Granada

GRANADA, the capital of the province, and formerly of the kingdom of Granada, in southern Spain; on the Madrid-Granada Algeciras railway. Pop. (1930),' 18,179. Granada is well situated, 2,195 ft. above the sea, on the north-western slope of the Sierra Nevada, overlooking the fertile lowlands known as the Vega de Granada on the west and overshadowed by the peaks of Veleta (11,338 ft.) and Mulhacen (11,427 ft.) on the south-east. The southern limit of the city is the river Genil, the Roman Singilis and Moorish Sli.enil, a swift stream flowing westward from the Sierra Nevada, with a considerable volume of water in summer, when the snows have thawed. Its tributary the Darro, the Roman Salon and Moorish Hadarro, enters Granada on the east, flows for upwards of a mile from east to west, and then turns sharply southward to join the main river, which is spanned by a bridge just above the point of confluence. The waters of the Darro are much reduced by irrigation works along its lower course, and within the city it has been canalized and partly covered with a roof.

Granada comprises three main divisions, the Antequeruela, the Albaicin and Granada properly so-called. The first division, founded by refugees from Antequera in 1410, consists of the districts enclosed by the Darro, besides a small area on its right, or western bank. It is bounded on the east by the gardens and hill of the Alhambra (q.v.), the most celebrated of all the monu ments left by the Moors. The Albaicin (Moorish Rabad al Baya zin, "Falconers' Quarter") lies north-west of the Antequeruela. Granada, properly so-called, is north of the Antequeruela, and west of the Albaicin. The origin of its name is obscure ; it has been sometimes derived from granada, a pomegranate, in allusion to the abundance of pomegranate trees in the neighbourhood. A pomegranate appears on the city arms. The Moors, however, called Granada Karnattah or Karnattah-al-Yahud, and possibly the name is composed of the Arabic words kern, "a hill," and nattah, "stranger"—the "city" or "hill of strangers." Granada is the see of an archbishop. Its cathedral, begun in 1529 by Diego de Siloe, and finished only in 1703, is profusely ornamented with jasper and coloured marbles, and surmounted by a dome. The interior contains many paintings and sculptures by Alonso Cano (1601-1667), the architect of the fine west façade, and other artists. In one of the numerous chapels, known as the Chapel Royal (Capilla Real), is the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, the first rulers of united Spain. The Cartuja, or Carthusian monastery north of the city, was built in 1516 in memory of the Great Captain, Gonzalo de Cordoba whose tomb is in the convent of San Jeronimo.

After the Alhambra, and such adjacent buildings as the Gen eralife and Torres Bermejas, which are more fitly described in connection with it, the principal Moorish antiquities of Granada are the 13th-century villa known as the Cuarto Real de San Domingo, admirably preserved, and surrounded by beautiful gardens; the Alcazar de Genii, built in the middle of the 14th century as a palace for the Moorish queens ; and the Casa del Cabildo, a university of the same period, converted into a ware house in the 19th century. Granada has an active trade in the agricultural produce of the Vega, and manufactures liqueurs, soap, paper and coarse linen and woollen fabrics.

History.

The identity of Granada with the Iberian city of Iliberris or Iliberri, which afterwards became a flourishing Roman colony, has never been fully established ; but Roman tombs, coins, inscriptions, etc., have been discovered in the neighbourhood. Under the caliphs of Cordova the family of the Zeri, Ziri or Zeiri maintained itself as the ruling dynasty until logo; it was then displaced by the Almohades, who were in turn overthrown by the Almoravides, in 1154. The dominion of the Almoravides continued unbroken, save for an interval of one year (1 16o-61), until 1229. From 1229 to 1238 Granada formed part of the king dom of Murcia ; but in the last-named year it passed into the hands of Abu Abdullah Mohammed Ibn Al Ahmar, prince of Jaen and founder of the dynasty of the Nasrides. Al Ahmar was de prived of Jaen in 1246, but united Granada, Almeria and Malaga under his sceptre, and made peace with Castile. Al Ahmar and his successors ruled over Granada until 1492, in an unbroken line of 25 sovereigns. Their encouragement of commerce—notably the silk trade with Italy—rendered Granada the wealthiest of Spanish cities; their patronage of art, literature and science attracted many learned Muslims such as the historian Ibn Khaldun and the geog rapher Ibn Batuta, to their court, and resulted in a brilliant civili zation, of which the Alhambra is the supreme monument.

The two noble families of the Zegri and the Beni Serraj, better known in history and legend as the Abencerrages (q.v.), en croached greatly upon the royal prerogatives during the middle years of the 15th century. A crisis arose in 1462, resulting in the dethronement of Abu Nasr Saad, and the accession of his son, Muley Abu'l Hassan, whose name is preserved in that of Mulha cen, the loftiest peak of the Sierra Nevada. Muley Hassan weak ened his position by resigning Malaga to his brother Ez Zagal, and incurred the enmity of his first wife, Aisha, by marrying a beauti ful Spanish slave, Isabella de Solis, who had adopted the creed of Islam and taken the name of Zorayah, "morning star." Aisha or Ayesha, who thus saw her sons Abu Abdullah Mohammed (Bo abdil) and Yusuf in danger of being supplanted, appealed to the Abencerrages. (See ALHAMBRA.) In 1482 Boabdil succeeded in deposing his father, who fled to Malaga, but the gradual advance of the Christians under Ferdinand and Isabella forced him to re sign the task of defence into the more warlike hands of Muley Hassan and Ez Zagal (1483-86). In 1491 Boabdil was compelled to sign away his kingdom; and on Jan. 2, 1492, the Spanish army entered Granada, and the Moorish power in Spain was ended.