Andalusia

This article is about the autonomous community of modern Spain. For the medieval Islamic state which covered most of Iberia, see al-Andalus. For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation).

Andalusia
Andalucía (Spanish)
Autonomous community
Flag of Andalusia
Flag
Coat of arms of Andalusia
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
Andalucía por sí, para España y la Humanidad[1]
("Andalusia by itself, for Spain and humanity")
Anthem: "La bandera blanca y verde"
(English: "The White and Green flag")
Map of Andalusia
Map of Spain with Andalusia highlighted
Coordinates: 37°24′18″N 05°59′15″W / 37.40500°N 5.98750°W / 37.40500; -5.98750
Country Spain
Formation1833 (Creation of Andalusia historic region)
Statute(s) of Autonomy1981 (First Statute)
2007 (Second Statute – in force)
Capital
(and largest city)		Seville
Province(s)
Government
 • TypeDevolved government in a constitutional monarchy
 • BodyJunta of Andalusia
 • PresidentJuan Manuel Moreno (PP)
LegislatureParliament of Andalusia
General representationParliament of Spain
Congress seats61 of 350 (17.4%)
Senate seats41 of 265 (15.5%)
Area
 • Total
87,599 km2 (33,822 sq mi)
 • Rank2nd
 17.3% of Spain
Population
 (1 January 2023)
 • Total
8,538,376
 • Rank1st in Spain
17.84% of Spain
Demonym(s)Andalusian
andaluz, -za[2]
Official language(s)Spanish
GDP
[3]
 • Rank3rd
 • Total (2022)€180.224 billion
 • Per capita€21,091 (17th)
HDI
 • HDI (2021)0.874[4] (very high · 14th)
Time zoneCET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST)CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code prefixes
  • 04XXX (AL)
  • 11XXX (CA)
  • 14XXX (CO)
  • 18XXX (GR)
  • 21XXX (H)
  • 23XXX (J)
  • 29XXX (MA)
  • 41XXX (SE)
ISO 3166 codeES-AN
Telephone code(s)+34 95
CurrencyEuro (€)
Official holidayFebruary 28
Websitewww.juntadeandalucia.es
Map

Andalusia (UK: /ˌændəˈluːsiə, -ziə/ AN-də-LOO-see-ə, -⁠zee-ə, US: /-ʒ(i)ə, -ʃ(i)ə/ -⁠zh(ee-)ə, -⁠sh(ee-)ə;[5][6][7] Spanish: Andalucía [andaluˈθi.a] ⓘ, locally also [-ˈsi.a]) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a historical nationality and a national reality.[8] The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Seville. Its capital city is Seville, while the seat of the its High Court of Justice is the city of Granada.

Andalusia is immediately south of the autonomous communities of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha; west of the autonomous community of Murcia and the Mediterranean Sea; east of Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean; and north of the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar. Gibraltar shares a 1.2 kilometres (3⁄4 mi) land border with the Andalusian portion of the province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The main mountain ranges of Andalusia are the Sierra Morena and the Baetic System, consisting of the Subbaetic and Penibaetic Mountains, separated by the Intrabaetic Basin. In the north, the Sierra Morena separates Andalusia from the plains of Extremadura and Castile–La Mancha on Spain's Meseta Central. To the south, the geographic subregion of Upper Andalusia [es] lies mostly within the Baetic System, while Lower Andalusia [es] is in the Baetic Depression of the valley of the Guadalquivir.[9]

The name Andalusia is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus (الأندلس), which in turn may be derived from the Vandals, the Goths or pre-Roman Iberian tribes.[10] The toponym al-Andalus is first attested by inscriptions on coins minted in 716 by the new Muslim government of Iberia. These coins, called dinars, were inscribed in both Latin and Arabic.[11][12] The region's history and culture have been influenced by the Tartessians, Iberians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, Byzantines, Berbers, Arabs, Jews, Romanis and Castilians. During the Islamic Golden Age, Córdoba surpassed Constantinople[13][14] to be Europe's biggest city, and became the capital of Al-Andalus and a prominent center of education and learning in the world, producing numerous philosophers and scientists.[15][16] The Crown of Castile conquered and settled the Guadalquivir Valley in the 13th century. The mountainous eastern part of the region (the Emirate of Granada) was subdued in the late 15th century. Atlantic-facing harbors prospered upon trade with the New World. Chronic inequalities in the social structure caused by uneven distribution of land property in large estates induced recurring episodes of upheaval and social unrest in the agrarian sector in the 19th and 20th centuries.[17]

