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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SOU-STE |
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SPAIN (Espana) , a kingdom in the extreme south-west of Europe, comprising about eleven-thirteenths of the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the Balearic Islands, the Canary
Islands, and the fortified station of Ceuta, on the Moroccan east of Catalonia stretches of steep and rocky coast alternate coast opposite to Gibraltar. Each of the two island groups forms one of the forty-nine provinces of the kingdom, although only the first named belongs geographically to Spain. Ceuta is included in the province of Cadiz. In 1900 the kingdom (exclusive of its colonies) had a population of 18,607,694, and a total area of 194,700 sq. m. It is thus rather more than twice the size of Great Britain, nearly 50,000 sq. m. larger than Japan, and nearly 85,000 sq. m. larger than Italy and Sicily. Exclusive of the Canaries its area is 191,893 sq. m. On all sides except that of Portugal the boundaries of continental Spain are natural, the Peninsula being separated from France by the Pyrenees and on every other side being surrounded by the sea. On the side of Portugal a tract of inhospitable country ;led originally to the separation between the two kingdoms, inasmuch as it caused the reconquest of the comparatively populous maritime tracts from the Moors to be carried out independently of that of the eastern kingdoms, which were also well peopled. The absence of any such means of intercommunication as navigable rivers afford has favoured the continuance of this isolation. The precise line of the western frontier is formed for a considerable length by portions of the chief rivers or by small tributaries, and on the north (between Portugal and Galicia) it is determined to a large extent by small mountain ranges. The British rock of Gibraltar, in the extreme south of the peninsula, is separated from Spain by a low isthmus known as the Neutral Ground. By the relinquishment of Cuba and the cession of Porto Rico, the Philippine and Sulu Islands, and Guam, the largest of the colonial Ladrones, to the United States, as a consequence Posses., of the war of 1898, and of the remaining Ladrone dons. or Marianne Islands, together with the Caroline and Pelew Islands, to Germany by a treaty of the 8th of February 1899, the colonial possessions of Spain were greatly reduced. Apart from Ceuta, Spain possesses on the Moroccan seaboard Melilla, Alhucemas, Person de la Gomera, Ifni, and the Chaffarinas islets. Besides these isolated posts Spain holds Rio de Oro, a stretch of the Saharan coast, and its hinterland lying between Morocco and French West Africa; the Muni River Settlements or Spanish Guinea, situated between French Congo and the German colony of Cameroon; Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco and other islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Spain has given to France the right of pre-emption over any of her West African colonies. here occur the fine natural harbours of Pontevedra and Vigo, Corunna and Ferrol. Less varied in outline but more varied in character are the Spanish coasts on the south and east. The seaboard is generally flat from the frontier of Portugal to the Straits of Gibraltar. Between the mouth of the Rio Tinto and that of the Guadalquivir the shore is lined by a series of sand-dunes, known as the Arenas Gordas. Next follows a marshy tract at the mouth of the Guadalquivir known as Las Marismas, after which the coast-line becomes more varied, and includes the fine Bay of Cadiz. From the Straits of Gibraltar a bold and rocky coast continues almost to Cape Palos, a little beyond the fine natural harbour of Cartagena. North of Cape Palos a line of flat coast, beginning with the narrow strip which cuts off the lagoon called the Mar Menor from the Mediterranean, bounds half of the province of Alicante, but in its northern half this province, becoming mountainous, runs out to the lofty headland of Cape de la Nao. The whole coast of the Bay of Valencia is low and ill provided with harbours; and along the I.GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SPANISH KINGDOM Physical Features.The coast-line on the north and north- west is everywhere steep and rocky. On the north there are numerous small indentations, many of which form convenient harbours, although the current flowing along the coast from the west often leaves in the stiller water at their mouths coast-lines. obstruction bars. The best harbours are to be found on the rias or fjord-like indentations in the W. and N. with others of an opposite character. The surface of Spain is remarkable at once for its striking contrasts and its vast expanses of dreary uniformity. There are mountains rising with alpine grandeur above the snow-line, but Surface. often sheltering rich and magnificent valleys at their base. Naked walls of white limestone tower above dark woods of cork-oak and olive. In other parts, as in the Basque country, in Galicia, in the Serrania de Cuenca (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Jucar), in the Sierra de Albarracin (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Guadalaviar), there are extensive tracts of undulating forest-clad hill country, and almost contiguous to these there are apparently boundless plains, or tracts of level table-land, some almost uninhabitable, and some streaked with irrigation canals and richly cultivatedlike the Requena of Valencia. While, again, continuous mountain ranges and broad plains and table-lands give the prevailing character to the scenery, there are, on the one hand, lofty isolated peaks, such as Monseny, Montserrat (q.v.) and Mont Sant in Catalonia, the Pena Golosa in Valencia, Moncayo on the borders of Aragon and Old Castile, and, on the other hand, small secluded valleys, such as those of Vich and Olot among the Catalonian Pyrenees. The greater part of the interior of Spain is composed of a table-land bounded by the Cantabrian Mountains in the north and the Sierra Morena in the south, and divided into two by a series central of mountain ranges stretching on the whole from east Table-land. to west. The northern half of the table-land, made up of the provinces of Leon and Old Castile, has an average elevation estimated at about 2700 ft., while the southern half, made up of Estremadura and New Castile, is slightly lowerabout 2600 ft. On all sides the table-land as a whole is remarkably isolated, and hence the passes on its boundary and the river valleys that lead down from it to the surrounding plains are geographical features of peculiar importance. The isolation on the side of Portugal has already been mentioned. On the north-west the valley of the Sil and a series of valleys farther south, along both of which military roads have been carried from an early period, open up communication between Leon and the hill country of Galicia, which explains why this province was united to Leon even before the conquest of Portugal from the Moors. The passes across the Cantabrian Mountains in the north are tolerably numerous, and several of them are crossed by railways. The two most remarkable are the Pass of Pajares, across which winds the railway from Leon to Oviedo and the seaport of Gijon, and that of Reinosa leading down to the deep valley of the Besaya, and crossed by the railway from Valladolid to Santander. In its eastern section the chain is crossed by the railways from Burgos to Bilbao and San Sebastian; the last-named line winds through the wild and romantic gorge of Pancorbo (in the north-east of the province of Burgos) before it traverses the Cantabrian chain at Idiazabal. On the north-east and east, where the edge of the table-land sweeps round in a wide curve, the surface sinks in broad terraces to the valley of the Ebro and the Bay of Valencia, and is crowned by more or less isolated mountains, some of which have been already mentioned. On the north-east, by far the most important communication with the Ebro valley is formed by the valley of the Jalon, which has thus always formed a military route of the highest consequence, and is now traversed by the railway from Madrid to Saragossa. Farther south the mountains clustered on the east of the table-land (Sierra de Albarracin, Serrania de Cuenca) long rendered direct communication between Valencia and Madrid extremely difficult, and the principal communications with the east and south-east are effected where the southern table-land of La Mancha (q.v.) merges in the hill country which connects the interior of Spain with the Sierra Nevada. In the south the descent from the table-land to the valley of the Guadalquivir is again comparatively gradual, but even here in the of Galicia, where high tides keep the inlets well scoured; eastern half of the Sierra Morena the passes are few, the most 528 important being the Puerto de Despenaperros, where the Rio Magana, a sub-tributary of the Guadalimar, has cut for itself a deep gorge through which the railway ascends from Andalusia to Madrid. Between Andalusia and Estremadura farther west the communication is freer, the Sierra Morena being broken up into series of small chains. Of the mountains belonging to the table-land the most continuous are those of the Cantabrian chain, which stretches for the most part Mountains. from east to west, parallel to the Bay of Biscay, but ultimately bends round towards the south between Leon and Galicia (see CANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS). A peculiar feature of this chain, and of the neighbouring parts of the table-land, is the number of the parameras or isolated plateaus, surrounded by steep rocky mountains, or even by walls of sheer cliff. The bleak districts of Siguenza and Soria, round the headwaters of the Douro, separate the mountains of the so-called Iberian system on the north-east of the table-land from the eastern portion of the central mountain chains of the peninsula. Of these chains, to which Spanish geographers give the name Carpetano-Vetonica, the most easterly is the Sierra de Guadarrama, the general trend of which is from south-west to north-east. It is the Montes Carpetani of the ancients, and a portion of it (due north of Madrid) still bears the name of Carpetanos. Composed almost entirely of granite, it has an aspect when seen from a distance highly characteristic of the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula in general, presenting the appearance of a saw-like ridge (sierra) broken up into numerous sections. Its mean height is about 5250 ft., and near its centre it has three summits, the highest (named the Pico de Penalara) rising to a height of 6910 ft. The chief passes across the Sierra are those of Somosierra (4692 ft.) in the north-east, Navacerrada (5837 ft.), near Penalara, and Guadarrama (5010 ft.), a few miles farther south and west; these are crossed by carriage roads. The railway from Madrid to Segovia passes through a tunnel close to the Guadarrama Pass; and the railway from Madrid to Avila traverses the south-western portion of the range through a remark-able series of tunnels and cuttings. A region with a highly irregular surface, filled with hills and parameras, separates the Sierra de Guadarrama from the Sierra de Gredos farther west. This is the loftiest and grandest sierra in the whole series. Its culminating point, the Plaza de Almanzor, attains the height of 8730 ft., not far short of that of the highest Cantabrian summits. Its general trend is east and west; towards the south it sinks precipitously, and on the north it descends with a somewhat more gentle slope towards the longitudinal valleys of the Tormes and Alberche which separate it from another rugged mountain range, forming the southern boundary of the paramera of Avila. On the west another rough and hilly tract, similar to that which divides it from the Sierra de Guadarrama in the east, separates it from the Sierra de Gata, the westernmost and the lowest of the Spanish sierras belonging to the series. These hilly intervals between the more continuous sierras greatly facilitate the communication between the northern and southern halves of the Spanish table-land. The Sierra de Gredos has a road across it connecting Avila with Talavera de la Reina by the Puerto del Pico; but for the most part there are only bridle-paths across the Gredos and Gata ranges, and no railway crosses either of them, although the line from Plasencia to Salamanca skirts the Sierra de Gredos on the west. The Serra da Estrella, in Portugal, is usually regarded as a fourth section in the Carpetano-Vetonica chain. On the southern half of the table-land a shorter series of sierras, consisting of the Montes de Toledo in the east (highest elevation Tejadillas, 4567 ft.) and the sierras of San Pedro, Montanchez and Guadalupe in the west (highest elevation Cabeza del Moro, 5100 ft.), separates the basins of the Tagus and Guadiana. The southern system of mountains bounding the Iberian table-landthe Sierra Morena (q.v.)is even less of a continuous chain than the two systems last described. As already intimated, its least continuous portion is in the west. In the east and middle portion it is composed of a countless number of irregularly-disposed undulating mountains all nearly equal in height. Even more important than the mountains bounding or crossing the table-land are those which are connected with it only at their extremities; viz. the Pyrenees (q.v.) in the north-east, the Sierra Nevada (q.v.) and the coast ranges in the south. The transverse valleys of the Sierra Nevada open southwards into the mountainous longitudinal valleys of the Alpujarras (q.v.), into which open also on the other side the transverse valleys from the most easterly of the coast sierras, the Sierra Contraviesa and the Sierra de Almijara. These ranges are continued farther west by the Sierra de Alhama and Sierra de Abdalajiz. Immediately to the west of the last-named sierra is the gorge of the Guadalhorce, which affords a passage for the railway from Malaga to Cordova; and beyond that gorge, to the west and south-west, the Serrania de Ronda, a mountain group difficult of access, stretches out its sierras in all directions. To Spanish geographers the coast ranges just mentioned are known collectively as the Sierra Penibetica. Although not comparable in altitude with the Pyrenees (highest summit Aneto, 1',168 ft.) or the Sierra Nevada (highest summit Mulhacen, 11,42I