History:

Due to the richness of its conditions Andalucía has always been a focal point for powerful and varied civilizations.

Western Andalucía was the seat of the Tartessus Monarchy since the Bronze Age, the natural resources of the region were exploited and they traded with other peoples. Likewise, the Phoenicians came into the country via one of the oldest cities on the continent, today known as Cadiz.

The Romans first came in the III century AD. And stayed for seven centuries until the arrival of the Vandals from the North. In 711 Islam converted Andalucía into the most import cultural and scientific centre in the West.

The Christian Monarchs completed their reconquest in 1492, and in the same year Christopher Columbus set off from Palos in Huelva, to discover America. Seville and its port became the nerve centre of Spain's Empire, due to its strategic setting for communication between Spain and her colonies in America. This role passed on to the Port of Cadiz from the XVIII century on. Andalucía's great sailing tradition made Seville the starting and finishing point of the first trip around the world.

In the XIX century Andalucía was inmortalized by the Romantic artists thanks to its cultural wealth, myths and legends; Don Juan, Carmen, the Andalusian bullfighter, etc. These images have stood the rest of time and still exist today.