spanish: Muy Noble y Muy Leal ciudad de San Roque, donde reside la de Gibraltar).
In 1873, during the Spanish First Republic, the town declared its independence as the Canton
of San Roque for a few months.
: Ermita de San Roque) was erected in 1801. Its style is neoclassical. The shrine houses a statue of Saint Roch. In the fourth week of April every year, a procession is held on the saint's honour, with people carrying his image on a float. The statue is then taken from the temple to the Pinar del Rey pinewoods nearby and back. During the Spanish War of Independence, Saint Roch's Chapel was ransacked by the Napoleonic troops
and the historic statue of the saint was destroyed. The image was replaced in 1833 by a new one donated by an army captain from San Roque called Juan Rojas, who was stationed in Seville
. At the time this city was suffering from cholera
epidemics, so Captain Rojas vowed to make the effigy himself if he and his family recovered from the disease. This happened indeed and the new image of Saint Roch was donated to the church by Rojas.
The parish church
is consecrated to Saint Mary the Crowned. It dates from the 18th century and features Spanish-Tuscan architecture and Baroque
artwork. Once the new town has been established, work began in 1735 on the construction of a church over the foundations of the original Chapel of Saint Roch, built in 1508. In the interior of the building, the most remarkable feature is the main altar, where the statue of the Patron Saint
, Saint Mary the Crowned, is venerated alongside images of Saint Sebastian and Saint Joseph
. These statues were brought to San Roque from Gibraltar in 1704 following the Exodus of Gibraltar and date back to the 15th century. Other religious items brought from Gibraltar are The Holy Burial and The Most Holy Christ of Humbleness and Patience statues, each placed on its own side chapel. The image of the Most Holy Christ of the Happy Death is the work of San Roque-born sculptor Luis Ortega Brú. José Cadalso, a local poet and soldier, killed during the Great Siege of 1782, is buried in one of the side chapels. The church records feature the parish records from Gibraltar, from 1556 until 1704. Saint Mary the Crowned's Church was declared a listed building in 1974.
The Governor's Palace (Sp.
: Palacio de los Gobernadores), which houses the municipal art gallery
"Luis Ortega Brú", is also located in the same square.
The oldest bar in the town is the Bar Torres, adjacent to the central square.
CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque oil refinery
, built in 1967, is situated in Guadarranque Industrial Estate. It is the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, with a crude oil daily processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day.
Local San Roque Club is an important source of tourism. Sotogrande
is an exclusive beach and golf resort located in the municipality.
The beaches of Campamento and Puente Mayorga, although no longer so popular as in the sixties due to adjacent industrial activity, are close to San Roque town, facing the Bay of Gibraltar.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the south of 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...
. It is part of the province of Cádiz
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....
, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Andalusia
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...
. San Roque is situated a short way inland of the north side of the Bay of Gibraltar
Bay of Gibraltar
The Bay of Gibraltar is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay...
, just to the north of the 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...
peninsula. The municipality has a total surface of 145 km² with a population of approximately 25,500 people, as of 2005. Its name is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for Saint Roch, a Christian saint who was revered in a shrine dating back to 1508 that predates the foundation of the town.
History
The area around San Roque has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The oldest known settlement within the municipality is the ruined town of Carteia, founded by the TurdetaniTurdetani
The Turdetani were ancient people of the Iberian peninsula , living in the valley of the Guadalquivir in what was to become the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica...
(the later name for the diminished Tartessan empire
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...
). It became a Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n tradepost and evolved into a Carthaginian town by 228 BCE. Its major trade was in local wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and garum
Garum
Garum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
or salazón, a fish-based sauce.
Carteia was captured by Rome
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in 206 BCE. A few years later, in 171 BCE, Iberian-born children of Roman soldiers appeared before the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
to request a town to live in, and were given Carteia, named Colonia Libertinorum Carteia.
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
briefly established themselves in the area until 428 before they embarked on the conquest of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, via an invasion fleet across the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
. The Visigoths replaced them around the 6th century. The Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
made incursions into Andalusia between 554 and 626, occupying Carteia for a number of years, before finally being ejected by the Visigoths.
In 711, Carteia and the surrounding area became the beachhead for the Ummayad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula led by Tariq ibn Ziyad. Alfonso XI of Castile
Alfonso XI of Castile
Alfonso XI was the king of Castile, León and Galicia.He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes ensued over who would hold regency, which were resolved in 1313...
took control of the territory by defeating a Muslim Merinid army in the 14th century. Over the next few centuries, the population was gradually Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
ised and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ised.
In 1649 a quarter of the Gibraltar population perished from epidemic disease. A number of residents retreated to the area of San Roque, and survived the outbreak, believed to be typhoid.
