1.
Port of New York and New Jersey
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Considered one of the largest natural harbors in the world, the port is by tonnage the third largest in the United States and the busiest on the East Coast. The port is the nations top gateway for flights and its busiest center for overall passenger. There are two foreign-trade zones within the port, the port handled $208 billion in shipping cargo in 2011, and 3,342,286 containers and 393,931 automobiles in 2014. The port is one of the largest natural harbors globally, encompassing an area within an approximate 25-mile radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, the port district comprises all or part of seventeen counties in the region. Abutting sections of Passaic, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, and Somerset in New Jersey, the Atlantic Ocean is to the southeast of the port. The sea at the entrance to the port is called the New York Bight, in Lower New York Bay and its western arm, Raritan Bay, vessels orient themselves for passage to the east into Arthur Kill or Raritan River or to the north to The Narrows. To the east lies the Rockaway Inlet, which leads to Jamaica Bay, the Narrows connects to the Upper New York Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River, which is sometimes called the North River. Large ships are able to navigate upstream to the Port of Albany-Rensselaer, to the west lies Kill van Kull, the strait leading to Newark Bay, fed by the Passaic River and Hackensack River, and the northern entrance of Arthur Kill. The Gowanus Canal and Buttermilk Channel are entered from the east, the East River is a broad strait that travels north to Newtown Creek and the Harlem River, turning east at Hell Gate before opening to Long Island Sound, which provides an outlet to the open sea. The port consists of a complex of approximately 240 miles of shipping channels, as well as anchorages, most vessels require pilotage, and larger vessels require tugboat assistance for the sharper channel turns. The Ambrose leads from the sea to the Upper Bay, where it becomes the Anchorage Channel. Connecting channels are the Bay Ridge, the Red Hook, the Buttermilk, the Claremont, the Port Jersey, the Kill Van Kull, the Newark Bay, the Port Newark, the Elizabeth, anchorages are known as Stapleton, Bay Ridge and Gravesend. The natural depth of the harbor is about 17 feet, but it was deepened over the years, by 1891, the Main Ship Channel was minimally 30 feet deep. In 1914, Ambrose Channel became the entrance to the port. During World War II the main channel was dredged to 45 feet deep to accommodate ships up to Panamax size. This has been a source of environmental concern along channels connecting the facilities in Port Newark to the Atlantic. PCBs and other pollutants lay in a blanket just underneath the soil, in June 2009 it was announced that 200,000 cubic yards of dredged PCBs would be cleaned and stored en masse at the site of the former Yankee Stadium and at Brooklyn Bridge Park. In many areas the sandy bottom has been excavated down to rock, dredging equipment then picks up the rock and disposes of it
2.
New York Harbor
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New York Harbor, part of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean at the East Coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world, although the United States Board on Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental, commercial, and ecological usages. The aboriginal population of the 16th century New York Harbor, the Lenape, used the waterways for fishing and it is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge touches down in Brooklyn today. He also observed what he believed to be a freshwater lake to the north. He apparently did not travel north to observe the existence of the Hudson River, in 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population, in 1624 the first permanent European settlement was started on Governors Island, and eight years later in Brooklyn, soon these were connected by ferry operation. This prepared New York as a port for the British colonies. In 1686, the British colonial officials gave the municipality control over the waterfront, in 1808, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney of the United States Coast Survey discovered a new, deeper channel through The Narrows into New York Harbor. Because of the difficulty of the required, since 1694. The new channel Gedney discovered was 2 feet deeper, enough of a margin that fully laden ships could come into the harbor even at slack tide. Gedneys Channel, as it came to be called, was shorter than the previous channel, another benefit appreciated by the ship owners. Gedney received the praise of the city, as well as a silver service. In 1824 the first American drydock was completed on the East River, the Morris Canal, carrying anthracite and freight from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to its terminus at the mouth of the Hudson in Jersey City. Portions in the harbor are now part of Liberty State Park, in 1870, the city established the Department of Docks to systematize waterfront development, with George B. McClellan as the first engineer in chief. By the turn of the 20th century numerous railroad terminals lined the banks of the North River in Hudson County. The freight was ferried across by the railroads with small fleets of towboats, barges. New York subsidized this service which undercut rival ports, major road improvements allowing for trucking and containerization diminished the need. The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the period of immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century
3.