ft.), the coast ranges frequently attain an elevation of over 5000 ft., and in some cases of over 600o ft. North-east of the Sierra Nevada two small[GENERAL SURVEY ranges, Alcaraz and La Sagra, rise with remarkable abruptness from the plateau of Murcia, where it merges in that of the interior. The only two important lowland valleys of Spain are those of the Ebro and the Guadalquivir. The Ebro valley occupies the angle in the north-east between the Pyrenees and the central Lowland table-land, and is divided by ranges of heights proceeding Valleys. on the one side from the Pyrenees, on the other from the base of the Moncayo, into two portions. The uppermost of these, a plateau of between I000 and 1300 ft. above sea-level, is only about one-fourth of the size of the remaining portion, which is chiefly low-land, but is cut off from the coast by a highland tract connecting the interior table-land with spurs from the Pyrenees. The Guadalquivir basin is likewise divided by the configuration of the ground into a small upper portion of considerable elevation and a much larger lower portion mainly lowland, the latter composed from Seville downwards of a perfectly level and to a large extent unhealthy alluvium (Las Marismas). The division between these two sections is indicated by the change in the course of the main stream from a due westerly to a more south-westerly direction. The main water-parting of the Peninsula is everywhere near the edge of the table-land on the north, east and south, and hence de-scribes a semicircle with the convexity to the east. Rivers and There are five great rivers in the Peninsula, the Tagus Lakes. (Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo), Douro (Spanish Duero), Ebro, Guadiana and Guadalquivir, all of which rise in Spain. The Ebro alone flows into the Mediterranean, and the Ebro and Guadalquivir alone belong wholly to Spain; the lower courses of the Tagus and Douro are bounded by Portuguese territory; and the lower Guadiana flows partly through Portugal, partly along the frontier. The Tagus rises in the Montes Universales on the borders of Teruel, and flows in a westerly direction until it enters the Atlantic below Lisbon, after a total course of 565 m. The Douro (485 m.) and the Ebro (466 m.) flow respectively south-west to the Atlantic at Oporto, and south-east to the Mediterranean at Cape Tortosa, from. their sources in the great northern watershed. The Guadiana (510 m.) passes west and south through La Mancha and Andalusia to fall into Cadiz Bay at Ayamonte; and the Guadalquivir (36o m.) takes a similar direction from its headwaters in Jaen to Sanlucar de Barrameda, where it also enters Cadiz Bay farther south. These five rivers, as also the smaller Jiicar and Segura, which enter the Mediterranean, are fully described in separate articles. With the exception of the Guadalquivir, none of them is of great service for inland navigation, so far as they lie within the Spanish frontier. On the other hand, those of the east and south are of great value for irrigation, and the Jiicar and Segura are employed in floating timber from the Serrania de Cuenca. The only considerable lakes in Spain are three coast lagoonsthe Albufera (q.v.) de Valencia, the Mar Menor in Murcia and the Laguna de la Janda in Cadiz behind Cape Trafalgar (see MURCIA and CADIZ). Small alpine and other lakes are numerous, and small salt lakes are to be found in every steppe region. Geology.Geologically the Spanish Peninsula consists of a great massif of ancient rock, bordered upon the north, east and south by zones of folding in which the Mesozoic and early Tertiary beds are involved. The massif is composed of Archean, Palaeozoic and eruptive rocks, partly concealed by a covering of Tertiary strata, but characterized by the absence, excepting on its margins, of any marine deposits of Mesozoic age. It stretches from Galicia and Asturias
Archean rocks are exposed in the north of the Peninsula, particularly along the great Pyrenean axis, in Galicia, Estremadura, the Sierra Morena, the Sierra Nevada and Serrania de Ronda. They consist of granites, gneisses and mica-schists, with talc-schists, amphibolites and crystalline limestones. The oldest Palaeozoic strata are referred, from their included fossils, to the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian systems. They range through a vast region of Andalusia, Estremadura, Castile, Salamanca, Leon and Asturias
fossiliferous of these occurring in Asturias. The Lower Carboniferous rocks of Spain consist partly of limestones, and partly of shales, sandstones and conglomerates like the culm of Devonshire. It is in the culnn of the province of Huelva that the celebrated copper mines of Rio Tinto are worked. The Upper Carboniferous is formed to a large extent of sandstones and shales, with seams of coal ; but beds of massive limestones are often intercalated, and some of these contain Fusulina and other fossils like those of the Russian Fusulina limestone. The system is most extensively developed in the north, covering a considerable space in Asturias, whence it stretches more or less continuously through the provinces of Leon, Palencia and Santander. Another tract, about 500 sq. kilometres in extent, runs Siluro-Cambrian Archaean and Metamorphic V '' Plutonic Rocks = Volcanic Rocks from the province of Cordova into that of Badajoz. It is in this area that the important coal deposits of Penarroja are found. There are other smaller areas containing little or no coal, but showing by the included plant-remains that the strata undoubtedly belong to the Carboniferous system. The Permian is probably represented by some of the red sand-stones, conglomerates and shales in the Pyrenees, in the Serrania de Cuenca, and in Andalusia. The Triassic system is well developed in the north of the peninsula along the Cantabrian chain and east-wards to the Mediterranean. It is composed of red and variegated sandstones, dolomites and marls, traversed in some places by ophitic rocks, and containing deposits of gypsum, aragonite and rock-salt. It thus resembles the Trias of England and Germany. In the south-east, however, and at the mouth of the Ebro, limestones are found containing a fauna similar to that of the alpine Trias. These strata are overlain by members of the Jurassic series, which are especially conspicuous in the eastern part of the peninsula between Castile and Aragon, along the Mediterranean border, in Andalusia, and likewise along the flanks of the Pyrenees. The Jurassic of Andalusia belongs to the Mediterranean facies of the system; the Jurassic of the rest of Spain is more nearly allied to that of north-western Europe. The Cretaceous system is distributed in four great districts: the largest of these extends through the kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia; a second stretches between the two Castiles; a third is found in the Basque Provinces and in Asturias; and a fourth spreads out along the southern slopes of the Pyrenees from Navarre to the Mediterranean. The lower members of the Cretaceous series include an important fresh-water formation (sandstones and clays), which extends from the Cantabrian coast through the provinces of Santander, Burgos, Soria and Logrono, and is supposed to represent the English Wealden series. The higher members comprise massive hippurite limestones, and in the Pyrenean district representatives of the upper subdivisions of the system, including the Danian. Deposits of Tertiary age cover rather more than a third of Spain. They are divisible into two great series, according to their mode of origin in the sea or in fresh-water. The marine Tertiary accumulations commence with those that are referable to the Eocene series, consisting of nummulitic limestones, marls and siliceous sand-stones. These strata are developed in the basin of the Ebro, and in a belt which extends from Valencia through Murcia and Andalusia to Cadiz. Marine Miocene deposits occupy some small tracts, especially on the coast of Valencia. But most of the sandy Tertiary rocks of that district are Pliocene. The Tertiary strata of Andalusia are specially noteworthy for containing the native silver of Herrerias, which is found in a Pliocene bed in the form of flukes, needles andcrystals. But the most extensive and interesting Tertiary accumulations are those of the great lakes which in Oligocene and Miocene time spread over so large an expanse of the table-land. These sheets of fresh-water covered the centre of the country, including the basins of the Ebro, Jucar, Guadalaviar, Guadalquivir and Tagus. They have left behind them thick deposits of clays, marls, gypsum and limestone, in which numerous remains of the land-animals of the time have been preserved. Quaternary
Eruptive rocks of many different ages occur in different parts of Spain. The most important tract covered by them is that which stretches from Cape Ortegal to Coria in Estremadura and spreads over a large area of Portugal. They likewise appear in Castile, forming the sierras of Credos and Guadarrama; farther south they rise in the mountains of Toledo, in the Sierra Morena, and across the provinces of Cordova, Seville, Huelva and Badajoz as far as Evora in Portugal. Among the minor areas occupied by them may be especially mentioned those which occur in the Trinssic districts. Of rocks included in the eruptive series the most abundant is granite. There occur also quartz-porphyry (Sierra Morena, Pyrenees, &c.), diorite, porphyrite, diabase (well developed in the north of Andalusia, where it plays a great part in the structure of the Sierra Morena), ophite (Pyrenees, Cadiz), serpentine (forming an enormous mass in the Serrania de Ronda), trachyte, liparite, andesite, basalt. The last four rocks occur as a volcanic series distributed in three chief districtsthat of Cape Gata, including the south-east of Andalusia and the south of Murcia, that of Catalonia, and that of La Mancha. Climate.--In accordance with its southerly position and the variety in its superficial configuration, Spain presents within its borders examples of every kind of climate to be found on the northern hemisphere, with the sole exception of that of the torrid zone. As regards temperature, the heart of the table-land is characterized by extremes as great as are to be met in almost any part of central Europe. The northern and north-western maritime provinces, on the other hand, have a climate as equable, and as moist, as that of the west of England or Scotland. Four zones of climate are distinguished. The first zone is that of the table-land, with the greater part of the Ebro basin. This is the zone of the greatest extremes of temperature. Even in summer the nights are often decidedly cold, and on the high parameras it is not a rare thing to see hoar-frost in the morning. In spring cold, wetting mists occasionally envelop the land for entire days, while in summer the sky is often perfectly clear for weeks together. At all seasons of the year sudden changes of temperature, to the extent of from 30 to 50 F., are not infrequent. The air is extremely dry, which is all the more keenly felt from the fact that it is almost constantly in motion. At Madrid (2150 ft. above sea-level) it freezes so hard in December and January that skating is carried on on the sheet of water in the Buen Retiro; and, as winter throughout Spain, except in the maritime provinces of the north and north-west, is the season of greatest atmospheric precipitation, snowfalls are frequent, though the snow seldom lies long except at high elevations. The summers, on the other hand, are not only extremely warm but almost rainless, the sea-winds being deprived of their moisture on the edge of the plateau. In July and,August the plains of New Castile and Estremadura are sunburnt wastes; the roads are several inches deep with dust; the leaves of the few trees are withered and discoloured; the atmosphere is filled with a fine dust, producing a haze known as calina, which converts the blue of the sky into a dull grey. In the greater part of the Ebro basin the heat of summer is even more intense. The treeless mostly steppe-like valley with a bright-coloured soil acts like a concave mirror in reflecting the sun's rays and, moreover, the mountains and highlands by which the valley is enclosed prevent to a large extent the access of winds. The second zone is that of the Mediterranean provinces, exclusive of those of the extreme south. In this zone the extremes of temperature are less, though the summers here also are warm, and the winters decidedly cool, especially in the north-east. The southern zone, to which the name of African has been given, embraces the whole of Andalusia as far as the Sierra Morena, the southern half of Murcia and the province of Alicante. In this zone there prevails a genuine sub-tropical climate, with extremely warm and almost rainless summers and mild winters, the temperature hardly ever sinking below freezing-point. The hottest part of the region is not the most southerly district but the bright-coloured steppes of the coast of Granada, and the plains and hill terraces of the south-east coast from Almeria to Alicante. Snow and frost are here hardly known. It is said that at Malaga snow falls only about once in twenty-five years. The winter, in fact, is the season of the brightest vegetation: after the long drought of summer the surface gets covered once more in late autumn with a fresh green varied with bright-coloured flowers, and 'so it remains the = Quaternary
Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Permian Carboniferous Devonian whole winter through. On the other hand, the eastern part of this zone is the part of Spain which is liable to be visited from time to time by the scorching leveche, the name given in Spain to the sirocco, as well as by the solano, a moist and less noxious east wind. The fourth zone, that of the north and north-west maritime provinces, presents a marked contrast to all the others. The temperature is mild and equable; the rains are abundant all the year round, but fall chiefly in autumn, as in the west of Europe generally. Roses bloom in the gardens at Christmas as plentifully as in summer. The chief drawback of the climate is an excess of rain in some parts, especially in the west. Santiago de Compostela, for example, has one of the highest rainfalls on the mainland of Europe (see table below). The figures given in the following table,' although based only on data of short periods (from 31 to 20 years), will help to illustrate the preceding general remarks. Greenwich is added for the sake of comparison. Station. Height Mean Temperature, F. Rain- fall in Jan. July. Year. in feet. inches. 0 0 0 Table-land zone Leon 2600 37 73 53 19 Madrid . . 2150 41 76 56 15 Southern zone San Fernando 90 52 75 63 30 Malaga 75 54 79 70 Mediterranean Murcia 140 49 79 63 14 zone Mahon 52 77 64 27 Bilbao 50 46 70 58 46 Northern marl- Oviedo 66 36 time zone Santiago . 750 43 66 54 66 Greenwich 750 45'5 63 55 25 39 50 Flora.The vegetation of Spain exhibits a variety in keeping with the differences of climate just described. The number of endemic species is exceptionally large, the number of monotypic genera in the Peninsula greater than in any other part of the Mediterranean domain. The endemic species are naturally most numerous in the mountains, and above all in the loftiest ranges, the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada; but it is a peculiarity of the Spanish table-land, as compared with the plains and table-lands of central Europe, that it also possesses a considerable number of endemic plants and plants of extremely restricted range. This fact, however, is also in harmony with the physical conditions above described, being explained by the local varieties, not only of climate, but also of soil. Altogether no other country in Europe of equal extent has so great a wealth of species as Spain. According to the Prodromus florae hispanicae of Willkomm and Lange (completed in 1880), the number of species of vascular plants then ascertained to exist in the country was 5096. Spain may be divided botanically into four provinces, corresponding to the four climatic zones. In the table-land province (including the greater part of the Ebro valley) the flora is composed chiefly of species characteristic of the Mediterranean region, and largely of species confined to the Peninsula. A peculiar character is imparted to the vegetation of this province by the growth over large tracts of evergreen shrubs and large herbaceous plants belonging to the Cistineae and Labiatae. Areas covered by the Cistineae are known to the Spaniards as jarales, and are particularly extensive in the Mancha Alta and on the slopes of the Sic-rr. Morena, where the ladanum bush (Cistus ladaniferus) is specially abundant; those covered by the Labiatae are known as toniillares (from tomillo, thyme), and occur chiefly in the south, south-west and east of the table-land of New Castile. In the central parts of the same table-land huge thistles (such as the Onopordum nervosum), centaureas, artemisias and other Compositae are scattered in great piotusion. From the level parts of these table-lands trees are almost entirely absent. On the lofty parameras of Soria and other parts of Old Castile the vegetation has an almost alpine character. The southern or African province is distinguished chiefly by the abundance of plants which have their true home in North Africa (a fact explained by the geologically recent land connexion of Spain with that continent), but is also remarkable for the occurrence within it of numerous Eastern plants (natives of Syria and Asia Minor), and plants belonging to South Africa and the Canaries, as well as natives of tropical America which have become naturalized here (see Agriculture). In the maritime parts of Malaga and Granada the vegetation is of almost tropical richness and beauty, while in Murcia, Alicante and Almeria the aspect is truly African, fertile oases appearing in the midst of rocky deserts or barren steppes. A peculiar vegetation, consisting mainly of low shrubs with fleshy glaucous leaves (Inule crithmoides, &c.), covers the swamps of the Guadalquivir and the salt-marshes of the south-west coast. Every-where on moist sandy ground are to be seen tall thickets of Arundo donax. The Mediterranean province is that in which the vegetation agrees most closely with that of southern France and the lowlands i By conversion from Th. Fischer's Klima der Mitielmeerlander.of the Mediterranean region generally. On the lower slopes of the mountains and on all the parts left uncultivated the prevailing form of vegetation consists of a dense growth of shrubs with thick leathery leaves, such as are known to the French as maquis, to the Italians as macchie, and to the Spaniards as monte bajo,2 shrubs which, how-ever much they resemble each other in external appearance, belong botanically to a great variety of families. The northern maritime province, in accordance with its climate, has a vegetation resembling that of central Europe. Here only are to be found rich grassy meadows covered with flowers such as are seen in English fields, and here only do forests of oak, beech and chestnut cover a large proportion of the area. The extraordinary abundance of ferns (as in western France) is likewise characteristic. The forest area of Spain is relatively small. The whole extent of forests is estimated at little more than 71 million acres, or less than 6 % of the area of the kingdom. Evergreen oaks, chestnuts and conifers are the prevailing trees. The cork oaks of the southern provinces and of Catalonia are of immense value, but the groves have suffered greatly from the reckless way in which the produce is collected. Among other characteristic trees are the Spanish pine (Pinus hispanica), the Corsican pine (P. L,sricio), the Pinsapo fir (Abies Pinsapo), and the Quercus Tozza, the last belonging to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Besides the date-palm the dwarf-palm grows spontaneously in some parts of the south, but it nowhere makes up a large element of the vegetation. The Spanish steppes deserve a special notice, since they are not confined to one of the four botanical provinces, but are found in all of them except the last. Six considerable steppe regions are counted: (1) that of Old Castile, situated to the south of Valladolid, and composed chiefly of hills of gypsum; (2) that of New Castile, in the south-east (including parts of La Mancha) ; (3) the Aragonese, occupying the upper part of the basin of the Ebro; (4) the littoral, stretching along the south-east coast from Alicante to the neighbour-hood of Almeria; (5) the Granadine, in the east of upper Andalusia (the former kingdom of Granada) ; and (6) the Baetic, in Lower Andalusia, on both sides of the valley of the Jenil or Genii. All of these were originally salt-steppes, and, where the soil is still highly impregnated with salt, have only a sparse covering of shrubs, mostly members of the Salsolaceae, with thick, greyish green, often downy leaves. A different aspect is presented by the grass steppes of Murcia, La Mancha, the plateaus of Guadix and Huescar in the province of Granada, &c., all of which are covered chiefly with the valuable esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima). Fauna.The Iberian Peninsula belongs to the Mediterranean sub-region of the Palaearctic region of the animal kingdom. The forms that betray African affinities are naturally to be found chiefly in the south. Among the mammals that fall under this head are the common genet (Genetta vulgaris), which extends, however, pretty far north, and is found also in the south of France, the fallow-deer, the porcupine (very rare), and a species of ichneumon (Herpestes Widdringtonii), which is confined to the Peninsula, and is the only European species of this African genus. The magot or Barbary ape (Inuus ecaudatus), the sole species of monkey still found wild in Europe, is also a native of Spain, but only survives on the rock of Gibraltar (q.v.). Of the mammals in which Spain shows more affinity to the fauna of central and northern Europe, some of the most characteristic are the Spanish lynx (Lynx pardinus), a species confined to the Peninsula, the Spanish hare (Lepus madritensis), and the species mentioned in the article PYRENEES. The birds of Spain are very numerous, partly because the Peninsula lies in the route of those birds of passage which cross from Africa to Europe or Europe to Africa by way of the Straits of Gibraltar. Many species belonging to central Europe winter in Spain. especially on the south-eastern coasts and in the valley of the Guadalquivir. Innumerable snipe are killed in the Guadalquivir valley and brought to the market of Seville. Among the birds of prey may be mentioned, besides the cinereous and bearded vultures, the Spanish vulture( Gyps occidentalis), the African or Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), which is found among all the mountains of the Peninsula, the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila Adalberti), the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), the southern eagle-owl (Bubo atheniensis), and various kites and falcons. Among gallinaceous birds besides the red-legged partridge, which is met with everywhere on the steppes, there are found also the Pterocles alchita and P. arenarius ; and among the birds of other orders are the southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the Spanish sparrow (Passer cyaneus), and, the blue magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The last is highly remarkable on account of its distribution, it being confined to Spain while the species most closely allied to it (Cyanopica cyanea) belongs to the east of Asia. The flamingo is found native in the Balearic Islands and on the southern coasts, and a 'stray specimen is occasionally seen on the table-land of New Castile. Other birds peculiar to the south are two species of quails, the Andalusian hemipode (Turnix sylvatica), confined to the plains of Andalusia, the southern shearwater (Puffinus cinereus), and other water-birds. Amphibians and reptiles are particularly numerous in the southern provinces, and among these the most remarkable are the large southern or eyed lizard (Lacerta2 As distinguished from monte alto, the collective name for forest trees. Provinces. Area in Po 18 Pop. , 1887. Pop., 1900. Pop. s m. P 57 s m., q. 1900. New Castile. . 27,935 1,477,915 1,778,155 1,923,310 6o.8 Madrid . . . . 3,084 475,785 683,484 775,034 251.3 Guadalajara . . . 4,676 199,088 205,040 200,186 42.8 Toledo . . . 5,919 328,755 356,398 376,814 63'6 Cuenca 6,636 229,959 246,091 249,696 37.6 Ciudad Real . . . 7,620 244,328 287,142 321,580 42.2 Old Castile . . . . 25,372 1,609,948 1,744,301 1,785,403 70.3 Burgos . . . . 5,480 333,356 342,988 338,828 61.8 Logrono . . . . 1,946 173,812 183,430 189,376 97'3 S . . . 2,108 214,441 249,116 276,003 130.9 Avila .antand.er . . . 3,042 164,039 195,321 200,457 65.9 Segovia . . . . 2,635 146,839 155,927 159,243 60'4 Soria . . . . 3,983 147,468 157,008 150,462 37.7 Palencia . . . . 3,256 185,970 189,349 192,473 59.1 Valladolid . . . 2,922 244,023 271,162 278,561 95'3 Asturias . . . . 4,205 524,529 615,844 627,069 149'I Oviedo . . . 4,205 524,529 615,844 627,069 149.1 Leon 14,862 861,434 984,711 982,393 66.1 Salamanca 4,829 263,516 320,588 320,765 66.4 Zamora 4,097 249,162 274,890 275,545 67.2 Leon 5,936 348,756 389,233 386,083 65.0, Estremadura 16,118 707,115 808,685 882,410 54'7 Badajoz 8,451 404,981 476,273 520,246 61.6 Caceres . . . . 7,667 302,134 332,412 362,164 47.2 Galicia . 11,254 1,776,879 1,967,239 1,980,515 175.8 Corunna (Coruna) 3,051 551,989 635,327 653,556 214'2 Lugo 3,814 424,186 438,076 463,386 122.0 Orense 2,694 371,818 415,237 404,311 150.1 Pontevedra . . 1,695 428,886 478,599 457,262 269.8 Andalusia (Andalucia) . 33,777 2,937,183 3,393,681 3,562,606 105'4 Almeria . . . 3,360 315,664 345,929 359,013 106.8 Granada . . . 4,928 444,629 482,787 492,460 99.9 Malaga . . . 2,812 451,406 523,915 511,989 182.1 Cordova . . . . 5,299 351,536 413,883 455,859 85'8 Jaen . 5,203 345,879 428,152 474,490 91'2 Cadiz (with Ceuta) . 2,834 390,192 423,261 452,659 159'7 Seville . . . . 5,428 463,486 535,687 555,256 100.4 Huelva . . . . 3,913 174,391 240,067 260,880 66.6 Valencia 8,830 1,246,485 1,461,453 1,587,533 179.7 Castellon de la Plana 2,495 260,919 292,952 310,828 124.5 Valencia 4,150 606,608 730,916 806,556 194'3 Alicante 2,185 378,958 437,685 470,149 215'1 Murcia 10,190 582,087 720,843 815,864 80.o Albacete 5,737 201,118 231,073 237,877 41'3 Murcia . . . . 4,453 380,969 489,770 577,987 129.8 Catalonia . . . . 12,427 1,652,291 1,836,139 1,966,382 158.2 Lerida . . 4,690 306,994 296,609 274,590 58'5 Gerona . . . . 2,264 310,970 311,153 299,287 132.2 Barcelona . . . 2,968 713,734 879,771 1,054,541 355'3 Tarragona . . . 2,505 320,593 348,606 337,964 134'9 Aragon 18,294 880,643 922,554 912,711 49.8 Huesca . . . 5,848 257,839 260,585 244,867 41'8 Saragossa. . 6,7z6 384,176 415,152 421,843 62.7 Teruel . . . . 5,720 238,628 246,817 .246,001 43.0 Navarre (Navarra). 4,055 297,422 307,994 307,669 75.8 Navarre . . 4,055 297,422 307,994 307,669 75.8 Basque Provinces . 2,739 413,470 510,194 603,596 220'3 Biscay (Vizcaya) 836 160,579 234,880 311,361 372.4 Guipuzcoa . . . 728 156,493 181,149 195,850 269.0 Alava . . . . 1,175 96,398 94,165 96,385 82.0 Balearic Islands . . 1,935 262,893 313,480 311,649 161.1 Canary
