Seville (Sevilla) is the capital of Andalucia, the cultural and financial centre of southern Spain. A city of just over 700,000 inhabitants (1.6 million in the metropolitan area, making it Spain's 4th largest city), Seville has much to offer the traveller.
The city is situated on the banks of the smooth, slow Guadalquivir River, which divides the city into two halves: Sevilla and Triana. The river head is located much further West, and its basin is very large. The river mouth is in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and crosses the Doñana National Park (one of the most important wetlands in Europe, breeding ground to many species of birds). The Guadalquivir (known as Betis by the Romans and as Betik Wahd-Al-Khabir by the Arabs) has had a major impact in the history of the city. The location of Sevilla is roughly coincident with the point where the Guadalquivir stops being useful for navigation. It is at this point that the cereal producing region of the Guadalquivir Valley starts, and Sevilla has acted as a sea-port for commerce of agricultural goods produced further West. Intense trade existed in the area from Roman times, continued under Muslim rule, and exploded as Seville monopolized the new trade with the Americans. As the monopoly was broken Cádiz largely took Seville's place), the city entered a period of relative decline.
Seville has played host to two international exhibitions - the Ibero-American Exhibition in 1929 and the International Exposition in 1992.