North River (Hudson River)
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North River is an alternate name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and northeastern New Jersey in the United States. The colonial name for the entire Hudson was given to it by the Dutch in the seventeenth century. However it still retains currency as an alternate or additional name among local mariners and others as well as appearing on some nautical charts and maps. The term is used for infrastructure on and under the river, such as the North River piers, North River Tunnels, the names for the lower portion of the river appear to have remained interchangeable for centuries. In 1909, construction of two projects was under way, one was called the North River Tunnels, the other. The origin of the name North River is generally attributed to the Dutch, in describing the major rivers in the New Netherland colony, they called what is now the Hudson the North River, the Connecticut the Fresh River, and the Delaware the South River. Another theory is that the North River and East River were so named for the direction of travel they permitted once having entered the Upper New York Bay. In 1808 the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, issued his report of proposed locations for transportation and communication internal improvements of national importance and this peculiarity distinguishes the North River from all the other bays and rivers of the United States. The tide in no other ascends higher than the ridge or comes within thirty miles of the Blue Ridge or eastern chain of mountains. In the North River it breaks through the Blue Ridge at West Point, a few miles above Troy, and the head of the tide, the Hudson from the north and the Mohawk from the west unite their waters and form the North River. The Hudson in its course upwards approaches the waters of Lake Champlain, hagstrom Maps, formerly the leading mapmaker in the New York metropolitan area, has labeled all or part of the Hudson adjacent to Manhattan as North River on several of its maps. On a 2000 map of Northern Approaches to New York City, Piers along the Hudson shore of Manhattan were formerly used for shipping and berthing ocean-going ships. In shipping notices, they were designated as, for example, Pier 14, most of the piers that once existed in lower Manhattan fell into disuse or were destroyed in the last half of the 20th century, although a number have been adapted to new uses. As with the river, the name North River piers has largely supplanted by Hudson River piers, or just by a pier and number. The remaining piers are Pier A at the Battery and piers ranging from Pier 25 at North Moore Street to Pier 99 at 59th Street, many of these piers and the waterfront between them are part of the Hudson River Park which stretches from 59th Street to the Battery. Several piers are being rebuilt as part of the park project, Piers above Pier 40 have addresses approximately that of Manhattans numbered streets plus 40 – thus, for example North River Pier 86 is at West 46th Street. Pier A is a national and New York City landmark. The building on the dates to 1886, and was used by the citys Department of Docks, Harbor Police
4.
Upper New York Bay
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Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and it is fed by the waters of the Hudson River, as well as the Gowanus Canal. It is connected to Lower New York Bay by the Narrows, to Newark Bay by the Kill Van Kull, and to Long Island Sound by the East River and it provides the main passage for the waters of the Hudson River as it empties through the Narrows. The channel of the Hudson as it passes through the harbor is called the Anchorage Channel and is approximately 50 feet deep in the midpoint of the harbor. A project to two water mains between Brooklyn and Staten Island which will eventually allowing for dredging of the channel to nearly 100 feet was begun in April 2012. Historically it has played an important role in the commerce of the New York metropolitan area. The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the immigrant experience during the late 19th, Liberty State Park opened in 1976. In recent years, it has become a site for recreation sailing and kayaking. NY Waterway operates routes across the bay and through The Narrows to locations near Sandy Hook, the Upper Bay supports a very diverse population of marine species, allowing for recreational fishing, most commonly for striped bass and bluefish
5.
Claude Lorrain
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Claude Lorrain was a French painter, draughtsman and engraver of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in Italy, and is one of the earliest important artists, apart from his contemporaries in Dutch Golden Age painting, to concentrate on landscape painting. His landscapes are usually turned into the more prestigious genre of paintings by the addition of a few small figures. By the end of the 1630s he was established as the leading landscapist in Italy and these gradually became larger, but with fewer figures, more carefully painted, and produced at a lower rate. He was not generally an innovator in painting, except in introducing the sun into many paintings. His patrons were also mostly Italian, but after his death he became popular with English collectors. He was a creator of drawings in pen and very often monochrome watercolour wash, usually brown. Chalk is sometimes used for under-drawing, and white highlighting in various media may be employed and these fall into three fairly distinct groups. Firstly there are numbers of sketches, mostly of landscapes, and apparently very often done at the scene, these have been greatly admired. Then there are studies for paintings, of various degrees of finish, many clearly done before or during the process of painting and this was certainly the case for the last group, the 195 drawings recording finished paintings collected in his Liber Veritatis. He produced over 40 etchings, often simplified versions of paintings and these served various purposes for him, but are now regarded as much less important than his drawings. He painted frescoes in his career, which played an important part in making his reputation. The earliest biographies of Claude are in Joachim von Sandrarts Teutsche Academie, both Sandrart and Baldinucci knew the painter personally, but at periods some 50 years apart, respectively at the start of his career and shortly before his death. Sandrart knew him well and lived with him for a while, while Baldinucci was probably not intimate with him, and derived much of his information from Claudes nephew, who lived with the artist. Claudes tombstone gives 1600 as his year of birth, but contemporary sources indicate a later date and he was born in the small village of Chamagne, Vosges, then part of the Duchy of Lorraine. He was the third of five sons of Jean Gellée and Anne Padose, according to Baldinucci, Claudes parents both died when he was twelve years old, and he then lived at Freiburg with an elder brother. Jean was an artist in inlay and taught Claude the rudiments of drawing, Claude then travelled to Italy, first working for Goffredo Wals in Naples, then joining the workshop of Agostino Tassi in Rome. Sandrarts account of Claudes early years, however, is quite different, according to Sandrart, Claude did not do well at the village school and was apprenticed to a pastry baker
6.
