El Calpense
{{Infobox Newspaper
| name = El Calpense
| logo = File:El Calpense, logo.jpg
| image = File:El Calpense 1894, cover.jpg
| caption = El Calpense cover page from 15 May 1894.
| type = Daily newspaper
| format =
| owners = Parral family
| publisher = Imprenta Calpense
| editor =
| chiefeditor =
| assoceditor =
| maneditor =
| newseditor =
| managingeditordesign =
| campuseditor =
| campuschief =
| opeditor =
| sportseditor =
| photoeditor =
| staff =
| foundation = 1868
| political =
| language = Spanish
| ceased publication = 1982
| headquarters = Calpense House, College Lane, Gibraltar
| circulation = 3,000
| sister newspapers =
| ISSN =
| oclc =
| website =
}}
El Calpense was a Spanish language newspaper that was published in the then Crown colony (now British overseas territory) of Gibraltar between 1868 and 1982. Its name is synonymous, in Spanish, to "The Gibraltarian" (Calpe being an ancient name for Gibraltar, as it was the name given to the Rock of Gibraltar as one of the Pillars of Hercules).
El Calpense (subtitled a political, commercial and advertising daily, {{langx|es|Diario político, mercantil y de anuncios}}) was founded as a daily[http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_05/yborra/p01.htm La frontera estéril: la literatura en español en Gibraltar] (in Spanish) and was the first Spanish language newspaper published in Gibraltar. Owned and run by Spaniards, its emergence was at first resisted by the Governors of Gibraltar, who worried about possible troubles with Spain and disruption in the town.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ip0C6odET4C | title=Gibraltar, identity and empire | author=Edward G. Archer | pages=180 | publisher=Routledge | year=2006 | isbn=0-415-34796-3}} Its audience was not only among the Spanish-speaking community in Gibraltar, but also in the surrounding area, the Campo de Gibraltar. Its contents was rather similar to those of the Gibraltar Chronicle, but in Spanish. It also included reviews of Madrid-based Spanish press as well as the British press.
History
File:Calpense House entrance.jpg
Gibraltar's oldest newspaper, the Gibraltar Chronicle (1801), was published in English at a time when much of the civilian population spoke mainly Spanish with some Genoese and Maltese also used. Although the Chronicle remained popular among the garrison, a large proportion of the population would have not have benefited from a paper published in English. El Calpense fulfilled this purpose once it had established itself as a daily but its founders, the Parral family, fought long and hard before they were permitted a licence to publish their paper.{{cite journal
| last = Marrache
| first = Joshua
| authorlink = Joshua Marrache
| editor-last = Ballantine Perera
| editor-first= Jennifer
| editor-link = Jennifer Ballantine Perera
| year = 2009
| title = El Calpense - 'Un Paseo de Gibraltar a La Línea' por Un Calpense, with an introduction on the history of El Calpense
|trans-title= 'A Walk from Gibraltar to La Línea' by A Calpean
| journal = Gibraltar Heritage Journal
| volume = 16
| pages = 9–33
| publisher = Friends of Gibraltar & Gibraltar Heritage Trust
| location = Grendon & Gibraltar
| language = English, Spanish
| quote =
}}
It was one of the leading newspapers of the territory. In 1878 it had a daily circulation of 500 copies (the Gibraltar Chronicle and El Anunciador had 400 each). During the first third of the 20th century, it had about 1,250 (1,200 for the Gibraltar Guardian and 1,000 for El Anunciador). During the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) (when its editorial sympathies lay with the Republican side) it reached 20,000, stabilising at 3,000 during the Second World War, when it enthusiastically supported the Allies cause. Copies of El Calpense were smuggled into Francoist Spain, becoming "a beacon and herald of democracy and liberty".
The paper started its decline with the worsening of relationships with Spain. In the 1960s it became a weekly newspaper.{{cite journal|url=http://www.cepc.es/rap/Publicaciones/Revistas/13/RPI_085_007.pdf |title=La población de Gibraltar |language=Spanish |author=José María Cordero Torres |journal=Revista de Política Internacional |issue=85 |date=May–June 1966 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} When the border between Spain and Gibraltar was eventually closed by Spain in 1969, the newspaper changed its ownership and begun to be published in English. It later closed in 1982.{{cite journal|url=http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/DT2007/DT45-2007_Oda-Angel_Gibraltar.pdf |title=Gibraltar a un año de la Declaración de Córdoba: la recuperación de la confianza (Documento de Trabajo Nº 45/2007) |author=Francisco Oda-Ángel |publisher=Real Instituto Elcano |language=Spanish |date=2007-10-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721221041/http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/DT2007/DT45-2007_Oda-Angel_Gibraltar.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-21 }}
{{clear}}
Gallery
File:El Calpense 1894, notices.jpg|Notice page from El Calpense of 15 May 1894.
File:Calpense House plaque.jpg|Plaque at the entrance to Calpense House.
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ip0C6odET4C | title=Gibraltar, identity and empire | author=Edward G. Archer | publisher=Routledge | year=2006 | isbn=0-415-34796-3}}
{{Newspapers of Gibraltar}}
{{Gibraltar topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calpense}}
Category:Spanish-language newspapers
Category:Newspapers established in 1868