History of Alicante

The history of Alicante spans thousands of years. Alicante has been regarded as a strategic military location on the Mediterranean coast of Spain since ancient times. It is protected on the southwest by Cape Santa Pola and on the southeast by Cape Huerta. The fortified complex of Santa Bárbara Castle ((Valencian: Castell de Santa Bàrbara), the older parts of which were built in the 9th century, dominates the city from a height of 160 m atop Mount Benacantil, a rocky promontory overlooking the sea.[1]

The first settlements in the Alicante area were made by Iberian tribes. Since then it has been inhabited successively by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Moors, and Spaniards. Some of the earliest settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil, where the Santa Bárbara Castle stands today. As a part of the Roman province of Hispania under the name '"Lucentum", it was ruled by the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire.

Antiquity

Phoenician trading city
Iberian ceramics. Archeological site of Tossal de Manises, ancient iberian-carthaginese-roman city of Akra-Leuke or Lucentum. Now at the Archaeological Museum of Alicante.

Phoenician traders began commercial exchanges with the native Iberians of the eastern coast of Spain in the 8th century BC.[2]5 and had established coastal settlements as far north as the lower River Segura valley in the province of Alicante.[3] By the 6th century BC Phocaean Greeks had established small trading ports on the coast,[4] and by the 7th century BC the Phonecians were introducing the Phonecian alphabet, iron working and the pottery wheel to the Iberians.[5] Recent excavations of a small, native Iberian coastal trading center at La Picola (Santa Pola) in Alicante province reveal enough Greek architectural elements to suggest a Greek presence at the site.[4]

The Phoenicians founded a trading post at Tossal de Manises,[6] while a settlement at La Fonteta, 28 km south of Alicante, was one of the most important Phoenician cities in the western Mediterranean.[7] It was situated on the right bank of the River Segura estuary on the coast, a strategic position that permitted it to control trade and access to the region's mineral resources through connections it maintained with native Iberian communities. The habitation is surrounded by defensive walls dating from approximately the first half of the 8th century to the middle of the 6th century BC.[8]

Carthaginian rule

By the last years of the 6th century BC, the rival armies of Carthage and Rome began to invade and fight for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca carried out his Iberian conquests in 237–228 BC, and established the fortified settlement of Ákra Leukḗ, or Akra Leuce,[9] (Greek: Ἀκρα Λευκή, meaning "White Citadel" or "White Promontory"),[10] at the eastern end of the Punic province on the southeastern coast of Spain, where Alicante stands today.[6][11]

At the top of the Tossal de les Basses in the Albufereta, an Iberian settlement is documented from around the 4th century BC by wooden artefacts recovered in archaeological excavations of wells dug to supply water to an Iberian village.[12] The settlement was abandoned during the Punic conquest of south-eastern Iberia, in which the Carthaginian Barcids established a large fortification in the Tossal de Manises around 230 BC, which years later developed an urban structure.[13] Its place name in the Iberian language could have been LAKKANTÓ, which would refer to the geographical features of the land where the fortified city was located. It is also possible that this is the Akra Leuké mentioned by Diodorus of Sicily.[14]

This large Carthaginian fortification was the first documented use of the Tossal de Manises site.[15] Initially intended strictly for military defence, a few years later it was urbanised and transformed into a fortified city. The new occupation led to the abandonment of the previous Iberian settlement at Tossal de les Basses, and it is probable that the Iberians had relocated to the settlement of Punic origin, which had a port with access to the sea. The Carthaginians called it by the Greek name Akra Leuce,[9] according to Diodorus, who described it as a military camp set up by Hamilcar Barca during the Barcid conquest of part of Iberia around 230 BC.

