I'm ashamed I just found out where Trafalgar is. Did youknow? NO FAIR GOOGLING!!!

[CTyankee]

Honestly, did you know? I must confess I did not and I am really humbled by this realization.

Before you google this, did you know or can you guess its location?

If you are a REAL sport you will try to guess and won't google ahead...

[Idealism]

1. Trafalgar Square?

[enlightenment]

2. Don't have to guess . . .

Southern coast of Spain.

on edit: okay - I will admit that I knew that because I read Bernard Cornwell's novel 'Sharpe's Trafalgar'.

Pop culture rules!

[sutz12]

4. Southwestern, isn't it?

Near Cadiz?

[Garbo 2004]

3. Off the coast of Spain IIRC. nt.

[EFerrari]

5. Are you sure it's not Tralfamadore?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tralfamadore

[Canuckistanian]

11. Ha! I just watched Slaughterhouse Five last night

My twelve year old son was fascinated by it.

[ConcernedCanuk]

38. Kurt Vonnegut was a favorite read of mine years ago

.
.
.

I think I read all of his books,

but never saw a movie

shucks

[Tesha]

44. Are you sure he wasn't just fascinated by Valerie Perrine's boobs ;-) ?

Or was that in Steambath?

Or both ;)

Tesha

[baldguy]

35. or Tralfaz?

[scarletwoman]

6. Are you referring to Trafalgar Square in London? I've been there. But as for what it's named for,

I never gave it a thought until now. It sounds like it could be the name of north African city, like in Tunisia or Algeria?

As requested, I have refrained from googling -- although it's killing me, and I'm probably about to be completely embarrassed when I find out the real answer...

[CTyankee]

13. Yes, you know I thought (vaguely) that it might be northern Africa.

I was so surprised to learn it was actually in Spain itself, on the southern (Atlantic) coast.

[scarletwoman]

17. Well, I think we must have both been picking up on the linguistics of the word -- which probably had

its origin in Moorish period of Spain's history. In other words, it sort of IS a north African name. :D

sw

[SidDithers]

27. The Battle of Trafalgar was a great naval victory...

won by Lord Horatio Nelson (though he died during the battle), over the French and Spanish fleets. Trafalgar Square is named to commemorate that battle.

Sid

[CTyankee]

29. I've known that forever, but the origins of the actual PLACE was never revealed

or at least I was too lazy to find out!

What an interesting dicovery! I knew all about Lord Nelson and Trafalgar Square and NOTHING about where Trafalgar actually was.

What does THAT tell us?

[SidDithers]

31. I originally thought it was somewhere in the Channel...

but I admit to a fascination with historical naval fiction. Too many late nights reading Horatio Hornblower, or Aubrey/Maturin cleared up where Trafalgar actually was. :hi:

The main road through the town where I live is Trafalgar Rd. :)

Sid

[CTyankee]

30. I've known that forever, but the origins of the actual PLACE was never revealed

or at least I was too lazy to find out!

What an interesting dicovery! I knew all about Lord Nelson and Trafalgar Square and NOTHING about where Trafalgar actually was.

What does THAT tell us?

[Hanse]

7. OH! OOOOOH!

IT WAS FOUGHT!

IN CUDWORTH!

IN YORKSHIRE!

MY BRAIN HURTS!

[CTyankee]

12. Everybody is so GOOD. Yes, of course it is the southern coast (Atlantic) of Spain.

Who knew, for all those years hearing about Trafalgar and Trafalgar Square.

I am feeling so strange that I didn't just "know" this. It's weird.

But actually, it is kind of weird that England and both Spain and France fought this battle. Spain was obviously NOT real happy that France had conquered them and so their navy was basically conscripted. Goya's paintings are so relevant here!

Anyway, thanks for participating, folks. Boy, ya learn something every day...

[Liberal Veteran]

8. I thought everyone knew Trafalgar is the fourth planet orbiting Vexoon.

[Contrary1]

9. It's in Indiana...

Sheesh. :eyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar,_Indiana

[CTyankee]

23. Any idea why it was named Trafalgar?

THAT would be an interesting research project!!!

Let me know...

[Contrary1]

37. From what I understand, it was named after the Brits' victory...

Been years since I've driven through it. One of those places that if you blink, you almost miss it.

[timtom]

10. Ok. I answered the question in my head.

I kept thinking, somewhere near Gibraltar.

Was I right?

[CTyankee]

14. Probably not too far from Cadiz.

Don't know too much else. Might be an interesting place for a little tourist attention.

