Andalusia

Andalusia (Spanish: Andalucía) is a Historical Nationality of Spain like Catalonia or Basque Country. Andalusia is one of the seventeen autonomous communities that constitute Spain. Its capital is Seville. Andalusia is bounde

Andalusia (Spanish: Andalucía) is a Historical Nationality of Spain like Catalonia or Basque Country. Andalusia is one of the seventeen autonomous communities that constitute Spain. Its capital is Seville. Andalusia is bounded on the north by Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha, on the east by Murcia, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and Gibraltar, and on the west by Portugal. Tartessos, the capital of a once great and powerful Civilization, was located in Andalusia. In the Bible with the name of Tarsis.

More information about this region can be found in the entry Hispania Baetica, the name of the Roman province that corresponds to the region. The Islamic history can be found in the entry al-Andalus. According to the scholar H. Helm, the name "Al-Andalus" is simply an Arabic rendition of the Visigothic name given to the Roman province of Baetica. The Visigoths, following the custom of their Germanic predecessors, parcelled out the conquered territories by drawing lots, and the allotments to anyone, with their corresponding land, were called "Sortes Gothicae". Contemporary texts, still written in Latin, refer to the Gothic kingdom as a whole as "Gothica sors" (singular). It is reasonable to suppose then that the corresponding Gothic designation "Landahlauts" (allotted, inherited, drawn land), in its phonetic form — "landalos" — became easily and spontaneously, to Arabic ears, "Al-Andalus".