San Roque | |||
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Municipality | |||
View of San Roque at dusk showing Gibraltar in the background.
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Motto: "Muy Noble y Muy Leal ciudad de San Roque, donde reside la de Gibraltar" (Very Noble and Very Loyal city of San Roque, where Gibraltar lives on) |
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Location of San Roque |
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Location in Spain | |||
Coordinates: 36°12′35″N 5°23′4″W / 36.20972°N 5.38444°WCoordinates: 36°12′35″N 5°23′4″W / 36.20972°N 5.38444°W | |||
Country | Spain | ||
Autonomous community | Andalusia | ||
Province | Cádiz | ||
Comarca | Campo de Gibraltar | ||
Judicial district | San Roque | ||
Founded | 21 May 1706 | ||
Government | |||
• Alcalde | Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix (PSOE) | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 146.88 km2 (56.71 sq mi) | ||
Elevation | 108 m (354 ft) | ||
Population (2009) | |||
• Total | 29,249 | ||
• Density | 200/km2 (520/sq mi) | ||
Demonym(s) | Sanroqueño/a | ||
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
Postal code | 11360 (San Roque casco) 11310 (Sotogrande) 11311 (Guadiaro y Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro) 11312 (Torreguadiaro, San Diego y San Enrique de Guadiaro) 11313 (Puente Mayorga) 11314 (Campamento) 11368 (Estación de San Roque) 11369 (Carteia, Guadarranque, Miraflores y Taraguilla) | ||
Dialing code | (+34) 956 78 XX XX | ||
Official language(s) | Spanish | ||
Website | www |
San Roque is a small town and municipality in the south of Spain. It is part of the province of Cádiz, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. San Roque is situated a short way inland of the north side of the Bay of Gibraltar, just to the north of the Gibraltar peninsula. The municipality has a total surface of 145 km² with a population of approximately 25,500 people, as of 2005. Its name is Spanish for Saint Roch, a Christian saint who was revered in a shrine dating back to 1508 that predates the foundation of the town.
The area around San Roque has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The oldest known settlement within the municipality is the ruined town of Carteia, founded by the Phoenicians. It became a Phoenician tradepost and evolved into a Carthaginian town by 228 BCE. Its major trade was in local wine and garum or salazón, a fish-based sauce.
Carteia was captured by Rome in 206 BCE. A few years later, in 171 BCE, Iberian-born children of Roman soldiers appeared before the Roman Senate to request a town to live in, and were given Carteia, named Colonia Libertinorum Carteia.
After the fall of Rome, the Vandals briefly established themselves in the area until 428 before they embarked on the conquest of North Africa, via an invasion fleet across the Strait of Gibraltar. The Visigoths replaced them around the 6th century. The Byzantine Empire made incursions into Andalusia between 554 and 626, occupying Carteia for a number of years, before finally being ejected by the Visigoths.