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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ARN-AUD |
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ASTURIAS , an ancient province and principality of northern Spain, bounded on the N. by the Bay -of Biscay, E. by .Old Castile, S. by Leon and W. by Galicia. Pop. (1900) 627;o69; area, 4205 sq. m. By the division of Spain in 1833, the province took the name of Oviedo, though not to the exclusion, in ordinary usage, of the older designation. A full description of its modern condition is therefore given under the heading Ov1Eno; the present article being confined to an account of its physical features, its history, and the resultant character of its inhabitants. Asturias consists of a portion of the northern slope of the Cantabrian Mountains,and is covered in all directions with offshoots from the main chain, by which it is almost completely shut in on the south. The higher summits., which often reach a height of 7000-8000 ft., are usually covered with snow until July or August, and the whole region is one of the wildest and most picturesque parts of Spain. Until the first railway was opened, in the middle of the ,9th century, few of the passes across the mountains were practicable for carriages, and most of them are difficult even for horses. A narrow strip of level moorland, covered with furze and rich in deposits of peat, coal and amber, stretches inland, from the edge of the sheer cliffs which line the coast, to the foot of the mountains. The province is watered by numerous streams and rivers, which have hollowed out deep valleys; but owing to the narrowness of the level tract, their courses are. short, rapid and subject to floods. The most important is the Nalon or Pravia, which receives the waters of the Caudal, the Trubia and the Narcea, and has a course 1 Servius, in speaking of it as oppidum, must be, referring to 'the post-station. ASTURIAS of 62 m.; after it rank the Navia and the Sella. The estuaries of these rivers are rarely navigable, and along the entire littoral, a distance of 130. m., the only important harbours are at Gijon and Aviles. A country so rugged, and so isolated by land and sea, naturally served as the last refuge
capital was Asturica Augusta, the modern Astorga, in Leon. The warlike mountaineers of the northern districts, known as Transmontana, never altogether abandoned their hostility to the Romans, whose rule was ended by the Visigothic conquest, late
refuge
heir -apparent to the crown of Spain, dates from 1388, when it was first bestowed on a Castilian prince. The title of count of Covadonga. is assumed by the kings of Spain. In modern times Asturias formed a captaincy-general, divided into Asturias d'Oviedo, which corresponds with the limits of the ancient principality, and Asturias de Santillana, which now constitutes the western half of Santander .-Owing to their almost entire immunity from any alien domination except that of the Romans and Goths, the Asturians may perhaps be regarded as the purest representatives of the Iberian race; while their dialect (linguaje bable) is sometimes held to be closely akin to the parent speech from which modern Castilian is derived. It is free from Moorish idioms, and, like Galician and Portuguese it often retains the original
hardy
pride
special
For the modern condition of the principality (including climate, fauna and flora), see S. Canals, Asturias: information sabre su preseete estado (Madrid, 190o); and G. Casal, Memorias de historia natural y medsca de Asturias (Oviedo, moo). For the history. and antiquities, there is much that is valuable in Asturias monumental, epigrdfica y diplomdtica, by 'C. M. Vigil (Madrid, 1887)-folio, with' maps and illustrations. See also F. de Aramburu y Zuloaga, Monografia de Asturias (Oviedo, 1899). End of Article: ASTURIAS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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