The
Guadalquivir (
Spanish pronunciation&_160;[gwaðalki'ßir]) is the second longest
river in
Spain (fifth after the
Tagus,
Ebro,
Duero and
Guadiana), and the longest in
Andalusia. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers. It begins at Cañada de las Fuentes in the
Cazorla mountain range (
Jaén), passes through
Córdoba and
Seville and ends at the fishing village of
Bonanza, in
Sanlúcar de Barrameda, flowing into the
Gulf of Cádiz, in the
Atlantic Ocean. The
marshy lowlands at the river's end are known as "
Las Marismas". It borders
Doñana National Park reserve.
The Guadalquivir river is the only great navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable up as far as Seville, but in Roman times it was navigable to Córdoba.
The ancient city of Tartessos was said to be have been located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, although its site has not yet been found. Tartessos in Basque language means between seas ((Atlantic and Mediterranean))
The name comes from the Arabic al-wadi al-kabir (??????&_160;??????), 'The Great Valley'. Classical Arabic Wadi is pronounced in present-day Maghreb as Oued. The Phoenicians named the river Baits, later Betis (or Baetis) from Pre-Roman times to the Al-Andalus period, giving its name to the Hispania Baetica Roman province. An older Celtiberian name was Oba (gold river), leading to the assumption that etymologically Córdoba means city on the Oba (Cart-Oba).
