Huelva | Cadiz, Rio Tinto Mines

Huelva is a port city located on the tidal estuary of the river Odiel, 62 miles (99km) northwest of Cadiz in the Andalucia Province of Spain.
It was known to the Romans as Onuba or Onoba and was in the Province of Baetica. It was on a Roman Road to Merida and at one point minted its own coins.

Huelva was a Phoenician Colony in the 9th century BCE.
A colony existed as early as 1250 BCE, but historians are divided as to whether this colony was Tartessian or Phoenician. Huelva has been identified with the Tartessos mentioned in Greek sources and the Biblical Tarshish.
Under the Romans the town was known as Onuba, and minted its own coins stamped ‘Onuba’.
In 1833 the town became the Provincial capital of the Province of Huelva.
Huelva is the port of export for the copper and pyrites produced at the Rio Tinto Mines.
It is a major fishing port for Tuna and Sardines.

Christopher Columbus discovered America on 12th October 1492, after having set sail from the port of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Spain) on the 3rd August 1492.
He sailed on the Carrack, ‘Nao Santa Maria’ accompanied by two caravels, the ‘Pinta’ and the Nina’.
A Museum, with replicas of the three ships lies at La Rabida, across the estuary from Huelva.

Meaning ‘Monument to the Discovering Faith’, the statue is located at the confluence of the Rio Tinto and Rio Odiel, near Huelva.
It is an 88 foot (27m) high monumental statue of the Franciscan friar who gave accommodation to Christopher Columbus whilst planning his voyage. It was sculpted in the Cubist style in 1929 by the American sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
There is some confusion as to whether the statue represents Christopher Columbus himself or the friar.

Rio Tinto Mines
- Nearby are the Mines of Rio Tinto, which are thought to have been the fabled King Solomon's Mines.
- Today, the mines produce copper and pyrites, exported through the port of Huelva.
Rio Tinto Mining Museum
- The Museum holds a collection of archeological artefacts, mining machinery and railway locomotives covering the period from pre-history until mining operations ended in 2001.

Huelva