SANTANDER, an important and thriving sea-port of Spain, in the modern province of the same name, stands on a magnificent bay, an inlet of the bay of Biscay, about equally distant from Oviedo on the w., and San Sebastian on the east. The bay on which the town is placed is from 2 to 3 M. wide, and about 4 m. long, and is accessible to the largest vessels at all times of the tide. The situation of the town, on a headland protected by a hill, is picturesque; among its edifices few are either interesting from their appearance, or important from their character. Of its former convents one now serves as a theater; another as a cigar-factory, giving employment to about 1000 people. Numerous new houses, and handsome warehouses, and commercial establishments of various kinds have been erected recently. The fine harbor of Santander, with a com modious entrance, is accessible at all tides, and unobstructed by a bar. Several impor tant improvements have recently taken place here. The half of the province of Santander may be said tube impregnated with iron, copper, zinc, and other ores; though, hitherto the timidity of native capitalists has rendered the quantity extracted compar atively small. In one year, 12,625 tons of iron and copper ores, together with a quan
. City of quicksilver and cobalt, were shipped from. the port of Santander to Great Britain alone, and mostly to Newport and Swansea. Wheat is an important element in the trade of Santander. The annual exports amount to about £1,500,000; and of that sum the exports of wheat and flour alone amount to the value of £1,400,000. The imports— the chief articles of which are sugar from Cuba; textile fabrics from England, France, Belgium, and Germany; and salted codfish from Norway—amount to about £1,800,000. A railway runs s. from Santander to Yenta de Banos on the Great North of Spain rail way; and in the middle portion of it, from Barcena to Reynosa, a distance of 21 in., there are 22 tunnels. Pop. 31,000. Area of province, 2,111 sq.m.; pop. '70, 241,581.