Roman Elephants

With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Badajoz is the most populous municipality and the largest economic center in Extremadura. The city was founded around 875 by Ibn Marwan. Under his successors, was the capital of an emirate that encompassed the Spanish Extremadura and, in the 11th century, almost all of Portugal. In 1094 the city was conquered by the Almoravids.It was conquered in 1230 by Alfonso IX. and permanently taken from the Moors by León. The Museo Arqueológico Provincial was founded in 1867. Its headquarters are located on the site of the "Islamic citadel" in the highest part of Badajoz. Roman mosaic The human plays the harp and all the animals are listening to the music.

Málaga's history spans around 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. The city was founded around the 8th century BC by seafaring Phoenicians, who called the city Malaka. From the 6th century BC, the city was under the hegemony of ancient Carthage and from the Second Punic War (218 BC) under Roman rule. The city experienced an economic boom thanks to the production of garum. The Migration Period meant eventful years for Málaga. After the Vandals and the Alans, Visigoths and Eastern Romans fought for control. In 571, the city was briefly occupied by troops of the Visigothic king Leovigild, but it was not until around 616 that the Eastern Romans finally handed the city over to the Visigoths. The Moors conquered Málaga in 711 and the city gained importance in the 11th century when the Hammudids established one of their residences here. In 1053, the King of Granada had the last Hammudid caliph poisoned and conquered the city. After the conquest by the Catholic Monarchs in the course of the Reconquista in 1487, "reforms" began to transform the city into a Christian settlement. In Muslim times, the Jewish quarter was located in the eastern part of the city. In the 11th century, the city took in numerous Jews who had fled from the intolerant Berbers in Córdoba. In the middle of the 11th century, around 200 Jews lived in Málaga out of a population of around 20,000. After the city was conquered by Castile in 1487, all of Malaga's Jews were taken prisoner. Around 1490 it was decided that the city should be repopulated by Christians. Jews and Muslims had to leave Málaga within 15 days. Today Málaga is a city that lives very much from tourism and offers tourists a lot - for example museums The Museo de Málaga houses the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts) and the Museo Arqueológico Provincial (the Provincial Museum of Archaeology). The museum is located in the Palacio de la Aduana (Customs Palace), designed in 1788. The "Hoard of Cerro Colorado" probably contains the oldest coins ever produced in Iberia. During the Second Punic War, this hoard was hidden under the floor of a dwelling. Some coins are stamped with the most famous symbol of Carthage. the elephant.

In the Roman Empire, the city was known as "Emerita Augusta", the capital of the province of Lusitania. It was founded in 25 BC by Emperor Augustus as a colony for the veteran soldiers ("emeritus") of the Roman legions. The city was very important in Roman Hispania. It was endowed with all the comforts of a large Roman city and served as the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. For centuries, until the fall of the Roman Empire, Mérida was an important economic, military, and cultural center. Following invasions from the Visigoths, Mérida remained an important city of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the 6th century. In 713, the Arabs conquered the city and devastated it. Even under Islamic rule, Mérida remained a bishop's seat until it was moved to Santiago de Compostela in 1119. In 1230 the Christian troops under Alfonso IX conquered Mérida during the Reconquista. The National Museum of Roman Art exhibits extensive material from the archaeological ensemble of Mérida, one of the largest and most extensive archaeological sites in Spain. Mosaic 3rd or 4th century AD