Huelva Capital City

Huelva is predominantly a town that has had a long relationship with the sea. It is positioned between the rivers Guadiana and Guadalquivir and is located on the estuary of the river Odiel.

Because of its fortunate position, the area on which the modern day city is located has always been an attraction for history’s dominant civilisations. The city was founded by the Phoenicians who called it Onoba. This sea-faring and trading nation established powerful colonies on the coast of Huelva in order to protect the wealth that was generated here. Even in the far-off days the mineral resources of the area were considered to be amongst the richest on the known map.

Later, the Greeks became a member of the sea-trading powers and challenged Phoenician dominance. During their tenure of the location they kept the name given it by the earlier landlords. When the star of Rome waxed across the Mediterranean, Huelva was controlled by the Turdetani who were rapidly displaced as Roman expansion steamrollered across the Iberian Peninsula. During Roman times, the city was known as Onuba and was incorporated into the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. During the several hundred years that Roman jurisdiction was predominant, the area was heavily mined for the mineral wealth found to the north of the city. Much of the wealth of ancient Rome was supplied by this area and mined by Roman engineers using, in some case, extremely sophisticated mining techniques.

Little is known about the Visigoth dominance of the area as little tangible evidence of their passing is found in modern day Andalucia and after the Arabic invasion the city became known as Walbah.

The city has very strong historical ties with South America; an observation reflected by the colonial architecture of the centre of the old town of Huelva. Many of the original buildings were, however, razed during the rapid industrial expansion of the 19th century. One of the major companies to have taken advantage of the mineral wealth of the area was the Rio Tinto mining company. Of English origin, the company transformed the industrial landscape of the area and, as a by-product introduced the game of football to Spain. Huelva FC therefore legitimately boasts that they are the oldest formal football club of the Iberian Peninsula.

Although not of Spanish origin, Huelva recognises the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus, as being one of its adopted sons as it was from Huelva capital that the fateful voyage of the Nina, the Pinto and the Santa Maria, Columbus’s three small caravels, set out in 1492 to discover the American continent and claim it for Spain, thus beginning one of the greatest phases of expansion of Spanish power in history.

During the 1755 earthquake that had its epicentro close to the Portuguese coast resulting is devastation for Lisbon, Huelva too suffered substantial damage to its infrastructure, an event that resulted in much new construction.

One of the principal features of any itinerary while in Huelva is a series visits in this province to the so-called Columbus sites . These sites include Huelva itself, Moguer, Palos de la Frontera and the Rábida Monastery. Visitors can actually visit the places where Columbus recruited aid from the Order of the Fransicans at the monastery of La Rábida. These influence religious leaders introduced Columbus to the Pinzón Brothers, local wealthy ship owners and to the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella who provided Columbus with the authority he needed to sail under the Spanish flag and so claim his disoceries for the Spanish crown.

Places worth visiting include:

Casa Colón, House of Christopher Columbus
The Casa del Millón
The Cathedral of Nuestra Señora de la Merced
The Columbus Trail, which crosses the Río Tinto estuary from Huelva, takes in the monastery of La Rábida and the villages of Palos and Moguer which are all places connected with the voyages of Columbus to the New World.
The Monasterio de Santa María de la Rábida located seven kilometres south of Huelva city where the Tinto and Odiel rivers meet and where Coluimbus negotiated support from the Franciscan monks
The Monument to Cristobal Colón; a huge monument dedicated to Columbus which is situated at the Punta de Sebo overlooking the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers Palos de la Frontera, a small fishing village on the River Tinto 10km upstream from Huelva City where, in 1492, Columbus Set sail westwards and landed in America.

Fiestas and Events

Carnaval, fiesta
Festival de Cine
Fiestas Colombinas, fiesta first week of August
Fiestas de la Cinta, between 3rd - 8th September
San Sebastián, festival Jan 20th
Semana Santa (Easter Week)
Virgen de la Cinta, fiesta September 8