Few places can boast a more active history of invasion and settlement than Southern Spain. Indeed, few places have been left with the legacy of so many cultures that define Andalucía as we know it today.

Although Neanderthal man is known to have populated the Rock of Gibraltar as long ago as 50,000 BC we will call the Iberians, who came from North Africa in 8,000 BC and established farming settlements throughout the region, the original inhabitants of Andalucía.

They were followed by the Phoenicians who established a chain of trading posts along the coast and founded Europe’s oldest city, the sea port of Cádiz, in 1100BC.

The Celts came in 800 BC and by 700 BC the Tartessus Kingdom was flourishing in Andalucía. The Greeks soon followed and by the year 500 BC, the Carthaginians had colonised Southern Spain.

The native Iberians failed to resist the Roman Invasion in 206 BC, and Betis, as the region was re-named, became one of the richest and best organised colonies of the Roman Empire. Roman galleys sailed up the Guadalquivir River to Cordoba which was an important base for the exportation of olive oil and wine destined for Rome. As part of the Roman Empire, Spain became a Christian country in the 4th century, and the Spanish language – perhaps the closest modern tongue to Latin – began to take its current shape.

Following the collapse of the Empire, Andalucía was devastated by successive waves of barbarian tribes coming from northern Europe, with the eventual predomination of the Visigoths. The Visigoths were chaotic, warlike people and their rule left Spain open to invasion.

In 711, the Moors came and conquered and the region was re-named Al-Andalus because the Moors associated it with the Vandals, one of the barbarian tribes who had, several centuries earlier, swept across the Strait of Gibraltar into North Africa.

For eight centuries the Moors made Al-Andalus their home and permanently marked it with their cultural legacy. Many new buildings continue to be influenced by Moorish architecture today.

The Christian re-conquest reached Andalucía in the 13th century and the cities of Córdoba and Sévilla were the first to be seized. By the end of the 15th century, the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, had taken the last stronghold of the Moors, Granada and the Alhambra Palace.

Sévilla became the main port for the imports of gold from the New World during the 16th and 17th centuries and Andalucía experienced some prosperity as the launch place from which America was discovered.

However, much of the wealth from America was spent on the wars waged by Spain's Hapsburg monarchy against the Lutheran countries in northern Europe and the Ottoman Turks in the Mediterranean, and as the flow of riches decreased, Spain and Andalucía sank into economic decline.

Years of fighting and unrest in Europe ravaged Spain. The Spanish War of Succession in the early 18th century, the Napoleonic invasion and the Battle of Trafalgar, the War of Independence and the Independence movement in South America during the rest of the 19th century directly affected Andalucía’s economy and the region suffered greatly.

The loss of Spain's last colonies, Cuba and the Philippines spelled disaster for Spain and political instability and further economic decline culminated in the deposition of the monarchy and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, the Republic was overthrown by General Franco and his Nationalist movement.

Following World War II, Spain suffered the disastrous effects of an international blockade as a result of Franco’s support of the Axis. It was not until after Franco’s death in 1975, that democracy in Spain was restored under the non-ruling monarchy of King Juan Carlos II.

Spanish government was decentralised and Andalucía became an Autonomous Region in 1982, with its own regional administration, the Junta de Andalucía. Since then, Spain has experienced a dramatic transition into the booming country we know today.