Cádiz (province)

Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, being the southernmost point of continental Western Europe.

It is bordered by the Spanish provinces of Huelva, Sevilla, and Málaga, as well as the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar and the British possession of Gibraltar. Its area is 7,442 km².

Its capital is Cádiz. Its population is 1,164,374 (2004), of whom about 600,000 live around the Bay of Cádiz area, and its population density is 156.45/km². It contains 44 municipalities.

Besides its capital other important cities are Jerez and Algeciras.

See List of municipalities in Cádiz.

Economy

The main industry is tourism, mainly from other non-coastal Spanish cities, Germany and UK.

It was once important its shipbuilding industry (Astilleros), now in crisis due to competition from South Korea and China.

There are factories of Airbus and Delphi

It also exports some alimentary products.

Transportation

The main ways to enter the province are by road from Seville or Malaga and by the Jerez Airport.

Beaches

It has many kilometers of beaches and (as 2005) the highest number of Blue Flags of all coastal provinces in Europe.

Some of these beaches are relatively wild and far from big urban areas due to the closeness of natural reserves. Being that one of its attractives in contrast to the mass tourism of other areas in the Mediterranean coast.

The area near Tarifa is known to be an important windsurf area and similar sports due to the almost permanent wind near the Strait of Gibraltar.

Nature Reserves

The province has several Parques Naturales (Nature Parks or Reserves).

• Parque Natural Bahía de Cádiz
• Parque Natural de la Breña y Marismas del Barbate
• Parque natural del Estrecho
• Parque Natural Los Alcornocales (Shared with the Province of Málaga)
• Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema (Shared with the Province of Málaga)
• Parque Natural de Doñana (Shared with the provinces of Huelva and Sevilla

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cádiz (province)".