Guardamar del Segura

Guardamar del Segura
Municipality

Flag
Coat of arms
Guardamar del Segura

Location in Spain

Coordinates: 38°5′23″N 0°39′18″W / 38.08972°N 0.65500°WCoordinates: 38°5′23″N 0°39′18″W / 38.08972°N 0.65500°W
Country  Spain
Autonomous community  Valencian Community
Province Alicante
Comarca Baix Segura
Judicial district Torrevieja
Founded 10th century
Government
 • Mayor Carmen Verdú(2011) (PP)
Area
 • Total 35.58 km2 (13.74 sq mi)
Elevation 25 m (82 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 16,863
 • Density 470/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Demonym Guardamarenco (m) guardamarenca (f)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 03140 and 03149
Dialing code 965 and 966
Official language(s) Spanish and Valencian
Website http://www.guardamar.net/

Guardamar del Segura (Valencian pronunciation: [ˌɡwaɾðaˈmaɾ ðeɫ seˈɣuɾa]) or briefly Guardamar is a municipality of the province of Alicante located at the mouth of the river Segura in southern Valencia (autonomous community), Spain. It is a Mediterranean resort, with a large pine forest abutting an 11-km-long white sand beach.

Historically an area of fishermen and farmers, Guardamar del Segura is the southernmost point where Valenciano (a dialect of Catalan) is spoken. A Phoenician colony, called Herna by Roman geographer Avienus in his book Ora Maritima was the first settlement near the mouth of Segura river,[1] In Spanish, "guardar" means "safekeeping" and "mar" means "sea", and this is another possible basis for its current name.

Guardamar is the southernmost Catalan-speaking town and in 1991 41.8% of the town's residents knew how to speak it.[2] Guardamar hosts local festivals like Moros i Cristians, L'Encantà, and Fogueres de Sant Joan, which commemorate its history.

Population

The INE (Spanish Census) of 2006 showed that the city had 14,261 residents. By January 2011 this figure had reached 16,863 of which only 10,051 were Spanish. The most prominent nationalities in 2011 were:

Historical population
(1857-2011)[3]
Year Population Year Population
1857 2,696 1960 4,586
1887 2,549 1970 4,715
1900 2,862 1981 5,708
1910 2,898 1991 7,513
1920 3,067 2001 9,944
1930 4,016 2004 12,215
1940 4,703 2007 15,132
1950 4,704 2011 16,683
Foreign population
(official data, 2011)
NationalityPercentage
 Spain59,60
 United Kingdom13,63
 Germany3,76
 Bulgaria2,46
 Morocco1,93
 Russia1,92
 Ukraine1,59
 Romania1,46
 China0,94
 Italy0,92

Government

Guardamar City Hall

Carmen Verdú is the mayor of the city. In the latest municipal elections of May 2011, Carmen Verdú of the People's Party (Partido Popular) won the elections with an absolute majority, larger than the one the former major (María Elena Albentosa) had, while the opposition (Socialist Party) lost some of their popular support. She is the second woman ever to occupy this position.

At the 2011 local elections, the political composition on the local council was:

Party[4] Seats
PP 9
PSOE 7
IU 1

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Guardamar del Segura
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 16
(61)		 17
(63)		 19
(66)		 20
(68)		 23
(73)		 27
(81)		 30
(86)		 31
(88)		 28
(82)		 24
(75)		 20
(68)		 17
(63)		 22.7
(72.8)
Average low °C (°F) 6
(43)		 7
(45)		 8
(46)		 10
(50)		 13
(55)		 16
(61)		 19
(66)		 20
(68)		 18
(64)		 14
(57)		 10
(50)		 7
(45)		 12.3
(54.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 25
(0.98)		 29
(1.14)		 28
(1.1)		 34
(1.34)		 29
(1.14)		 20
(0.79)		 7
(0.28)		 13
(0.51)		 37
(1.46)		 67
(2.64)		 46
(1.81)		 36
(1.42)		 371
(14.61)
Source: holiday-weather.com

Points of interests

Notes

  1. ↑ Bierling, Marilyn R. and Gitin,Seymour (2002). The Phoenicians in Spain: an archaeological review of the eighth-sixth centuries B.C.E. : a collection of articles translated from Spanish. Eisenbrauns, p. 124. ISBN 1-57506-056-6
  2. ↑ Cens de 1991
  3. ↑ from 1857: national census.
  4. ↑ http://elecciones.mir.es/resultados2011/99MU/DMU1703907699_L1.htm?d=908&e=100

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guardamar del Segura.