A replica Spanish Galleon is to visit Ibiza next month as part of a tour of Spanish ports. It's a replica of the ships which used to sail from Spain to the Americas hundreds of years ago and will be in port, and open to the public, from 1st to 13th May.
Called 'La Pepa,' its visit is to publicise and disseminate information about the Spanish Constitution of 1812, celebrating its bicentennial anniversary this year. A momentous year in European history, largely thanks to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, 1812 even had an overture written about it and was equally important to Spain, where the Peninsula War was raging.
The constitution was declared by the Cádiz Cortes on 19th March 1812 and established the principles of universal male suffrage, national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise.
The constitution is popularly known as La Pepa because it originated on San Jose Saint's day and Pep, Pepe or Pepa are common abbreviations for the name Jose.
Interestingly, Ibiza does have a connection with La Pepa because one of the Deputies at the Cádiz Cortes was Josep Ribas who hailed from San Jose in Ibiza!