194,700 15,464,340 117,667,256 118,618,086 ~ 95.6 ocellata), which sometimes attains 3 f t. in length and is very abundant; the Platydactylus saccicularis, the grey amphisbaena (Blanuscinereus), the European pond-tortoise (Emys europaea), and another species, Emys Siegrizii. Insect life is remarkably abundant and varied. More than 350 species of butterflies, many of them endemic, have been counted in the province of Madrid alone. Besides the ordinary European scorpion, which is general in southern Europe, there is another species, the sting of which is said to be still more severe, found chiefly in the basin of the Ebro. Trout abound in the mountain streams and lakes, barbel and many other species of Cyprinidae in the rivers of the plains. For the sea fauna, see under Fisheries below. Territorial Divisions and Population.-For administrative purposes the kingdom of Spain has since 1833 been divided into forty-nine provinces, forty-seven of which belong to the mainland. Before 1833 the mainland was divided into thirteen provinces, also enumerated below, which took their names from the ancient kingdoms and principalities out of which the modern kingdom was built up. All the continental provinces, ancient and modern, as also the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Annobon, Ceuta, Corisco, the Chaffarinas, Fernando Po, the Muni River Settlements and Rio de Oro are described in separate articles. It is probable that the population of Spain attained its height during the early Roman Empire, when it has been estimated, though of course on imperfect data, to have numbered forty or fifty millions. The best evidence of a dense population in those days is that afforded by the specific estimates of ancient writers for some of the larger cities. The population of Tarraco (Tarragona) was estimated at 22 millions, and those of Nova Carthago (Cartagena), Italica (Sevilla la Vieja), and other cities at several hundreds of thousands. Emerita Augusta (Merida) had a Roman garrison of 90,000 men, which also implies a large population. The first Spanish census was made in 1594, but some of the provinces now included in the kingdom were not embraced in the enumeration, so that the total population assigned to Spain within its present limits for that date is obtained by adding the results of enumerations at different dates in the provinces then excluded. The total thus arrived at is 8,206,791. No other census took place till 1787, when the total was found to be ro,268,150; and this census was followed by another in 1797, when the population was returned as io,541,221. Various estimates were made within the next sixty years, but the census of 18J7 proved that some of these estimates must have been greatly below the truth. The total population then ascertained to exist in Spain was 15,464,340, an increase of not much less than 50% since the census of 1797. Between 1857 and 1877 the population increased to 16,631,869; and by 1897 it had risen to 18,132,475. The annual rate of increase during this period of forty years was less than *45%, or lower than that of any other European state, except France in the later years of the 19th century. The census of 1900, however, showed that the annual rate of increase had risen, between 189 and 1900, to -89%, or nearly double its formes amount. This fact may be explained partly by the growth of mining and certain other industries, partly, perhaps, by the recuperative power which the Spanish people has always Total exhibited after war-the most notable instance Area and Population of the Former and Present Provinces. of which is the above-mentioned net increase of nearly 50% between 1797 and 1857, despite the Napoleonic invasion and other disastrous wars. A similar though much smaller acceleration in the annual rate of increase after the Carlist Wars of 1874-76 is largely attributable to the prosperity caused by railway development between 1877 and 1887. It would be unjustifiable to assume from the inadequate data available that the Spanish people retains the vitality which characterized it from 1797 to 1857. It is, however, clear from the census returns that at the beginning of the loth century, the nation was well able to make good the numerical losses and the French Chambers. Seventy per cent. of the railways of Spain, involved by a serious war; that its numbers tend to increase steadily; and that the rate of increase has hitherto shown a marked acceleration in periods of commercial expansion. The estimated area and population of the Spanish possessions in Africa, exclusive of Ceuta, are shown below: Area in sq. m. Pop. Rio de Oro 70,000 130,000 Muni River Settlements . 9,800 140,000 Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco, &c. . 800 22,000 Melilla, Ifni, &c 40 15,000 Totals . . . 80,640 307,000 Its extraordinary lack of population differentiates Spain from every other country possessed of equal natural advantages and an historic civilization. Spain occupies an unsurpassed geographical position; its resources are rich, varied and to some extent unexploited; its inhabitants include the Basques and Catalans, noted for their commercial enterprise, and the Galicians, noted for their industry. Nevertheless this country, which appears, more than 2000 years ago, to have supported a population nearly thrice as numerous as its present inhabitants and larger than that of the United Kingdom in 1901, is almost as thinly peopled as the most deserted province of Ireland (Connaught 94.5 inhabitants per sq. m.). The depopulation of Spain dates certainly from the Moorish con-quest, possibly from the earlier Visigothic invasion. The Moors decimated the native population; when they in turn were expelled, the country lost not only a numerically large section of its inhabitants, but the section best able to develop its natural wealth. The wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and the vast potentialities of fortune which drew men to the Spanish colonies in America, caused a further serious drain upon the population. As regards the distribution of population between town and country, Spain contrasts in a marked manner with Italy, Spain having but few large towns and a relatively large country population. Communications.T he communications in Spain were greatly improved during the 19th century. In 1808 there were little more than 500 m. of carriage roads; in 1908 the aggregate length of the state, provincial and municipal roads was about 40,000 M. But there are still many parts of the country where tradeand especially miningis retarded by the want of good roads. In the mountainous districts, where there are only narrow paths, frequently rather steep, it is still not uncommon to meet long trains of pack-mules, which, with ox-carts for heavier goods, constitute the sole means of transport in such regions. Railways have made great advance since the middle of the 19th century. The oldest line is that from Barcelona to Mataro, 171 m., which was opened on the 28th of October 1848. From 1850 onwards the rate of construction increased apace, and during the last decade of the 19th century about 205 m. were opened to traffic every year. In January 1910, 9020 M. had been completed, and the whole kingdom was covered by a network of railways which linked together all the principal towns. The Spanish railway system at this time communicated with the French at Irun and Portbou, west and east respectively of the Pyrenees; and with the Portuguese at or near Tuy on the northern frontier of Portugal, and near La Fregeneda, Ciudad Rodrigo, Valencia de Alcantara and Badajoz on the E. All the Spanish railways belong to private companies, most of which have received state subventions, and they will fall in to the government mostly at the end of 99 years. In granting a concession for a new railway the practice is to give it to the company that offers to construct it with the lowest subvention. For strategical reasons the Spanish gauge was made different from that of France; and military considerations long postponed the construction of any railway across the Pyrenees. The roads which wind through the Pyrenees in northern Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia had long been the channels of an important traffic, although great inconvenience was caused by the snow which blocks the passes in winter. In 1882 the French and Spanish governments proposed to overcome this obstacle by constructing two railways: one from Huesca to Oloron, through the Canfranc Pass, and through an international tunnel which was to be built at Somport; the other from the Ariege railway system to the Spanish northern system in the province of Lerida. The first line was completed on the Spanish side as far as Jaca, the second was only surveyed; both were opposed by the ministries of war in the two countries concerned. The matter was taken up at the beginning of the 20th century by M. Delcasse, the French minister for foreign affairs, and on the 18th of August 1904 a convention was signed providing for the construction of (1) the Huesca-Oloron line, (2) a line from Ax les Thermes in the Ariege to Ripoll in Catalonia, (3) a line from St Girons in the Ariege to Sort, and thence to Lerida. The Spanish government agreed to finish the Lerida-Sort section by 1915, and the Noguera Pallaresa valley was chosen as the route from Sort to the frontier, where junction with the French railways would be effected through the Port de Salau. All three schemes were ratified in 1904 by the Cortesand an even larger proportion of the tramways and narrow-gauge railways, especially in mining districts, have been constructed and worked with foreign capital. The postal and telegraphic services have been placed on the same footing as in other civilized countries. In 1907 the number of letters and post-cards carried in the inland service was 133,201,000, in the international service 44,219,000. The length of state telegraph lines increased from 6665 m. in 1883 to 20,575 M. in 1903. In 1907 there were 84 urban telephone systems and 71 inter-urban circuits. Agriculture.Agriculture is by far the most important Spanish industry. In general it is in a backward condition, and is now much less productive than in the time of the Romans and again under the Moors. The expulsion of the latter people in many places inflicted upon agriculture a blow from which it has not recovered to this day. Aragon and Estremadura, the two most thinly peopled of all the old provinces, and the eastern half of Andalusia (above Seville), have all suffered particularly in this manner, later occupiers never having been able to rival the Moors in overcoming the sterility of nature, as in Aragon, or in taking advantage of its fertility, as in Andalusia and the Tierra de Barros. In some districts the implements used are still of the rudest description. The plough is merely a pointed stick shod with iron, crossed by another stick which serves as a share, scratching the ground to the depth of a few inches. But the regular importation of agricultural implements betokens an improvement in this respect. In general there has been consider-able improvement in the condition of agriculture since the introduction of railways, and in 9very province there is a royal commissioner entrusted with the duty of supervising and encouraging this branch of industry. Among other institutions for the promotion of agriculture the royal central school at Aranjuez, to which is attached a model farm, is of special importance. Of the soil of Spain 79.65 % is classed as productive; 33.8 % being devoted to agriculture and gardens, 20.8 to fruit, 19.7 to grass, 3.7 to vineyards and 1.6 to olives. The land is subdivided among a very large number of proprietors ; over 3,400,000 farms or estates were assessed for taxation in 1905. The provinces in which agriculture is most advanced are those of Valencia and Catalonia, in both of which the river valleys are thickly seamed with irrigation canals and the hill-slopes carefully terraced for cultivation. In neither province is the soil naturally fertile, and nothing but the untiring industry of the inhabitants, favoured by the rivers which traverse the province from the table-land of New Castile and the numerous small streams (nacimientos) that issue from the base of the limestone mountains and by the numerous torrents from the Pyrenees, has converted them into two of the most productive regions in Spain. In the Basque Provinces and in Galicia the cultivable area is quite as fully utilized, but in these the difficulties are not so great. The least productive tracts, apart from Aragon and Estremadura, are situated in the south and east of New Castile, in Murcia, and in Lower Andalusiathe marshes or marismas of the lower Guadalquivir and the arenas gordas between that river and the Rio Tinto. By far the greater part of the table-land, however, is anything but fertile, the principal exceptions being the Tierra de Campos, said to be the chief corn-growing district in Spain, occupying the greater part of Palencia in the north-west of Old Castile, and the Tierra de Barros, in the portion of Badajoz lying to the south of the Guadiana in Estremadura. Except in Leon and the provinces bordering on the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic, irrigation is almost everywhere necessary for cultivation, at least in the case of certain crops. Almost all kinds of vegetables and garden-fruits, oranges, rice, hemp and other products are generally grown solely or mainly on irrigated land, whereas most kinds of grain, vines and olives are cultivated chiefly on dry soil. The water used for irrigation is sometimes derived from springs and rivers in mountain valleys, whence it is conveyed by long canals (acequias) along the mountain sides and sometimes by lofty aqueducts to the fields on which it is to be used. Sometimes the water of entire rivers or vast artificial reservoirs (pdntanos) is used in feeding a dense network of canals distributed over plains many square miles in extent. Such plains in Valencia and Murcia are known by the Spanish name of huertas (gardens), in Andalusia by the Arabic name of vegas, which has the same meaning. Many of the old irrigation workssuch as those of the plain of Tarragonadate from the time of the Romans, and many others from the Moorish period, while new ones are still being laid out at the present day. Where no running water is available for irrigation, water is often obtained from wells by means of waterwheels (norias) of simple construction. In most cases such wheels merely have earthenware pitchers attached to their circumference by means of wisps of esparto, and are turned by a horse harnessed to a long arm fitted to a revolving shaft. In recent years many artesian wells have been sunk for irrigation. In all, about 9 % of the entire surface of Spain is artificially watered, but in 1900 the government adopted plans for the construction of new canals and reservoirs on a vast scale. The system was designed to bring a greatly increased area of arid or semi-arid land under irrigation. The irrigated portions of the Ebro and Tagus valleys yield twelve times as large a crop per acre as the unirrigated. Cereals constitute the principal object of cultivation, and among these wheat ranks first, the next in importance being barley, the chief fodder of horses and mules. Both of these grains are cultivated in all parts, but chiefly on the more level districts of the two Castiles Grain, and Leon, and on the plains of the Guadalquivir basin. Oats and rye are cultivated only in the higher parts of the mountains, the former as a substitute for barley in feeding horses and mules, the latter as a breadstuff. Maize also is cultivated in all the provinces; nevertheless, its cultivation is limited, since, being a summer crop, it requires irrigation except in the Atlantic provinces, and other products generally yield a more profitable return where irrigation is pursued. Rice is cultivated on a large scale only in the swampy