However, this name was a Phoenician exonym adapted to an existing place name in the Iberian language, whose exact spelling is not known. One of the most recent theories is that the name is based on the topography of the terrain, so "LAK" corresponds to "cove", and "KANT" to "hill", with the Iberian genitive in the suffix - Ó, giving rise to the name "LAKKANT (Ó)", meaning "those of the hillside cove". Dexter Hoyos writes that text-editors have altered the Latin name "Castrum Altum" that appears in Livy's manuscripts to "Castrum Album", mistakenly connecting it to Acra Leuce, which was identified with Alicante.[6] . In 209 BC, in the context of the Second Punic War, the settlement must have been destroyed in a battle and set on fire. Thus the settlement was in a state of neglect during the 2nd century BC until it was rebuilt in the first quarter of the 1st century BC during the Sertorian War fought from 80 to 72 BC. However, this time the reconstruction led to later urban development. It was not until sometime between 30 and 20 BC that the city's first forum was built marking the origin of Lucentum's status as a municipium, perhaps about 26 B.C., near the beginning of the reign of Augustus.[16] This was followed by the planning and construction of the rest of the city that would last until the first decades of the 1st century AD.

Despite this early vitality, however, the city began to decline in the time of Vespasian, during whose reign the tasks of maintaining the sewer system of the forum, as well as the public baths, were abandoned. During the 1st and 2nd centuries, looting and dumping of waste took place in the forum area, until the 3rd century saw the definitive abandonment of the city and the legal disappearance of the municipium of Lucentum, whose territory would be integrated into that of Ilici. However, the place name must have survived linked to the place, as in the 7th century the Geographer of Ravenna mentions Lucentes. Laqant is mentioned later in the pact of Theodemir (713 ).[17]

Roman conquest
Main article: Lucentum

During the Second Punic War the city was destroyed and the fortification abandoned; but during the Sertorian War it was rebuilt, and during the Principate of Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.) it was refounded as a municipality under Latin law, with the name Lucentum. The toponym is first attested in inscriptions and in history books at this time.[18]

The toponym Lucentum appearing in ancient sources has in the past been placed by later historians at different points in Alicante, but historiography has accepted its location at the Tossal de Manises since the 1990s.[19] Lucentum had a period of some splendour from the end of the first century B.C. through the first century A.D,[20] when the city began to decline gradually throughout the 2nd century until it was abandoned in the 3rd century.[21] The city lost its status as a Roman municipality, and its population was assimilated into the neighboring city of Ilici, (today's Elche). The chief cause of this decline was competition from Ilici, which had better water and land communications (it stood on the Via Augusta)[22] and began to usurp Lucentum's trade.[21]

An urban nucleus was established on the slopes of Mount Benacantil, where have been found the remains of a Late Roman settlement for which the same Romanised name Lacant was used, that is, a relict place name, which would evolve into the form Laqant, mentioned in the Pact of Theodemir and the predecessor of the modern name Alicante.[23] The hypothesis that the municipality of Lucentum was the predecessor of Laqant has been commonly accepted by historians, but archaeologist L. Abad Casal of the University of Alicante (Universitat d'Alacant) notes that this has been brought into question in the light of new evidence uncovered in archaeological excavations and in research by teams from the university and the municipal authorities of Alicante.[24]

Muslim al-Laqant

Eventually, the Roman settlement was depopulated, until a new urban demographic concentration developed between the 6th and 7th centuries. Archaeological excavations show that during the early years of the Muslim occupation of Iberia the site at Tossal de Manises was used as a Muslim cemetery, called in Arabic a maqbara (مقبرة), dated to between the 8th and 10th centuries.[25] It seems likely that the Andalucian Laqant was already developed on the other side of the Serra Grossa hill, at the current historic centre of the city, on the foundations of an earlier Hispano-Roman settlement that would have been moved at some point in late antiquity (4th–8th centuries). In that case, the toponym would not be of Arabic origin but of a Romanised Iberian substrate.

