diff --git a/amqpy/connection.py b/amqpy/connection.py
index a27ca75..cb88e41 100644
--- a/amqpy/connection.py
+++ b/amqpy/connection.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 """
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
+from future.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse, unquote
+
 __metaclass__ = type
 import logging
 import socket
@@ -55,7 +57,13 @@ def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=5672, ssl=None, connect_timeout=None,
         If you are using SSL, make sure the correct port number is specified (usually 5671), as the
         default of 5672 is for non-SSL connections.
 
-        :param str host: host
+        You can define an AMQP connection string as the host, this will be used to set
+        the `host`, `port`, `userid`, `password` and `virtual_host`. The connection string follows
+        this format:
+
+            `amqp://[userid:password@]host[:port][/virtual_host]`
+
+        :param str host: host or amqp connection string
         :param int port: port
         :param ssl: dict of SSL options passed to :func:`ssl.wrap_socket()`, None to disable SSL
         :param float connect_timeout: connect timeout
@@ -111,6 +119,15 @@ def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=5672, ssl=None, connect_timeout=None,
         self._heartbeat_final = 0  # final heartbeat interval after negotiation
         self._heartbeat_server = None
 
+        # detect amqp connection string
+        if host.startswith('amqp://'):
+            parts = urlparse("http://" + host[7:])
+            host = unquote(parts.hostname or '') or None
+            port = parts.port or 5672
+            userid = unquote(parts.username or '') or 'guest'
+            password = unquote(parts.password or '') or 'guest'
+            virtual_host = unquote(parts.path[1:] or '/')
+
         # save connection parameters
         self._host = host
         self._port = port
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b7d8f8a..d6e83e9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -58,7 +58,10 @@ def long_description():
     packages=find_packages(exclude=['ez_setup', 'tests', 'tests.*']),
     package_data=package_data,
     setup_requires=['six>=1.0'],
-    install_requires=['six>=1.0'],
+    install_requires=[
+        'six>=1.0',
+        'future>=0.16.0',
+    ],
     tests_require=['pytest>=2.6'],
     classifiers=classifiers,
     keywords=keywords