Andalusia

The most Muslim part of Christian Europe and the poorest part of Spain, which are related facts. Al-Andalus was centred here for eight centuries, and Cordoba in the tenth was probably the largest city in western Europe, with libraries, street lighting and a scholarly tradition that transmitted Aristotle back to Latin Christendom through Averroes and Maimonides, both Cordoban. Seville and Granada followed. The Christian reconquest was completed in 1492, and the crown then distributed the land in vast estates to nobles and military orders - the latifundia - creating a structure of a few enormous properties worked by landless day labourers that persisted into the twentieth century and made the region a stronghold of anarchism and rural unrest. Moriscos were expelled in 1609. Seville held the monopoly on American trade until the river silted and it moved to Cadiz. The region produced flamenco from Roma, Andalusian and Moorish elements, and most of what the world recognises as Spanish culture. Unemployment remains among the highest in Spain. The Alhambra, the Mezquita and Seville's cathedral are World Heritage sites. Olive groves cover much of the interior. The region has about 8.5 million people, the most populous in Spain. Its eight provinces run from Huelva to Almeria. Sierra Nevada holds the highest peaks in mainland Spain. Almeria's plastic greenhouses supply much of Europe's winter vegetables. Semana Santa processions in Seville and Malaga draw enormous crowds. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Andalusian horses are bred here, and Jerez gives its name to sherry.

• Existed: 1238 CE – present
• Type: Entity