Alcalá de Guadaíra (Alcalá de Guadaíra)
Alcalá de Guadaíra is a town located approximately 17 km southeast of Seville, Spain; in recent years the expansion of Seville has meant that Alcalá has become a suburb of that city. Alcalá used to be known as Alcalá de los Panaderos (Alcalá of the Bakers) because it provided most of Seville's bread. The town is located on the banks of the Guadaíra River, and watermills built during the Moorish period of Spain can still be found in the area.
Irippo, the main Turdetan city in the Guadaíra basin, was located in Mesa de Gandul (Alcalá de Guadaíra), and minted its own coin in Roman times. The site of Alcalá was taken by Muslim forces in the 8th century and their name has held to modern times. The toponym Alcalá, from the Arabic القلعة al-qalʿa for fortification or citadel, is shared by many places throughout Spain.
Alcalá de Guadaíra was under the domination of multiple Muslim kingdoms from the Umayyad Caliphate in 756 to the fall of the Almohads in 1244. It was the Almohads who built extensive fortifications on a promontory overlooking the river. These fortifications continue to dominate the south-west side of the town. In 1244, Alcalá de Guadaíra was captured by Ferdinand III of Castile who was responsible for the refurbishing of the castle and town fortifications, which were subsequently used as a royal prison with a military presence. Following Ferdinand's death it fell into disrepair and ceased to be a prison or military barracks.
Alcalá was home to a small but important Jewish community. In December, 1390, Archdeacon Ferand Martinez led a mob that razed the synagogue to the ground. The members of the Jewish community were soon after put to the sword.
This town was the birthplace of Leandro José de Flores (1776–1839), priest and historian.
Irippo, the main Turdetan city in the Guadaíra basin, was located in Mesa de Gandul (Alcalá de Guadaíra), and minted its own coin in Roman times. The site of Alcalá was taken by Muslim forces in the 8th century and their name has held to modern times. The toponym Alcalá, from the Arabic القلعة al-qalʿa for fortification or citadel, is shared by many places throughout Spain.
Alcalá de Guadaíra was under the domination of multiple Muslim kingdoms from the Umayyad Caliphate in 756 to the fall of the Almohads in 1244. It was the Almohads who built extensive fortifications on a promontory overlooking the river. These fortifications continue to dominate the south-west side of the town. In 1244, Alcalá de Guadaíra was captured by Ferdinand III of Castile who was responsible for the refurbishing of the castle and town fortifications, which were subsequently used as a royal prison with a military presence. Following Ferdinand's death it fell into disrepair and ceased to be a prison or military barracks.
Alcalá was home to a small but important Jewish community. In December, 1390, Archdeacon Ferand Martinez led a mob that razed the synagogue to the ground. The members of the Jewish community were soon after put to the sword.
This town was the birthplace of Leandro José de Flores (1776–1839), priest and historian.
Map - Alcalá de Guadaíra (Alcalá de Guadaíra)
Map
Country - Spain
 |
 |
| Flag of Spain | |
Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. The ancient Iberian and Celtic tribes, along with other pre-Roman peoples, dwelled the territory maintaining contacts with foreign Mediterranean cultures. The Roman conquest and colonization of the peninsula (Hispania) ensued, bringing the Romanization of the population. Receding of Western Roman imperial authority ushered in the migration of different non-Roman peoples from Central and Northern Europe with the Visigoths as the dominant power in the peninsula by the fifth century. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centered in Córdoba. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre made an intermittent southward military expansion, known as Reconquista, repelling the Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Emirate of Granada in 1492. Jews and Muslims were forced to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion, and eventually the converts were expelled through different royal decrees.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EU | Basque language |
| CA | Catalan language |
| GL | Galician language |
| OC | Occitan language |
| ES | Spanish language |