Guadiana Information & Guadiana Links at HealthHaven.com

Guadiana river

Guadiana basin

The Guadiana near Serpa, Portugal.

Guadiana mouth, Portugal on the left, Spain on the right

Guadiana (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwaðiˈana], Portuguese: [ɡwɐdiˈɐnɐ]), or Odiana, is one of the major rivers of Spain and Portugal. It forms part of the border between the two countries, separating Extremadura and Andalucia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal).

The etymology of the name is the Arabic: Wadi Ana‎, meaning "River Ana", where the word Ana is not Arabic but instead part of the original Latin name Fluminus Anae (or Anas), meaning "River of Ducks" (/anae/).

The Guadiana is 742 kilometers long and has a drainage basin of about 67,000 square kilometers. There is controversy about the exact source of the river in Castilla-La Mancha (see Lagunas de Ruidera). The river flows east to west through Spain, then it flows south through Portugal. It flows into the Gulf of Cádiz, part of the Atlantic Ocean, between Vila Real de Santo António (Portugal) and Ayamonte (Spain)..

Badajoz and Mérida, Spain, are the largest cities on the river. The largest Portuguese cities along the Guadiana are: Elvas, Moura, Serpa and Vila Real de Santo António. The latter is 2 km from its mouth. There are over thirty dams on the river basin,^[1] the largest of which is the Alqueva Dam, near Moura, in the Beja District.