Origins of the name Andalucia
Andalucia is an historical region of southern Spain made up of 8 provinces. It is the regional birthplace of flamenco. ANDALUSIA is the
alternative spelling.
The origin of the name is obscure.
The Arabs who invaded Spain in the 8th century called their newly conquered territory Al-Andalus, which in the early days covered most of
the Iberian Peninsula including Portugal. This apparently had several meanings, one of them being, "to become green after a long summer or
drought".
The name Al-Andalus has been loosely interpreted as "Land of the Vandals". In the 5th century, the Vandals were one of the Germanic
barbarian tribes who effectively ended five hundred years of Roman rule in Spain. Even though they were active in the region for only about
20 years, they looted and killed as they went and literally vandalized the country. The theory goes that the word "Vandals "somehow magically evolved into "V-Andalus" (or perhaps even
"Vandalusia"), and from that to "Al-Andalus". A more recent
theory suggests that "Al-Andalus" is an Arabization of the Visigothic term for Gothic Kingdom
"landa-hlauts". The Visigoths were another Germanic tribe who invaded in 468 and dominated the
Peninsula until the Islamic invasion in 711.
Andalucia
