Andalusia

For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation).

<tr><td align=center colspan=2>Motto: Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad
(Andalusia by herself, for Spain, and for humankind)</td></tr>

Comunidad Autónoma de Andalucía


Flag	Coat of Arms

Capital

Seville

Official language(s)

Spanish

Area
– Total
– % of Spain

Ranked 2nd
87,268 km²
17.2%

Population
– Total (2005)
– % of Spain
– Density

Ranked 1st
7,849,799
17.9%
89.95/km²

Demonym
– English
– Spanish

Andalusian
andaluz, andaluza

Statute of Autonomy

January 11, 1982

Parliamentary
representation
– Congress seats
– Senate seats

62
40

President

Manuel Chaves González (PSOE)

ISO 3166-2

Junta de Andalucía

Andalusia (Spanish: Andalucía) is an autonomous community of Spain. Andalusia is the most populated and second largest of the seventeen autonomous communities that constitute Spain. Its capital is Seville.

Andalusia 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 Andalusian province of Cádiz.

1 History
2 Administrative divisions
3 See also
4 External links
5 Categories

History

Andalusian House, showing traditional azulejos (glazed tiles) and rejas (ornate window bars)

For a discussion of possible sources of the name "Andalusia," see Al-Andalus#Etymology_of_al-Andalus

Tartessos, the capital of a once great and powerful Tartessian Civilization, was located in Andalusia. More information about this region can be found in the entry Hispania Baetica, the name of the Roman province that corresponds to the region.

Andalusian culture has been deeply marked 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 Andalusian dialect of Spanish due to the role played by Seville as the gateway to Spain's American territories in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Andalusia 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