El Puerto de Santa María (Spanish: "The Port of Saint Mary", locally known as just El Puerto) is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Spain. As of 2009, the city has a population of c. 88,000, of which some 50,000 live in the urban center, and the remainder in the surrounding areas.
The town of El Puerto de Santa María is 10 km north east of Cádiz across the bay of Cádiz and is best known for having...
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El Puerto de Santa María (Spanish: "The Port of Saint Mary", locally known as just El Puerto) is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Spain. As of 2009, the city has a population of c. 88,000, of which some 50,000 live in the urban center, and the remainder in the surrounding areas.
The town of El Puerto de Santa María is 10 km north east of Cádiz across the bay of Cádiz and is best known for having been the port from which Columbus sailed on his second voyage to the Americas.
According to the legend told in the Odyssey of Homer, after the Trojan War a Greek official named Menestheus escaped with his troops through the Straits of Gibraltar and reached the Guadalete River. They established themselves here and called that port Menestheus's port.
In 711, Arab (Moors) from the North of Africa invaded southern Spain. They renamed the place Alcante or Alcanatif which means Port of Salt, due to the old salt industry of Phoenicians and Romans....
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