Andalucia is the sum of its ancient cultures, and also a pointer to where Europe is heading, a beacon for both wealthy north Europeans and refugees from the south, a garden of earthly delights for some, a terminal beach for others. This book traces its origins from the earliest hominid settlers in the Granada mountains 1.8 million years ago, through successive Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Muslim cultures, and the past five hundred years of modern Castilian rule, up to and including the present day of post-modern novelists in Córdoba and Sevilla, guerrilla urban archaeologists in Torremolinos and Marbella, and underground lo-fi bands in Granada and Malaga.