lowlands of Valencia. Among cereals of less importance are buckwheat (in the mountainous regions of the north), millets, including both the common millet (Panicum miliaceum) and the so-called Indian millet (Sorghum vulgare, the joari of India, the durrah of Africa), and even (in La Mancha) guinea-corn (Penicillaria spicata). Among the natural products of the soil of Spain, in regard to quantity, wines come next to cereals, but the only wines which have Wines. a world-wide reputation are those of the south, those of Alicante, of Malaga, and more particularly those which take the name of " sherry," from the town of Jerez, in the neighbourhood of which they are grown (see WINE). From 1880 to 1890 when the French vineyards suffered so much from various plagues. and when Spain gave a great impetus to her foreign trade by numerous treaties of commerce, none of her products showed such an increase in exports as her wines. The vine-growing districts had formerly been mostly in the provinces of Cadiz, Malaga, Barcelona, Aragon and Navarre. Then the vineyards spread all along the Ebro valley and in the Mediterranean seaboard provinces, as well as in New and Old Castile and Estremadura to such an extent that wine is now produced in all the 49 provinces of the kingdom. The average result of the vintage was estimated between 440 and 500 million gallons in 1880 to 1884, and it rose to more than double that amount towards 1890, and amounted in 1898 to 88o million gallons. In that year the total area under the vine was 3,546,375 acres, in 1908 it was 3,136,470 acres. In the hey-day of the cultivation of the vine Spain sent the bulk of her wine exports to France. The imposition of high duties in France on foreign wines in 1891 dealt a severe blow to the export trade in common Spanish wines. The export of wines of the southJerez, Malaga and other full-bodied wines styled generosodid not suffer so much, and England and France continued to take much the same quantities of such wines. There is also a large export of grapes and raisins, especially from Malaga, Valencia, Almeria and Alicante. The Spanish vines have suffered, like those of France, from mildew and phylloxera. The latter has done most damage in the provinces of Malaga and Alicante, in Catalonia. and in some parts of the Ebro valley in Navarre and Aragon. The vines whose fruit is intended for table use as grapes or raisins are trained on espaliers or on trees, especially the nettle-tree (Celtis australis) . Among fruit-trees the first place belongs to the olive. Its range in Spain embraces the whole of the southern half of the table-land, Fruit. the greater part of the Ebro valley, and a small strip on the west coast of Galicia. Along the base of the Sierra Morena from Andujar to the vicinity of Cordova there run regular forests of olives, embracing hundreds of square miles. Cordova is the headquarters of the oil industry, Seville of the cultivation of olives for table use. In 1908 the yield of oil amounted to 36,337,893 gallons. Oranges and lemons, excluded from the plateau by the severity of the winter cold, are grown in great quantities on the plains of Andalusia and all round the Mediterranean coast; the peel of the bigarade or bitter orange is exported to Holland for the manufacture of curagao; and figs, almonds, pomegranates, carobs and other southern fruits are also grown abundantly in all the warmer parts, the first two even in central Spain and the more sheltered parts of the northern maritime provinces. In these last, however, the prevailing fruit-trees are those of central Europe, and above all the apple, which is very extensively cultivated in Asturias, the Basque Provinces and Navarre. In these provinces large quantities of cider are brewed. The date-palm is very general in the south-eastern half of the kingdom, but is cultivated for its fruit only in the province of Alicante, in which is the celebrated date-grove of Elche (q.v.). In the southern provinces flourish also various sub-tropical exotics, such as the banana, the West Indian cherimoya, and the prickly pear or Indian fig (Opuntia vulgaris), the last frequently grown as a hedge-plant, as in other Mediterranean countries, and extending even to the southern part of the table-land. It is specially abundant on the Balearic Islands. The agave or American aloe is cultivated in a similar manner throughout Andalusia. Cotton is now cultivated only here and there in the south; but sugar-cane is, with sugar-beet, becoming more and more of a staple Sugar. in the provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria. Its cultivation was introduced by the Arabs in the 12th century or later, and was of great importance in the kingdom of Granada at the time of the expulsion of the Moors (1489), but has since undergone great vicissitudes, first in consequence of the introduction of the cane into America, and afterwards because of the great development of beet-sugar in central Europe. The industry received a powerful stimulus from the loss of the Spanish colonies in 1898, which freed the Spanish growers from the rivalry of theirmost successful competitors in the home market. In 1901 the official statistics showed 22 cane-sugar factories and 47 beet-sugar factories with an annual output of about 100,000 tons. In the production of pod-fruits and kitchen vegetables Spain is ahead of many other countries. The chick-pea forms part of the daily food of all classes of the inhabitants; and among vegetables. other pod-fruits largely cultivated are various kinds of beans and peas, lentils (Ervum lens), Spanish lentils (Lathyrus sativus) and other species of Lathyrus, lupines, &c. The principal fodder-crops are lucerne (Medicago saliva) and esparcette (a variety of sainfoin). Clover, particularly crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), is grown in the northern provinces. Among vegetables garlic and onions take the chief place, and form an indispensable part of the diet of all Spaniards; besides these, tomatoes and Spanish pepper are the principal garden crops. Among the vegetable products not yet mentioned the most important are the mulberry, grown in almost all provinces, but principally in those bordering on the Mediterranean, and above all in Valencia, the chief seat of the Spanish silk production and manufacture; tobacco, which is also imported, hemp and flax, grown chiefly in Galicia and other northern provinces; among dye-plants, madder, saffron, woad (Isatis tinctoria), and wild woad or dyer's weed (Reseda luteola) ; ground-nuts (Arachis hypogaea), grown for their oil, for the preparation of which the nuts are exported in considerable quantity to France; liquorice, cummin, colocynth, &c. Esparto, chiefly from the arid lands of the south-east, is largely exported to Great Britain. Despite all the efforts of the breeders and of the government, a decline has gone on not only in horse-rearing, but also in other classes of livestock since 1865. Among the causes Livestock. assigned for this decay is the fact that horse, sheep, goat and swine rearing is becoming less remunerative. Heavy taxation, aggravated by unequal distribution of the burden, owing to insufficient survey of the assessable property, has also contributed to the decline of this and other branches of Spanish farming. The only animals belonging to Spain still noted for their excellence are mules and asses, which are recognized as among the best to be found anywhere. Goats are mostly bred in the mountainous districts all along the Spanish side of the Pyrenees froth Biscay to Catalonia, and in Badajoz, Caceres, Ciudad Real, Granada and Leon; swine in Badajoz, Lugo, Oviedo, Caceres and Corunna. The pork and hams of Estremadura are famous; goats' milk and cheese are important articles of diet. In some districts a single peasant often owns as many as 3000 head of goats. Besides the cattle reared for field-labour and (in the northern provinces) for regular dairy farming, bulls for bull-fighting are specially reared in many parts of the country, particularly in the forests of Navarre, the mountains separating the two Castiles, the Sierra Morena, and the Serrania de Ronda in Granada, and also in separate enclosures on the islands of the Guadalquivir. Spanish sheep, which once formed so important a part of the national wealth, are far from having the same importance at the present clay. The most famous breeds of Spanish sheep are the merinos or migrating sheep, which once brought immense revenues to the state as well as to the large proprietors to whom they mostly belonged (see MERINO). These sheep are pastured in different districts in summer and winter. Their winter quarters are in the lower parts of Leon and Estremadura, La Mancha, and the lowlands of Andalusia, their summer quarters the more mountainous districts to the east and north (Plasencia in the province of Caceres, Avila, Segovia, Cuenca, Valencia), which are not so much affected by the summer droughts of the Peninsula. The mode of the migration and the routes to be followed are pre-scribed by law. Each flock consists of about Io,000 sheep, under the command of a mayoral, and is divided into sections containing about woo each, each section tinder the charge of an overseer (capataz), who is assisted by a number of shepherds (pastores) attended by dogs. The shepherds, rudely clad in a sleeveless sheepskin jacket, the wool outside, and leather breeches, and loosely wrapped in a woollen mantle or blanket, are among the most striking objects in a Spanish landscape, especially on the table-land. The migration to the summer quarters takes place at the beginning of April, the return at the end of September. At one time the owners of merino flocks enjoyed the right of pasturing their sheep during their migrations on a strip of ground about Too yds. in breadth bordering the routes along which the migrations took place, but this right (the mesta, as it was called) was abolished in 1836 as prejudicial to cultivation. The numbers of the merinos have been greatly reduced, and they have been replaced by coarse-woolled breeds. Fisheries.The catching of tunnies, sardines, anchovies and salmon on the coasts employs large numbers of fishermen (about 67,000 in 1910), and the salting, smoking and packing of the first three give employment to many others. In 1910 there were about 400 sardine-curing establishments in the kingdom. Minerals.The mineral resources of Spain are as yet far from being adequately turned to account. No European country produces so great a variety of minerals in large amount, and in the production of copper ore, lead ore and mercury Spain heads the list. In the production of salt and silver it is excelled only by Austria-Hungary, and, as regards silver, not always even by it. Iron ore is chiefly obtained in Biscay and Murcia, the former yielding by far the greater quantity, but the latter yielding the better quality. All except a small fraction of the copper ore is obtained from the province of Huelva, in which lie the well-known mines of Tharsis and Rio Tinto (q.v.). The lead ore is obtained chiefly in Murcia and Jae', . The famous mines of Linares belong to the latter province. Argentiferoe.s lead is chiefly produced in Almeria, which also produces most of the silver ore of other kinds except argentiferous copper ore, which is entirely obtained from Ciudad Real. The still more celebrated mercury mines of Almaden (q.v.), the richest in the world till the discovery of the Californian mines of New Almaden, belong to Ciudad Real, and this province, together with that of Oviedo, furnishes the whole of the Spanish production of this mineral. Spanish salt is partly marine, partly derived from brine-springs and partly from rock-salt, of which last there is an entire mountain at Cardona (q.v.) in Barcelona. Coal is chiefly obtained in Oviedo, Palencia and Cordova. Tile production is quite insignificant compared with the extent of the coal-bearing beds, which are estimated to cover an area of about 350o sq.* m., of which nearly a third belongs to Oviedo. Among the less important Spanish minerals are manganese (chiefly in Ciudad Real), antimony, gold, cobalt, sodic sulphate, sulphate of barium (barytes), phosphorite (found in Caceres), alum, sulphur, kaolin, lignite, asphalt, besides a variety of building and ornamental stones. In 1905 the workmen employed on mines in Spain numbered 105,000, and the total value of the output was estimated at 7,734,805. By the law of the 6th of July 1859, a large number of important mines, including all the salt-works and rock-salt mines, were reserved as state property, but financial necessities compelled the government to surrender one mine after another, so that at present the state possesses only the mercury mines and some salt-works. Many of the mines have been granted to foreign (principally British) companies. Manufactures.The maritime provinces, being those most favour-ably situated for the import of coal, and, where necessary, of raw material, are the chief seats of Spanish manufactures. The principal manufacture is that of cotton. The exports of Spanish cotton goods were, until the close of the 19th century, hardly worth mentioning outside the colonial markets, which took an average of two millions sterling in the decade 1888-1898. This outlet is now almost closed, as the new masters of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines no longer protect Spanish imports against European and American competitors. But this loss has been to a great extent compensated by the expansion of the home market for cotton, and the Spanish manufacturers are unable to meet the wants of the population, large quantities of cotton goods being imported every year. The cotton industry was long principally centred in Catalonia, and mainly in the province and town of Barcelona, famed' also for their manufactures of lace, woollen and linen goods. The northern provinces, especially Guip6zcoa and Biscay, Navarre and Oviedo, have followed in the wake of Catalonia for linen and cotton industries and for paper-mills. Flax-spinning is confined to Galicia. The silk industry, though inadequate to meet the home demands, is active in Valencia, Murcia and Seville. Metal industries, at first limited to the Basque Provinces, particularly around Bilbao, have spread to Asturias, Almeria, Galicia, near the great ore beds and in the vicinity of many coal mines. In the same Asturian districts the government has its foundries and factories for making arms at La Trubia and Oviedo, Toledo