The pillars of herakles. Cadiz.

The southern coast that overlooks the passage from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic is where the Pillars of Herakles or Hercules were said to be.

Native settlements date from prehistory. Phoenician colonies, Punic colonies, and Roman cities all interlace and superimpose one upon the other, creating a powerful substratum.

The museum at Jerez de la Frontera is a good starting point in order to obtain an overall chronological view of this area. The roman city and necropolis of Carissa Aurelia is also found in this area, in Bornos.

Settlers favoured the coast, which had several towns around the Bay of Cadiz that were devoted to trade and fishing. It was also on the outskirts of the Tartessian kingdom that covered the provinces of Huelva and Seville. Near El Puerto de Santa María, on the road to El Portal, the protohistoric town of Castillo de Doña Blanca (8th-4th centuries BC) is being excavated, the ruins are impressive.

The objects found here, on show at the Museum at El Puerto de Santa Maria, are related to those found in Gadir, now known as Cadiz, trading emporium of the west throughout antiquity. The Museum at Cadiz has many fine objects: jewels, sarcophagi, statuettes of Melkart and other vestiges of its Semitic population.

Still further south before reaching Tarifa, at Bolonia, there are the ruins of Baelo Claudia devoted to tunny fishing, that gained widespread fame during the Roman empire. The remains are in fair condition and the walls, streets, a forum, temples, a market place, basilica, theatre and a salting factory can be clearly distinguished.

Near Tarifa on the road to Punta Paloma, the site of Los Algarbes has a Bronze Age hypogean necropolis. The Roman town of Carteia near San Roque was a trading colony of the Straits of Gibraltar where baths, a theatre, a forum, temples and a market have been found.