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San Lucar

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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LUCAR (or Sanlucar De Barrameda), a fortified seaport of southern Spain, in the province of Cadiz; 27 m. by sea from Cadiz, on the left bank of the Guadalquivir estuary, and on the Puerto de Santa Maria-San Lucar and Jerez de la Frontera-Bonanza railways. Pop. (1900) 23,883. The town is divided into two parts, Alta ("upper") and Baja ("lower"); for it is built partly on the flat foreshore, partly on the rising ground to the south. The upper part is the older; it culminates in the ruins of a Moorish citadel. On the outskirts are many villas surrounded by pine, palm and orange groves, and often occupied in summer by families from Seville, who come to San Lucar for the excellent sea-bathing. The 14th-century church and the palace of the dukes of Medina Sidonia contain many valuable pictures. The hospital of St George was established by Henry VIII. of England in 1517 for English sailors. The Guadalquivir estuary is deep and sheltered, and lighted by four lighthouses. Bonanza, 2 m. by rail up the river, and on the same bank, is the headquarters of the shipping and fishing trades. It is named after a chapel dedicated here by the South American Company of Seville to the Virgin of Fair Weather (Virgen de la Bonanza). The fisheries and agricultural trade of San Lucar are considerable; there are flour mills in the town and a dynamite factory among the surrounding sandhills. Coal is imported from Great Britain, sulphur from France. The imports include sherry, manzanilla and other wines, salt, oats and fruit.

Inscriptions: and ruins prove that San Lucar and Bonanza were Roman settlements, though the original names are unknown. San Lucar was captured from the Moors in 1264, after an occupation lasting more than five and a half centuries. After 1492 it became an important centre of trade with America. From this port Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1498, and Magellan started in 1519 to circumnavigate the world.