Local Government.- The various provinces and communes are governed by their own municipal laws with local administration. Every commune has its own elected ayunta miento, consisting of from five to 50 regi dores or consejales and presided over by the alcalde, who in the larger towns is assisted by several Tenientes Alcaldes. The entire munici pal government, with power of taxation, is vested in the Ayuntamientos. fIalf the mem bers are elected every two years and they appoint the Alcalde from their own body. Members cannot be re-elected until after two years. Each province has its diputacio pro vincial or parliament, whose members are elected by the ayuntamientos, and in which are vested large political powers. It meets an nually, and is permanently represented by the Comision provincial, a committee of its mem bers, appointed every year. Neither the na tional executive nor the Cortes have the right to interfere in the established municipal and provincial administration except in the case of the action of the Diputaciones Provinciales and Ayuntamientos going beyond the locally limited sphere to the injury of the general and per manent interest. Pressure is often brought to bear on local elections by the central govern ment.
Finances.- The revenue, raised chiefly by direct and indirect taxation, stamp-duties, gov ernment monopolies, colonial revenue and in come from state property, amounted in 1919 to 1,648,800,068 pesetas ($329,760,013) and the ex penditure to 2,065,065,606 pesetas ($413,013, 121). Of the latter the public debt absorbed $100,663,261, the Ministry of War, $87,232,469, the Ministry of the Interior, $44,000,000 and the Royal Household, $1,840,000. The Na tional Debt of Spain on 1 Jan. 1919 was $1,884,317,207.
Population.- Formed by amalgamation of races or peoples as distinct as the Iberian, Celt, Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, Hebrew, Ro man, Germano-Slav and Arabian, the population of Spain is endowed with characteristics which it is important to consider in connection with the development, or retardation of developfnent, of the country; and that portion of the subject will, accordingly, he taken up in the sec tion History. At present we note the total number of inhabitants (estimate in round num bers for 1917 about 20,376.000) and their dis tribution among the provinces, possessions and chief cities. The following table has been pre pared with great care, but we think it impos sible to achieve more than approximate accuracy in every item.
The cities with a population of more than 29,000 each were in 1917: Madrid, 600,000; Barcelona, 588,000; Valencia, 234,000; Sevilla, 159,000; Malaga, 137,000; Murcia, 126,000; Zaragoza, 112,000; Cartagena, 103,000; Bilbao, 94,000; Valladolid, 72,000; Lorca, 71,000; Palma, 68,000; Cadiz, 68,000; Cordoba, 67,000; San tander, 66,000; Santa Cruz (Canary Islands), 64,000; Las Palmas, 63,000; Jerez, 63,000; Ali cante, 56,000; Jihon, 56,000; Oviedo, 54,000; San Sebastian, 50,000; Almeria, 49,000; Coruna, 48,000; Linares, 39,000; Badajoz, 36,000; Alcoy, 34,000; Vitoria, 33,000; Castellon, 33,000; Bur gos, 32,000; Salamanca, 30,000; Pamplona, 30,000; Jaen, 30,000; Huelva, 30,000.
Ethnology.- The inhabitants of Spain con sist chiefly of Spaniards proper, composed of a mixture of ancient aboligines, Romans, Visi goths, Vandals and Suevi; but partly also of three other distinct races - Basques, occupying the provinces to which they give their name and forming about h of the whole population; Moors who, in the general expulsion of their countrymen, found refuge in several valleys in the kingdom of Granada and the Castiles, and whose descendants, unmingled with the other inhabitants, are still living there to the number of about 60,000; and Gitanos or gypsies, who are found diffused over all parts of the Peninsula. The Spaniards proper, to whom only it is necessary here to advert, are of middle stature, well formed, of a sallow hue, sharp features, dark hair and keen black eyes. In diet the Spaniards are frugal and tem perate. Their wants being thus comparatively few, are easily satisfied and furnish no strong stimulus to exertion. Indolence accordingly is a prevailing vice, and the highest ambition gen erally felt is to be able to live without doing anything. In their intercourse with strangers they are reserved, taciturn and stand much upon their dignity, afraid apparently of its be ing encroached upon by undue familiarity; but on finding what they conceive to be their true place properly recognized, they lay aside their restraint, form strong attachments and become the most agreeable of companions. With their natural indolence there is a strange mixture of enthusiasm, and when their passions are once roused there are few extravagances or excesses of which they are not capable. In favorable circumstances this part of their char acter has often manifested itself in chivalric exploits.
