Editing Tarragona (section)

==History==
{{Main article|Tarraco}}
===Punic Etymology===
Ta-Aragona name in Phoenician means the Aragona, which is the native Iberian term for the Ebro Vallay.

===Mythical Origins===
One Catalan legend holds that Tarragona was named for ''Tarraho'', eldest son of [[Tubal]] in c. 2407 BC; another (derived from Strabo and [[Megasthenes]]) attributes the name to '[[Taharqa|Tearcon]] the Ethiopian', a seventh-century BC pharaoh who campaigned in Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_ya_kSC4IsiEC#page/n137/mode/2up/search/taraco |title=Los cinco libros primeros dela Coronica general de España, que recopilaua el maestro Florian de Ocampo |year=1578 |publisher=en casa de Iuan Iñiguez de Lequerica}}</ref> The real founding date of Tarragona is unknown.

===Theories of Origin===
The city's origins trace back to a possible Iberian settlement known as Kesse or Kosse, named after the local Iberian tribe, the Cossetans. However, the exact connection of Tarragona to Kesse remains uncertain.<ref>{{cite book |author=Silvia Orvietani Busch |title=Medieval Mediterranean Ports: The Catalan and Tuscan Coasts, 1100 to 1235 |publisher=BRILL |year=2001 |isbn=90-04-12069-6 |page=53}}</ref> Scholars such as [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]] suggest that the city may have been established by the [[Phoenicia]]ns, who referred to it as {{lang|phn|Tarchon}}. According to [[Samuel Bochart]], signifies a citadel. The moniker likely stemmed from its location atop a high rock, approximately {{cvt|75|-|90|m|-1}} above sea level; earning it the epithet {{lang|la|arce potens Tarraco}}.<ref>Ausonius ''Class. Urb.'' 9; cf. ''Mart''. x. 104.</ref> It was seated on the river Sulcis or Tulcis (modern [[Francolí (river)|Francolí]]), on a bay of the Mare Internum (Mediterranean), between the Pyrenees and the River Iberus (modern [[Ebro]]).<ref>[[Mela]], ii. 6; [[Pliny the Elder]] iii. 3. s. 4.</ref> [[Livy]] mentions a {{lang|la|portus Tarraconis}};<ref>xxii. 22</ref> and according to [[Eratosthenes]] it had a naval station or roads ({{lang|grc|Ναύσταθμον}});<ref>''ap.'' [[Strabo]] iii. p. 159</ref> but [[Artemidorus Ephesius]] says with more probability that it had none, and scarcely even an anchoring place; and Strabo himself refers to it as "harbourless" ({{lang|grc|ἀλίμενος}}).<ref>''ap.'' Strab. ''l. c.''; [[Polybius]] iii. 76</ref><ref>Ford's Handbook of Spain, p. 222.</ref>

===Rome===
Tarraco lies on the main road along the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.<ref name=AntIt>[[Antonine Itinerary]] pp. 391, 396, 399, 448, 452.</ref> During the [[Roman Republic]], the city was fortified and much enlarged as a Roman colony by the brothers [[Publius Cornelius Scipio (consul 218 BC)|Publius Cornelius Scipio]] and [[Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus]], who converted it into a fortress and arsenal against the [[ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]]. The city was first named [[Tarraco|Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco]] and was capital of the province of [[Hispania Citerior]]. Subsequently, it became the capital (''[[conventus iuridicus]]''<ref>Pliny ''l. c.''; [[Tacitus]] ''Ann''. i. 78; [[Gaius Julius Solinus]] 23, 26; Polybius x. 34; Livy xxi. 61; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] p. 637.</ref>) of the province named after it, [[Hispania Tarraconensis]].<ref>[[Ptolemy]], ii. 6. § 17</ref>

[[Augustus]] wintered at Tarraco after his Cantabrian campaign, and bestowed many marks of honour on the city, among which were its honorary titles of ''Colonia Victrix Togata'' and ''Colonia Julia Victrix Tarraconensis''.

