About Rota
The Villa de Rota is a seaside town in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. Located on the northern coast of the province of Cádiz and bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Portugal and Gibraltar, it is an eminently tourist city, a holiday destination for travelers from all over Europe.
Video presentation of the town of Rota, Costa de la Luz, Andalusia (Spanish)
In 2018, our town had 28,848 inhabitants. Its surface area is 84 km². Its geographical coordinates are 36º 37' N, 6º 21' W. It is located at an altitude of 9 meters and 36 kilometers from the provincial capital, Cádiz. In the north of the Bay of Cádiz, bordering the cities of Chipiona, Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. In Rota is located the Rota Naval Base, which occupies almost a third of its municipal area.
Rota, due to its coastal location, has been a place of passage for different cultures and civilizations, although establishing the origin of the population is difficult due to the few archaeological remains found in its area. However, the few that exist date back to Prehistory, especially to the Metal Age, from which an important Necropolis has been found.
The first known name is "Astaroth", which would mean "Port of Asta", being "Asta Regia" one of the most important cities of the Tartessian civilization. With the Roman invasion, its name changed to "Oraculum Menestei" and later to "Speculum Rotae". The Arab civilization called it "Rabeta Ruta", and the Christian conquerors called it "Rotta"; hence its current name.
It was Sancho IV, "The Brave", who initially ceded the town to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, "The Good", as a reward for his heroic feat in the defense of Tarifa, who in turn donated it as a wedding gift to his daughter Isabel, when she married Fernán Pérez Ponce de León, Master of Alcántara and first lord of Marchena. It was therefore in 1303 when Rota belonged to the Ponce de León family, and history records a visit to the town by the Catholic Monarchs, who stayed at the Castillo de Luna. During this visit, they granted Rodrigo Ponce de León the title of Marquis of Cádiz, and organized knight tournaments and bullfights to honor the guests.
After the death of the last of the Ponce de Leóns, the 11th Duke of Arcos, in 1780, without leaving any heirs, the estate passed to the Duchy of Osuna, which was abolished in 1823.
Today, Rota is a modern and cosmopolitan city, where tranquility and harmony can be found, interrupted only by the rhythmic beating of the waves of the sea.
In the following video, we briefly show you some of what our visitors can discover in the town of Rota (Spanish):