I love historic sites where there have been big battles. I absolutely loved Siracusa in Sicily because I could view the harbor where the Athenian navy was defeated by the Spartans 2500 years ago. It gave me chills...

[chollybocker]

15. Is it a country near Africa, Charlie?

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Yes, and it can be seen from Russia. n/t

[CTyankee]

19. you know, I had to take out a map and look at its location!

It's really humbling to find out how much you don't know!

It appears to be on the Atlantic side of the southern coast of Spain. I have no idea how close it is to Africa.

It's interesting because it doesn't seem to attract a lot of tourists, from what I read in all the travel brochures I get (I get a lot because I've taken several trips with different companies). Isn't that fascinating? I think I would love to know more about this battle and its history. After all, it changed the world in terms of Napoleon, who had a grip on Europe until that battle and his succeeding defeats...

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Square in London

the tip at the southern tip of spain... in classical times one of the two arms of Hercules.

The other is on the other side... flanking the exist from the med to the atlantic

On edit, don;t be ashamed, curiosity is a blessing.

[CTyankee]

20. Aha, it's really an island! Okay, that says a lot to me.

Why don't tour companies promote travel to it? It seems like a good place to do this.

I'm a big traveler and I would LOVE to see this place, just to get a feel for the battle and all. What a great experience...

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. If you ever go, there is a colony of Macaques that has lived there

for ever. They are cute as buttons and people love to take photos of them

:-)

National Geographic even had cute photos

http://www.gibraltar.com/gibraltar_monkeys_barbary_macaques.aspx

http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/24625/Road-Trip-to-Gibraltar-travel-blogs-and-reviews-8

[muriel_volestrangler]

41. No, it's not an island, it's a cape

http://www.satellite-sightseer.com/id/4519

[norepubsin08]

21. I sang at a Church about a half a mile from there

when I was in an international boy choir at the age of 11.

[janx]

24. The only Trafalgar I'm aware of is the square in London.

Am I ignorant?

[CTyankee]

26. Yep, just like me! I had no idea where the real Trafalgar was!

Really, after all these years!

So now I know. If I go to southern Spain next fall, I may just arrange a visit there!

Sounds like a great idea!!

[McCamy Taylor]

25. Was there a Battle of Trafalgar?

Googled it. Of course! That's where Nelson won---and died. Since the British were our enemies in 1805, that was bad luck for us, good luck for them (about the winning, not about him dying).

[CTyankee]

28. But isn't it just like our Anglo-American culture that we didn't know exactly WHERE this famous

battle was?

Man, do I ever want to go there and check it out...!!!!

[enlightenment]

32. You'd probably see more 'stuff' and learn more

about the battle if you visit HMS Victory in Portsmouth. :)

http://www.hms-victory.com/

[NoPasaran]

39. But the British weren't our enemies in 1805.

Our naval campaign against Tripoli used the British possession of Malta as a resupply base.

[Mike 03]

33. LOL, I knew. But I'm sure there are many places people here at DU could ask about and I would

have no clue what they were talking about...

[LibertyLover]

34. Off the southern coast of Spain

iirc

[tom_paine]

36. I thought it was off the NW Coast of Denmark. Thanks for the good info. n/t

[Synicus Maximus]

40. Why should you know where Trafalgar is?

Unless you studied British or French history or the history of the Nelpolianic Wars just the fact you knew that Trafalgar was a sea battle and the British won should be enough. It was a major victory but not decisive.
A better question would be do you know where the Battle of San Jacinto was fought and between whom?

[Thothmes]

42. It was decisive, after Trafalger, the French and Spanish

fleets were never able to challenge the Royal Navy's dominance at sea. The next challenge to British Naval power would not come until the Germans started to build up their fleet before the first world war.

[CTyankee]

43. Growing up in Texas, I can assure you I studied the Battle of San Jacinto!

We were required to take a year of Texas history in high school. All of that was drilled pretty permanently into my head. And I went to a high school that was on the "academic" track.

But I found it interesting that, years later, when I started taking graduate courses I didn't know much about the Napoleonic Wars, nor about its effect on the thinking of the founders of our new republic. It was during a course on Romanticism in the Arts of the 19th Century that I began to examine the Napoleonic era. His near total conquest of Europe was an eye opener. It had great ramifications for the arts.

I'm sure you can make a great case for studying San Jacinto, as part of our understanding the acquisition of territory in our country's history. At the time I was studying it, which was the 1950s, there were lots of movies aggrandizing Texas history, the Alamo, etc. We concentrated a hell of a lot more on our own history in a microcosm than we did world history (which we did have of course but a full year of Texas history was out of proportion, IMO).