Precedents The area around San Roque has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The oldest known settlement within the municipality is the ruined town of
Carteia, founded by the
Phoenicians. It became a
Phoenician tradepost and evolved into a
Carthaginian town by 228 BCE. Its major trade was in local
wine and
garum or
salazón, a fish-based sauce. Carteia was captured by
Rome in 206 BCE. A few years later, in 171 BCE, Iberian-born children of Roman soldiers appeared before the
Roman Senate to request a town to live in, and were given Carteia, named
Colonia Libertinorum Carteia. After the fall of Rome, the
Vandals briefly established themselves in the area until 428 before they embarked on the conquest of
North Africa, via an invasion fleet across the
Strait of Gibraltar. The
Visigoths replaced them around the 6th century. The
Byzantine Empire made incursions into Andalusia between 554 and 626, occupying Carteia for a number of years, before finally being ejected by the Visigoths. In 711, Carteia and the surrounding area became the beachhead for the
Umayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula led by
Tariq ibn Ziyad.
Alfonso XI of Castile took control of the territory by defeating a Muslim
Merinid army in the 14th century. Over the next few centuries, the population was gradually
Hispanicised and
Christianised. In 1649 a quarter of the Gibraltar population perished from epidemic disease. A number of residents retreated to the area of San Roque, and survived the outbreak, believed to be
typhoid.
Foundation The modern settlement of San Roque was established by the former Spanish inhabitants of
Gibraltar, after the majority fled following the
takeover by Anglo-Dutch forces and their Spanish allies during the
War of the Spanish Succession in 1704. The establishment became a new town in 1706, addressed by King
Philip V of Spain as "My city of Gibraltar resident in its Campo" and "My well beloved", because it remained loyal to his cause during the War of Succession. Gibraltar's City Council, banner and records were moved there. San Roque official
motto is "Very Noble and Very Loyal city of San Roque, where Gibraltar lives on" (Spanish:
Muy Noble y Muy Leal ciudad de San Roque, donde reside la de Gibraltar). In 1873, during the
Spanish First Republic, the town declared its independence as the
Canton of San Roque for a few months. ==Main sights==