Between 718 and 1247 the town remained under the domination of the Arabs, in the territorial demarcation of the Xarq (or Sharq) al-Andalus (in Arabic: شرق الاندلس), who named it Medina Sagira Laqant (in Arabic: مدينة حقيقة القنت, which means "the small city of Laqant"), abbreviated al-Laqant (Arabic: اَلقنت). Some scholars consider this the direct origin of the current name in Valencian, Alacant, as well as the initial form of Alicante in Spanish. It was also known by the name of Laqant-al-Qubra (لَقَنت الكوبرة),[26] that is, "Great Alicante", to differentiate it from Laqant-al-Hosun which corresponds to a different town, Llutxent, in the Serra d'Aitana.

Castile and Aragon

The Muslims ruled southern and eastern Spain until the so-called reconquista (reconquest) in which the territory they occupied was conquered by Christian forces in the 11th century. Alicante was taken in 1246 by the Castilian king Alfonso X, but it soon passed definitively to the Kingdom of Valencia in 1298 with the Catalan King James II of Aragon. It gained the status of Royal Villa (Vila Reial) with representation in the medieval Valencian Parliament.

Early Modern Era
Monjas-Santa Faz Square in Alicante.

After several decades as a battle field between the Kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon, Alicante enjoyed a segle d'or (golden age) during the 15th century together with the whole Kingdom of Valencia, rising to become a major Mediterranean trading centre exporting rice, wine, olive oil, oranges and wool. Between 1609 and 1614 King Philip III expelled thousands of moriscos who had remained in Valencia after the reconquista, due to their allegiance with Berber pirates who continually attacked coastal cities and caused much harm to trade. This act cost the region dearly - with so many skilled artisans and agricultural labourers gone, the feudal nobility found itself sliding into bankruptcy.

In the early 18th century Alicante, along with the rest of Valencia, backed Carlos in the War of Spanish Succession. Philip V won, and he punished the whole region by withdrawing the semi-autonomous status it had enjoyed since the time of the reconquista.

19th and 20th centuries

Alicante went into a long, slow decline that had begun in the 18th century and continued through the 19th century. The city's leather industry along with the production of agricultural products such as oranges and almonds, and its fishery allowed the city to survive economically. The end of the 19th century witnessed a sharp recovery of the local economy with increasing international trade and the growth of the city harbour leading to increased exports of several products (particularly during World War I when Spain was a neutral country).

A view of Alicante from the Castillo de Santa Barbara.

During the early 20th century, Alicante was a minor capital which enjoyed the benefit of Spain's neutrality during the First World War, which provided new opportunities for industry and agriculture. The Moroccan war of the 1920s saw numerous alicantinos drafted to fight in the long and bloody campaigns at the former Spanish protectorate (Northern Morocco) against the Rif rebels. The political unrest of the late 1920s led to the victory of republican candidates in the local council elections throughout the country, and the abdication of Alfonso XIIIKing Alfonso XIII]].

The proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic was much celebrated in the city on 14 April 1931. The Spanish Civil War broke out on 17 July 1936. Alicante was the last city loyal to the Republican government to be occupied by General Franco's troops on 1 April 1939, and its harbour saw the last Republican government officials flee the country. Even if not as famous as the bombing of Guernica by the German Luftwaffe, Alicante was the target of devastating air bombings during the three years of the civil war, most notably the bombing by the Italian Aviazione Legionaria of the Mercado Central de Alicante (Central Market of Alicante) on 25 May 1938 in which more than 300 civilians perished.

The next 20 years under Franco's dictatorship were difficult for Alicante as it was for the entire country. However, the late 1950s and early 1960s saw the onset of a lasting transformation of the city due to tourism. Large buildings and complexes rose in nearby Albufereta (e.g. El Barco) and Playa de San Juan, with the benign climate being the aspect of the city most attractive to prospective buyers and the tourists who kept local hotels reasonably busy.

The development of the tourism sector, aside from new construction, also attracted entrepreneurs who started numerous businesses such as restaurants, bars and other businesses focused on visitors. The old airfield at Rabasa was closed and air traffic moved to the new El Altet Airport, which made a convenient facility for the use of chartered flights bringing tourists from northern European countries.

