ABOUT ALGECIRAS  
 

Port town, Cadiz prov, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, in extreme southern Spain , across the Bay of Gibraltar from Gibraltar .

The port, at the mouth of the Rio de la Miel , was founded in 713 by Moors and is probably on the site of the Roman Portus Albus; its Arabic name, Al-Jazirah al-Khadra', means Green Island, in reference to the offshore Isla Verde. It is the largest urban area on the Bay of Gibraltar , with a population in 2005 of 111,283 people.

HISTORY
 
     
 
In 1344 the city was taken by Alfonso XI of Castile. It was retaken by the Moors in 1369, but was
 
destroyed on the orders of Muhammed V of Granada . The site was subsequently abandoned.
 
Algeciras was refounded in 1704 by refugees from Gibraltar following the territory's capture by Anglo-Dutch forces in the War of the Spanish Succession. It was rebuilt on its present rectangular plan by Charles III of Spain in 1760. In July 1801, the French and Spanish navies fought theBritish Royal Navy offshore in the Battle of Algeciras, which ended in a British victory.
     

The city hosted the Algeciras Conference in 1906, an international forum to discuss the future of Morocco which was held in the Casa Consistorial (town hall). During the Franco era, Algeciras underwent substantial industrial development, creating many new jobs for the local workers made unemployed when the border between Gibraltar and Spain was sealed between 1969 and 1982.

As a curiosity, in 1982 Algeciras was the scene of Operation Algeciras, a

failed plan conceived by the Argentinian military to sabotage the British military facilities in Gibraltar during the Falklands War.

 

ECONOMY

Algeciras is principally a transport hub and industrial city. Its principal activities are connected with the port, which serves as the main embarkation point between Spain and Tangier and other ports in Morocco as well as the Canary Islands and the Spanish-Moroccan enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla . It is ranked as the 16th busiest port in the world. The city also has a substantial fishing industry and exports a range of agricultural products from the surrounding area, including cereals, tobacco and farm animals. In recent years it has become a

significant tourist destination, with popular day trips to Tarifa to see bird migrations; to Gibraltar, to see the territory's unusual sights and culture and to the Bay of Algeciras on whale watching excursions. Part of his municipal term is included in the Nature reserve of Los Alcornocales, one of the most extensive of Andalusia , of great ecological value.

© Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/herraiz/