Army.—Official returns for the year 1870 state the active strength of the army as 151.668, of whom 60,000 were infantry, 11,000 were cavalry, 12,000 were engineers and artillerymen, the rest consisting of the guladia mil (gendarmerie), militia, carabineros, and the reserve.
Yory.—The navy consisted (at the end of June 1875) of 89 vessels (81 being steam vessels), carrying in all 914 guns.
Reve»ne and —The entire revenue of Spain. for the financial year begin ning July 1, 1874, and ending June 30, 1875, was 609,5-11.141 pesetas, equivalent to about £24,381,600. The expenditure for the same year was 605,125,569 pesetas, or about £24, 205,000. The public debt amounted in 1875 to £375.000,000.
o a.—In 1851. there were, according to ealculation, 22,317 schools, attended by 839.182 scholars; in 1868, the number of scholars had risen to 1,251,653. There are ten universities in Spain, in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada„ Oviedo, Salamanca. Seville, Santiago. Valencia, Valladolid, and Zaragoza Of the whole population of 1860, 3,129, 921 could read and write, and apart from them, 705,778_ could read; and although the state of education indicated by these figures does not seem to he advanced, it is a fact to be remembered that 14 years before—in 1846—only 1,898,288 could read.
//140/7/.—Spain, the Spania, Ihspania, and Iberia of the Greeks. and known to the Romans by the same names, was inhabited at the period at which it first receives historical mention, by a people deriving their origin from different races. It is sup posed to have been originally inhabited by a distill:A race called Iberians; upon whom, however, a host of Celts are supposed to have descended from the Pyrenees. In the earliest times of which we have any record, these two races had already coalesced and funned the mixed nation of the Celtiherians, who were massed chiefly in the center of the peninsula, in the western districts of 1.nsitania, and on the n. coasts. In the Pyrenees and along the c. coast, were to be found pure Iberian tribes, unmixed Celtic tribes occupied the n.w. In Btntica (Andalusia) there was a large admixture of th3 Ilicalcian element, and on the s. and e. coasts, numerous Phenician, Carthaginian, Pliv.i.ta, and other colonies. A portion of the s. coast, called Tartessus by the Greeks, the Tarebish of Scripture, was much frequented for its mineral riches by the Phceniciam merchantmen, and the ships of Tarshish " were as distinct a section of the Tyrian mercant:lo marine, as were the Spanish galleons of the 16th c., or our own Indiamen of more rec:nnt, times. But the bond which connected the Iberians and the Phenicians was purcl r of a commercial character. About the middle of the 3d c. n.c., the Cartha ginian began to be much felt in Iberia, and a considerable tract of territory was brouglt under subjection to Carthage by Hamilcar (q.v.), who founded the city of Barcelona. During the next eight years, the Carthaginian interest was advanced, and its power strengthened by Ilasdrubal (q.v.—died 220 n.c.), son-in-law of Hamilcar wirer founded Carthago Nova (the modern Cartagena) and concluded a treaty with the Rc.mg.os whereby it was stipulated that lie should not advance his standards n. of the lbcrua (Ebro). Hannibal (q.v.), son of liamilcar, and the greatest of all the Carthaginian generals, now assumed the command in the peninsula. He attacked and destroyed Saguntum (q.v.), and thus violated the treaty made between his father and the Romma. The destruction of Saguntum was the cause of the Second Punic War, for the principal incidents of which see CARTHAGE, ROME, HANNIBAL, and the &WIC/S. After the Romans had driven the Carthaginians from the peninsula in 206 B.C., the country was erected into a Roman province, consisting of two political divisions—IL:spa/nice Ulterior (Hither Spain) iucluding the eastern and northern districts or those nearest to the center of the Roman Empire; and Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain) including the districts furthest front Rome. or the southern and western districts.
It was not, however, till 25 n.c. that the Cantabri and Astures in the extreme north of the. country, laid down their arms to Augustus. After the country had been reduced to subjection, it was divided into the three provinces of Tarraconensis (embracing the northern and eastern provinces). &Mica (Andalusia), and Lusitania (Portugal and certain of the western provinces). This division of the country lasted till the reign of Constantine the great (q.v.), (303-37). From the time of the complete supremacy of the Romans till the death of Constantine, the condition of Spain was eminently pros perous. The inhabitants, when brought under the iron rule of the empire, were forced for the time to desist from the intestine wars in which it had been their habit to indulge, and adopting the language, laws, and manners of their conquerors, they devoted themselves to industrial pursuits, and increased remarkably both in wealth and in numbers. Everywhere throughout the country, towns of a purely Roman character sprang up, among the chief of which were Leon, Emerita Augusta (Merida), Pax .Julia (Beja), Caesar Augusta (Zaragoza); and numerous aqueducts, bridges, amphitheaters, etc., were built, the ruins of which are the wonder of the modern traveler. Spain, though obtained at enormous cost both in treasure and human life, was for three centuries the richest province of the Roman Empire. Its fertile fields formed for a considerable time the granary of Rome, and from its metal veined sierras, an immense amount of treasure in gold, silver, etc., flowed into the Roman coffers. "Twenty thousand pound-weight of gold," says Gibbon, "was annually received from the provinces of Austria (Asturias), Galicia, and Lusitania." This amount of wealth was not the voluntary offering of the natives, who were compelled to labor in their mines for the benefit of strangers; and thus Spain, in the early ages, was the type of Spanish America iu the 15th and succeeding centuries, with the single difference that in the first case the Spaniards were the slaves, and in the second they were the slave-holders. In 409 A.D., hordes of barbarians, Altus, Vandals, and Snevi, crossed the Pyrenees and swept over and desolated the peninsula—tine Vandals for the most part settling in I3mtica, the Alnns in Lusitania, and the Suevi in Leon and Castile. About 412, the Visigoths invaded the country, and their king, Athaulf, who acknowledged a nominal dependence on the Roman emperor, established the Gothic monarchy in Catalonia. See Of the Visigoths—by- whom the Suevi were subjugated (584), the Vandals and Alans expelled (427) from the country, and laige portions of Gaul annexed to their Spanish dominion—the most remarkable kings were Wallin (415-18), who greatly extended the Gothic monarchy; Euric (466-83), who, besides increasing his territory, introduced and enforced it body of laws, and did much for the advancement of civiliza tion in Spain; Wamba (673—S0), who built a fleet for the protection of the coasts; and Boderic (q.v.), who was killed at Xeres de la Frontera in 711, in battle with the Moors. The battle of Xeres gave the Moors almost undisputed mastery of nearly the whole of Spain, as well as of tine outlying Gothic province of Septimania (Languedoc) ih France; for the remnant of the Goths betook themselves to the highlands of Asturias, Burgos, and Biscay, where, in is region which throughout had enjoyed more liberty than any other part of Spain, they maintained their independence.