204 FOREIGN TRADE ZONES
for the principal commodities in volume have already been indicated.
Figures for the total imports and exports during 1927 and the twO
preceding years are indicated by the following table:
pn.
IMPOrE8 oem
[ORe10) 4 1 REE EE
Total ooevcmcccmcmnamanns
1027
Metric tons!
3,011, 000
I, 048, 000
‘© 050
Per cent
1926
Metric tons
7,00
“8 ote
Per cent [Metric tons| Per cent
mE
85
Ik
JR
+53
CL
1925
During 1927 the total volume of shipping at Stettin reached only
approximately 65 per cent of its volume for the year 1913.
FREE PORT OF ALMERIA, SPAIN
[From Austin C. Brady, American consul, Malaga, Spain]
Brief history of port.—The port of Almeria is one of the oldest of
the Mediterranean coast of Spain, having been used successively bY
the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors. The Romans
gave it the name of Portus Magnus because of its size. It was one
of the most important Mediterranean ports during the Moorish
occupation, and vessels were outfitted there to prey on the commerce
of Cataluna and Italy, and to attack the ships of the crusaders:
In 1147 it was taken from the Moors by Spanish and Italian troops
under the Emperor Alfonso VII of Castile, but 10 years later it was
recaptured and remained a Moorish port until 1489, when the city
and port were definitely wrested from the Moors by the Catholic
rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella. The name Almeria is derived from
the Arabic words “Meria’ and ‘“Albahri,”” meaning “Mirror of the
sea.”
The city of Almeria is the capital of the Province of the same
name, which was definitely established as a territorial division of
Spain in 1833. Modern advancement has been confined to a period
of less than 20 years; the city has now about 12,000 buildings and
about 50,000 inhabitants. The port of Almeria is noted for iff
export trade in table grapes produced in that Province, nearly
36,000,000 barrels, or approximately 750,000 metric tons of fru
having been shipped in the last 22 years. Large quantities of ro?
ore mined in the Province of Granada are exported through Almeri#
two British mining concerns having loading piers at that port. The
other principal exports are esparto grass, which goes to Britis!
markets for paper making, and salt. Direct imports are smal
consisting chiefly of coal, fertilizers, lumber, and sulphur.