ANDALUCIA

Andalucia

Andalucia is an autonomous community of Spain. Andalucia is the most populated and second largest of the seventeen autonomous communities that constitute Spain. Its capital is Seville.

Andalucia is bounded on the north by Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha; on the east by Murcia and the Mediterranean Sea; on the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean (south-west); on the south by the Mediterranean Sea (south-east) and the Atlantic Ocean (south-west) linked by the Strait of Gibraltar at the very south which separates Spain from Morocco. The British colony of Gibraltar at the south shares its three-quarter-mile land border with the Andalucian province of Cádiz.

History

Tartessos, the capital of a once great and powerful Tartessian Civilisation, was located in Andalucia.

The Vandals moved through the region during the 5th century, and may have given their name to the region, which according to one of several theories of its etymology was originally Vandalusia (which would be the source of Al-Andalus — the Arabic name of Iberian Peninsula), where they temporarily settled before pushing on to Africa.

Andalucian culture has been deeply influenced by the eight centuries of Muslim rule over the region, which ended in 1492 with the conquest of Granada by the Catholic monarchs.

The Spanish spoken in the Americas is largely descended from the Andalucian dialect of Spanish due to the role played by Seville as the gateway to Spain's American territories in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Andalucia is known for its Moorish architecture. Famous monuments include the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in Córdoba, the Torre del Oro and Giralda towers and the Reales Alcázares in Seville, and the Alcazaba in Málaga. Archaeological remains include Medina Azahara, near Córdoba and Itálica, near Seville and Huelva port of the America discovery.

Andalucia Day is celebrated on February 28, to commemorate the date of the successful autonomy referendum vote.