Cadiz

Cadiz, a town of Spain, capital of the province of Cadiz, and situated at the north-west extremity of the Isle of Leon in the Bay of Cadiz. The town is on a rock forming a tongue at the end of the island, and separated from the rest of the island by a channel crossed by a drawbridge and a railway bridge, and is well fortified. The bay of Cadiz has, beside the port of Cadiz, that of Caracca, where there are fine government dockyards, and it affords a fine anchorage, being protected by the neighbouring mountains. Not oniy is Cadiz the most elegant and agreeable city of Andalusia, but also the first military port of Spain, and ranking second only to Barcelona as a commercial port. The industries of Cadiz are not of great importance, but the importation of produce from the Spanish colonies and elsewhere is considerable. The chief exports are cork, fruits, lead, olive oil, salt, wine, and tunny. Nearly 4,000 ships enter the port annually with a tonnage of considerably over a million, but a great proportion are foreign. The houses of Cadiz - gleaming white and relieved by vermilion streaks which mark the separation of the houses and the division of the storeys - the projecting balconies, and the terraces, present a pleasing appearance. The town is well paved and lighted, and the streets, though narrow, are regular. The squares are well planted with trees, and on the ramparts at the north of the town is a fine promenade called the Alameda, which commands a view of the whole harbour. The public buildings are of no great interest. The ancient cathedral has some pictures of Cornelis Schut, and a good altar-piece; while in the new cathedral there is an elegantly-proportioned and well-decorated chapel, and a remarkable vaulted crypt, and a few pictures and statues, of which the best is a Conception, by Clemente de Torres. Cadiz is seven miles from Xeres, and about fifty from Gibraltar. Founded by the Tyrians, and becoming successively Carthaginian and Roman, the city belonged to the Visigoths and then to the Khalifate of Cordova, from which the Spaniards took it in 1262. It was burnt by the English in 1596.