SPAIN (Espana in Spanish), a kingdom of Europe, occupying the poster part of that peninsula which is divided from France by the mountain range of the Pyrenees. It is sometimes called the Spanish Peninsula, or briefly the Peninsula. It is situated between 86° and 43° 46' N. lat., 3° 20' E. long , and 7° 23' W. long. The most northern point is Cape Ortegal, and the most southern Tarifa. From its most north-western point, Cape Finisterre, to the most eastern point, Cape Creus, is a distance of nearly 600 miles ; from Tarifa to Fuentarabia, near tho boundary of France, on the Bay of Biscay, nearly 540 miles; and from Cape Ortega to Cape de Gets, the most south-eastern promontory, about 556 miles. Spain is bounded E. by the Mediter ranean Sea ; S. by the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Atlantic Ocean ; E. by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean ; N. by the Bay of Biscay and France. The area of Spain is 177,718 square miles. The population in 1849 was 13,705,500. The political divisions, with the area and population of each, are given in the next page.
Colonial Possessions.—The BALEARIC ISLANDS in the Mediterranean, and the CANARIES on the west coast of Africa, have been formed into two modern provinces, as shown in the following table. CUBA, PUERTO Rico, and some smaller islands in the West Indies, are under the government of the Capitan-General de la Havana. The Plume PINES, in the Indian Archipelago, are also under a captain-general. FERNANDO Po, and some other small islands in the Gulf of Guinea, belong to Spain ; and Ceuta, Gement, and Melilla, on the coast of Barbary, are used by the Spanish government as places for the transportation of convicts.
CoaaL—The length of the coast-lino of Spain, without taking into account the numerous small inlets, is about1350 miles, of which about 750 are washed by the Mediterranean Sea, and about 600 by the Atlantic, Ocean. The northern coast, from the boundary of France to Cape Ortega], Is about 300 miles. The north-western coast, from Cape Ortegal to tho mouth of the Minh°, is about 160 miles. The
south-western coast, from the Punta de Europa on the Bay of Gibraltar to the mouth of the Guadiana, is about 140 miles.
The northern coast of Spain. from the boundary of France to the Punts de los Cairoe (7° 17' W. long.), runs nearly in a continuous line, without any considerable break. The whole line is rocky, and the rocks nearly always approach the sea, where they form a mural line varying in height between 30 and 300 feet ; but with the exception of one or two places the coast is free from rocks and islands, and the water is deep up to the shore. The coast farther west, between Punta de los Cakes and Cape Ortegal, preserves the same character, except that the inlets which occur along this short distance are wider, and the headlands project farther. From Cape Ortega] to Cape Finisterre, and thence to the mouth of the Minbo, the coast is less elevated, though it is rocky, and the rocks come up to the beach. It is also very broken, and several headlands advance some miles into the sea, and some of tho inlets enter aoveral miles into the land, and form spacious harbours. [Gamma.] The south-western coast-line is of a different character. From the high ground on which the town of Ayamoute is built, at the mouth of the Guadiana, a low shore begins and extends eastward to the harbour of Huelva, which is formed by the tostuary of tho rivers Odiel and Tinto. The coast-line is well defined, but skirted by low snd sandy islands. Between the harbour of Huelva and the mouth of the river Guadalquivir the coast is extremely low, swampy, and sandy. Even small vessels cannot approach the beach. South of the mouth of the Guadalquivir the shores are again well defined, though low and occasionally swampy. Approaching Cape Trafalgar the coast begins to rise, and a moderately high shore runs along the northern side of the Strait of Gibraltar, and into the bay as far as the town of Algeciras. The remainder of the bay has a low and sandy shore, with the exception of the rock on which Gibraltar stand..