HUELVA (the ancient Onuba, Onoba or Onuba Aestuaria) the capital of the Spanish province of Huelva, about so m. frorr. the Atlantic ocean, on the left bank of the river Odiel, and or the Seville-Huelva, Merida-Huelva and Rio Tinto-Huelva rail. ways, the last-named being a narrow-gauge line. Pop. (193o) 44,872. Huelva is built on the western shore of a triangular peninsula formed by the estuaries of the Odiel and Tinto, which meet below the town. Huelva was originally a Carthaginian trading-station, and afterwards a Roman colony. The colossa] statue of Columbus was erected in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of his voyage which began and ended in the village of Palos de la Frontera on the Tinto. Columbus resided in the neighbouring Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria la Rabida after his original plans for the voyage had been rejected by King John II. of Portugal in 1484. The present town is modern in appearance, and owes its prosperity to a transit trade in copper and other ores, for which it is the port of shipment. After 1872, when the famous Rio Tinto copper mines were for the first time properly exploited, it progressed rapidly in size and wealth. Besides exporting copper, manganese and other minerals, Huelva is the headquarters of the sardine, tunny and bonito fisheries, and of a trade in grain, grapes, olives and cork. The copper and cork industries are mainly in British hands, and the bulk of the imports, which consist chiefly of coal, iron and steel and machinery, comes from Great Britain. Foodstuffs and Aus tralian hardwood are also imported.