Sanlúcar de barrameda Our monuments
• *Sanlúcar de Barrameda was founded by the Tartessians. *In the 8th century, the Normans entered the city along the Guadalquivir river and continued all the way to Seville. • *Also important was the presence of the Arabs, who called it Al Mars al-wadi, which means "river port".
• The city was conquered by King Alfonso X in the 13th century. King Sancho IV gave it to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán as a reward for his role in the defence of Tarifa. During this time, Sanlúcar enjoyed a great economic boom, as it was one of the most important trading centres. It was later proclaimed the seat of the Military Headquarters of the Ocean Sea, and the Fleet of the Indies settled there. The Pérez de Guzmán were lords of the city until 1646, year when it was incorporated into the Crown of Castile. It was then that a period of decadence began, due to the decline in sea traffic.
• The city did not recover from this until the 18th century, and then it was thanks to Godoy, a favourite of King Carlos IV.
• At the beginning of the 19th century, the city became the capital of the province of Cadiz, until the political instabilities of 1808. In the second half of the 19th century, agriculture began to develop, with the production of manzanilla sherry. Nowadays, those wines hold the Denomination of Origin Jerez-XérèsSherry and Manzanilla from Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
• its historic quarter, which has been declared a Historic-Artistic site, shows traces of the city's medieval past, as well as whitewashed houses with red tiled roofs. Here, the buildings are covered with multicoloured tiles, the window and door-openings are framed and we begin to see entrance halls in the houses, as well as a preference for gardens, flowers, and courtyards.