According to Mela, it was the richest town on the coast,<ref name="l. c">''l. c.''</ref> and Strabo represents its population as equal to that of Carthago Nova (now [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]).<ref name="l. c"/> Its fertile plain and sunny shores are celebrated by [[Martial]] and other poets; and its neighbourhood is described as producing good wine and [[flax]].<ref>Mart. x. 104, xiii. 118; Sil. Ital. iii. 369, xv. 177; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8, xix. 1. s. 2.</ref> The city also minted coins.<ref>Grut. ''Inscr''. p. 382; Orelli, no. 3127; coins in Eckhel, i. p. 27; [[Enrique Flórez]], ''Med.'' ii. p. 579; Théodore Edme Mionnet, i. p. 51, Suppl. i. p. 104; Sestini, p. 202.</ref>

An inscribed stone base for a now lost statue of [[Tiberius Claudius Candidus]] was found in Tarragona during the nineteenth century. The 24-line Latin inscription describes the governor and senator's career as an ally of the future Roman emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who fought in the civil war following the assassination of [[Commodus]] in 192 AD. This important marble block was purchased by the [[British Museum]] in 1994.<ref>{{CIL|2|4114}}; [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=443817&partId=1&searchText=Tarragona&page=2 British Museum Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326124011/http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=443817&partId=1&searchText=Tarragona&page=2 |date=26 March 2017 }}</ref>

===From the demise of the Roman empire to the Union of Spain===
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After the demise of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the city was captured by the [[Vandals]] and the [[Visigoths]]. The [[Visigothic Kingdom]]'s rule of Tarracona was ended by the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] in 714. It was an important border city of the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] between 750 and 1013. After the demise of the Caliphate, it was part of the [[Taifa of Zaragoza]] between 1013 and 1110 and under the control of the [[Almoravid dynasty]] between 1110 and 1117. It was taken by the [[County of Barcelona]] in 1117. From 1129 to 1173 Tarragona was the capital of the short lived [[Principality of Tarragona]], under the [[Normans|Norman]]-influence. After the dynastic union of [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[County of Barcelona|Barcelona]], it was part of the [[Principality of Catalonia]] within the [[Crown of Aragon]] from 1164 to 1714. After dynastic union of [[Aragon]] and the [[Crown of Castile]], it remained a part of the Crown of Aragon until the foundation of the [[Spanish Empire]] in 1516.

During the [[Reapers' War]], Tarragona was captured by Catalan insurgents with French support in 1641, but it was retaken by Spanish troops in 1644. It was captured by allied Portuguese, Dutch, and British troops in 1705 during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] and remained in their hands until the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] in 1713. During the war, the Catalans supported the unsuccessful claim of [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen]] against the victorious [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] [[Counts and dukes of Anjou#Dukes of Anjou|Duke of Anjou]], who became [[Philip V of Spain]]. He signed the [[Nueva Planta decrees]], which abolished the [[Crown of Aragon]], as well as the Catalan institutions and prohibited the administrative use of Catalan language on 16 January 1716.

===Jewish History===
The [[Jewish]] community in Tarragona was established during the Roman era, making it one of the most ancient Jewish communities in Spain. A ''laver'', possibly used by the Jews for [[ritual purification]] found in Tarragona bears the inscription "peace over Israel, over ourselves, and our children." Coins with [[Hebrew]] inscriptions have also been found, dating to the Visigoth period. During Muslim rule, Jews in Tarragona prospered; [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]] nicknamed Tarragona "the city of the Jews."

After the Christian reconquest, the Jews of Tarragona faced institutional persecution and anti-semitic restrictions until the community's destruction in 1492, during the [[expulsion of the Jews from Spain|expulsion of the Jews]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tarragona |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tarragona |website=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=1 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kayserling |first1=Meyer |last2=Gottheil |first2=Richard |title=TARRAGONA |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14251-tarragona |website=Jewish Encyclopedia |access-date=1 July 2024}}</ref>

===Peninsular War===
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During the [[Peninsular War]], in the first [[Siege of Tarragona (1811)|siege of Tarragona]] from 5 May to 29 June 1811, [[Louis-Gabriel Suchet]]'s Army of Aragon of the [[First French Empire]] laid siege to a Spanish garrison led by Lieutenant General [[Juan de Contreras]]. A British naval squadron commanded by Admiral [[Edward Codrington]] harassed the French besiegers with cannon fire and transported large numbers of reinforcements into the city by sea. Nevertheless, Suchet's troops stormed into the defences and killed or captured almost all the defenders. It became a subprefecture centre in [[Bouches-de-l'Èbre]] department of French empire.

In the second [[Siege of Tarragona (1813)|siege of Tarragona]] (3–11 June 1813), an overwhelming Anglo-Spanish force under the command of Lieutenant general [[John Murray, 8th Baronet]] failed to wrest Tarragona from a small Franco-Italian garrison led by Brigadier general [[Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti]]. Murray was subsequently removed from command for his indecisive and contradictory leadership. The Anglo-Spanish forces finally captured Tarragona on 19 August.

===Spanish Civil War===

During the [[Spanish Civil War]], Tarragona was in the hands of the [[Second Spanish Republic]] until captured by [[Francoist Spain|Franco's Nationalist troops]] on 15 January 1939 during the [[Catalonia Offensive]].