GRANADA, gra-na'cl3, (1) an ancient kingdom, subsequently a part of southern Spain, bounded by Andalusia, Murcia and the Mediterranean. It was included in the Roman province of Boctica, and after the Saracen invasion became an independent Moorish kingdom until it was conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, when it be came one of the 13 old provinces; it had an area of 11,100 square miles, and since 1833 is divided into the provinces of Granada, Alme ria and Malaga. (2) The modern province, with a coast line of 66 miles on the Mediter ranean, has an area of 4,928 square miles. It is picturesquely diversified by mountains and valleys, the chief range being the Sierra Nevada, which attains a maximum altitude of 11,781 feet in the Cerro de Mulhacen, the lofti est summit in Spain. The province watered by the Guadalfeo, the Jenil and Darro is com paratively fertile and well cultivated; and abounds m mineral wealth. Pop. (1900) 4Q2, 460; in 1917 about 534,000. The capital is (3) Granada, the ancient metropolis of the Moors. It is romantically situated on the rivers Darro and Jenil, at the foot of the snow capped Sierra Nevada, which forms a back ground to the crescent-shaped city, with its ter raced streets, turrets and gilded cupolas ris ing above each other, the whole crowned by the Alhambra (q.v.), the famous citadel-palace of the Moorish rulers. After the Moors had been forced to abandon the rest of their Span ish dominions they held out for 250 years in the old kingdom of Granada, and during that period were able to adorn their capital with this famous palace, which represents the high est achievement of Moorish art in Spain, just as the mosque at Cordova stands for the Arab genius. °Though the one style proceeds out of the other," Mr. Royal Tyler writes, "and the superficial resemblances are many, the real dif ferences go very deep. If nobility be the ideal, there is no doubt as to which is the greater; and nature has done well to enhance Granada's charms by the wonderful setting furnished by the Sierra Nevada, for otherwise the struggle would have been too unqual. As it is, the Al
hambra will remain for most people the cul minating glory of all Spain." The gardens of the Alhambra are surpassed by those of the Generalife, a delightful place on a neighbor ing hill. The city itself contains very few vestiges of Moslem times, but has a lovely Renaissance cathedral, by Diego de Siloe, which possesses much good sculpture by Alonso Cano and others. Adjoining it is the Capilla Real, which shelters the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Granadine school of paint ers and sculptors in the 16th and 17th centu ries included, beside Alonso Cano who has been mentioned above, Pedro de Mena, Jose de Mora and Atanasio Bocanegra, whose work may be studied not only in the cathedral but also in the churches of San Juan de Dios, San Jeronimo and the Cartuja. Other notewor thy buildings are the archiepiscopal palace and the residence of the provincial captain-general. Granada is the seat of a university founded in 1531, of several colleges, a normal school and a school of art. .It has various manufactures of local importance only, such as silks and woolens, leather, paper, hats, etc. Founded by the Moors before 800, near the site of the ancient Illiberis, and from 1036 to 1234 in cluded in the kingdom of Cordova, in 1235 it became the capital of a new kingdom, and at tained almost matchless splendor. In 1491 it remained the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, and mustered 60,000 men to resist Fer dinand and Isabella. The defense proved una vailing and the besiegers took possession in 1492. A year later it was made the seat of an archbishopric. The great body of its inhabitants still were Moors, and its prosperity continued almost without diminution till 1610, when it declined with the decree expelling the Moors from Spain. Pop. about 78,000.