being only now famous for its blades and decorative work, while the foundries at Seville and Segovia are unimportant compared with those of Asturias. The manufacture of leather, another Spanish industry of old renown, is still extensively carried on in Catalonia and elsewhere, but the making of cordwain has long ceased to be a speciality of Cordova, from which it takes its name. Gloves are made in Seville and Madrid, shoes in the Balearic Isles, chiefly for Cuba and Porto Rico. The esparto is twisted into cords and ropes and the staple matting so common on the floors of Spanish houses of all classes, the estera. Soap, chocolate and cork manufactures are among the prosperous industries. The same may be said of charcoal, both for heating and mechanical purposes. The large furnaces for the distillation of mercury at Almaden were at one time heated solely with charcoal obtained from the Cistus ladaniferus. The making of porcelain is chiefly carried on at Seville. The war of tariffs between France and Spain after 1891 was an inducement for an extraordinary development in the making of brandy and liqueurs of every kind, of fruit preserves, potted meats, etc., in Navarre, the Basque Provinces, Catalonia, and even in Valladolid and Andalusia. Special mention must be made of the manufacture of tobacco, a royal monopoly, farmed out to a company, which increased the factories from seven to twelve and began by paying the treasury 3:400,000 annually. The decade following the Spanish-American War (1898-1908), which may be regarded as a period of industrial and commercial reconstruction, was marked by a very rapid increase in the use of electricity for lighting, traction and other purposes. Owing to the abundance of water-power to be obtained in the mountainous regions, these new undertakings proved very successful. Spain is, on the whole, a country whose production falls far short of her own requirements. With a protected home market, cheap power and cheap labour available, there is room for much industrial development. It is, however, noteworthy that Spanish capitalists are, as a class, though exclusive of the Catalans, unduly conservative. Hence the capital for the establishment of electrical industries wasalmost exclusively subscribed in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzer-land and the United States, just as, in the 19th century, the railways and mining industries had been mainly financed by British investors, and the Valencian silk industry by French. Another feature of the period of reconstruction was the formation of numerous trusts or combinations of producing companies designed to take advantage of the high tariff, and to restrict competition, lower expenses and raise prices. The paper, sugar, salt petroleum and metallurgical industries were subjected to this process, but in no case was it possible to secure a complete monopoly. Commerce.Possessing varied resources and being favourably situated for commerce, Spain might be expected to take a leading place among the trading communities of Europe. This it did at one time hold, when the treasure acquired by the discovery of America and the conquest of Mexico and Peru was squandered in the purchase of various commodities from England, the Nether-lands and other countries. This period of outward prosperity, however, was also that in which the seeds of decline were planted. The expulsion of the Moors from Granada was contemporaneous with the discovery of the New World. Hundreds of thousands of Moors were driven out from the country on subsequent occasions, and in the act Spain lost the best of her agriculturists and handicraftsmen. The Spaniards of that day, excited by the hope of rapidly acquired wealth and the love of adventure, embarked upon a career of discovery, and agriculture and manufacturing industry fell into contempt. The loss of all her possessions on the American mainland in the early part of the 19th century dealt a severe blow to the foreign commerce of Spain, from which it only recovered about 1850, when imports and exports began to increase. After the restoration of the Bourbons in 1875, the first cabinet of Alphonso XIL's reign stopped the operation of the tariff law of the Revolution and reverted to protection. In 1882 a Liberal cabinet revived the system of a gradual reduction of import duties to a fixed maxi-mum, and made commercial treaties with France and several other nations, which were followed by a treaty with Great Britain in 1886. The foreign commerce of Spain rapidly developed in the decade 1882-1892, Great Britain, France and the United States figuring at the head of the imports, Great Britain and France at the head of the exports. The exports of Spanish wines to France alone amounted to 12,000,000 annually. When France and other European nations abandoned free trade for protection towards 1890, a strong movement
The following table shows the value of Spanish imports and exports for a number-of representative years after 1848: Year. Importsi__ Exports. 1 _ 1849 6,360,000 5,240,000 I86o 14,833,000 10,982,000 1865 16, 262 ,000 12,864,000 1870 20,876,000 15,982,000 1875 22,812,000 18,081,000 1880 1 28,482,000 25,999,000 1885 30,590,000 27,920,000 1890 37,646,000 37,510,000 1895 33,540,000 32,198,000 1900 34,496,000 28,955,000 1905 32,320,000 50,012,000 The principal exports include metals and other minerals; wine, sugar, fruit and other alimentary substances, cotton and its manufactures; animals and their products, including wool and hair; timber and wrought wood. The principal imports include grain, dried fish and other food-stuffs; livestock and animal products; machinery, vehicles and ships; stone, minerals, glass and pottery; drugs and chemical products; textiles and raw cotton. Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Portugal, named in the order of their importance, are the chief consumers of Spanish exports. The chief exporters to Spain (in the same order) are Great Britain, France, Cuba, Germany and Portugal. The foreign trade of the country is of course carried on mainly by sea, and of the land commerce by far the largest proportion is with or through France. The smallness of the trade with Portugal is partly due to the similarity of the chief products of the two countries. Shipping and Navigation.Spain has 21 seaboard provinces, with more than 120 ports of some importance. The merchant navy of Spain, far from decaying through the loss of her colonies in 1898, seems to have been given fresh impetus. Many English and French steamers have been purchased abroad and nationalized. In 1905 the mercantile marine comprised 449 steamships of 434,846 tons, and 541 sailing vessels of 85,583 tons. The sailing vessels are decreasing in numbers in the exterior trade, but not in the coasting trade, which is decidedly developing and occupying more craft. It is carried on exclusively under the Spanish flag. The fishing fleet, chiefly sailing boats, is also important, and is manned by a hardy and active coast population. In 1905 19,722 ships of 16,395,267 tons entered, and 18,033 of 16,442,355 tons cleared. Banking and Credit= The Bank of Spain (Banco de Espana) has a charter which has been renewed and enlarged several times since its foundation after the Restoration, and its privileged note issue has had to be gradually and very largely increased by legislative authorizations, especially in 1891 and 1898, as its relations with the treasuries of Spain and of her colonies increased; since nothing in the services rendered by the bank to the public would ever have justified the growth of the note issue first to thirty millions sterling in 1891, then by quick strides to fifty and over sixty-one millions sterling in 1899 and 1900. At the close of the 19th century the remodelled hank charter, which is only to expire in 1921, authorized a maximum issue of foo,000,000, on condition that the bank keeps cash in hand, gold and silver in equal quantities, equal to a third of the notes in circulation up to 60,000,000, and equal to half the amount issued above that sum. Gold has practically disappeared from business of every kind since 1881, when the premium began to rise; it reached a maximum of 120 ,o during the war with America. Afterwards it dropped to about 30 in 1900. Bank-notes and silver coin have been 4practically the currency for many years. Currency, Weights and Measures.The metric system of weights and measures was officially adopted in Spain in 1859 and the decimal monetary system in 1871. In the case of the weights and measures the French names were also adopted, with only the necessary linguistic changes. Certain older standards remain in common use, notably the quintal (of 101.4 lb avoirdupois), the libra (1.014 lb avoirdupois), the arroba (31 imperial gallons for wine, 21 imperial gallons for oil), the fanega (11 imperial bushels). In the case of the currency the old Spanish name of peseta was retained for the unit (the franc, 91d.). The peseta is divided into too centesinaos. According to its par value 25.225 pesetas are about equal to 1, but the actual value of the peseta is about 74d. In law, there is a double standard of value, silver and gold, in the ratio of 151 to 1. But the only silver coin which is legal tender up to any amount is the 5-peseta piece, and the coinage of this is restricted. One-peseta pieces in silver, and 20-, 10- and 5-peseta pieces in gold are also current. Before the introduction of the decimal monetary system the peseta was the fifth part of a peso dun), which was equal to 20 reales de velion, or rather more than a 5-franc piece. The only paper money consists of the notes of the Bank of Spain. Finance.Spanish finance passed through many vicissitudes during the 19th century. In the reigns of Ferdinand VII. and Isabella I I. the creditors of the state had to suffer several suspensions of payments of their dues, and reductions both of capital and interest. During the Revolution, from 1868 to 1874, matters culminated in bankruptcy. Payments of interest were only in part resumed after the Restoration in 1876, and in 1882 the government of King Alphonso XII. proposed arrangements to consolidate the floating and treasury debts of the Peninsula in the shape of 70,000,000 of 4 ;, stock, redeemable in 40 years, and to reduce and consolidate the old exterior and interior debts, then exceeding 480,000,000, in the form of 78,840,000 of exterior 4% debtexempt from taxation under an agreement to that effect with the council of foreign bond-holders in London on the 28th of June 1882and 77,840,000 of perpetual interior 4%. The colonial debts were not included in those plans. The debts of Spain were further increased in 1891 by a consolidation of to,000,000 of floating debt turned into 4% redeemable stock similar to that of 1882; and this did not prevent a fresh growth of floating debts out of annual deficits averaging two to three millions sterling during the last quarter of the 19th century. The floating debt in 1900 had swollen to 24,243,300. The government of Spain having guaranteed the colonial debts of Cuba and of the Phiiippines, when those colonies were lost in 1898, Spain was further saddled with 46,210,000 of colonial consolidated debts, and with the expenses of the wars amounting, besides, to 63,257,000. Consequently, the Spanish government had once more to attempt to make both ends meet by asking its creditors to assent to the suppression of all the amortization of imperial and colonial debts, and to a tax of 20% on the coupons of all the debts, whilst at the same time the Cortes were asked to authorize a consolidation and liquidation of the floating and war debts and an annual increase of 3,200,000 in already heavy taxation. Under these modifications the Spanish debt at the close of the 19th century, exclusive of 44,000,000 of treasury debt, consisted of 41,750,000 of exterior debt, still temporarily exempted from taxation on the condition of being held by foreigners, of 270,000,000 of 4% interior consols, and of 6o.000,000 of new 5 % consols, replacing the war and floating debts. In January 1905 this total outstanding debt of 415,750,000 had been reduced to 381,833,000; the capital sum was thus approximately equal to 20 8s. per head of the population, and the annual charge amounted to about 17s. 6d. per head. Between 1885 and 190=, the revenue of Spain varied from 3o,00o,000 to 40,000,000, and the expenditure was approximately equal; deficits were common towards the beginning of this period, surpluses towards the end. For an analysis of the budget the year 1008 may be taken as typical, inasmuch as trade had then resumed its normal condition, afterthe disturbing influence of tariff revision in 1906 and the failure of many crops in 1907. The estimates for 1908 showed that the revenue was derived as follows: Direct taxes on land, houses, mines, industry and commerce, livestock, registration acts, titles of nobility, mortgages and salaries paid by the state, 18,oao,800; indirect taxes, including customs, excise, tolls and bridge and ferry clues, 11,748,000; tobacco monopoly, lottery, mint, national property, balance from public treasury, &c., 8,858,400; total 41,627,200. The principal items of expenditure were: Public debt, 16,199,300; ministry of war, 6,301,100; ministry of public works, &c., 3,679,540 pensions, 2,881,400. The total was 40,926,740. Constitution and Government.Spain is an hereditary monarchy the constitution of which was voted by the Cortes and became the fundamental law of the 3oth of June 1876. This law fixes the order of succession as follows: should no legitimate descendant of Alphonso XII. survive, the succession devolves first upon his sisters, next upon his aunt and her legitimate descendants, and finally upon the legitimate descendants of the brothers of Ferdinand VII. " unless they have been excluded." Should all lines become extinct, the nation may elect its monarch. The sovereign becomes of age on completing his or her sixteenth year. He is inviolable, but his ministers are responsible to the Cortes, and none of his decrees is valid unless countersigned by a minister. The sovereign is grand-master of the eight Spanish orders of knighthood, the principal of which is that of the Golden Fleece (Toison de Oro), founded in 1431 by Philip of Burgundy. The chain of this order surrounds the royal arms, in which are included, besides the arms of Castile, Leon, Granada, and the lilies of the royal house of Bourbon, the arms of Austria, Sicily, Savoy, Brabant and