ANDALUSIA, an'cli-186'zi-a, Spain (Span ish, Andalucia), a district in the southern part of the country, celebrated for its fertility and picturesque beauty; bounded north by Estre madura and New Castile, cast by Murcia, south by the Mediterranean Sea, and west by Portu gal and the Atlantic. Length east and west about 310 miles; average breadth about 120; area about 33,650 square miles. It is traversed throughout its extent by ranges of mountains. It is divided into Upper and Lower Andalusia. The Sierra Morena runs along its northern border, and in the southeast rise the mountains of Granada and the Ronda, including numerous sierras, and among them those of the famous Sierra Nevada. Lower Andalusia comprises chiefly the valley of the lower Guadalquivir. Many summits of the southern ranges are cov ered with perpetual snow; the Mulahacen ris ing 11,678 feet, and the Picacho de Veleta 11, 378 feet above the sea. All the mountains abound with mineral wealth, yielding chiefly copper, cinnabar and lead, as well as some silver and coal. Some mines have been opened by English companies, especially in the province of Huelva in the west, where the Tharsis and Rio Tinto copper mines are site ated. The principal river of Andalusia is the Guadalquivir, which rises in the east part of the province of Jaen, near Carzola, and thence flows west-southwest, and below Seville south southwest, entering the sea at San Lucar. Its principal affluents are the Guadalimar, Guad iato and Xenil. The rivers south of the Sierra Nevada are quite insignificant The basin of the upper Guadalquivir lies at an elevation c from 500 to 1,500 feet, and consists mainly of saline wastes and other sterile tracts. The lower basin presents sharp contrasts : around Cordova and Seville luxuriant gardens: on the Xenil a desert without a drop of water ; or the left bank of the lower Guadalquivir the ex tensive marshy 'district of Marisma; and stretching from the mouth of the Guadalquivr to that of the Rio Tinto, a sandy depression (Arenas Gordas) partially clothed with pine woods. The lower regions have a very mild climate, but on the Atlantic coast the tempera ture is much lower, and snow falls The vegetation is of the character peculiar te the extreme south of Europe and the north of Africa. Wheat, maize, barley, many varieties of fruit, grapes, honey, silk and cochineal form important articles of culture. Many . cereals ripen as early as April. A large portion of the soil is in pasture. The horses are the best
breed in the Peninsula; the bulls of Andalucia are sought over all Spain for bull-fightina: sheep are reared in vast numbers, and bear an abundance of good but not fine wool ; and the hogs reared on the acorns of the mountain for ests furnish hams unsurpassed in any part of Europe. Andalusia has been known as the 'granary)) of Spain since ancient times, and still remains one of the most fertile districts of the country, although famine conditions have prevailed at intervals. The most recent instance was in 1905, when thousands emi grated. The chief manufactures are woolens, silk and leather, and are by no means exten sive. The name Andalusia is commonly taken to have been originally Vandalusia, the land of the Vandals. The people are picturesquely attired; their language is Spanish with an ad mixture of Arabic. Pop. (1910), 3,828,916. In the 5th century Andalusia came into the pos session of the Vandals, whose name it bears instead of Tartessis, which it bore in classical times. It is probably the Biblical Tarshish. The Carthaginians had acquired it in the 3d century B.c., and later passed to the Romans, by whom it was called Bietica, from the river Bettis (Guadalquivir). It became very pros perous under the Romans and rapidly absorbed their civilization. The Visigoths ousted the Vandals and ruled the country until the advent of the Arabs in 711. Andalusia now entered on its golden age; Cordova, Granada, Seville and Jaen, all within its borders, became centres of Mohammedan culture, commerce and industry. It was the home of learning, of art, chivalry and toleration. Cordova has been called the Athens of the West, the seat of the arts and sciences; and when the gloom of the Dark Ages spread over Europe, Andalusia was per haps the brightest spot in that continent It, glory faded with the disruption of Spanish Islam in the 11th century. Granada, it is true, held out for two centuries longer and the gen us of the Moorish race made its home there, n 1492 Granada fell into the hands of Chris ian Spain. In Spanish times the names of ;ano, Murillo and Velasquez have shed ever asting lustre on Andalusia. Consult Laine, Sur les routes d'Andalousie) in La Nouvelle ?roue (No. 115 Paris 1898), and Murray. The ;ities and Wilds of Andalusia) (London 853) ; Hare, A. J. C., Wanderings in 8th ed., London 1904) ; Poole, S. Lane, Moors in Spain (ib. 1886) ; Villaescusa, M. H., Las Provincias de Espana) (Barcelona 1905).