As of 2022, Seville has a population of approximately 701,000[update] and a metropolitan population of approximately 1.5 million, making it the largest city in Andalusia, the fourth largest city in Spain and the 26th most populous municipality in Europe
Union.
Its 4 square kilometer old town includes a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of three buildings: the Alcazar palace complex, the Cathedral and the Archives General of India.
Seville Harbour, located approximately 80 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, is Spain's only river port.
The Andalusian capital is hot in the summer, with daytime highs typically exceeding 35°C in July and August.
Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis.
Known as Ishbilia after the Islamic conquest in 711, Seville became the center of the independent Seville Taifa after the collapse of the Cordoba Caliphate in the early 11th century;
Thanks to its role as the gateway to the transatlantic trade of the Spanish Empire, ruled from the Casa de Contratación, Seville became one of the largest cities in Western Europe.
Europe in the 16th century.
The 17th century in Seville, coinciding with the Baroque period, marked the most brilliant flowering of urban culture;
The 20th century in Seville witnessed the tribulations of the Spanish Civil War, decisive cultural milestones such as the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition and Expo 92, and the city's election as capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Hisbaal is the oldest name of Seville.
It appears to have originated during the Phoenician colonization of the Tartessian culture in southwestern Iberia and refers to the god Baal.
According to Manuel Pellicer Catalan, the ancient name was Spal, and in Phoenician it meant "lowland".
During Roman rule the name was Latinized as Hispal and later as Hispalis.
After the Umayyad invasion, the name remained in use among the Mozarabs, being adapted into Arabic as Ishbiliya: since the phoneme /p/ does not exist in Arabic, it was replaced by /b/;
The Latin placename suffix -is was Arabized as -iya, and /æ/ became ī /iː/ due to a phonetic phenomenon called imala.