Editing Province of Alicante (section)

==History and politics==
{{main|Kingdom of Valencia}}
The [[Iberians]] were the oldest documented people living in what today is the Alicante province. Belonging to these there are several archaeologic sites from which is especially known the one in ''La Serreta'' (near Alcoy) because the longest inscriptions remaining in the undeciphered [[Iberian language]] were found there.

Along the coast and contemporarily to the Iberians, the seafaring [[Phoenicia]]ns (in Guardamar) and [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] (along the coastal section to the north of the Alicante city) settled stable trading colonies and interacted with the former (see [[Lady of Elche]] for the most renowned archeological piece of this period).

After a brief [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] period, the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] took over. Romanization in this part of Iberia was intense, the [[Via Augusta]] communicated this part of the Empire to the metropoli and so several cities thrived, from which the one known as ''Ilici Augusta'' (now Elche) even reached the status of [[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]].

After a brief period of [[Visigothic]] ruling, the area was taken by Islamic armies and became a part of [[Al Andalus]].
From the 13th century, kings like [[Ferdinand III of Castile]], [[James I of Aragon]], [[Alfonso X of Castile]], [[James II of Aragon]] [[Reconquista|reconquered]] the cities that [[Moors]] occupied. What today is the Alicante province was initially split between the Crown of Castile and the [[Crown of Aragon]] by means of the [[Treaty of Almizra]], however later on the whole territory became under the control of the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], which was a component Kingdom of the Crown of Aragon.

Alicante contributes with 12 deputies in the [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Spanish Parliament]] and with 36 deputies in the [[Corts Valencianes]], the regional Parliament of the [[Valencian Community]].