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Bestowed with one of the finest harbors in the Mediterranean Sea, history before any much longer witnessed Alicante precociously grow from a fine port to become one of the oldest surviving cities of the world. As a very strategic site in the Mediterranean Sea, Alicante's location on the east coast, over the centuries, lured the maritime explorers from the main ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean world. Such explorers, notably the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and later Arabs repeatedly stumbled upon the coast of Alicante in search of new trading routes, at the same time shaping the city in their fashion.
For seven millennia, primordial settlements sprouted around Alicante’s vicinity, with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC. Such early settlements found inhabitants on the slopes of Mount Benacantil, where the Castillo de Santa Barbara stands today. Greek and Phoenician traders, by 1000 BC, made contact with the eastern coast of Spain. Ancient Greeks founded the port of Alicante in 324 BC, designating it Akra Leuk, translated as White Peak. The Greeks taught the native Iberian tribes the alphabet, and utilizing iron and the pottery wheel. However, Greece was no sooner overthrown by Carthage in the sixth century BC, when the rival armies of Carthage and Rome emerged to invade and fight for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar established a fortified settlement on the site of present day Alicante.
However, the Carthaginians proved to be no match for the Romans, who, in the end inevitably assumed control over the Carthaginians’ conquests in and around Alicante. In 201 B.C., Alicante was captured and integrated into the ancient Roman Empire. The Romans fondly named the settlement as Lucentum, translated as the ‘City of Light,’ a moniker baptized due to the outstanding, brilliant shimmer of Alicante’s white beaches and radiant sunsets. No less than Hannibal’s elephants of war were said to have been unloaded here. The Romans ended up ruling Iberia for over seven centuries.
By the fifth century, Rome plummeted into decline. Around this time, the Visigoth warlord Teodmiro was sovereign ruler of Alicante more or less. By this time, Arab occupation of the area advanced, the actions of which neither the Romans nor the Goths, put up enough resistance to.
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Succeeding the long periods of Iberian and Roman rule, the Moors conquered Alicante in AD 713, during their 600 year campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula. From 3718 to 1249, the Moors ruled this city uncontested, embedding upon the city their cultural and architectural mark. The Moors brought oranges, rice, palms and the gifts of Islamic art and architecture. According to the Moor’s whims, the bustling seaport virtually earned itself the new name al-Acant, the White City. Al - Acant was integrated into the great Islamic estate of Al-Andalus. Hence, new ties were established with the vast Islamic Empire. Inevitably, the name Alicante was derived from this title.
The Moors assume sovereignty over Southern and Eastern Spain until the 11th century spate of reconquista (reconquest). After a series of hard fought campaigns, the Spaniard Alfonso X of Castile reclaimed the city from the Moors in behalf of the kingdom of Castile in 1265. In 1492, the last of the Islamic rulers left Spain, bound for North Africa. Decades later, in 1304, the city was incorporated into the kingdom of Valencia, under King Jaime I of the Aragon Crown.
Eventually in the aftermath of centuries of strife, Alicante flourished in its siglo de oro (golden age) during the 15th century. The seaport rose to become a major Mediterranean trading station exporting rice, wine, olive oil, oranges and wool. Under the rule of King Felipe III, thousands of Arabs who had remained in Valencia after the reconquista were expelled between 1609 and 1614. So many skilled artisans and agricultural laborers belonged to this caste. With them gone, this act of intolerance riddled the economy tremendously. Later, the Christian feudal nobility found itself skidding into bankruptcy. Then, in the early 18th century, the circumstances made a turn for the worse, when Alicante, along with the rest of Valencia, backed Carlos VI in the War of Spanish Succession. When Felipe V defeated Carlos VI, the region felt the brunt of Felipe’s punishment when he withdrew the semi-autonomous status Alicante had been granted since the time of the reconquista.
Alicante plunged into a long, torturing degradation through the 18th and 19th centuries by making shoes and growing oranges. This period was marred by spates of rebellion, attempts to alleviate the frustration. In 1709 and 1812, the city was laid under siege by French elements. It was followed in 1873 by attacks from the Federalists of Cartagena.
Entirely all of Spain reached a crescendo to the point of revolution by the early 20th century. The Spanish Civil War was brewing in the sidelines after years of sponsoring a discontenting military dictatorship. King Alfonso XIII abdicated the throne, paving the way for the declaration in 1931 of a so called Spanish Republic. Winning by a narrow margin of votes, a left-wing coalition of communists and socialists subsequently took control of the government. Backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in 1936, General Francisco Franco rebelled against status quo in hopes of re-establishing the authority of the Catholic Church, the army and the aristocracy. Italian aircraft hastened the stalemate by bombarding Alicante. After three years of bloody civil war, Franco's armies emerged victorious after three years of violence in the civil war. Alicante thereafter, after some lasting resistance, became eventually one of the last cities to fall to Franco.
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Two decades under Franco's police state proved to be wretched ones for the citizens of Alicante. There were severe frosts in 1941 and 1946 which battered the oranges grown and tended by local farmers. After Franco’s death in 1975, his successor King Juan Carlos I initiated the steps in guiding Spain towards democracy. As such, his term saw regional governments augmented with more clout, and the cities of Valencia were permitted an autonomy they had not been allowed for four centuries.
By the start of the 21st century, Alicante had grown to become the Valencia region's second largest town in a newly reformed Spain. From a derelict, rather shabby port, Alicante has spruced itself up to become a major tourist attraction of a town. In turn, it has begun to lure wave after wave of intrigued visitors looking for an authentic Spanish getaway. The influx of tourists is unprecedented as years go by.
Alicante boasts of some of Spain’s most famous personalities. One of them was Gabriel Miró (Alicante, 1879 - Madrid, 1930). Critics praise Gabriel Miró for his literary maturity, which was said to have begun with Las cerezas del cementerio (1910). The said work’s plot revolves around the tragedy of the eight month affair between super sensitive young man Félix Valdivia and an older woman, Beatriz. The atmosphere is thick with themes of eroticism, sickness, and death.
According to modern novelist Ricardo Gullón, Miró's stories are lyrical novels which give outlet to the expression of feelings and sensations. Miró's works revolutionized fragmentarism (a literary technique using the fragmentary nature of thought), the use of the ellipsis and the structuring of the story in disparate scenes, joined by reflection and memory.
Another famous personality born in Alicante is the prolific Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer Antonio Gades (November 14, 1936 - July 20, 2004). Born Antonio Esteve Ródenas, he helped catapult flamenco into international mainstream culture. Gades’ significant works included dance adaptations of Prosper Merimée's Carmen and Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding (Bodas de Sangre).
In 1978, he became the co-founder and artistic director of the Ballet Nacional de España. Unfortunately he was struck with cancer and recently died in Madrid on 2004. Before his death, Gades was conferred the prestigious "Order of José Martí," by the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba. The said award is one of the highest honors of Cuba.
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