De la relevancia al olvido: El Puerto de Santa María y el río Guadalete

• Main Author: Alejandro Román Antequera
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Réseau Interuniversitaire d'Ètude des Littératures Contemporaines du Río de la Plata 2018-10-01
• Series: Cuadernos LIRICO
• Subjects: urban agglomeration; Bay of Cadiz; El Puerto de Santa María; Guadalete; relation; long term
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/lirico/5614

The geographical conditions of Cadiz, especially its lack of space, were fundamental for the transformation of its Bay in the first Spanish urban agglomeration in the 18th century. Each town played a role in the functioning of the ecosystem. El Puerto de Santa Maria was the communication node between the inner town, Jerez, and the harbor town, Cadiz, because its city center is situated in the Guadalete’s river mouth. This river has been fundamental for its urban evolution. The evolution of the relation between the river and El Puerto through a long-term perspective is the subject of this work. We are going to study particularly the river’s functions, which passed from a commercial harbor to becoming a fishing and leisure one in the 19th century, and were progressively forgotten because of the town’s extension during the 20th century.