Phoenician influence in the Seville area gave rise to the fabled ancient culture of Tartessos, when iron replaced bronze in Andalucía and a new method of working gold was developed. The Roman town of Hispalis was founded in the mid-2nd century BC. Visigothic Hispalis was a bit of a cultural center, especially in the time of its leading scholar, St Isidoro from 565 AD to 636 AD. The Muslims took the city and called it Ishbiliya. After the collapse of the Córdoba Caliphate in 1031, Seville became the most powerful of the taifa states into which Al-Andalus broke up. By 1078, it held sway from the Algarve to Murcia, with its Abbadid dynasty rulers Al-Mutadid and Al-Mutamid presiding over a hedonistic court in their Alcáz. The Almohad caliph Yacoub Yousouf named Seville capital of his entire realm, which stretched as far east as Tunisia, and built a great mosque where the cathedral now stands. His successor Yacoub Yousouf al-Mansour added the Giralda tower and thrashed the Christian armies at Alarcos in 1195. The Christians, however, bounced back with their pivotal victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. Almohad power eventually dwindled and Castilla's Fernando III El Santo captured several major Andalucían cities, including Seville, after two years' siege in 1248. Fernando brought an entourage of 24,000 Castilian settlers to Seville, and, by the 14th century, it was the most important Castilian city.

Seville's biggest break followed the discovery of the Americas in 1492. In 1503, the city was granted a monopoly on Spanish trade with the new continent and rapidly became one of the richest, most cosmopolitan cities in Europe. Even though little Madrid was named the capital in 1561, Seville remained Spain's major hub well into the 17th century. Lavish Renaissance and baroque buildings blossomed, and many stars of Spain's artistic golden age - Zubarán, Murillo, Juan de Valdés Leal - were based here. A plague killed half the city's population in 1649. In 1717 the Casa de la Contratación, which controlled commerce with the Americas, was transferred to Cádiz. Another plague in 1800 ravaged 13,000 Sevillians. A limited prosperity resurfaced for a short breath in the mid-19th century with early industrialization. Middle-class optimism was expressed by Seville's first great international fair, the Exposición Iberoamericana in 1929, but the civil war swiftly dashed everyone's hopes. The city fell quickly to the Nationalists at the start of the war despite resistance in working class barrios. Urban development in Franco's time did little for the look and feel of the city, with the demolition of numerous historic buildings. The city received a huge boost from the 1992 Expo World Fair, which was timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America.