Andalusia , a region with contrasting scenery

For almost three thousand years, Andalusia, a region which borders on the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and is full of a great variety of strongly contrasting scenery, was the most important cultural and economic centre of the Iberian Peninsula. The name al-Andalus, which was used by Arab writers, referred to Muslim Spain and had nothing to do with geography. It remained however after the reconquest, as did the name Gualdalquivir and many other place and names and Arab words, daily reminders of the Muslim presence in the eight Spanish provinces which belong to Andalusia today: Cordoba, Granada, Cadiz, Seville, Almeria, Jaen, Huelva and Malaga.
So much beauty in the part of Spain that remained longest under the rule of emirs, caliphs or sultans can only be understood in the light of its different prehistoric cultures: theenigmatic State of Tartessos, the cicilization of the Iberians, the influence of Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, Roman and Visigothic Baetica and above all the Islamic domination. Between 711, whan Tariq defeated King Rodrigo in the battle og the Gualete, and 1492 When Granada was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs, lie 800 years of Muslim presence. For thousands of years, Andalusia has been the symbol of the promised land and legend has marked the place from where , deep in sorrow, Boabdil, the last Nasrid King, took leave of his beloved Granada. The enormous artistic wealth of this period, i e, the Hispano -Muslim style, flourished when Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together in harmony. In later centuries, even more wealth was added with Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings and monuments.