Seville is approximately 2,200 years old. The passage of the various civilizations instrumental in its growth has left the city with a distinct personality, and a large and well-preserved historical centre.
Early periods , belonging to the ancient
Tartessian sanctuary located 3 kilometers west of Seville The mythological founder of the city is Hercules (
Heracles), commonly identified with the Phoenician god
Melqart, who the myth says sailed through the
Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic, and founded trading posts at the current sites of
Cádiz and of Seville. The original core of the city, in the neighbourhood of the present-day street, Cuesta del Rosario, dates to the 8th century BC, when Seville was on an island in the
Guadalquivir. Archaeological excavations in 1999 found anthropic remains under the north wall of the Real Alcázar dating to the 8th–7th century BC. The town was called
Hisbaal by the Phoenicians and by the Tartessians, the indigenous pre-Roman Iberian people of
Tartessos, who controlled the Guadalquivir Valley at the time. The city was known from
Roman times as
Hispal and later as
Hispalis. Hispalis developed into one of the great market and industrial centres of Hispania, while the nearby Roman city of
Italica (present-day
Santiponce, birthplace of the Roman emperors
Trajan and
Hadrian) remained a typically Roman residential city. Large-scale Roman archaeological remains can be seen there and at the nearby town of
Carmona as well. Existing Roman features in Seville itself include the remains exposed
in situ in the underground Antiquarium of the
Metropol Parasol building, the remnants of an
aqueduct, three pillars of a
temple in
Mármoles Street, the columns of
La Alameda de Hércules and the remains in the
Patio de Banderas square near the
Seville Cathedral. The walls surrounding the city were originally built during the rule of
Julius Caesar, but their current course and design were the result of Moorish reconstructions. Following Roman rule, there were successive conquests of the Roman province of
Hispania Baetica by the Germanic
Vandals,
Suebi and
Visigoths during the 5th and 6th centuries.
Middle Ages In the wake of the
Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Seville (
Spalis) was seemingly taken by
Musa ibn Nusayr in the late summer of 712, while he was on his way to
Mérida. when the capital of Al-Andalus was relocated to
Córdoba. Seville (
Ishbīliya)
was sacked by Vikings in the mid-9th century. After Vikings arrived by 25 September 844, Seville fell to invaders on 1 October, and they stood for 40 days before they fled from the city. During Umayyad rule, under an Andalusi-Arab framework, the bulk of the population were
Muladi converts, to which Christian and Jewish minorities added up. Up until the arrival of the
Almohads in the 12th century, the city remained as the see of a Metropolitan Archbishop, the leading Christian religious figure in al-Andalus. However, the transfer of the relics of
Saint Isidore to
León circa 1063, in the taifa period, already hinted at a possible worsening of the situation of the local Christian minority. A
powerful taifa kingdom with capital in Seville emerged after 1023, in the wake of the
fitna of al-Andalus. Ruled by the
Abbadid dynasty, the taifa grew by aggregation of smaller neighbouring
taifas. During the taifa period, Seville became an important scholarly and literary centre. After several months of siege, Seville was conquered by the
Almoravids in 1091. The city fell to the Almohads on 17 January 1147 (12
Shaʽban 541). After an informal Almohad settlement in Seville during the early stages of the Almohad presence in the Iberian Peninsula and then a brief relocation of the capital of al-Andalus to Córdoba in 1162 (which had dire consequences for Seville, reportedly depopulated and under starvation), Seville became the definitive seat of the Andalusi part of the Almohad Empire in 1163, a twin capital alongside
Marrakesh. Almohads carried out a large urban renewal. By the end of the 12th century, the walled enclosure perhaps contained 80,000 inhabitants. In the wider context of the Castilian–Leonese conquest of the Guadalquivir Valley that ensued in the 13th century,
Ferdinand III laid siege on Seville in 1247. A
naval blockade came to prevent relief of the city. The city surrendered on 23 November 1248, after fifteen months of siege. The conditions of capitulation contemplated the eviction of the population, with contemporary sources seemingly confirming that a mass movement of people out of Seville indeed took place. The city's development continued after the
Castilian conquest in 1248. Public buildings were constructed including churches—many of which were built in the
Mudéjar and
Gothic styles—such as the Seville Cathedral, built during the 15th century with
Gothic architecture. Other Moorish buildings were converted into Catholic edifices, as was customary of the Catholic Church during the
Reconquista. The Moors' Palace became the Castilian royal residence, and during
Pedro I's rule it was replaced by the Alcázar (the upper levels are still used by the
Spanish royal family as the official Seville residence). Seville was the starting point of the
1391 anti-Jewish massacres, which soon spread across Castile and Aragon. In the aftermath, all of Seville's synagogues were seized and converted into churches (renamed Santa María la Blanca, San Bartolomé, Santa Cruz, and Convento Madre de Dios). The Jewish quarter's land and shops (which were located in modern-day
