Jerez de la Frontera


Jerez de la Frontera or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as Xeres, is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Located in southwestern Iberia, it lies on the Campiña de Jerez, an inland low-land plain crossed by the Guadalete river, midway between the Atlantic Ocean, the Guadalquivir river and the western reaches of the Subbaetic System.
With a population of 214,844, Jerez de la Frontera is the largest city in the province of Cádiz, the 5th-largest in Andalusia and the 26th-largest in Spain. The municipality covers an area of and includes Los Alcornocales Natural Park.
Winegrowing has long been, particularly upon the transition to modern agro-extractivism in the mid 18th century, the main drive of the economy of Jerez. During the 19th century, the local wine Sherry was overwhelmingly produced for foreign export, catering to the British market in the first place. Throughout this century the city earned a reputation as a paradigm for large landowners, high social inequality, and the winery-related identity.
Since 1987, Grand Prix motorcycle racing has been held at the Circuito de Jerez in early May. The circuit has also hosted several Formula One Grands Prix, including the 1997 European Grand Prix, which decided the 1997 Formula One World Championship. Other festivals in the city include the Feria de Jerez and the Holy Week.

Etymology

The classical Latin name of Asta Regia, unrelated to the present name, referred to an ancient city now found within Mesas de Asta, a rural district approximately from the center of Jerez.
The current Spanish-language name came by way of the Arabic-language name شريش Sharīsh, used during the Muslim period in Iberia. The placename was rendered as Xerez or Xerés in old Romance sources; hence the name of the famous fortified wine, sherry. Frontera referred to its location on the border between the Moorish and Christian regions on the Iberian Peninsula during the 13th century. Upon the Modern-era readjustment and simplification of Spanish-language sibilant phonemes the spelling of the place name ended up being changed accordingly.
The old spelling Xerez survived in several foreign languages and led to the name given to sherry: Portuguese Xerez, Catalan Xerès, English sherry, French xérès. The city's main football team continues to use the old spelling, Xerez.

History

Prehistory and ancient history

Traces of human presence in the area date from the upper Neolithic, and humans have inhabited Jerez de la Frontera since at least the Copper or Neolithic Age, but the identity of the first natives remains unclear. The first major protohistoric settlement in the area is attributed to the Tartessians. Jerez later became a Roman city under the name of Asta Regia.

Middle Ages

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Vandals and the Visigoths ruled the area until the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early 8th century. In the 11th century it briefly became the seat of an independent taifa. Some years later 'Abdun ibn Muhammad united it with Arcos de la Frontera and ruled both. In 1053 it was annexed to Seville. From 1145 to 1147 the region of Arcos and Jerez briefly operated as an emirate under the dependency of Granada, led by Abu'l-Qasim Ahyal. Later the Almohads conquered the city. In the 12th and 13th centuries Jerez underwent a period of great development, building its defense system and setting the current street layout of the old town.
In 1231 the Battle of Jerez took place within Jerez. Christian troops under the command of Álvaro Pérez de Castro, lord of the House of Castro and grandson of Alfonso VII, king of Castile and León, defeated the troops of the Emir Ibn Hud, despite the numerical superiority of the latter. After a month-long siege in 1261, the city surrendered to Castile, but its Muslim population remained. It rebelled and was finally defeated in 1264.
Due to its agriculture-based economy and demographics, Jerez was already a major city of the Lower Andalusia towards the end of the Middle Ages.
Historically, a Jewish community existed in Jerez until the 1492 expulsion of the Jews. Today the street "Juderia", meaning Jewish quarter in Spanish, in Jerez marks where the old Jewish quarter once existed.

Early modern period

The discovery of the Americas and the conquest of Granada, in 1492, made Jerez one of the most prosperous cities of Andalusia through trade and through its proximity to the ports of Seville and Cádiz. Attracted by the economic possibilities offered by the winemaking business, a substantial foreign European population installed in the city. Together with the local wealthy class, they participated in slave ownership.
Despite the social, economic and political decadence that occurred in the seventeenth century, towards the end of the Habsburg rule, the city managed to maintain a reasonable pace of development, becoming world-famous for its wine industry.

