The Guadalupe or Guadalupejo river (Spanish: Río Guadalupe) is a right hand tributary of the Guadiana, in Spain. The Francization of the toponym gave its name to the Guadeloupe island in the Caribbeans.

Guadalupe (Río Guadalupe)
Guadalupejo
Guadiana basin
The watershed of the Guadiana
Location
CountrySpain
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationSierra de Villuercas,
Cáceres Province
Extremadura
 • elevation1,157 m (3,796 ft)
Mouth 
 • location
Garcia de Sola Dam, Guadiana
Valdecaballeros municipality, Badajoz Province
 • coordinates
39°14′15″N 5°8′58″W / 39.23750°N 5.14944°W / 39.23750; -5.14944
 • elevation
391 m (1,283 ft)
Length40.56 km (25.20 mi)
Basin features
ProgressionGuadiana - Atlantic Ocean
River systemGuadiana

Course

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The Guadalupe has its sources in the Sierra de Villuercas near Guadalupe, giving its name to the town, and by extension to the monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe.

It flows southwards into the Guadiana at the Garcia de Sola Dam, barely 1.5 km east of Valdecaballeros. There is an abandoned nuclear power plant, the Valdecaballeros Nuclear Power Plant, as well as a small dam near its mouth.[1]

Etymology

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The name is believed to be derived from the Arabic phrase وادي اللب, wādī al-lubb, 'hidden river', or "river of the core", because the river narrows down as it flows near to the town of Guadalupe.[citation needed]

An alternative etymological explanation, which is commonly found on the internet, states that the name may have derived from the Arabic word for 'valley' or 'river' (wadi) and the Latin word lupus, meaning 'wolf'.[2] Some find it unlikely that Arabic and Latin would be combined in this way, and suggest as an alternative the Arabic "Wadi-al-lub", signifying a river with black stones in its bed.[3]

Another possibility is that it comes from وادي الحب, wādī al-hubb, meaning "River of Love".

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Corredor Ecológico y de Biodiversidad Río Guadalupejo". Archived from the original on 2013-05-07. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
  2. ^ "St. Louis - News - The Mexican explains why Our Lady of Guadalupe is Muslim, sorta". Archived from the original on 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  3. ^ Stoudemire, Sterling A. (March 1978). "Santiago, Guadalupe, Pilar: Spanish Shrines/Spanish Names". Names. 26 (1): 17. doi:10.1179/nam.1978.26.1.9
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