When Francisco Franco died in 1975, his successor Juan Carlos I successfully oversaw the transition of Spain to a democratic constitutional monarchy. Governments of nationalities and regions were given more autonomy, and the Valencia region was permitted an autonomy it had not been allowed for four centuries.

Later notable landmarks have been the opening of the European Union Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and the construction of the Ciudad de la Luz, a series of facilities meant to sponsor film industries in setting up operations at Alicante.

See also

References
  1. Millan, M. I. Pérez; Avilés, A. B. González (4 May 2016). "Summary of the evolution of the fortifications of Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante from its origins to the beginning of the eighteenth century" (PDF). WIT Transactions on The Built Environment. WIT Press. 158: 13–14. doi:10.2495/DSHF160021.
  2. Tsetskhladze, G. R. (2021). Ancient West & East: Volume 2, No. 2. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-49543-2.
  3. Bierling, Marilyn R. (2002). "Introduction". In Bierling, Marilyn R.; Gitin, Seymour (eds.). The Phoenicians in Spain: An Archaeological Review of the Eighth-sixth Centuries B.C.E. : a Collection of Articles Translated from Spanish. Eisenbrauns. p. xi. ISBN 978-1-57506-056-9.
  4. Dietler (2009). "Colonial Encounters in Iberia and the Western Mediterranean: An Exploratory Framework". In Dietler, Michael; López-Ruiz, Carolina (eds.). Colonial Encounters in Ancient Iberia: Phoenician, Greek, and Indigenous Relations. University of Chicago Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-226-14848-9.
  5. Iberian Antiquities from the Collection of Leon Levy and Shelby White: Exhibition September 14 - December 10, 1993. The Spanish Institute. 1993. p. 13.
  6. Hoyos, Dexter (2005). Hannibal's Dynasty: Power and Politics in the Western Mediterranean, 247-183 BC. Psychology Press. pp. 63–66. ISBN 978-0-415-35958-0.
  7. Prats, Alfredo González; García-Menarguez, Antonio; Segura, Elisa Ruiz (2002). "La Fonteta: A Phoenician City in the Far West". In Bierling, Marilyn R.; Gitin, Seymour (eds.). The Phoenicians in Spain: An Archaeological Review of the Eighth-Sixth Centuries B.C.E. Penn State University Press. p. 113.
  8. Renzi, Martina; Montero-Ruiz, Ignacio; Bode, Michael (November 2009). "Non-ferrous metallurgy from the Phoenician site of La Fonteta (Alicante, Spain): a study of provenance". Journal of Archaeological Science. 36 (11): 2584. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.07.016.
  9. Barceló, Pedro (1 October 2006). "Acra Leuce". Brill’s New Pauly. Potsdam: Brill.
  10. Sumner, G. V. (1968). "Roman Policy in Spain before the Hannibalic War". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 72: 209. doi:10.2307/311080. ISSN 0073-0688.
  11. Montenegro, Julia; Castillo, Arcadio Del (2017). "Some Reflections on Hamilcar Barca and the Foundation of Acra Leuce". Athenaeum | Studi Periodici di Letteratura e Storia dell'Antichita. 105 (II): 485, 492–494.
  12. Carrión, Yolanda; Rosser, Pablo (1 September 2010). "Revealing Iberian woodcraft: conserved wooden artefacts from south-east Spain". Antiquity. 84 (325): 747. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00100201.
  13. Rodríguez Gutiérrez, Oliva (2019). "Urbanisation of the Iberian Peninsula during the Roman Period: Choices, Impositions and 'Resignation' of the Newcomers". In de Ligt, Luuk; Bintliff, John (eds.). Regional Urban Systems in the Roman World, 150 BCE - 250 CE. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-41436-5.
