Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cádiz is traditionally dated to around 1100 BC, when Phoenician settlers from Tyre founded it as a trading post called Gadir. The earliest archaeological layers that can be confirmed date to the 9th century BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe.
In April 1587 Francis Drake occupied the harbor of Cádiz for three days, captured six ships, and destroyed thirty-one others in a raid known in England as the Singeing of the King of Spain's Beard. The attack delayed the sailing of the Spanish Armada by a full year.
Cádiz was one of the few Spanish cities to hold out against the French during the Peninsular War and became the seat of Spain's military high command and Cortes for the duration of the conflict. The liberal constitution was proclaimed there on the 19th of March 1812 in Plaza San Antonio.
The Roman theatre of Cádiz is the second-largest Roman theatre in the world, surpassed only by the theatre of Pompeii. It was discovered in 1980 in the El Pópulo district after a fire destroyed old warehouses, revealing ancient hand-hewn limestone beneath medieval foundations. It was built by Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger during the 1st century BC.
Cádiz is built on a narrow sandbar with almost no room to expand; national coastal law bars land reclamation and sandy ground makes high-rise construction prohibitively expensive. Between 1995 and 2006 the city lost more than 14,000 residents, a drop of roughly 9%, and a further 10,000 left between 2011 and 2021, driven partly by the highest unemployment rate of any provincial capital in Spain.
The Carnival of Cádiz is best known for its chirigotas, satirical groups of seven to twelve performers who sing comic musical pieces accompanied by guitars, kazoos, and percussion. The carnival runs for two full weeks in February, with a climactic competition held at the Gran Teatro Falla each year.