Where is Alicante located?
Alicante is located on the Costa Blanca. This part of Spain belongs to the province of Valencia, the center of which is the port city. The population of Alicante exceeds three hundred thousand people. The main income of the citizens is tourism, as well as the sale of fish, local wines and olive oil.
The locals speak mostly Spanish, but Valencian, a special variant of the Catalan language, is also widely spoken. The city actively supports the introduction of a second language among the population.
Alicante's website.
A little bit of Alicante's history
People lived in this fertile area two and a half thousand years ago, when Alicante was the site of an Iberian settlement. But the city's history dates back to 324 BC, when the Greeks sailed here and built a fortress city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The founders named the city Akra Leuke, which meant "White Fortress." The young city was under the rule of Carthage, which was at war with Rome. Soon the Romans, who were to win the war, captured Alicante. They gave the city a new name, Lucentum, meaning "City of Light".
Alicante changed hands twice more. In the eighth century it was conquered by the Moors and remained in power for the next eight centuries, until the arrival of the Castilian invaders. During this period the city was called Al Lucante.
Alicante became an important port for Spain in the nineteenth century, when the railroad reached here. It was then that the growth of industry and development of the city began.
In the civil war of 1936-1939, Alicante was severely damaged by bombings, as it was in Republican territory.
The development of Alicante as a resort began in the sixties of the twentieth century. Since then, Alicante's population has increased dramatically and the city continues to grow and develop to this day.
