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The river Guadalquivir has had a capital importance in the history of Seville, mainly by everything related to the discovery of America. Some centuries before, it had shown itself as a decisive element in any military operation of defense or conquest of Seville. We are telling now one of these:
Originally, the river had two channels, and one of them was running through the current Alameda, Trajano, Plaza Nueva, to deviate in Garcia de Vinuesa and flowed into the current channel close to where the Tower of Gold is now located. In the year 583, there was a Civil War in the Visigothic Kingdom between Leovigildo, of Arian religion, and his son Hermenegildo, converted to Christianity. Hermenegildo was in Seville, and his father Leovigildo came with his troops to besiege the city. Hermenegildo had asked the Byzantines for help to lift the siege, but the news reached Leovigildo’s ears who, in order to prevent the Byzantine fleet from reaching the city, and to ensure that Seville did not have access to the river water, used ashlars brought from Itálica to dry the course of the river, in a gigantic military maneuver.
The route of this old channel by the current city center explains, on the other hand, that remains of old ships have been found in the center of Seville.
In our Free Tour La Macarena: from Seville to Heaven, we visit the place where Hermenegildo was tortured after he was defeated in the war against his father.