Algeciras

Algeciras, town and seaport on Algeciras Bay, in Cádiz Province, Andalusia Autonomous Region, in southern Spain near Gibraltar. The town is a popular resort area because of the mild winters, excellent beaches and mineral springs. It serves as a port for the surrounding agricultural region, which produces cereals, tobacco, and livestock. The major industries of the town are fishing and the processing of cork. The present town was founded on the ruins of a Moorish settlement in 1704 by Spanish refugees from Gibraltar, when the promontory was captured by a combined British and Dutch force. The ruins of a Moorish aqueduct are nearby. Algeciras was the site of a famous naval battle in 1805, in which the British fleet defeated the combined French and Spanish forces, and of the Algeciras Conference held in 1906 to resolve the Morocccan question. Population 114,012 (2007).