According to Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 28, the native people of Tartessians or Turdetanians called the river by two names: Certis (Kertis) and Rherkēs (Ῥέρκης).

During a significant portion of the Holocene, the western Guadalquivir valley was occupied by an inland sea, the Tartessian Gulf.

The ancient city of Tartessos (that gave its name to the Tartessian Civilization) was said to have been located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, although its site has not yet been found.

By the 1st century BC, Hispalis was a walled city with shipyards building longboats to carry wheat.

During the Arab rule between 712 and 1248 the Moors built a stone dock and the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold), to reinforce the port defences.

In the 13th century Ferdinand III expanded the shipyards and from Seville's busy port, grain, oil, wine, wool, leather, cheese, honey, wax, nuts and dried fruit, salted fish, metal, silk, linen and dye were exported throughout Europe.

During the late 18th century, a long series of works was started to again provide Seville with a good connection to the sea.

The construction of the canal known as the Corta de Merlina in 1794 marked the beginning of the modernisation of the port of Seville.

After five years of work (2005–2010), in late November 2010 the new Seville lock designed to regulate tides was finally in operation.

Main imports like iron and wood, were also cheaper in Córdoba than in cities that lacked aquatic transport.

[12] In 1524 Fernán Pérez de Oliva made a famous speech about navigation between Sevilla and Córdoba.

Perez de Oliva proposed to build locks in these weirs as a preliminary measure to restore navigation.

During the winter of 2010 heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in rural and agricultural areas in the provinces of Seville, Córdoba and Jaén in the Andalusia region.

[18] The El Tranco de Beas Dam at the head of the river was built between 1929 and 1944 as a hydroelectricity project of the Franco regime.

Doña Aldonza Dam is located in the Guadalquivir riverbed, in the Andalusian municipalities of Úbeda, Peal de Becerro and Torreperogil in the province of Jaén.