Port of Shanghai
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The Port of Shanghai, located in the vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. In 2010, Shanghai port overtook the Port of Singapore to become the worlds busiest container port, Shanghais port handled 29.05 million TEUs, whereas Singapores was a half million TEUs behind. In 2016, Shanghai port set a record by handling over 37 million TEUs. The Port of Shanghai faces the East China Sea to the east and it includes the confluences of the Yangtze River, Huangpu River, and Qiantang River. The Port of Shanghai is managed by Shanghai International Port which superseded the Shanghai Port Authority in 2003, Shanghai International Port Company Limited is a public listed company, of which the Shanghai Municipal Government owns 44.23 percent of the outstanding shares. During the Ming dynasty, what is now the city of Shanghai was a part of Jiangsu Province, while Shanghai had become a county seat in the Yuan dynasty, it remained relatively a small town. Its location at the mouth of the Yangtze River led to its development as coastal trade developed during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing dynasty. Gradually, the port of Shanghai surpassed the port of Ningbo, in 1842, Shanghai became a treaty port, thus developing into an international commercial city. By the early 20th century, it was the largest city in the Far East, in 1949, with the Communist takeover in Shanghai, overseas trade was cut dramatically. The economic policy of the Peoples Republic had an effect on Shanghais infrastructure. In 1991, the government allowed Shanghai to initiate economic reform. Since then, the port of Shanghai has developed at an increasing pace, by 2005, the Yangshan deep water port was built on the Yangshan islands, a group of islands in Hangzhou Bay, linked to Shanghai by the Donghai Bridge. This development allowed the port to overcome shallow water conditions in its current location, and to rival another deep-water port and it serves the Yangtze economically developed hinterland of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Henan provinces with its dense population, strong industrial base and developed agricultural sector. Container transport SIPG, Shanghai International Port Co
7.
Port of Hamburg
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The Port of Hamburg is a sea port on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany,110 kilometres from its mouth on the North Sea. It is Germanys largest port and is named the countrys Gateway to the World, in terms of TEU throughput, Hamburg is the second-busiest port in Europe and 15th-largest worldwide. In 2014,9.73 million TEUs were handled in Hamburg, the harbour covers an area of 73.99 km², of which 43.31 km² are land areas. The location is naturally advantaged by a branching Elbe, creating a place for a port complex with warehousing. The extensive free port enabled toll-free storing, but this was abandoned in 2013, the port is almost as old as the history of Hamburg itself. With discovery of the Americas and the transatlantic trade, Hamburg exceeded all other German ports. During the second half of the 19th century, Hamburg became Central Europes main hub for passenger and freight travel. In her time the Hamburg America Line was the largest shipping company in the world, since 1888, the HADAG runs a scheduled ferry service across various parts of the port and the Elbe. The Free Port, established on 15 October 1888, enabled traders to ship and store goods without going through customs, the Moldauhafen has a similar arrangement, though related to the Czech Republic exclusively. Deepening of the river Elbe for large vessels is controversial for ecological reasons, Hamburg is a major cruise destination and one of Europes largest ports of call for cruise passengers traveling the Atlantic, or the Norwegian and Baltic Seas. The port is also a location for shipbuilder and shipyards, designing, building and reconditioning yachts. The Port of Hamburg is also one of Hamburgs largest attractions, both as a living, industrial and logistic center but also as a backdrop for modern culture and the ports history. Among these are museum ships, musical theaters, bars, restaurants and hotels -. The annual celebration of the harbours birthday during the first weekend of May is one of Hamburgs biggest public events, national and international visitors come to experience the festivities. Tugboats perform ballets, old galleons and new ships are open for tours. Tour guides on boat tours in the harbour are called he lüchts after an often used call of dock workers when they overheard the stories told to tourists
8.