Late modern period

In January 1892, a peasant uprising took place in Jerez and its violent repression lead to a series of protests and revenge bombings in the next decade.
In 2026, Jerez will hold the title of Spanish Capital of Gastronomy.

Geography

Jerez de la Frontera is located in the region of Campiña de Jerez, which includes the municipalities of Jerez de la Frontera and San José del Valle. The territory of the region corresponds to the previous municipality of the city of Jerez, before the disintegration of San José del Valle in 1995. The municipality of Jerez is the largest in the province of Cadiz and the sixth in Spain with 1188 square kilometers.
The region of the Campiña de Jerez is crossed by the Guadalete River. There are several wetlands in its territory, such as the lagoons of Medina and Torrox. There are also the Montes de Propio de Jerez, included in the Natural Park of Los Alcornocales. Its agriculture is known for the designation of origin of its wine, sherry, grown in the triangle formed between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María.
Jerez de la Frontera is located from El Puerto de Santa Maria, from the Atlantic Ocean and from the Strait of Gibraltar. The city is one of the six municipalities that make up the Metropolitan Area of the Bay of Cadiz-Jerez, a polynuclear urban agglomeration formed by the municipalities of Cadiz, Chiclana de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto Real, El Puerto de Santa Maria and San Fernando located in the Bay of Cadiz.

Climate

Jerez de la Frontera and the rest of the Cádiz metropolitan area have a Subtropical–Mediterranean climate. For its situation being inland, the Atlantic influences are small. Jerez is characterized by mild, short winters with occasional cool nights and hot, long summers with occasional very hot temperatures; unlike the surrounding coastal areas which are characterized by very mild winters and long warm summers. Most of the rain falls from October to January, while the summers are very dry but not rainless. For its situation being inland, the daytime temperatures are higher than in the coast and the lows are cooler, with a difference of at least 10 °C between the highs and the low temperatures of each month. The average annual temperature is during the day and at night. The average annual precipitation is per year, concentrated in the months of October through April. December is the wettest month with. The city averages 53 rainy days, 137 clear days and 2,965 hours of sunshine a year. Snow is extremely rare, and it is even more infrequent than in most of the southern European islands. The last snowfall recorded in the city happened on February 2, 1954. Since then, no snowfall has been recorded.

Demographics

As of 2024, the population of Jerez de la Frontera is 214,844, of whom 48.7% are male and 51.3% are female, compared to the nationwide average of 49.0% and 51.0% respectively. People under 16 years old make up 15.1% of the population, and people over 65 years old make up 18.5%, compared to the nationwide average of 14.3% and 20.4% respectively.
As of 2024, the foreign-born population is 12,648, equal to 5.9% of the total population. The 5 largest foreign nationalities are Moroccans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Ukrainians and Bolivians. Jerez has the smallest foreign-born population, relative to its overall population, of all Spanish cities with over 200,000 people.
CountryPopulation
Morocco

Government

The city of Jerez is governed by the ayuntamiento of Jerez, whose representatives, as in other towns in Spain, are elected every four years by universal suffrage for all citizens older than 18 years of age. The body is chaired by the mayor of Jerez.

Economy

The economy of Jerez has traditionally been centred on the wine industry, with exports of sherry worldwide. Because it lacks the civil service that other cities enjoy, Jerez has based its economy on industry. The cultivation of fruits, grains, and vegetables and horse and cattle husbandry has also been important to the local economy. It is the home base for the Spanish Military Stud farm, the Yeguada Militar de Jerez de la Frontera.
After the wine crisis in the 1990s, the city is now seeking to expand its industrial base. Tourism has been successfully promoted. The city's strong identity as a center for wine, flamenco, and horses, its popular festivals, MotoGP hosting and its historical heritage have contributed to this success.
The city is the home of Jerez Airport and has also been positioning itself as a logistics hub for western Andalusia, through the integration between the airport, the rail system and nearby ports.

Main sights

Religious sites