Santa Cruz neighbourhood) were appropriated by the church and many Jewish homes were burned down. 4,000 Jews were killed during the pogrom and many others were
forced to convert. The first tribunal of the
Spanish Inquisition was instituted in Seville in 1478. Its primary charge was to ensure that all nominal Christians were really behaving like Christians, and not practicing what Judaism they could in secret. At first, the activity of the Inquisition was limited to the dioceses of
Seville and
Córdoba, where the Dominican friar, Alonso de Ojeda, had detected
converso activity. The first
Auto de Fé took place in Seville on 6 February 1481, when six people were burned alive. Alonso de Ojeda himself gave the sermon. The Inquisition then grew rapidly. The Plaza de San Francisco was the site of the 'autos de fé'. By 1492, tribunals existed in eight Castilian cities: Ávila, Córdoba, Jaén, Medina del Campo, Segovia, Sigüenza, Toledo, and Valladolid; and by the
Alhambra Decree all Jews were
forced to convert to Catholicism or be exiled (expelled) from Spain.
Early modern period Following the
Columbian exploration of the
New World, Seville was chosen as headquarters of the
Casa de Contratación in 1503, which was the decisive development for Seville becoming the port and gateway to the Indies. Unlike other harbors, reaching the port of Seville required sailing about up the River Guadalquivir. The choice of Seville was made in spite of the difficulties for navigation in the Guadalquivir stemming from the increasing
tonnage of ships as a result of the relentless drive to make maritime transport cheaper during the late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, technical suitability issues notwithstanding, the choice was still reasonable in the sense that Seville had become the largest demographic, economic and financial centre of Christian Andalusia in the late Middle Ages. In addition, factors favouring the choice of Seville include the Andalusian coastline being largely under the seigneurial control of the
House of Medina Sidonia, Seville enjoying an important hinterland and administrative expertise, and its inland location also providing conditions for military security and enforcement of tax control. A 'golden age of development' commenced in Seville, due to its being the only port awarded the royal monopoly for trade with
Spanish Americas and the influx of riches from them. Since only
sailing ships leaving from and returning to the inland port of Seville could engage in trade with the Spanish Americas, merchants from Europe and other trade centers needed to be in Seville to acquire New World trade goods. The city's population grew to more than a hundred thousand people. , Madrid In the early 17th c., Seville's monopoly on overseas trade was broken, with the port of
Cádiz now the monopoly port of trade as
silting of the Guadalquivir river in the 1620s made Seville's harbors harder to use. The
Great Plague of Seville in 1649, exacerbated by excessive flooding of the Guadalquivir, reduced the population by almost half, and it did not recover until the early 19th century. By the 18th century, Seville's international importance was in steep decline, after the monopoly port for the trade to the Americas was relocated to Cádiz. Cádiz had gifted the Bourbon claimant to the throne in the
War of the Spanish Succession funding that helped it pursue the war. The reward to Cádiz was the rights of the monopoly port. The
House of Trade (which registered ships, cargoes, and persons travelling to the New World), and the large scale overseas commercial enterprises of the
merchant guild relocated to Cádiz. The House of Trade had been housed in rented quarters, but the purpose-built headquarters of the merchant guild was left vacant. During the monarchy of
Charles III, the
Archive of the Indies was established in Seville in the old headquarters of the merchant guild. Documents pertaining to Spain's overseas empire were moved there from existing archival repositories, including
Simancas and the House of Trade, were consolidated in a single repository. One scholar argues that the establishment of the
Archive of the Indies marks a decisive moment in Spain's history, with the 18th c. Bourbon monarchy conceiving of its overseas territories as colonies of the metropole rather than entities under the jurisdiction of the crown on an equal basis as the kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula. During the 18th century Charles III promoted Seville's industries. Construction of the
Real Fábrica de Tabacos (Royal Tobacco Factory) began in 1728. It was the second-largest building in Spain, after the royal residence
El Escorial. Since the 1950s it has been the seat of the rectorate (administration) of the
University of Seville, as well as its Schools of Law, Philology (language/letters), Geography, and History. More operas have been set in Seville than in any other city of Europe. In 2012, a study of experts concluded the total number of operas set in Seville is 153. Among the composers who fell in love with the city are
Beethoven (
Fidelio),
Mozart (
The Marriage of Figaro and
Don Giovanni),
Rossini (
The Barber of Seville),
Donizetti (
La favorite), and
Bizet (
Carmen). The first newspaper in Spain outside of Madrid was Seville's , which began publication in 1758.
