Palos de la Frontera

Palos de la Frontera is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some 13km from the provincial capital, Huelva. According to the 2015 census, the city had a population of 10,365. It is most famous for being the place from which Columbus set sail in 1492, eventually reaching America.HistoryThe official date of foundation for Palos is 1322, when the town was granted to Alonso Carro and Carro's wife Berenguela Gómez by Alfonso XI of Castile, although the town may have been occupied during earlier centuries by Paleolithic, Tartessian, Roman, Visigothic, and Muslim inhabitants. Palos' name is derived from the Latin word palus (“lagoon”). It acquired its “surname” as Palos de la Frontera in May 1642.At the time of its establishment as a town by Alfonso XI, Palos was part of the Almohad kingdom of Niebla, and was a small nucleus whose population subsisted on fishing and took advantage of the area’s geographic protection against pirates and storms.