  14. Astin, A. E. (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-521-23448-1.
  15. Kurz, Joseph (2010). The Barcid Empire? An Economic, Social, and Political Study of Imperial Interactions between Carthaginians and Locals in Southern Iberia. pp. 99–100.
  16. Olcina Doménech, M.; Guilabert Mas, Antonio; Tendero Porras, Eva (2013). "El municipi de Lucentum" (PDF). Ciutats Romanes Valencianes. MARQ. pp. 204–205.
  17. Sánchez, José Francisco Argente (2018). Toponimia Prerromana de Mallorca y Menorca: En la documentación medieval de las Illes Balears (in Spanish). Caligrama. ISBN 978-84-17533-73-1. Posteriormente el godo Teodomiro de Oriola firmó un pacto con Abd-Al-Aziz en el año 713 y el antiguo núcleo indígena de Lqtn, posterior Lucentum romano, pasó a llamarse Medina Laqant, o Al Laqant, de donde el actual Alacant o Alicante." English: "Subsequently the Goth Teodomiro of Oriola signed a pact with Abd-Al-Aziz in 713, and the ancient indigenous nucleus of Lqtn, later Roman Lucentum, was renamed Medina Laqant, or Al Laqant, from whence the current 'Alacant' or 'Alicante'.
  18. Membrado-Tena, Joan Carles (2018). "El papel de la Geografía en el análisis del contenido semántico de los topónimos. El caso de Alicante". Anales de geografía de la Universidad Complutense. 38 (1): 47. doi:10.5209/AGUC.60468. ISSN 0211-9803. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  19. Frías Castillejo, Carolina (2010). El poblamiento rural de Dianium, Lucentum, Ilici y la ciudad romana de La Vila Joiosa (siglos II a.C.-VII d.C.) (in Spanish). San Vicente del Raspeig: Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante. p. 147. ISBN 9788497171236.
  20. Guilabert Mas, Antonio; Olcina Doménech, Manuel; Tendero Porras, Eva (2015). "Lucentum (Tossal de Manises, Alicante): Estudio de caso de un municipium de la Tarraconense sur". In Brassous, Laurent; Quevedo Sánchez, Alejandro (eds.). Urbanisme civique en temps de crise (in Spanish). Madrid: Casa de Velázquez. p. 145. ISBN 978-84-9096-010-3.
  21. Frías Castillejo, Carolina (2010). El poblamiento rural de Dianium, Lucentum, Ilici y la ciudad romana de La Vila Joiosa (siglos II a.C.-VII d.C.) (in Spanish). San Vicente del Raspeig: Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante. p. 154. ISBN 9788497171236.
  22. Olcina Doménech, Manuel H. (2006). "Lucentum: origin and evolution of a Roman municipium in the Sinus Ilicitanus". In Casal, Lorenzo Abad; Keay, S. J.; Asensio, Sebastián F. Ramallo (eds.). Early Roman Towns in Hispania Tarraconensis. Journal of Roman archaeology. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-887829-62-5.
  23. Kennedy, Hugh N. (2006). The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 201–202. ISBN 978-0-7546-5909-9.
  24. Gutiérrez Lloret, Sonia (2016). "The Formation of al-Aandalus". In Marin, Manuela (ed.). The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1: History and Society. Routledge. pp. 252–253. ISBN 978-1-351-88960-5.
  25. Olcina Doménech, Manuel; Tendero Porras, Eva; Guilabert Mas, Antonio (2008). "La maqbara del Tossal de Manises (Alicante)" (PDF). LUCENTUM XXVII. doi:10.14198/LVCENTVM2008.27.17. ISSN 0213-2338.
  26. Estal, Juan Manuel del, ed. (1985). "Problemática en torno a la conquista y repoblación de las ciudades musulmanas de Orihuela y Alicante por Alfonso X el Sabio". En la España medieval (in Spanish). II (7): 811. ISSN 0214-3038.

Bibliography
See also: Timeline of Alicante § Bibliography
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