The Guadalupe or Guadalupejo is a river in the west of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, a right-bank tributary of the

Guadiana The Guadiana River ( , , , ) is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from la Mancha and the e ...

, which discharges into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. Its course runs through the Spanish provinces of Cáceres and

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

Course

The Guadalupe has its source in the place of Pedreras de los Hollicios, near

La Villuerca La Villuerca, also known as ''Risco de la Villuerca'', ''Pico la Villuerca'' and ''Pico de las Villuercas'', is the highest peak of the Sierra de Villuercas mountain range in Spain, also known as ''Sierra de Guadalupe''. It is located 6 km wes ...

. It flows southwards into the

at the

García Sola Reservoir The García Sola Reservoir is a reservoir located in the town of Castilblanco in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. Created by damming the Guadiana river The Guadiana River ( , , , ) is an international river defining a long s ...

, barely 1.5 km east of Valdecaballeros. There is an abandoned

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

, the

Valdecaballeros Nuclear Power Plant Valdecaballeros Nuclear Power Plant is an abandoned nuclear power plant in the Valdecaballeros municipality, Badajoz Province, Extremadura, Spain. It was under construction in 1983 when the Spanish nuclear power expansion program was cancelled f ...

, as well as a small dam near its mouth.

Etymology

The name is believed to be derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

phrase , or "river of the core", because the river narrows down as it flows near to the town of Guadalupe. An alternative etymological explanation, which is commonly found on the internet, states that the name may have derived from the Arabic word for 'valley' or 'river' (''wadi'') and the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''lupus'', meaning 'wolf'. Some find it unlikely that Arabic and Latin would be combined in this way, and suggest as an alternative the Arabic "Wadi-al-lub", signifying a river with black stones in its bed.Stoudemire, Sterling A. (March 1978). "Santiago, Guadalupe, Pilar: Spanish Shrines/Spanish Names". Names. 26 (1): 17. doi:10.1179/nam.1978.26.1.9 Another possibility is that it comes from وادي الحب, wādī al-hubb, meaning "River of Love". The river gives its name to the town of Guadalupe, and by extension to the monastery of

Santa María de Guadalupe The Royal Monastery of Saint Mary of Guadalupe () is a Roman Catholic monastic establishment built during the 14th century located in Guadalupe, in Extremadura, Spain. It is located at the foot of the eastern side of the Sierra de las Villuerca ...

. The Francization of the toponym gave its name to the

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

island in the Caribbean.

References

External links

Rivers of Spain Rivers of Extremadura Our Lady of Guadalupe Tributaries of the Guadiana River {{Spain-river-stub

Course

Etymology

See also

References

External links