Spain and Hispanic were named for the Phoenicians’ Ezpanna, meaning hidden place, beyond the Strait of Gibraltar (from the Mediterranean) where had been the center of the Atlantean empire (its ruins submerged since the end of the Ice Age), called the hidden place (Ezpanna) because such as Plato had been told that the Strait of Gibraltar was impassable, supposedly choked with mud because of Atlantis submerged, supposed choking of the strait which obviously was a Phoenician ruse to keep away the competition for the rich mineral deposits of the Sierra Morena mountains of far southwestern Spain.
