GRANADA NEW Provincial government of Spanish America. At its first settlement it was usually denominated Terra Firma, at which time it included what is now the province of Caraccas, and the provinces in the isthmus of Darien. Since it has been erected into a viceroyalty, it has been called sometimes the kingdom of Santa Fe, but more correctly, the new kingdom of Granada. The northern extremity of this kingdom, is in the 12° of north latitude, and the southern 3° 30' south latitude. Its length is about 1070 English miles, and its mean breadth about 280 miles. On the eastern side the bound aries of Granada are the Portuguese provinces on the banks of the Maranon or River of Amazons, Spanish Guyana, and the province of Caraccas. On the south it is bounded by the River Amazons, from its junction with the River Negro. Its western bound ary is the Pacific Ocean from Golfo-Dolce, between Costarica and Veragua, where it joins Guatimala, to the port of Payta, which divides it from Peru. On the north it is bounded by the Carribean Sea, from Cape de la Vela to the River Culebras. The whole extent is about 64,500 square leagues.
No part of the globe furnishes a. greater variety both of soil and climate, and in no other part can every production of every country be produced so well as in this viceroyalty. This arises from the great inequalities in the surface of the country, for it contains, within its limits, mountains, till lately supposed to be the highest in the world; and though it is now ascertained, that they are exceeded in height by those of Tartary, they may still be classed among the most-singular productions of nature. As climate is regulated by elevation as much as by lati tude, the inhabitants of New Granada may be said to live in the extremes of heat and cold, and in all the different degrees of temperature which are to be found between the two extremes of habitable coun tries. The situation of these mountains, their ele vation, and their peculiar formation, as well as their productions, have received much light from the journeys of Baron Humboldt, whose patient and la borious investigations have been communicated to the public.
Although these stupendous chains of mountains extend through the whole of America, they attain their greatest elevation in the kingdom of New Granada, where the cone of Chimborazo reaches the height of 21,440 feet above the level of the sea. From the equator they insensibly decline in
elevation, both towards the south and the north, till, in the latter direction, they dwindle into slight hills in the province of Choco. From the sources of the rivers St Juan and Atrato in that province, where the communication between the Carribean Sea and the Pacific Ocean may be most easily effect ed, the mountains begin again to raise themselves, and increase in elevation as the chain passes through the centre of the isthmus of Panama. They rise still higher in the province of Veragua and Costarica, continue increasing through the viceroyalty of Gua timala, and then entering Mexico, branch off in va rious directions, which will be noticed under the ar ticle MEXICO. As these chains of mountains are extended to the south, they decline in height, in a similar manner, so that, gradually lessening, they al most wholly disappear in Terra Magellanica, the southernmost extremity of the Continent. There are three ridges or chains of mountains putting from north to south through New Granada. There are, indeed, projections from these of considerable extent and magnitude, which protrude into the surrounding country, and sometimes break the continuity of the valleys which separate the chains ; but to have a clear conception of their configuration, it will be better to follow the mode of classification which is adopted by Humboldt. The westernmost chain of the Andes in New Granada runs parallel to the Pa cific Ocean at the distance of 150 miles : it begins in the neighbourhood of Carthagena, to the west ward of it, separates the River Cauca from the pro. vince of Choco, and proceeds to the southward till it unites with the other two branches in the province of Popayan, whence they proceed in a single ridge till they have passed the equator, when they divide again into two ridges in the province of Quito. It is in that district that the greatest elevations are found, in the cones of Chimborazo 21,440 feet, Cayambe-Urcu 19,886 feet, Antisana 19,146 feet, Cotopaxi 18,891 feet, and Ilinissa 17,240 feet. There the volcanoes are most numerous and striking, and there the inhabitants are most frequently expos ed to the devastations of earthquakes. In passing between the province of Choco and the river Cauca, the Andes scarce ever reach beyond the height of 4500 feet.