Seville

Sister cities

• Baler
• Kansas City
• Angers
• Tarija
• Rome
• Berlin
• Kraków
• Columbus
• Iquique
• Caltanissetta
• Jerez de la Frontera
• Guadalajara

History

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. 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…

Geography

Seville has an area of , according to the National Topographic Map () series from the , the country's civilian survey organisation (pages 984, 985 and 1002). The city is situated in the fertile valley of the River Guadalquivir. The average height above sea level is . Most of the city is on the east side of the river, while Triana, La Cartuja and Los Remedios are on the west side. The Aljarafe region lies further west, and is considered part of the metropolitan area. The city has boundaries on the north with La Rinconada, La Algaba and Santiponce; on the east with Alcalá de Guadaira; on the south with Dos Hermanas and Gelves and on the west with San Juan de Aznalfarache, Tomares and Camas. Seville is on the same parallel as United States west coast city San Jose in central California. São Miguel, the main island of the Azores archipelago, lies on the same latitude. Further east from Seville in the Mediterranean Basin, it is on the same latitude as Catania in Sicily, Italy and just south of Athens, the capital of Greece. Beyond that, it is located on the same parallel as South Korean capital, Seoul. Seville is located inland, not very far from the Andalusian coast, but still sees a much more continental climate than the nearest port cities, Cádiz and Huelva. Its distance from the sea makes summers in Sevilla much hotter than along the coastline. Seville's climate is a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), featuring very hot, long, dry summers and mild winters with moderate rainfall. Seville has an annual average temperature of . The annual average temperature is during the day and at night. Seville is located in the Guadalquivir Valley, which is often referred to as "the frying pan of Spain", as it features the hottest cities in the…

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,259
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,608
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  5,973
• European Greenfinch

  Chloris chloris (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,706
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,923
• Spotless Starling

  Sturnus unicolor Temminck, 1820 · Aves
  4,714
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  4,520
• Crested Lark

  Galerida cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,159

Most recent

• M 4 — 2021-10-19
  8 km W of Villanueva de San Juan, Spain
• M 4.4 — 2019-10-25
  2 km ENE of Olvera, Spain
• M 4.6 — 2014-08-19
  1 km WNW of Puerto Serrano, Spain
• M 3.1 — 2008-11-25
  6 km SE of Morón de la Frontera, Spain
• M 3.3 — 2008-11-23
  7 km SSE of Morón de la Frontera, Spain
• M 2.6 — 2008-10-14
  6 km SSE of Morón de la Frontera, Spain