Guadalete River

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Guadalete River in El Puerto de Santa Maria
Guadalete River in El Puerto de Santa Maria

The Guadalete River is a small stream located in the Spanish province of Cádiz, arising in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park at an elevation of about 1000 m, and running for 172 km into the Bay of Cádiz at El Puerto de Santa Maria, south of the city of Cádiz. The name of the River came from Arab "River of Forgetness"

Along the way, it flows by some of "White Villages" of Andalusia, such as Arcos de la Frontera. The "Sierra Greenway", a 36 km bicycle path reclaimed from an abandoned railroad line, also passes along the river.

The river was once the frontier between Christian and Moorish Iberia, receiving the sobriquet Río de los Muertos (river of the dead).

The River was the location of the Battle of Guadalete, at which the Visigothic army was defeated by an invading Muslim army, leading to the conquest of Iberia by the Ummayad Caliphate.