Historp— Spain was known to the Greeks and Romans as Spania, Hispania and Iberia. The most ancient inhabitants of Spain appear to have been the Iberians, who also extended be yond the Pyrenees into Gaul as far as the Rhone. To these afterward were joined cer tain tribes of Celts, who succeeded in making a settlement for themselves in the country after sanguinary contests with the aborigines. In process of time the two races were amalgamated into one and went under the common appella tion of Celtiberians. These occupied princi pally the high table-land in the centre of the country. The other parts were occupied by
tribes of Iberians and Celts who had never in termingled.' Pure Iberian tribes, from whom are descended the modern Basques, were to be found in the Pyrenees and on the coasts, while the unmixed Celts inhabited the northwestern corner of the country, corresponding to modern Galicia. The Phoenicians were the first civilized nation who made a descent on the peninsula and founded settlements these. Somewhat later the Greeks made their appearance, and among other colonies founded Saguntum. But more important than any of these were the colonies established by the Carthaginians. The history of Spain, indeed, only properly begins with the Carthaginian invasion, about 238 B.C. Previous to that almost all that was known of the coun try was the existence of the two commercial states of Tartessus and Gades, both in the west. The former of these, supposed to have been the Tarshish of Scripture, was much visited by Phoenician ships by reason of its mineral wealth. After the First Punic War the Carthaginians began to establish themselves in Spain; large tracts of territory were brought under their sway by Hamilcar (238-229), and again by Has drubal (228-221) ; and among the cities founded by them was New Carthage, the modern Car thagena, which soon became a celebrated em porium. The subjected territory extended as far north as the Iberus (Ebro). Pressed by the Carthaginians, the Greek colonies of Sagun tum and Emporia applied for aid to the Ro mans, who already had had their jealousy roused by the successes of their great rival. The Romans interfered, and a treaty was then con cluded between the two great powers, in terms of which the Carthaginians bound themselves not to extend their conquests beyond the Iberus. The city of Saguntum was on the west side of the river, but under Roman protection, and the capture of it by Hannibal in 219 was the imme diate cause of the Second Punic War, which was partly carried on in Spain, and which in 206 caused the total expulsion of the Carthagin ians from the peninsula. Tht.Romans now un dertook the subjugation of the entire country, but in this they did not completely succeed until after a war of about 200 years' duration, in which the exploits of the Lusitanian Viriathus, the heroic resistance and final downfall of Nu mantia (133), and the temporary independence of a part of the country under the gallant Seto rius (84-73) form brilliant episodes. The Can tabrians, Asturians and other tribes in the mountains of the north were the last to yield, but were finally subjugated by Augustus and his generals, and Spain was converted into a Roman province. Previous to this the peninsula had been divided by the Romans into two parts, an eastern and a western, separated from each other by the Iberus, called respectively Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior; but Augustus made a new division of the country, forming it into three provinces — Tarraconensis, Btica and Lusitama. Tarraconensis and Lusitania were erected into imperial provinces and admin istered by legates; while Bmtica, which still re mained for a long time a senatorial province, was placed under the authority of a proconsul invested with civil authority only. Until the reign of Antoninus Pius, who granted to all his subjects a uniform constitution and laws, the cities of Spain were ruled by different laws. These and other measures made Spain one of the most flourishing provinces of the empire, and a centre of Roman civilization. Some of the most distinguished Latin writers under the empire were natives of Spain, such as the two Senecas, Lucan, Martial, Quintilian and others. Christianity was early introduced into Spain, and after the conversion of Constantine the Great became the dominant religion there. The disorganization and confusion consequent upon the fall of the Roman Empire facilitated the conquest of the country by the Vandals, who made themselves masters of a part of southern Spain, which from them received the name of Vandalusia (now Andalusia) ; the Suevi, who established themselves in t region now known as Galicia; and the Alans, who gained posses sion of Lusitania, now Portugal. These, how ever, were soon afterward attacked by the Visi goths, who, after many years' struggle, succeeded in reducing the whole peninsula to their sway. The Vandals of Andalusia, unable to withstand them, withdrew into Africa in 428, and from 467 to 484 the great Euric extended the king dom of the Visigoths by the expulsion of the Romans and gave them their first written laws; while Leovigild in 585 overthrew the kingdom of the Suevi in Galicia. Under Leovigild's suc cessor, Reccared I, the introduction of the Cath olic faith in 586 gave the corrupt Latin language the predominance over the Gothic, and after that time the unity of the Spanish nation was maintained by the Catholic religion and the po litical influence of the clergy. But after re taining the mastery of the country for nearly two centuries the Visigoths were in their turn conquered by the Arabs or Moors of Africa, who had come across at the invitation of the family of Alaric, the latter being eager to avenge themselves on their countrymen for being passed over in the election of king. King Roderic fell in the seven days' battle against Tarik at Xeres de la Frontera, in Andalusia, in 711. After that the greatest part of Spain be came a province of the caliphs of Bagdad.