Alcanar

Alcanar is a Spanish municipality of the Catalan comarca of Montsià, in the Tarragona province. It is a coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea. The Serra del Montsià range and its foothills rise above the town and its surroundings. According to data from 2006 its population is 9,620 inhabitants, although this increased the next year, to 9,969. It is the southernmost town in Catalonia, located just north of the border with the municipality of Vinaròs which is in the province of Castellón and part of the region of Valencia.VillagesAlcanar, 7,494Alcanar-Platja, 988Les Cases d'Alcanar, 1,391La Selleta, 96HistoryIt was not until the fifteenth century that Alcanar was incorporated as an independent town, but the town has been populated for a long time before then. From 1148 the town was part of the municipality of Ulldecona. After it was granted independence, it received the name of the Canar, which originates from republic of its inhabitants.The original charter was granted in February 1239, but as the stability of this settlement did not arrive until it was granted a new charter in 1252, that date is regarded as the real foundation of the town. In 1380, the village already contained thirty families, and they were subjected to various attacks by Saracen pirates, which led to the construction of a lookout tower in the fourteenth century. As a precaution, the town was fortified and walled. In 1449, the town became independent of Ulldecona.