Piraeus
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Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area,12 kilometres southwest from its city center, the municipality of Piraeus and several other suburban municipalities within the regional unit of Piraeus form the greater Piraeus area, with a total population of 448,997. Piraeus has a recorded history, dating to ancient Greece. During the Golden Age of Athens the Long Walls were constructed to connect Athens with Piraeus, the port of Piraeus is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe, the city hosted events in both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece, Piraeus, which roughly means the place over the passage, has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. Consequently, it was called the Halipedon, meaning the salt field, through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In the late 6th century BC, the area caught attention due to its advantages, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. The Athenian fleet played a role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on Piraeus was permanently used as the navy base, the citys fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security and great commercial activity, during the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback. In the second year of the war, the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus, in 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, the destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and it was also called Porto Drako by Greeks, drako meaning not just dragon, but any monster. When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it known as Aslan Liman. The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, a copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
9.
Port of Seattle
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The Port of Seattle is a port district that runs Seattles seaport and airport. Its creation was approved by the voters of King County, Washington, on September 5,1911 and it is run by an elected five-member commission. The commissioners terms run four years, in 2015, Sea-Tac Airport handled a record 42.3 million passengers and the seaport division handled over 3.5 million containers, making them combined the 3rd largest container gateway in North America. In 2015, over 898,000 cruise passengers passed through the ports facilities, the Port of Seattle employs just under 1,800 employees. The port has three operating divisions, as well as development and corporate divisions. The Port of Seattle also controls recreational and commercial moorage facilities, the Port of Seattle celebrated its centennial in 2011. To mark the anniversary, the created a historical filled with photos and information about the ports. The work of the commission for the first six months was confined almost entirely to the preparation of projects which were approved by the people at a special election held on March 5,1912. A Porsche 959 was stored for 13 years by the Customs Service at the Port of Seattle, gates and Allen both helped pass the Show and Display law. In 1949 the U. S. Department of Commerce designated a zone in the port. Recent years have brought significant changes to the Port of Seattle, in 2007, Tay Yoshitani joined the organization as CEO. Just after his tenure began, two significant scandals occurred, the port police department uncovered a significant problem with racist and pornographic emails. The organization refused to pay and the claim was dropped, though the situation led to a recall of one commissioner. Finally, in December of that year, the State Auditors Office issued a report on the ports contracting practices. The audit report sparked an investigation by the Department of Justice, Yoshitani also brought a heightened commitment to environmental practices. The port has many programs, including shore power for cruise ships. But increased container and cruise traffic have increased community concerns, just as the new runway did, in 2012, port commissioners began outreach on the Century Agenda, a strategic plan for the ports next 25 years. In 2012, the Port became one of the most vocal opponents of the proposal to build a new arena in the Stadium District, in 2015, an agreement to berth Royal Dutch Shell semi-submersible offshore drilling rigs at the Ports Terminal 5 led to protests against Arctic drilling
10.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
11.
Port of Barcelona
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The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year history and great contemporary commercial importance as one of Europes ports in the Mediterranean, as well as Catalonias largest port, tying with Tarragona. It is also Spains third and Europes ninth largest container port, the port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its 7.86 km2 are divided into three zones, Port Vell, the port, and the logistics port. The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size by diverting the mouth of the Llobregat River 2 km to the south and slightly pushing back the Llobregat Delta Nature Reserve. This is not the port in Barcelona, as there are also two additional yacht harbors/marinas, Port Olímpic and Port Fòrum Sant Adrià to the north. Because it is located in a designated tourist zone, the Maremagnum is the commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays. Next to the Maremagnum area are the Golondrines, small ships that take tourists for a visit around the port area, in common with much of Western Europe, the older traditional industries in Spain, such as textiles, declined in the face of foreign competition. The surviving companies closed their factories in the city or along the rivers, in many cases within Spain, these industries moved to the Zona Franca. The free trade area was constructed in two phases, the first phase covered an area of 70 hectares, the second phase, covering an area of 140 hectares, started construction in 1995. The free trade zone is located within the area, not far away from downtown Barcelona. It is 5 kilometres away from the Barcelona International Airport and connected via highway and railway, business investors here rent offices or bonded warehouses. They can also elect to purchase land to erect their own buildings, the free trade zone offers a series of services. It is divided into a service area, truck/lorry area, reception area. It has a customs service, bonded warehousing service, advanced telecommunication and computer system, security system, combined multiple transport system
12.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
