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Ayamonte has a rich history, along with a young vibrant, expansive yet laid-back atmosphere set in an area of pines, oaks and cultivated, agricultural and hilly scrub-land.
Its situation on the Atlantic coast, its mild climate (relatively humid), its rich mining deposits and its advantages for settlers all explain why, centuries ago, Ayamonte and Huelva attracted a considerable wave of migrants, whose traces still remain to this day. In the city, and more especially in the province. One is struck by the legacy of the ancient peoples of the eastern Mediterranean - the Phoenicians and the Tartessians - whose royalty settled here. Tartessus (Atlantis) is still one of the unsolved mysteries of our past. The actual city has not yet been discovered, but traces of buildings and other objects have been found near Huelva, at the mouth of the Odiel and Rio Tinto rivers - remember the ancient Rio Tinto mines - at the mouth of Guadalquivir River, and in other places, such as Sevilla. These do not definitively prove that Tartessus really did exist, but demonstrate the existence of an ancient West Mediterranean culture, which could one day give us the answers to many questions about our past. |