Illes Medes | |
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 Illes Medes seen from L'Estartit beach. Meda gran is in the forefront, taking over most of the silhouette | |
  Illes Medes Location in the Province of Girona Show map of Province of Girona Illes Medes Location in Catalonia Show map of Catalonia Illes Medes Location in Spain Show map of Spain | |
| Coordinates:42°03′00″N03°13′15″E / 42.05000°N 3.22083°E /42.05000; 3.22083 | |
| Country |  Spain |
| Autonomous community |  Catalonia |
| Province | Girona |
| Comarca | Baix Empordà |
| Municipality | Torroella de Montgrí |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.215 km2 (0.083 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 75 m (246 ft) |
| Population (2009) | |
• Total | no permanent population |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
TheIlles Medes (Catalan:Illes Medes,Spanish:Islas Medas) is a small and craggy group of seven islets in theCosta Brava area of the northwesternMediterranean Sea. Administratively, the Medes Archipelago belongs to theBaix Empordàcomarca,Catalonia,Spain. The islands are protected as a nature reserve; scubadiving is popular but is thus regulated there and requires permission.[1]
The islands are located close to the shore, east of the coastal town ofL'Estartit.[2]
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In the 15th century theEquestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem built a fortress on Meda Gran. They eventually left and pirate attacks in the 16th century damaged the fortress. The fortress became a prison during the 18th century and at the time of theNapoleonic Wars was again fortified.
On 29 August 1811 GeneralJoaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles, at the behest ofLuis Roberto de Lacy and with the assistance ofHMSCambrian, a Colonel Green, and British troops, landed, captured, and destroyed the fort the French had built on Meda Gran. Green then ordered the fort abandoned. Several weeks later, on 11 September, de Lacy landed on the island. He rebuilt, garrisoned and fortified the fort, and symbolically renamed the islands the Isles of the Restoration. The last military garrison left in 1890.
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TheCatalan Autonomous Government declared the islands a protected area in 1983. They are now becoming an importantmarine reserve in the Western Mediterranean.
Despite the ravages caused byindustrial pollution andmass-tourism in the Mediterranean coast of theIberian Peninsula, there is still a significant amount of marine biodiversity in the waters off the islands, such as large submarine meadows ofPosidonia oceanica, and underwater caves wheregroupers breed.
Media related toIlles Medes at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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