Cartagena, Murcia

Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAR : Cartagena, Murcia

For other places of the same name, see Cartagena.

Demographic evolution

Coat of Arms of Cartagena

Cartagena is a seaport in southeast Spain on the Mediterranean Sea, in the autonomous community of Región de Murcia. The co-ordinates of Cartagena are [37°36′N 0°59′W].

It is a walled town and has a fine harbour defended by forts. In the time of Philip II of Spain, it was a major naval seaport of Spain. It's still an important naval seaport, the main military haven of Spain, and there is a big naval shipyard.

Cartagena was founded about 230 BC by Carthaginian general Hasdrubal as Qart Hadast, Punic for "new city". Hasdrubal extended the newly acquired Carthaginian empire in Iberia by skillful diplomacy, and consolidated it by the foundation of Qart Hadast in an excellent haven as the capital of a new province. Hannibal got silver from the mines there to carry on the war against Rome.

When it was taken by the Roman general Scipio Africanus Major in 209 BC it was renamed as Carthago Nova, Latin for "New Carthage". At the time Carthago Nova was said to be one of the richest cities in the world. The city gave its name (without the 'new') to the youngest province in the Hispaniae diocese, in the form of an adjective: Carthaginiensis.

In 1873, the garrison arose against the First Spanish Republic and formed the independent Cartagena Canton. Since they had the best part of the Spanish Navy, they cruised the Spanish Mediterranean trying to bring them to Cantonalism. The Federalist Spanish government declared them a pirate fleet, encouraging foreign countries to chase and sink them.

Cartagena's sense of self-importance appeared again during the establishment of Autonomous Communities in Spain. Some Cartageneros were not happy to be in the same region as inland Murcianos.

The Autonomy Act struck a compromise by having Murcia as the seat of the regional government and Cartagena as the seat of the parliament.

Cartagena has many archaeologic sites. Ruins identified as a temple to Melqart have been uncovered. Throughout the old centre you can find museums with remains of Roman buildings.

Cartagena was the birthplace of Isidore of Seville, the Director of the Holy See (Vatican) Press Office Joaquin Navarro Valls and the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez Reverte.

El Portús is a nudist place in Cartagena.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.