others. The national colours are red and yellow. The flag is divided into three horizontal stripes, two red stripes with a yellow one between bearing the royal arms. The legislative authority is exercised by the sovereign in conjunction with the Cortes, a body composed of two housesa senate and a chamber of deputies. The senate is composed of members of three classes: (I) members by right of birth or officeprinces, nobles who possess an annual income of 6o,000 pesetas (L2,400), and hold the rank of grandee (grande), a dignity conferred by the king either for life or as an hereditary honour, captains-general of the army, admirals of the navy, the patriarch of the Indies, archbishops, cardinals, the presidents of the council of state or of the Supreme Court, and other high officials, all of whom must have retained their appointments for two years; (2) members nominated by the sovereign for life; and (3) members elected three each by the 49 provinces of the kingdom, and the remainder by academies, universities, dioceses and state corporations. The members belonging to the first two classes must not exceed 18o in number, and there may be the same number of members of the third class. The senatorial electors in the provinces are (I) delegates of the communes and (2) all the members of the provincial council, presided over by the governor. The lower house of the Cortes was elected by a very limited franchise from 1877 to 1890, when the Cortes passed a reform bill which became law on the 29th of June 1890. This law re-established universal male suffrage, which had existed during the Revolution, from 1869 to 1877. Under the law of the 29th of June 1890 every Spaniard who is not debarred from his civil and civic rights by any legal incapacity, and has resided consecutively two years in his parish, becomes an elector on completing his twenty-fifth year. Soldiers and sailors in active service cannot vote. All Spaniards aged 25 who are not clerks in holy orders can be elected. The same electoral law was extended to the municipal elections. The executive administration is entrusted to a responsible ministry, in which the president generally holds no portfolio, though some prime ministers have also taken charge of one of the departments. The ministerial departments are: Foreign affairs, grace and justice, finance, interior, war, education and fine arts, marine, public works, and agriculture and commerce. Under the secretary of state for the interior the civil administration in each province is headed by a governor, who represents the central power in the provincial council (di putacion provincial) which is also elected by universal suffrage. The provincial councils meet yearly, and are permanently represented by a committee (commission provincial), which is elected annually to safeguard their interests. Every commune or municipality has its own elected ayuntamiento (q.v.), which has complete control over municipal administration, with power to levy and collect taxes. Its members are styled regidores or concejales, and half their number is elected every two years. They appoint an alcalde or mayor from among themselves to act as president, chief executive officer, and justice of the peace. In the larger towns the alcalde shares his reponsibilities with several permanent officials called lenientes alcaldes. The fundamental law of 1876 secures to ayuntamientos, and to the provincial councils, an autonomy which is complete within its own limits. Neither the executive nor the Cortes may interfere with provincial and communal administration, except when the local authorities exceed their legal power to the detriment of public interests. This provision of the constitution has not always been strictly observed by the government. Law and Justice.Spanish law is founded on Roman law, Gothic common law, and the national code proclaimed at the meeting of the fortes at Toro in 1501 (the leyes de Toro). The present civil code was put into force on the 1st of May 1889 for the whole kingdom. The penal code dates from 1870, and was modified in 1877. The commercial code was put into force on the 22nd of August 1885, the code of civil procedure on the 1st of April 1881, and the code of criminal procedure on the 22nd of June 1882. There is a court of first instance in each of the 495 partidos judiciales, or legal districts, into which the kingdom is divided. From this inferior jurisdiction the appeals go to the 15 audiencias territoriales, or courts of appeal. There is in Madrid a Supreme Court, which is modelled upon the French Cour de Cassation, to rule on points of law when appeals are made from the decisions of inferior courts, or when conflicts arise between civil and military jurisdiction. When the law of the 20th of April 1888 established trial by jury for most crimes and delicts, 49 audiencias criminales, one in each province, were created; these are a sort of assize held four times a year. The administration of justice is public. The parties to a suit must be represented by counsel. The state is always represented in every court by abogados fiscales, public prosecutors, and counsel who are nominees of the Crown. Religion.Roman Catholicism is the established religion, and the Church and clergy are maintained by the state at an annual cost of about 1,600,000. The relations between Church and state, and the position of the religious orders, were defined by the concordat of 1851, remaining practically unchanged until 1910. There are ten archbishoprics (Toledo, Madrid, Burgos, Granada, Santiago, Saragossa, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia and Valladolid) and forty-five bishoprics. The archbishop of Toledo is primate. The number of monastic communities is about 3250, including some 600 convents for men and 265o for women. Most of the religious orders carry on active educational or charitable work. The monks number about to,000, the nuns 40,000. The immense majority of the people are professed adherents of the Roman Catholic faith, so that, so far as numbers go, Spain is still the most " Catholic " country in the world, as it has long been styled. With liberty of conscience during the Revolution, from 1868 to 1877, the Church lost ground, and anti-clerical ideas prevailed for a while in the centres of republicanism in Catalonia and Andalusia; but a reaction set in with the Restoration. The governments of the Restoration showed the Church much favour, allowed the Jesuits and religious orders of both sexes to spread to an extent without precedent in the century, and to take hold of the education of more than half of the youth of both sexes in all classes of society. This revival of Church and monastic influence began during the reign of Alphonso XIL, 1877-1885, and considerably increased afterwards under the regency of Queen Christina, during the long minority of Alphonso XIII., the godson of Pope Leo XIII. Spanish codes still contain severe penalties for delicts against the state religion, as writers frequently discover when they give offence to the ecclesiastical authorities. Blasphemy is punished by imprisonment. The bishops sit in the superior council of education, and exercise much influence on public instruction. Since 1899 all boys have been obliged to attend lectures on theology and religion during six out of seven years of their curriculum to obtain the B.A. degree. Canon law and Church doctrine form an obligatory part of the studies of men qualifying for the bar and magistracy. By the constitution of 1876 non-Catholics were only permitted to exercise their form of worship on condition that they did so in private, without any public demonstration or announcement of their services. The same rule applies to their schools, which are, however, numerously attended, in Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and other towns, by children of Protestant families and of many Roman Catholics also. A proposal to abolish these restrictions was made by the government in 1910 (see History, below).Education.A law of the 17th of July 1857 made primary educadon free for the poor, and compulsory on all children of school age,originally fixed at six to nine years. It proved impossible to enforce this statute, and the majority of Spaniards are still illiterate, though in decreasing proportion at each census. The primary schools for both sexes are kept up by the municipalities, at an annual cost of about r,0oo,000, to which the state contributes a small subvention. The secondary schools, of which there must be at least one in every province, are styled institutes and are mostly self-supporting, the fees paid by the pupils usually cover the expenses of such establishments, which also receive subsidies from some of the provincial councils. Spain has nine universities: Madrid, the most numerously attended; Salamanca, the most ancient; Granada, Seville, Barcelona, Valencia, Santiago, Saragossa and Valladolid. There are also a faculty of medicine at Cadiz and a faculty of law at Oviedo. Most of the universities are self-supporting from the fees of matriculations and of degrees. The state also maintains a variety of technical schools, for agriculture, engineering, architecture, painting, music, &c. The whole system of public instruction is controlled by the minister of education and an advisory council. A law passed on the 1st of July 1902 requires that all private schools must be authorized by the state, and arranges for their periodical inspection, for the enforcement of proper sanitation and discipline, and for the appointment of a suitable staff of teachers. Among the institutions affected by this law are numerous Jesuit and other ecclesiastical schools for boys, and a Jesuit university at Deusto, near Bilbao, whose pupils have to pass their final secondary examinations and to take all degrees in the state establishments as free scholars. The education of girls has been much developed not only in the state schools but even more so in the convents, which educate more than half the girls of the upper and middle classes. Many girls attend the provincial institutes, and some have successfully gone in for the B.A. degrees and even higher honours in the universities. Defence.The Spanish army is recruited by conscription. Liability to service begins with the first day of the calendar year in which the twentieth year is completed. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the war ministers have seldom called for more than forty to sixty thousand men annually, and of this contingent all who can afford to do so buy them-selves off from service at home by payment of 60, and if drafted for colonial service by payment of 80. The period of service for all arms is twelve yearsthree with the colours, three in the first-class reserve, six in the second-class reserve, which contains the surplus of the annual contingent of recruits, and is liable to one month's training in every year. The war ministers can, and frequently do, send on unlimited furlough, or place in the first-class reserve, men who have not completed their first three years, and thus a considerable saving is made. Brothers can take each other's place in the service, and eldest sons of aged parents, or sons of widows, easily get exempted. Spain is divided into seven military regions or army corps. The strength of the regular army for many years varied between 85,000 and ioo,000 in time of peace, and during the Carlist Wars, 1868 to 1876, Spain had 280,000 under arms, and nearly 350,000 during her more recent wars. For 18991900 the figures were only 8o,000. The active army is divided into 56 regiments of the line with 2 battalions each, 20 battalions of rifles or ca,zadores, 2 Balearic Islands, r Melilla, 4 African battalions of light infantry, 2 battalions of rifles in the Canaries. The cavalry includes a squadron of royal horse guards, 28 regiments of the line, remount and depot establishments, 4 regional squadrons in Majorca, the Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla. The artillery comprises 12 regiments of field artillery, r of horse artillery, 3 regiments and an independent division of mountain guns, and 7 battalions of garrison artillery. The royal engineers are 4 regiments of sappers and miners, r of pontooners, r battalion of telegraph engineers, i of railway engineers with cyclists, r balloon corps, and 4 colonial corps. Other permanent military forces are 1075 officers, 1604 mounted and 16,536. foot gendarmes, mostly old soldiers, and 14,156 carabineers, all of them old soldiers. The regular army, at the close of the wars in 1895, had 26,000 officers and about 400 generals, but a law was afterwards made to reduce their numbers by filling only one out of two death vacancies, with a view to reach a peace establishment of 2 marshals, 25 lieutenant-generals, 50 divisional- and 140 brigadier-generals, and 15,000 officers. The total strength of the field army may be estimated at 220,000 combatants. The military academies are Toledo for infantry, Segovia for artillery, Valladolid for cavalry, Avila for commissariat, Escorial for carabineers, Getafe for civil guards, besides a staff college styled Escuela Superior de Guerra at Madrid. Numerous fortresses guard the Portuguese frontier and the passes of the Pyrenees, but many of these are ill-armed and obsolete. The navy is recruited by conscription in the coast or maritime districts, which are divided into three naval captaincies-general, those of Ferrol, Cadiz and Cartagenaat the head of each being a vice-admiral. No attempt was made, during the decade which followed the Spanish-American War, to replace the squadrons destroyed at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. When the reconstruction of the navy was begun, in 1908, Spain possessed 1 battleship, 2 armoured cruisers, 6 protected cruisers, 5 destroyers and 6 torpedo-boats. All the larger vessels were old and of little value. For geology, see the maps and other publications of the Comision del Mapa Geologico de Espana; L. Mallada, " Explicacion del mapa geologico de Espana," in Mem. com. mapa geol. Esp. (1895, 1896, 1898 and 1902); C. Barrois, " Recherches sur les terrains anciens des Asturies et de la Galicie," in Mem. soc. geol. du Nord, vol. ii. (Lille, 1882); F. Fouque, &c., " Mission d'Andalousie," in Mem. pres. par divers savants d l'acad. des sciences, ser. 2, vol. xxx. (Paris, 1889). The chief authorities on flora and fauna are M. Willkomm, Illustrationes florae hispanicae insularumque Balearium (2 vols., Stuttgart, 18811892) ; M. Colmeiro, Enumeration de las plantas de la Peninsula (vol. i., Madrid, 1885), G. de la Puerto, Botdnica descriptiva, &c. (Madrid, 1891); B. Merino, Contribution d la flora de Galicia (Tuy, 1897) ; A. Chapman and W. J. Buck, Wild Spain (London, 1893) ; id. Unexplored Spain (London, 1910). Modern social and political conditions are described by G. Routier, L'Espagne en 7899 (Paris, 1897) ; E. Pardo Bazan, La Espana de ayer y la de hoy (Madrid, 1899); L'Espagne: politique, litterature, armee, &c., numero special de la Nouvelle Revue Internationale (Paris, 1900); J. R. Lowell, Impressions of Spain (London, 1900, written 1877188o when Lowell was American minister to the court of Spain) ; P.Gotor de Burbaguena, Nuestras costumbres (Madrid, 1900) ; R. Altamira y Creva Psicologia del pueblo espanol (Madrid, 1902); V. Amirall, El Catalanismo (Barcelona, 1902); J. Alenda y Mira, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas publicas de Espana (Madrid, 1903) ; Madrazo, El Pueblo espanol ha muerto? (Santander, 1903) ; V. Gay, Constitution y vida del pueblo espanol (Madrid, 1905, &c.) ; H. Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain (London, 1908). A comprehensive account of such matters as population, industry, commerce, finance, mining, shipping, public works, post and telegraphs, railways, education, constitution, law and justice, public health, &c.,may be found in the following works; all those of which the place and date of issue are not specified are published annually in Madrid: Censo de la poblacion de Espana: 1900 (Madrid, 1902, &e.); Movimiento de la poblacion de Espana; British Foreign Office Reports (annual series and miscellaneous series, London ; Estadistica general de comercio exterior de Espana con sus provincias de ultramar y potencias extrangeras, formada por la direction general de Aduanas; Annual Reports of the Council of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders (London); Estadistica mineral de Espana; Memoria sobre las obras publicas; Anuario oficial de correos y telegrafos de Espana; Situation de los ferro-carriles; Anuario de la primera ensenanza; H. Gmelin, Studien zur spanischen Verfassungsgeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart, 1905); R. deOloriz, La Constitution espanola comparada con las de Inglaterra, Estados-Unidos, Francia y Alemania (Valencia, 1904) ; T. Gomez Herrero, Diccionario-guia legislativo espanol (5 vols., Madrid, 1901'903); Estadistica de la administration de justicia en lo criminal durante; Boletin mensual de estadistica demogrdfica-sanitaria de la peninsula y islas adjacentes (Madrid, monthly); Estado general de la armada para el ano; C. Fernandez Duro, Armada espanola desde la union de los reinos de Castilla y de Leon (9 vols., Madrid, 18951903) ; Boletin oficial del ministerio de marina. (K. G. J.) HISTORY A.Ancient to A. D. 406. Primitive Inhabitants.The origin and character of the early inhabitants of the Peninsula are unknown; recent conjectures on the subject, which have been many, are more bold than probable, and we must await the result of further excavations of prehistoric sites and further inquiries into the native inscriptions before we can hope for much certainty. The Romans, whose acquaintance with the country began in the 3rd century B.C., mention three races: Iberians (in the east, north and south), Celts (north-west) and Celtiberians (centre), but the classification does not help us far. The use to-day of the strange and ancient Basque tongue on the western slopes of the Pyrenees and in Vizcaya (Biscay)a tongue which is utterly unlike Celtic or Italian or any " Indo-Germanic " languagesuggests that the Iberians may have been an older people than the Celts and alien from them in race, though the attempts hitherto made to connect Basque with ancient traces of strange tongues in the Basque lands have not yielded clear results. On the other hand, numerous place-names show that parts of the Peninsula were once held by Celtic-speaking peoples, and it is, of course, possible that Celts and Iberians may have formed a mixed race in certain regions. Of other ancient races little trace can be detected. The Phoenicians were here traders and not settlers; the Greeks, though they planted early colonies on the Gulf of Lyons, occupied hardly any site south of the Pyrenees, and the seeming likeness in name of Saguntum (q.v.) and the Greek island Zacynthus is mere coincidence. It is possible, however, that after the Roman conquest Italians drifted in, and it is fairly certain that after the Roman Empire fell German conquerors brought German settlers, though in what numbers no wise man will guess. Earliest Historic Period.Phoenician traders probably reached Spain long before our historical knowledge of the Peninsula begins, possibly as early as the r rth century B.C. The Phoe-One of their earlier settlements, Gades (now aicians. Cadiz), has been called the oldest town in the world (or in Europe) which has kept a continuity of life and name from its first origin. But the Phoenician exploitation of Spain dates principally from after the rise of Carthage (q.v.), the great Phoenician city of North Africa. Carthaginian " factories " were planted on many Spanish coasts: a Nova Carthago (New Carthage, mod. Cartagena) formed a Carthaginian fortress with the best harbour of south-eastern Spain. The expansion is attributed chiefly to the second half of the 3rd century B.C., and to the genius of the Carthaginian statesman, Hamilcar Barca, who, seeing his country deprived by Rome of her trading dominion in Sicily and Sardinia, used Spain, not only as a source of commercial wealth, but as an inexhaustible supply of warlike troops to serve in the Carthaginian armies. But Rome had already her eyes on the Spanish men and mines, and, in the second Punic War, drove Carthage finally and completely out of the Peninsula (201 B.C.). Roman Spain.The Romans divided Spain into two " spheres of administration " (provinciae), Hither or Citerior, that is the northern districts which were nearer to Italy, and Republican Further or Ulterior, the south. To each " province " Period, was sent yearly a governor, often with the title 200-27B.c. proconsul. The commands were full of military activity. The south, indeed, and in particular the fertile valley of Andalusia, the region of the Guadalquivir (Baetis), then called Baetica, was from the first fairly peaceful. Settlements of Italian veterans or of Spanish soldiers who had served for Rome were made at Hispalis (Seville) and at Carteia near Gibraltar, and a beginning was made of a Romanized provincial population, though in a somewhat half-hearted way. But in the north, on the high plateau and amidst the hills, there was incessant fighting throughout the greater part of the znd century B.c., and indeed in some quarters right down to the establishment of the empire. The Carthaginians had extended their influence no great distance from the eastern coast and their Roman successors had all the work to do. In the long struggle many Roman armies were defeated, many commanders disgraced, many Spanish leaders won undying fame as patriot chiefs (see NUMANTIA). Even where one Roman succeeded, the incapacity or the perfidy of his successor too often lost the fruits of success. But though its instruments were weak the Republic was still strong, and the struggle itself, a struggle quite as much for a peaceful frontier as for aggrandizement and annexation of fresh land, could not be given up without risk
Augustus (or Tiberius possibly) reorganized the administration of Roman Spain.. Henceforward there were three pro-TheBmplre,vinces: (a) the north and north-west, the central 27 B.C.- table-land and the east coast as far south as New A.D. 406. Carthage, that is, all the thinly-populated and unquiet hill country, formed the province of Tarraconensis with a capital at Tarraco (Tarragona) under a legatus Augusti pro praetore with a legion (VII. Gemina) at Leon and some other troops at his disposal; (b) the fertile and peaceful west formed the province of Lusitania, very roughly the modern Portugal, also under a legatus Augusti pro praetore, but with very few troops; (c) the fertile and peaceful south formed the province of Baetica, called after its chief river, the Baetis, under a pro-consul nominated by the senate, with no troops. These divisions (it will be observed) exactly coincide with the geographical features of the Peninsula. Substantially, they remained tillthe end of the empire, though Tarraconensis was broken up at different dates into smaller and more manageable areas. Augustus also accelerated the Romanization of the land by planting in it many municipalities (coloniae) of discharged soldiers, such for example as Augusta Emerita (mod. Merida), which declares by its name its connexion with time-expired veterans and still possesses extensive Roman ruins. Either now, too, or soon after, imperial finance agents (procuratores) were appointed to control the revenues and also to look after the mines, which now became Imperial property, while a special praefcctus administered the Balearic Islands. The two principal features of the whole country during the. imperial period are its great prosperity and its contributions to Roman literature. Shut off from foreign enemies (though occasionally vexed by pirates from Africa), secluded from the wars of the empire, it developed its natural resources to an extent unequalled before or since. Its iron and copper and silver and lead were well known: it was also (according to the elder Pliny) the chief source whence the Roman world obtained its tin and quite outdistanced in this period the more famous mines of Cornwall. But such commercial prosperity characterized many districts of the empire during the first two centuries of our era. Spain can boast that she supplied Rome with almost her whole literature in the silver age. The Augustan writers had been Italians. When they passed away there arosg in their places such writers as the younger Seneca, the epic poet Lucan, the epigrammatist Martial, the literary critic Quintilian, besides a host of lesser names. But the impulse of the opening empire died away and successful commerce drove out literary interests. With the znd century the great Roman-Spanish literature ceased: it was left to other regions which felt later than Spain the stimulus of Romanization to enter into the literary tradition. Of statesmen the Peninsula was less prolific. The emperor Trajan, indeed, and his relative and successor Hadrian, were born in Spain, but they were both of Roman stock and Roman training. The 3rd and 4th centuries saw a decline in the prosperity of Roman Spain. The confiscations of Septimus Severus and the ravages of barbarians in the middle of the 3rd century have both been adduced as causes for such a decline. But while we need not doubt that the decline occurred, we can hardly determine either its date or its intensity without careful examination of the Roman remains of Spain. Many of the best Roman ruinssuch as the aqueduct of Segovia or the bridge of Alcantarano doubt date from before A.D. 200. Others are probably later, and indicate that prosperity continued here, as it did on the other side of the Pyrenees in Gaul, till the later days of the 4th centuryperhaps indeed not till the fatal winter's night in 406-7 when the barbarians burst the Rhine frontier and flooded Gaul and even Spain with a deluge from which there was no recovery. (F. J. H.) B. From A.D. 406 to the Mahommedan Conquest. The Barbarian Invasion and the Visigothic Kingdom.With the irruption of the Vandals, the Suebi and the Alans, the history of Spain enters on a long period of division and confusion which did not end even with the union of the chief kingdoms by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand at the close of the 15th century. The function of the barbarians everywhere was to cut the communications of commerce, and the nerves of the imperial administration, thereby throwing the invaded country back into a fragmentary condition from which a new order was to arise in the course of centuries. This function was effectually discharged in Spain by the Vandals and their associates, who plundered far and wide, and then by the Visigoths, who appeared as the " foederati," or duly commissioned defenders of saeL'~3 vanaatsaad the Romans. The first-corners cannot be said to have conquered the country in the sense that they established a rule of their own. They were not numerous enough for the execution of such a task, even if they had possessed the capacity. When in 428 Gaiseric, king of the Vandals (q.v.), accepted the invitation of Bonifacius, the count of Africa, and passed out of Spain to found the Vandal kingdom of Carthage, his whole horde numbered only 8o,000 persons, including old men, women and children, and runaway slaves who had joined him. The Suebi, who remained, were certainly not more numerous. Such small bodies could not have occupied so extensive a territory, even if they had scattered themselves in driblets all over its surface. What they did was to rove about in hordes, plundering or levying blackmail. The cowed inhabitants had been trained out of all habit of acting for themselves by the imperial despotism, and could only flee or submit. There is probably some truth in the assertion of Salvian that many of the subjects of the empire preferred poverty among the barbarians to the tyranny of the imperial tax collectors. This would be pre-eminently the case with the smaller landowners who formed the " curiales," and who were in reality serfs of the fisc, for on them fell the main weight of taxation, and they were confined to their position by oppressive laws. The great landowners who formed the " ordo senatorius " had almost as much to fear from the agrarian insurgents known as bagaudae, who are indeed found acting with the Suebi, as from the barbarians. In time some of them took to " living barbarously "that is to say, they fortified their villas, collected an armed following and fought for their lives, families and property. In some districts the inhabitants reverted to a state of tribal independence. This undoubtedly was the case in the north, where the Asturians and Basques, the least Romanized part of the population, appear from the beginning of the age of barbarization as acting for themselves. In the mountain country of Cuenca, Albacete, and the Sierra Nevada the natives known as the Orospedans were entirely independent in the midd |
