Andalusia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation).
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| Image:Localización de Andalucía.png | |||||
| 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 | AN | ||||
| 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.
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[edit] History
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
Andalusia Day (Sp.: Día de Andalucía) is celebrated on February 28, to commemorate the date of the successful autonomy referendum vote.
[edit] Administrative divisions
Andalusia is divided into eight provinces named after the capital cities of these provinces:
Other important Andalusian towns are:
- El Ejido, Macael y la "comarca del mármol", and Roquetas de Mar, Almería
- Algeciras, San Fernando, Jerez, and El Puerto, Cádiz
- Almuñecar, Guadix and Motril, Granada
- Úbeda and Baeza, Jaén
- Antequera, Ronda and Marbella, Málaga
- Dos Hermanas, Lebrija, Osuna and Utrera, Sevilla
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Image:Flag es-andalucía 300px.png | Provinces of Andalusia | Image:Flag of Spain.svg |
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| Provinces: Almería | Cádiz | Córdoba | Granada | Huelva | Jaén | Málaga | Sevilla | ||
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Autonomous communities: Autonomous cities:
Ceuta · Melilla Plazas de soberanía: Islas Chafarinas · Peñón de Alhucemas · Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera |
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