VENUE
The original name of the city was Onuba. We owe the current name of the city and province to the Arabs who called the
city Welbah.
Although the official name for those born in Huelva is “onubense”, people from Huelva call themselves “choqueros”, from
the word “choco” a type of squid that is very popular. You shouldn’t leave the city without trying “chocos fritos”!
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake caused a tsunami that destroyed most of the buildings in the city. Of the significant buildings
in the city only the Iglesia de la Soledad and Iglesia de la Concepción survived (with damages). Other buildings in the city
(Casa Colón, The City Hall, Barrio Reina Victoria, etc.) were built at a later date.
In the Cementario de la Soledad (the local cementery) lies the body of William Martin, a supposed naval commander,
known as 'the man who never existed'. During the Second World War, the Allies wanted to distract German intelligence
from their planned landing in Sicily, ready for the invasion of Italy, by pretending that a similar landing would be taking
place elsewhere. The corpse of 'William Martin' was discovered by a fisherman on the beach of El Portil, near Huelva, and
he had documents on him hinting at a supposed Allied landing in Sardinia or Greece. The Allies' hope that the German
spies operating in Huelva at the time would believe the information and send it back to Germany was successful.
The Iberian Pyrite Belt (western Seville, Huelva, and southwestern Portugal) has the world's greatest concentration of
large massive sulphide deposits associated with volcanic rocks, to the point that Kuroko-type deposits are also known (at
least in Spanish) as ‘Huelva-type deposits’ in mineralogy manuals.
Huelva lies at the estuary formed by two rivers Odiel and Tinto. The Tinto River owes it name to its characteristic red
color due to the number of mineral deposits it contains. Scientists from NASA and the CSIC are researching the
possibilities of life on Mars based on the biota which currently exist in this extreme condition environment.
Four Tartessian burial mounds have been discovered recently in the Parque Moret, in the north of the city.
The British legacy in Huelva includes the introduction, in the 19th century, of sports such as tennis, golf and
soccer. The local soccer team “Club Recreativo de Huelva”, founded in 1889, is the oldest club in Spain. On the
other hand, the “Copa del Rey” tennis tournament is the oldest tennis competition in Spain. It was first held in
1912 and kept its name even when there was no monarchy in Spain.
city Welbah.
Although the official name for those born in Huelva is “onubense”, people from Huelva call themselves “choqueros”, from
the word “choco” a type of squid that is very popular. You shouldn’t leave the city without trying “chocos fritos”!
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake caused a tsunami that destroyed most of the buildings in the city. Of the significant buildings
in the city only the Iglesia de la Soledad and Iglesia de la Concepción survived (with damages). Other buildings in the city
(Casa Colón, The City Hall, Barrio Reina Victoria, etc.) were built at a later date.
In the Cementario de la Soledad (the local cementery) lies the body of William Martin, a supposed naval commander,
known as 'the man who never existed'. During the Second World War, the Allies wanted to distract German intelligence
from their planned landing in Sicily, ready for the invasion of Italy, by pretending that a similar landing would be taking
place elsewhere. The corpse of 'William Martin' was discovered by a fisherman on the beach of El Portil, near Huelva, and
he had documents on him hinting at a supposed Allied landing in Sardinia or Greece. The Allies' hope that the German
spies operating in Huelva at the time would believe the information and send it back to Germany was successful.
The Iberian Pyrite Belt (western Seville, Huelva, and southwestern Portugal) has the world's greatest concentration of
large massive sulphide deposits associated with volcanic rocks, to the point that Kuroko-type deposits are also known (at
least in Spanish) as ‘Huelva-type deposits’ in mineralogy manuals.
Huelva lies at the estuary formed by two rivers Odiel and Tinto. The Tinto River owes it name to its characteristic red
color due to the number of mineral deposits it contains. Scientists from NASA and the CSIC are researching the
possibilities of life on Mars based on the biota which currently exist in this extreme condition environment.
Four Tartessian burial mounds have been discovered recently in the Parque Moret, in the north of the city.
The British legacy in Huelva includes the introduction, in the 19th century, of sports such as tennis, golf and
soccer. The local soccer team “Club Recreativo de Huelva”, founded in 1889, is the oldest club in Spain. On the
other hand, the “Copa del Rey” tennis tournament is the oldest tennis competition in Spain. It was first held in
1912 and kept its name even when there was no monarchy in Spain.
