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<font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">The fishing village of Catalan Bay has been here for so long that no one really knows for certain where the name comes from, however there are a number of theories.</font>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">One is that the name comes from Catalonia in Spain. Catalans helped the Anglo-Dutch forces to defend the Rock in 1704, and they settled in this bay thereby giving it its name. Montero, writing in 1860, gives a general description of the fortress as it was in 1704, in which he describes the bay as "the Bay of the Catalans."</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">Some doubt has been cast on the above theory. Kenyon, in his book "Gibraltar under Moor, Spaniard and Briton", published in 1911, points out that no reference to that name is to be found in any documents or plans prior to 1745. When reference was made to that area, as in the diaries of 1727, it is referred to as "the back of the Rock", and not under any specific name. As far as we know, the first time the name "Catalan Bay" appears is in a plan produced in I 745, and the name also appears in a print published in 1750.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">The "Gibraltar Chronical" of the 30th. April 1909. earneil ,1 loiter 1'i'om a Father Jones claiming that the "Diccionario LJniversal". published by Dun Nicolas Senano. says that the bay is so called "because the inhabitants, a Genoese colony, follow the same trade of fishing as the Catalans"; and that no Catalans .11 ,in\ lime lived there. So much. then. for that theory!</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">Another explanation sometimes given is that of the word "caleta" (meaning "a small hav") particular bay should have been chosen 0111 ol eastern side of the Rock.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">the name was an English corruption - but that does not explain wl.y this .ill i lie small bays to be found on the</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">Yet another theory put forward is that by Kenyon, who says that the name was due to a confusion in the minds of the British garrison between the Genoese and Catalans. Both look an acti\e share in defending Gibraltar; both used to wear a peculiar red cap: both were foreign to the British garrison; both followed the pursuit of fishing; and both provided guards to help the English. This confusion might well have been encouraged by the fact that ihr military aiiihoriiies seem to have considered the Genoese and Spaniards resident in Gibraltar as people to be dealt with together. Thus, in Garrison Orders of the 24th. Jul\. I ^ll. it is directed that all "Spaniards and Genoese" able to bear arms are to be reviewed.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">This theory would seem to be strengthened by a reference in the Spanish Orders for the siege of 1727 to "the Genoese Cove", which, from the geogi 'aphical details in the Orders, clearly refers to Catalan Bay. As Kenyon observes, if the cove was known to the Spaniards by the name of its foreign inhabitants it is easy to see how the British soldier would readily adopt the same principle of nomenclature and, confounding Genoese with Catalans, and also hearing the place spoken of as a "caleta" would give it the name "Catalan Bay."</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Geneva,Arial">For much of the nineteenth century no-one was allowed to reside in the village without a special permit from the Governor, and these permits were only given to a limited number of bona fide fishermen. Today, the inhabitants of Catalan Bay arc mostly descended from Genoese fishermen, and the place very much retains the characteristics of a fishing village. Many of them consider themselves a race apart from the bulk of their compatriots living on the other side of the Rock!<br>
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