Andújar

Andújar
Municipality
City Hall of Andújar
Flag Coat of arms
Andújar
Coordinates: 38°2′N 4°3′W / 38.033°N 4.050°W / 38.033; -4.050
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Andalusia
Province	Jaén
Government
Population (2005)
• Total	38,539
Demonym(s)	Andujareño/a, iliturgitano/a
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC)
Official language(s)	Spanish
Website	Official website

Andújar is a Spanish municipality of 38,539 people (2005) in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andújar is situated. To the south are agricultural fields and countryside. The city proper located on the right bank of the Guadalquivir and the Madrid-Córdoba railway. Andújar is widely known for its porous earthenware jars, called alcarrazas or botijos, which keep water cool in the hottest weather, and are manufactured from a whitish clay found in the neighbourhood.

Paleolithic artifacts have been found in the area, associated with the Acheulean Culture, but it is during the Neolithic Age when the area became increasingly populated, with agriculture being developed in the fertile land, and mining activities beginning in the Sierra Morena. According to archaeological studies, the first people who inhabited the area where the Oretani, an Iberian people, who founded in the area the town of Isturgi, today occupied by the hamlet of Los Villares de Andújar.

Isturgi should not be identified with the ancient town of Illiturgis, which was situated on the hill called Máquiz (Mengíbar). Nevertheless, iliturgitano is used to describe an inhabitant of Andújar. Isturgi had contact with various peoples: Turdetani, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and other towns, such as Obulco (Porcuna) and Castulo.