GRANADA, a province of Spain, sometimes called Upper Andalusia, is bounded on the east and south by Murcia and the Mediterranean, and on the west and north by Andalusia. It is situated between 36° 20' and 38° North Latitude, and between 5° 5' and 1° 30' West Longitude from Greenwich. It is of a very irregular figure, ap proaching to the shape of a pyramid, with its base to the east on the kingdom of Murcia, and its apex to the south west, towards the straits of Gibraltar. It is 58 leagues iu length from the east to the south-east ; and in breadth, in some places 8, in others 18. and at its base 28. The prin cipal towns are Granada, the capital, already described, Almeria, and Amunecar, three sea-ports on the Mediterranean ; Guadix, Motrel, Morbclla, Velez-Malaga, Baza, Vera, Ronda, Loxa, Santa-Fe, Huesca, Antequera, and Alhama. Its rivers arc the Verde, Xenil, Las Feguas, Guadalentia, Guadavar, Guadalmeja, Rio de Almeria, Rio Frio, Guadelmerina, Darro,Guadix, Bravata, Mardian, ke.
The Moors having acquired possession of Spain, alter the bloody battle of Xeres in 711, in which Roderigo, the last of the Gothic princes, was slain, Granada became a part of their empire in the south of the peninsula ; and, in 1013, was chosen by Almanzor as the royal residence, instead of Cordova. In 1051, the family of Almanzor were deprived of the sovereignty by Joseph ben Taschphen, King of Morocco, who filled the throne with dignity and splendour. After his death, the kingdom was divided among a number of pretenders; but, in 1146, was again united un der a prince of the family of the Almohades. Mahomed the First, one of the greatest of the Moorish princes, laid the foundation of a new dynasty in 1232, and raised the king dom of Granada to its greatest degree of prosperity. While he kept on foot a powerful army for the defence of his dominions, he was equally attentive to promote the welfare of his subjects by the arts of peace. He regulated the revenues, administered justice, cultivated science, en dowed hospitals, and laid the foundation of the Alhambra, the glory of Mahommedan Spain. Mahomed the Second succeeded his father, and was distinguished, above all the monarchs of his race, as the protector of science, and the patron of arts and commerce. His court was the resort of astronomers, physicians, philosophers, orators, and poets; and his own compositions in verse are celebrated by Ara bian writers for their epigrammatic humour. Ile was suc ceeded in 1302, by his son of the same name, who resem bled him in his love of literature, and his patronage of the fine arts ; but, while he was engaged in war with the King of Arragon, an insurrection in his capital transferred the crown to his brother Aimasser, a young prince of 25 years of age, celebrated for his progress in mathematical and astronomical learning ; hut who, yielding to the turbulent dispositions ol his subjects, was in his turn supplanted, in 1314, by Ismael, Prince of Malaga. The kingdom of Granada, hard pressed by the Christian states in the north of Spain, and thus torn by a succession of intestine com motions, was fast approaching to its fall. Its sovereign Albohassen, availing himself of the discontents created in Castile by the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella, marched a hostile army into their dominions in 1482. Fer dinand, having procured a truce of three years, and quiet ed his rebellious subjects, became the aggressor in his turn ; and aided by the dissensions among the Moorish chiefs, pushed his conquests vvith such rapid success, that ?."11 the course or two years, he had reduced the power of Aho Ahdeli, the eldest son of Albohassen, within the city and plain of Granada. Having occupied the surrounding country with his troops, and built the city of Santa-Fe, lie was preparing to invest the Moorish capital, when the besieged prince, more afraid of his subjects than of the enemy, proposed to capitulate, and submitted to the power ol Ferdinand. In defiance of the terms expressly sti pulated for the protection and toleration of the vanquish ed, the Moors were finally banished to the sterile re gions of their ancestors ; and their empire in Spain completely terminated in the year 1492. But for a considerable period after the conquest of Granada, a few scattered bands, who had taken refuge in the moun tains, maintained an unavailing struggle with their con querors, displaying the most heroic spirit in their suf ferings, and unshaken constancy to their chiefs. Un
der the sway of the Mahommedan princes, which com prehends a period of nearly eight centuries, the king dom of Granada was the seat of opulence, arts, and learning, while the other states of Europe, under the spiritual domination of Rome, were sunk in the deepest mental barbarism. The Omniades in Spain, following the example of Almamon, the seventh caliph of the Abas sides, exerted themselves to sedulously in the advance ment of knowledge, that they are said to have collected 600,000 volumes, and to have established 70 public libra ries in the cities under their dominion. The Arabian writers enumerate, in 1126, 150 authors natives of Cordova, 52 of Almeria, 76 of Murcia, and 53 of Malaga, besides those of Seville, Valencia, and Granada, where the spirit of litera ture was preserved in full vigour nearly four centuries. In this last mentioned city, where it principally flourished, there were at that time two universities, two royal colleges, and a public library, stored with the productions of the best Greek and Arabic writers. The love of learning was so general in Granada, that, in spite of the prohibitions of Mahomed, it extended to the female sex; and we find re corded the names of the poetess Naschina, the historian Mosada, and the mathematician Leila. Their physicians, though imperfectly acquainted with anatomy, as their reli gion prohibited all dissections of the human frame, ac quired great celebrity. Botany was one of their favourite studies; and they made some progress in the operations of chemistry. They chiefly excelled in the various branches of mathematics, namely, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, and optics ; but they were little acquainted with physics, and, though they were instrumental in pre serving many Greek authors, they were as little acquaint ed as the nations of Christendom at that period, with the classical authors of Greece and Rome. Among the Ara bians, in short, in the south of Spain, human genius is said to have produced more prodigies in a few centuries, than it has done in the history of ages in all the rest of the world. All the great modern discoveries, paper, printing, the mariner's compass, glass, gunpowder, Sm. are affirmed to have been there anticipated and again forgotten ; and in the exercise of fancy and invention they are considered as hav ing far surpassed all former and succeeding ages. Agri culture formed the principal occupation of the Saracens in Granada ; and, while it was stimulated by the demands of an extensive population, it wag, improved by the aids of science. They were particularly attentive to the applica tion of manure, which they preserved in pits, that none of the salts might be lost; and they carried the practice of irrigation to a very great extent. nut, as their bigotry forbade the sale of their superfluous grain to the neigh bouring nations, they pursued its cultivation no farther than was requisite for their own subsistence ; and direct ed much of their attention to the culture of fruits, which generally formed their principal aliment. To them Spain is indebted for the introduction of an infinite variety of fruits, and of its best horticultural productions, for the sugar-cane also, and the cotton-tree. Their commerce was not less extensive, and the luxuries of India were brought from Alexandria to Malaga at an early period. The silks of India, and the porcelains of China, were soon imitated, and even excelled by the Moors. They were skilled in the manufacture of woollen, cotton, and flax, but, above all, in the art of dyeing of leather. They made some progress in working mines, especially of lead and iron ; and their articles of steel, particularly the swords of Granada, were preferred to all others in Spain. In their architectural plans and ornaments, they were deficient in taste; but their joiners and inlayers of wood worked with the utmost nicety; and they painted and gilded their stuc co work with singular skill. Upon the banishment of this ingenious people, the arts and sciences departed with them ; the magnificence, commerce, and manufactures of Granada rapidly decayed ; and the indolence, poverty, and barbarism, which succeeded in their place, continue, in no small de °Tee to overspread the face of the most highly gifted re gion in the world.