Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in southern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in the province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the

Hoya of Guadix The Hoya of Guadix ( es, Hoya de Guadix) is a natural plain in the northern part of the province of Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It covers some , and is formed by the basins of the rivers Fardes and Guadix. It is surrounded by the heights of the ...

, a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is located on the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Valdepeñas Valdepeñas is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is also the seat of the judicial district that covers the localities of Moral de Calatrava, Santa Cruz de Mudela, Viso d ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. The city was once famous for its cutlery; but its modern manufactures (chiefly earthenware, hempen goods, and hats) are relatively unimportant. It has some trade in wool, cotton, flax, corn and liqueurs. The warm mineral springs of

Cortes y Graena Cortes y Graena is a municipality in the province of Granada, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Furt ...

, much frequented during the summer, are 6 miles west.

History

Ancient

Guadix el Viejo, 6 km northwest, was the Roman Acci (also ''Accitum'') mentioned in Pliny's Natural History and as Akki by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

, who placed it among the

Bastetani The Bastetani or Bastuli were an ancient Iberian (pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania). They are believed to have spoken the Iberian language. The relationship between the Iberian Bastetani and the Tartessian Mastieni ...

, whose capital was Basti. It is not known for certain whether it is of Phoenician or of early Spanish origin. According to Macrobius, the primitive inhabitants paid homage to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

under the name of Neton.

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

established the Roman colony called Julia Gemella. According to tradition, it was the seat of the first bishopric in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

, in the 2nd century.

From the Moors to the ''Reconquista''

After 711 it rose to some importance as a Moorish fortress and trading station, renamed Wadi 'Ashi ("the

Wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

of Acci"). During this period, Guadix was home to Ḥamda bint Ziyād, one of medieval Granada's foremost women poets. Guadix was the site of the Battle of Guadix in January 1362 in which a small Castilian army was routed by the forces of

Muhammed VI, Sultan of Granada Abu Abdullah Muhammad VI ibn Ismail (, 133227 April 1362), also known by his Castilian nickname el Bermejo ("The Red One") and the regnal names al-Ghālib bi 'llāh ( ar, الغالب بالله, , Victor by the Grace of God) and al-Mutawakk ...

. It was surrendered without a siege to the Spaniards, under Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1489.

Modern

The novelist

Pedro Antonio de Alarcón Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza (10 March 183319 July 1891) was a nineteenth-century Spanish novelist, known best for his novel '' El sombrero de tres picos'' (1874), an adaptation of popular traditions which provides a description of village ...

, author of ''

El sombrero de tres picos ''El sombrero de tres picos'' (''The Three-Cornered Hat'' or ''Le tricorne'') is a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Manuel de Falla. It was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev and premiered in 1919. It is not only a ballet with ...

'', was born in Guadix in 1833. The 19th and 20th centuries saw a period of economic crisis for the town. Currently Guadix is a center of production of fruit (strawberries), cereals, vegetables, as well as a minor tourist center.

Main sights

Guadix Cathedral Guadix Cathedral, Cathedral of Guadix, or Cathedral of the Incarnation ( es, Catedral de la Encarnación de Guadix) is a Roman Catholic church architecture, church in Guadix, province of Granada, Spain. Construction of the building began in the 1 ...

(16th-18th centuries), built over a Moorish mosque in Gothic-Renaissance style. The façade is in Baroque style. *Church of St. Augustine (18th century), *Church of Santiago (1540), with a

Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance ...

portal *Convent and church of the Conception * Alcazaba, a Moorish fortress commanding the town *Barrio de Santiago, a neighborhood characterized by troglodyte houses carved in tuff rocks. Andalucía Guadix LasCuevas1 tango7174

Notable people

Pedro de Mendoza Pedro de Mendoza () (c. 1499 – June 23, 1537) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', soldier and explorer, and the first ''adelantado'' of New Andalusia. Setting sail Pedro de Mendoza was born in Guadix, Grenada, part of a large noble family that ...

* Antonio Mira de Amescua * Gaspar de Ávalos de la Cueva *

Ibn Tufayl Ibn Ṭufail (full Arabic name: ; Latinized form: ''Abubacer Aben Tofail''; Anglicized form: ''Abubekar'' or ''Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail''; c. 1105 – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theo ...

International relations

;Twin towns — Sister cities Guadix is twinned with: *

Celanova Celanova is a town and municipality located in the province of Ourense, Galicia, Northern Spain. Situated near the border with Portugal, the municipality is bordered by Ramirás, Cartelle, A Merca, A Bola, Verea and Quintela de Leirado. ...

, Spain (since 2006). *

L'Arboç L'Arboç () is a village in the province of Tarragona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. L'Arboç contains a half-scale replica of the La Giralda in Seville. The building also contains copies of the Court of the Lions The Court of th ...

, Spain (since 2019). Guadix has also reached a "green-twinning" agreement with

Piaseczno Piaseczno is a town in east-central Poland with 47,660 inhabitants. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship, within the Warsaw metropolitan area, just south of Warsaw, approximately south of its center. It is a popular residential area and ...

, Poland.

References

External links

Ayuntamiento de GuadixCartography and aerial pictures of Guadix and Surroundings
{{Authority control Municipalities in the Province of Granada