Located in the south of the country, Andalusia is bounded on the north by Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha, on the east by Murcia, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar, and on the west by Portugal. Its early history can be found in the entry Hispania Baetica the name of the Roman province that corresponds to the region. Andalucia is from the name the Moors gave to this land.

Its capital is Sevilla.

The Spanish spoken in the Americas is largely descended from the Andalusian dialect of Castilian Spanish due to the role played by Seville as the gateway to Spain's American colonies in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A lot of Moorish architecture is found in Andalusia, because it was the last stronghold of the Moors before they were conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. The most famous are The Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in C�rdoba and the Torre del Oro and Giralda towers in Sevilla. Archaeological remains include Medina Azahara, also near Sevilla.

Andalusia is divided in 8 provinces:

Major cities in Andalusia are:

Andalusia is the home of flamenco music.

see also Macarena

Andalusia has an anthem written by Blas Infante; this is:

La bandera blanca y verde,
vuelve tras siglos de guerra.
A decir Paz y Esperanza,
bajo el sol de nuestra tierra.
�Andaluces, levant�os!
�Pedid tierra y libertad!
Sea por Andalucia libre,
Espa�a y la Humanidad.
Los andaluces queremos
volver a ser lo que fuimos.
Hombres de luz que a los hombres,
Alma de hombres les dimos.
�Andaluces, levant�os!
�Pedid tierra y libertad!
Sea por Andalucia libre,
Espa�a y la Humanidad.

External links

Statute of Autonomy (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/SP/Junta_de_Andalucia/CDA/Paginas/JDA-IndiceSimbolos/0,16390,,00.html) (in Spanish)
Government of Andalusia (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/) (in Spanish)
Parliament of Andalusia (http://www.parlamento-and.es/) (in Spanish)
Basic statistical data for Andalusia (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/institutodeestadistica/dtbas/dtb03/dtb03.pdf) (in Spanish, .pdf format)

Autonomous Communities of Spain
Andalusia \| Aragon \| Asturias \| Balearic Islands \| Basque Country \| Canary Islands \| Cantabria \| Castile-La Mancha \| Castile-Leon \| Catalonia \| Extremadura \| Galicia \| La Rioja \| Madrid \| Murcia \| Navarre \| Valencia \| Ceuta \| Melilla \| Plaza de soberan�a