Late modern history Between 1825 and 1833,
Melchor Cano acted as chief architect in Seville; most of the urban planning policy and architectural modifications of the city were made by him and his collaborator Jose Manuel Arjona y Cuba. Industrial architecture surviving today from the first half of the 19th century includes the ceramics factory installed in the
Carthusian monastery at
La Cartuja in 1841 by the Pickman family, and now home to the El Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC), which manages the collections of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla. It also houses the rectory of the UNIA. In the years that Queen
Isabel II ruled directly, about 1843–1868, the Sevillian bourgeoisie invested in a construction boom unmatched in the city's history. The
Isabel II bridge, better known as the Triana bridge, dates from this period; street lighting was expanded in the municipality and most of the streets were paved during this time as well. By the second half of the 19th century, Seville had begun an expansion supported by railway construction and the demolition of part of its ancient walls, allowing the urban space of the city to grow eastward and southward. The
Sevillana de Electricidad Company was created in 1894 to provide electric power throughout the municipality, and in 1901 the
Plaza de Armas railway station was inaugurated. The
Museum of Fine Arts () opened in 1904. In 1929 the city hosted the
Ibero-American Exposition, which accelerated the southern expansion of the city and created new public spaces such as the
Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park) and the adjoining
Plaza de España. Not long before the opening, the Spanish government began a modernisation of the city in order to prepare for the expected crowds by erecting new hotels and widening the mediaeval streets to allow for the movement of automobiles. rallying military and civilians in Seville (September 1936) Seville fell very quickly at the beginning of the
Spanish Civil War in 1936. General
Queipo de Llano carried out a coup within the city, quickly capturing the city centre. Radio Seville opposed the uprising and called for the peasants to come to the city for arms, while workers' groups established barricades. Under
Francisco Franco's rule Spain was officially neutral in World War II (although it did collaborate with the
Axis powers), and like the rest of the country, Seville remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world. In 1953 the shipyard of Seville was opened, eventually employing more than 2,000 workers in the 1970s. Before the existence of wetlands regulation in the Guadalquivir basin, Seville suffered regular heavy flooding; perhaps worst of all were the floods that occurred in November 1961 when the River Tamarguillo, a tributary of the Guadalquivir, overflowed as a result of a prodigious downpour of rain, and Seville was consequently declared a disaster zone. Trade unionism in Seville began during the 1960s with the underground organisational activities of the Workers' Commissions or Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), in factories such as Hytasa, the Astilleros shipyards, Hispano Aviación, etc. Several of the movement's leaders were arrested in 1972, and later sentenced to prison in 1973.
Recent developments On 3 April 1979 Spain held its first democratic municipal elections after the end of Franco's dictatorship; councillors representing four different political parties were elected in Seville. On 5 November 1982,
Pope John Paul II arrived in Seville to officiate at a Mass before more than half a million people at the fairgrounds. He visited the city again on 13 June 1993, for the International Eucharistic Congress. as it was at the time In 1992, coinciding with the fifth centenary of the
Discovery of the Americas, the
Universal Exposition was held for six months in Seville, on the occasion of which the local communications network and urban infrastructure was greatly improved under a 1987
PGOU plan launched by Mayor
Manuel del Valle: the SE-30 ring road around the city was completed and new highways were constructed; the new
Seville-Santa Justa railway station had opened in 1991, while the Spanish High-Speed Rail system, the
Alta Velocidad Española (AVE), began to operate between Madrid-Seville. The
Seville Airport was expanded with a new terminal building designed by the architect
Rafael Moneo, and various other improvements were made. The
Alamillo Bridge and the
Centenario Bridge, both crossing over the Guadalquivir, also were built for the occasion. Some of the installations remaining at the site after the exposition were converted into the Scientific and Technological Park
Cartuja 93. In 2004 the Metropol Parasol project, commonly known as ('The Mushrooms'), due to the appearance of the structure, was launched to revitalise the , for years used as a car park and seen as a dead spot between more popular tourist destinations in the city. The Metropol Parasol was completed in March 2011, costing just over €102 million in total, more than twice as much as originally planned. Constructed from crossed wooden beams,
Las Setas is said to be the largest timber-framed structure in the world. ==Geography==