Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cadiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. According to the 2010 census, the city has a population of 149,410 inhabitants. The city has been inhabited since 3000 BC. The town is home to Recreativo de Huelva, the oldest football club in Spain.
A maritime town between the rivers Guadiana and Guadalquivir, it was seated on the estuary of the River Odiel, and on the road from the mouth of the Anas to Augusta Emerita (modern Mérida).[1]
The city may be the site of Tartessus; by the Phoenicians it was called Onoba. The Greeks kept the name and rendered it Ὄνοβα. It was in the hands of the Turdetani at the time of conquest by Rome, and before the conquest it issued silver coins with Iberian legends. It was called both Onoba Aestuaria[2] or Onuba (used on coinage) during Roman times, or, simply, Onoba.[3] The city was incorporated into the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. The Arabs then called it Walbah and ruled between 712-1250. It suffered substantial damage in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
There are still some Roman remains. The city had a mint; and many coins have been found there bearing the name of the town as Onuba.[4] Modern ihabitants are called Onubenses in Spanish.
Mines in the countryside send copper and pyrite to the port for export. From about 1873, the most important company in the area was Rio Tinto, the British mining firm.[5]
During World War II, the city was a hub of espionage activities led by members of the large British and German communities. German activity centered on reporting British shipping moving in and out of the Atlantic. Most famously, the city was the location where Operation Mincemeat allowed a body carrying false information to wash ashore.[5]
The body of Glyndwr Michael, the fictional "Major William Martin, Royal Marines," is buried in the San Marco section of the cemetery of Nuestra Senora under a headstone that reads "William Martin, born 29 March 1907, died 24 April 1943, beloved son of John Glyndwyr and the late Antonia Martin of Cardiff, Wales, DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI, R.I.P."[5]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission in January 1998 added an inscription to the gravestone which reads, "Glyndwr Michael served as Major William Martin."[6]
On October 11, 2005, Hurricane Vince made landfall in Huelva as a tropical depression.
Modern Huelva
The local football club, Recreativo de Huelva, is the oldest in Spain. It was founded in 1889 by workers of Rio Tinto Group, a British mining company.
The Port of Huelva is divided in two sectors: the inner port (in the city) and the outer port (the main one)
Inner Port (one wharf). Constructed in 1972, the East Wharf, replaced constructed harbour facilities of inferior quality between 1900 and 1910. At the moment it is the wharf used for smaller traffic including tourist boats.
Outer Port (six wharves). Was built starting in 1965, to the south of the River Tinto.