Alcalá's population is over 75,000 inhabitants and has been constantly growing during almost the whole last century and the present one. The population growing rhythm is approximately of eight new inhabitants every day. It is due not only to the registered higher birth rate but also to the arrival of new inhabitants coming usually from the metropolitan surroundings of Seville city. The figures of population turn Alcalá into the third town of Seville's province regarding its volume of population, behind the capital city and Dos Hermanas.
The average age of Alcalá's population is 35.6 years, younger than the one in the surrounding areas, 36.9 years. This singularity is due to the high number of people with ages between 0 and 14 years; 17.7 of every hundred of inhabitants belong to this age range; 23,04 % is younger than 20 years; 11.12 % of inhabitants are older than 65 years.
The municipal district has a 29,000-hectare extension. It is a vast district, one of the greatest of the province of Seville. It is located at the Guadalquivir Valley, at the north side of the great Andalusian River and is crossed by the River Guadaíra.
At its southern area it is close to the first foothills of the Southern Mountain Range (Sierra Sur) of Seville that starts rising over the valley's relief at the neighbour municipality of Morón.
Alcalá de Guadaíra's municipality is located 10 kilometres Southeast of Seville city and has 48 meters of altitude above sea level. At North it borders on Seville and Carmona, at Northwest on Mairena del Alcor, at East on Carmona and Arahal, at South on Utrera, Los Molares and Los Palacios and at West on Dos Hermanas.
The average maximum and minimum temperatures along the year are 24.7º C and 11.2º C, respectively. The weather is dry and sunny days are more than frequent along the whole year. In winter the weather is mild and in summer registered temperatures are over 40 centigrades. August is the warmest month and January, the coldest.
The abundance of companies at the municipality makes it one of the most prominent regarding this aspect of Andalusia. It provides personality and features of its own to the municipality where the entrepreneurial culture has a singular force and originates high rates of creation of new entrepreneurial initiatives. As a whole there are about 5,000 companies; 3,000 of them are located at the industrial parks and the rest in the historic quarter.
The town has a network of green spaces that is considerably over the average percentage of its surroundings, so it becomes a very interesting place for nature lovers. The River Guadaíra crosses the urban area, but it has generated at its banks some beautiful walks that have been kept on without urbanizing. The entire river environment has been set out as parks that can be easily walked by and full of lush vegetation.
It is an interesting example of riparian forest, with few remains in Andalusia. If we get a bit more inside and closer to the urban area, we find the Oromana Pine Forest, a very beautiful forest of Mediterranean pines. The town framework contains also spots of green smaller areas, with parks like the ones of Rabesa, Centro Park or Blas Infante.
Many elders of our area know our town under this name. This was the name won for the city by the bakers that supplied bread to Seville for many years. Bread was the main industry of the locality during many years and from its bakeries the bread pieces famous all over Spain because their quality went out. Besides making bread, it was necessary taking it to Seville. This was done firstly on mules and at a later time by train, generating a kind of characteristic bread that is a part of the local idiosyncrasy. Bread is the product par excellence of the locality and it is known and acknowledged because its quality.
Alcalá is also known as the town of landscapes. Those who visit it and walk through it will understand why. Its singular orography with several hills here and there, below them the River Guadaíra flows, helping to create unique perspectives and high spaces that become viewpoints of the town. This natural jewel, always a reason of pride for Alcalá's people, was discovered by the Sevillian painters of early 20th century, and so they created Sevillian Landscape School, having Alcalá like a source of inspiration and pictures to be materialized on their canvas. That's why Alcalá's link to painting and particularly to landscape themes has been and still is very intense.
Alcalá's History richness dates back to Prehistoric times. Its land has been occupied by several peoples ever since in an uninterrupted way. The first Alcalá's inhabitants could have been living here 400,000 years ago. A human settlement was installed in Gandul in the Chalcolithic Period (Copper Age), being considered the first human occupation consolidated in this territory. It was in this place where Alcalá's people lived until the Roman period, configuring a town with a set of villae around that exploited the rich lands around.
Along the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the zone centralized at the Castle area. Firstly the Muslims and then the Christians fortified the hill in order to dwell there in a secure way and transform it into Seville's defensive bastion. The pacification of the territory brought Alcalá's people to live on the plain, moving progressively down from the hill to occupy the present-day urban area. The town used to be linked to the rural world until it got incorporated, as a pioneer in Andalusia, to industrialization at sectors as olive and bakery firstly and then diversifying its offer to reach nowadays reality and become a strong town of the metropolitan area of Seville.
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