Andalusia has historically been an agricultural region, compared to the rest of Spain and the rest of Europe. Still, the growth of the community in the sectors of industry and services was above average in Spain and higher than many communities in the Eurozone. The region has a rich culture and a strong identity. Many cultural phenomena that are seen internationally as distinctively Spanish are largely or entirely Andalusian in origin. These include flamenco and, to a lesser extent, bullfighting and Hispano-Moorish architectural styles, both of which are also prevalent in some other regions of Spain.

Andalusia's hinterland is the hottest area of Europe, with Córdoba and Seville averaging above 36 °C (97 °F) in summer high temperatures.[18][19] These high temperatures, typical of the Guadalquivir valley are usually reached between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (local time),[20] tempered by sea and mountain breezes afterwards.[21] However, during heat waves late evening temperatures can locally stay around 35 °C (95 °F) until close to midnight, and daytime highs of over 40 °C (104 °F) are common.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference himno y escudo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ See, andaluz, -za "Diccionario de la lengua española - Edición del Tricentenario". Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). DRAE.
  3. ^ "Contabilidad Regional de España" (PDF). www.ine.es.
  4. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Andalusia". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Andalusia"[dead link‍] (US) and "Andalusia". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Andalusia". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  8. ^ Boletín Oficial del Estado of Spain, n. 68 of 2007/03/20, p. 11872. Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Estatuto de Autonomía de Andalucía. Artículo 1: "Andalucía, como nacionalidad histórica y en el ejercicio del derecho de autogobierno que reconoce la Constitución, se constituye en Comunidad Autónoma en el marco de la unidad de la nación española y conforme al artículo 2 de la Constitución."
  9. ^ "Cuenca del Guadalquivir" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  10. ^ Reinhart Anne Pieter Dozy (2009). Recherches Sur L'Histoire Et la Littérature de L'Espagne Pendant Le Moyen Age. BiblioBazaar. p. 303. ISBN 978-1-117-03148-4.
  11. ^ Michael L. Bates (1992). "The Islamic Coinage of Spain". In Jerrilynn D. Dodds (ed.). Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-87099-636-8. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  12. ^ Thomas F. Glick (2005). Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages. BRILL. p. 21. ISBN 90-04-14771-3. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  13. ^ Idris El Hareir; Ravane Mbaye (2011). The Spread of Islam Throughout the World. UNESCO. p. 448. ISBN 978-92-3-104153-2. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  14. ^ J. Bradford De Long and Andrei Shleifer (October 1993), "Princes and Merchants: European City Growth before the Industrial Revolution" (PDF), The Journal of Law and Economics, 36 (2): 671–702 [678], CiteSeerX 10.1.1.164.4092, doi:10.1086/467294, S2CID 13961320, archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2018, retrieved 7 December 2019
  15. ^ Simon Barton (30 June 2009). A History of Spain. Macmillan International Higher Education. pp. 44–5. ISBN 978-1-137-01347-7. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019.
  16. ^ Francis Preston Venable (1894). A Short History of Chemistry. Heath. p. 21.
  17. ^ Entrena, Francisco (2001). "Social Change, Inequalities and Conflicts in Andalusia". Mediterranean Studies. 10. Penn State University Press: 181–207. JSTOR 41166930. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  18. ^ aemetblog (9 August 2018). "¿Por qué el valle del Guadalquivir es la "sartén" de España?". Aemetblog (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  19. ^ "Why is the Guadalquivir valley one of the hottest inhabited places on the planet? (In spanish)". elDiario.es. 4 September 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Climate and Average Weather Year Round in Córdoba (Spain)". Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  21. ^ "Why the Guadalquivir valley is the pan of Spain (in Spanish)". 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2023.