booty. Another English raid was mounted by the Duke of Buckingham in 1625 against the city, commanded by Sir Edward Cecil, but this was unsuccessful. In the Anglo-Spanish War Admiral Robert Blake blockaded Cadiz from 1655 to 1657. In the Battle of Cádiz (1702), the English attacked again under Sir George Rooke and James, Duke of Ormonde, but they were repelled after a costly siege.
In the 18th century, the sand bars of the river Guadalquivir forced the Spanish government to transfer the port monopolising trade with Spanish America from upriver Seville to Cadiz with better access to the Atlantic. During this time, the city experienced a golden age during which three-quarters of all Spanish trade was with the Americas. It became one of Spain's greatest and most cosmopolitan cities and home to trading communities from many countries, among whom the richest was the Irish community. Many of today's historic buildings in the Old City date from this era.
During the Napoleonic Wars Cadiz was blockaded by the British from 1797 until the Peace of Amiens in 1802, and again from 1803 until the outbreak of the Peninsular Warin 1808. In that war it was one of the few Spanish cities to hold out against the invading French, who sought to install Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. It became the seat of Spain's military high command and of the Cortes(parliament) for the duration of the war. It was here that the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812 was proclaimed. The citizens revolted in 1820 to secure a renewal of this constitution; the revolution spread across Spain, leading to the imprisonment of King Ferdinand VII in Cadiz. French forces secured the release of Ferdinand in the Battle of Trocadero (1823) and suppressed liberalism. In 1868, Cadiz was once again the seat of a revolution, resulting in the eventual abdication and exile of Queen Isabella II. The same Cadiz Cortes decided to reinstate the monarchy under King Amadeo I just two years later. In recent years,
