The origins of Martos date back to prehistory. The development of a town in this location is undoubtedly due to the existence of the much earlier population nucleus of La Peña. Its strategic location, offering natural defenses, and abundant springs offering natural water sources were the determining factors that led to human settlement on its slopes. Despite the defense that La Peña offered, different civilizations that have passed through this human settlement have reinforced it with new defensive constructions.

The first indications of human presence in Mancha Real date to the Paleolithic era, in the settlement of El Soguero. During the Neolithic era (fifth and fourth millennium BC) and in the Bronze Age (third millennium BC) there were abundant settlements in this area, including those of Piedras Gil, Cerro Moreno, Cerro Alcalá and Peñaflor.

History of Jamilena

Since its periodic Paleolithic settlement, Porcuna has been uninterruptedly occupied by numerous settlers throughout Prehistory (Neolithic, Copper and Bronze), Protohistory (final Bronze, Ancient Iron), the Turdula period, whenit was the city-state of IbolcaTúrdula

History of Villanueva de la Reina

The history of Villanueva de la Reina dates back to the Lower Paleolithic era, as testified by vestiges found on terraces of the Guadalquivir River. The settlement of La Crujía farmhouse is an archaeological site dating to the Neolithic era. Human presence during the Iberian era is also evidence by settlements and the discovery of abundant ancient Iberian ceramics.

Andalucia is the quintessence of Spain and yet, historically and culturally, it is surprisingly unlike the rest of the country. Its literary history began to develop with the Romans and reached an early flowering when Arabic poets drew on centuries of literary tradition, together with the landscapes and passions of Moorish Spain.

As Islam and the West prepare to clash once again, Jason Webster embarks on a quest to discover Spain's hidden Moorish legacy and lift the lid on a country once forged by both Muslims and Christians.

Soon after their arrival in Spain the authors realized that the early Muslim art of Seville was curiously different from that of Cordova. This fascinated them and they undertook eight years of study in Seville, making use of the resources available to them in the city's libraries to bring their audience this history of the Muslims in Spain, first published in 1912.

The Alhambra, the 'red fort' on its rocky hill above Granada, with its fountained courts and gardens, and intricate decoration, has long been a byword for exotic and melancholy beauty. In a stimulating new book in the 'Wonders of the World' series Robert Irwin, Arabist and novelist, examines its engrossing and often mysterious history.

William Kirkpatrick of Málaga was a leading figure in the foreign community in Southern Spain between 1790 and 1830. US Consul, industrialist, and famously the grandfather of the Empress Eugenie.

It was 1934 and a young man walked to London from the security of the Cotswolds to make his fortune. He was to live by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. Then, knowing one Spanish phrase, he decided to see Spain. For a year he tramped through a country in which the signs of impending civil war were clearly visible.

This book is the first published English-language translation of the significant "History of Islamic Spain" by Ibn al-Qutiyyah (d. Cordoba 367 / 977). Including extensive notes and comments, a genealogical table and relevant maps, the text is preceded by a study of the author and his work.

The sierras of this book are the Serrania de Ronda merging with the Sierra de Grazalema and the highlands of the province of Cádiz. Author Alastair Boyd first came to the region in the late fifties and made a series of journeys by horse into the surrounding countryside which were magically captured in his book The Road from Ronda. He returned to Ronda in the nineties to see if the Arcadia that he had discovered all those years ago still existed.

This title presents the story of the passion and intensity of Flamenco, the culture of a dance, the death of a legend...In 1992, the greatest Flamenco artist of all time died at the age of 41 as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.

Yet, Camaron de la Isla is still known as the 'Flamenco Beatle', the singer who rescued this dramatic music from the clutches of General Franco and gave it back to the streets.

"A Season in Granada" brings together poems, essays and excerpts from letters by the great twentieth-century poet Federico Garcia Lorca, including two sequences of poems and an essay previously unpublished in English.

A garden at the foot of Europe and a crossroads between Spain, Africa and the New World, Andalucia has been a cultural customs house on the border of the Mediterranean and Atlantic civilizations for more than ten thousand years.

Some years have passed since eminent biologist and anthropologist Clive Finlayson graced the book list with his striking ornithological studies in the classic best-seller Birds of Iberia. He now returns with an evocative, wonderfully illustrated, personal tribute to the Iberian Peninsula, embracing history, geography and ecology, which he modestly sums up as "the story of olives, tuna, cork forests, vultures, wolves and humans".

Renowned writer and researcher Paco Sevilla, aware of the great wealth of flamenco knowledge available but inaccessible because of language barriers, sets out to produce a readable history around the lives of great artists from the early years. Seeking Silverio is certainly that.

Danger, not beaches, drew 19th century tourists to southern Spain. Andalucia was one of the notorious bandit areas of Europe, where encounters with latter-day Robin Hoods added drama to the romantic landscape. The remote mountainsides around La Alpujarra, Serrania de Ronda and Sierra Morena provided shelter for these desperados.

Wine has been produced in Malaga province since Phoenician times, and the tradition was famously continued by the Romans, and subsequently the Moors for medicinal purposes. After the reconquest of Malaga in 1487 the Catholic Monarchs realised that wine was useful in keeping the city's residents happy, and they helped establish the Hermandad Sacramental de Viñeros.