The modern settlement of San Roque was established by the former Spanish inhabitants of Gibraltar, after the majority fled following the takeover by Anglo-Dutch forces and their Spanish allies during the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
in 1704. The establishment became a new town in 1706, addressed by King Philip V of Spain
Philip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...
as "My city of Gibraltar resident in its Campo" and "My well beloved", because it remained loyal to his cause during the War of Succession. Gibraltar's City Council, banner and records were moved there. San Roque official motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
is "Very Noble and Very Loyal city of San Roque, where Gibraltar lives on" (Spanish: Muy Noble y Muy Leal ciudad de San Roque, donde reside la de Gibraltar).
In 1873, during the Spanish First Republic, the town declared its independence as the Canton
Canton (subnational entity)
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared to other administrative divisions such as counties, departments or provinces. Internationally the best-known cantons, and the most politically...
of San Roque for a few months.
Main sights
The New Saint Roch's Chapel (Sp.Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Ermita de San Roque) was erected in 1801. Its style is neoclassical. The shrine houses a statue of Saint Roch. In the fourth week of April every year, a procession is held on the saint's honour, with people carrying his image on a float. The statue is then taken from the temple to the Pinar del Rey pinewoods nearby and back. During the Spanish War of Independence, Saint Roch's Chapel was ransacked by the Napoleonic troops
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
and the historic statue of the saint was destroyed. The image was replaced in 1833 by a new one donated by an army captain from San Roque called Juan Rojas, who was stationed in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. At the time this city was suffering from cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemics, so Captain Rojas vowed to make the effigy himself if he and his family recovered from the disease. This happened indeed and the new image of Saint Roch was donated to the church by Rojas.
The parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
is consecrated to Saint Mary the Crowned. It dates from the 18th century and features Spanish-Tuscan architecture and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
artwork. Once the new town has been established, work began in 1735 on the construction of a church over the foundations of the original Chapel of Saint Roch, built in 1508. In the interior of the building, the most remarkable feature is the main altar, where the statue of the Patron Saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
, Saint Mary the Crowned, is venerated alongside images of Saint Sebastian and Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
. These statues were brought to San Roque from Gibraltar in 1704 following the Exodus of Gibraltar and date back to the 15th century. Other religious items brought from Gibraltar are The Holy Burial and The Most Holy Christ of Humbleness and Patience statues, each placed on its own side chapel. The image of the Most Holy Christ of the Happy Death is the work of San Roque-born sculptor Luis Ortega Brú. José Cadalso, a local poet and soldier, killed during the Great Siege of 1782, is buried in one of the side chapels. The church records feature the parish records from Gibraltar, from 1556 until 1704. Saint Mary the Crowned's Church was declared a listed building in 1974.
The Governor's Palace (Sp.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Palacio de los Gobernadores), which houses the municipal art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
"Luis Ortega Brú", is also located in the same square.
The oldest bar in the town is the Bar Torres, adjacent to the central square.
Economy and industry
The main economic activities are tourism and manufacturing.CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
, built in 1967, is situated in Guadarranque Industrial Estate. It is the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, with a crude oil daily processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day.
Local San Roque Club is an important source of tourism. Sotogrande
Sotogrande
Sotogrande is the largest resort and privately owned residential development in Andalusia. A large part of the resort is administered by NH Hotels and it is considered part of the NH World...
is an exclusive beach and golf resort located in the municipality.
The beaches of Campamento and Puente Mayorga, although no longer so popular as in the sixties due to adjacent industrial activity, are close to San Roque town, facing the Bay of Gibraltar.
Famous inhabitants
- Jose CadalsoJosé CadalsoJosé de Cadalso y Vázquez , Spanish, Colonel of the Royal Spanish Army, author, poet, playwright and essayist, one of the canonical producers of Spanish Enlightenment literature...
, poet - Alberto Casañal Shakery, poet.
- Carlos Castilla del Pino, psychiatrist.
- Carlos PachecoCarlos PachecoCarlos Pacheco is a Spanish comic book artist and penciller. Pacheco was born in San Roque, Cádiz. He is best known in the United States for his work on titles such as Avengers Forever, X-Men and Green Lantern...
, comic-book artist. - Juan Luis GaliardoJuan Luis GaliardoJuan Luis Galiardo is a Spanish television and film actor.-Selected filmography:* Le tre spade di Zorro * The Call of the Wild * Pasodoble * The Girl of Your Dreams * El coronel Macià...
, actor. - Luis de Lacy Goutier, liberal army officer.
- Luis Ortega Brú, sculptor
- Manuel MesaManuel MesaManuel 'Manolo' Mesa Quirós is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a right winger.-Club career:Mesa started playing football at local side Real Balompédica Linense...
, footballer. - Adolfo AldanaAdolfo AldanaAdolfo Aldana Torres is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a right midfielder.-Club career:...
, footballer. - Álvaro QuirósÁlvaro QuirósÁlvaro Quirós García is a Spanish professional golfer.Quirós was born in Guadiaro, a borough of San Roque, Cádiz. He turned professional in 2004.-Professional career:...
, golf player.