Guadalquivir Basin
Guadalquivir (ancient Baetis), is rising in the
Sierra de Cazorla in SE Spain. It flows 602 km (374 mi), generally
southwest, past Córdoba and Seville to Sanlúcar
de Barrameda, where it empties into the Gulf of Cádiz,
an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. In its middle course it flows through
a populous fertile region at the foot of the Sierra Morena, where
it is used extensively for irrigation. The area has a rich variety of
plant life. For the 64 km (40 mi) between the town of Coria del Río
and the mouth of the river, the Guadalquivir traverses a region of tidal
marshes called Las Marismas.
Did
you know it ?
* The river's name derives
from the Arabic Wadi al-Kabir ("Great River"), the name given
to it by the Moorish rulers of Córdoba from the 8th century onwards.
* Supplied by rainwater in the winter and by the melting snows of the
Sierra Nevada in the summer, the river maintains a full flow throughout
the year, providing essential irrigation water and hydroelectric power.
* During the Moorish occupation of Spain in the Middle Ages, the river
was navigable as far as Córdoba; now, as a result of silt accumulation,
it is navigable no farther upstream than the city of Seville, a distance
of about 80 km (50 mi) where the river is canalized.
