Concept
Jerez de la Frontera (xeˈɾeθ ðe la fɾonˈteɾa), or simply Jerez (xeˈɾeθ), is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain. It is located in Campiña de Jerez, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. with 213,105 inhabitants, Jerez is the 25th largest city in Spain, the fifth largest in Andalusia and the largest in the Province of Cádiz. Its municipality covers an area of and includes the Los Alcornocales Natural Park. Jerez has many cattle ranches and horse-breeding operations, as well as a world-renowned wine industry. Since 1987, Grand Prix motorcycle racing has been held at the Circuito de Jerez in early May. On this weekend, the city welcomes tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world. The same circuit has hosted several Formula One Grands Prix, including the 1997 final race of the season, which was notable for a controversial championship-deciding incident. Other popular festivals in the city are the Feria de Jerez and the Holy Week. The name Jerez goes back to the Phoenician Xera, Sèrès, later Romanized under the name of Ceret; the location of this settlement, however, remains unknown. 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 name came by way of the Arabic name شريش Sherīsh. During the Muslim period in Iberia, it was called Xerez or Xerés (pronounced /ʃeˈɾes̪/ in Old Spanish). The name of the famous fortified wine, sherry, which originated here (although some argue that it originated in Shiraz, Persia), represents an adaptation of the city's Arabic name, Sherish. Frontera refers to a Spanish frontier, located on the border between the Moorish and Christian regions on the Iberian Peninsula during the 13th century, a regular host to skirmishes and clashes between the two regions.
