ARAGON, fu'id-gon. A captaincy-general of Spain and former kingdom, situated in the north eastern part of the country, and bounded on the north by the Pyrenees, which separate it from France, on the east by Catalonia and Va lencia, on the south by Valentin and New Castile, and on the west by New and Old Castile (Map: Spain, E 2). It comprises the three provinces of Saragossa. Teruel, and Huesca, with a total area of 17,976 square miles. The southern and northern parts of the country are mostly moun tainous, while the central portion is occupied by a plain, intersected by the Ebro and its tribu taries. The climate is varied, owing to the difference in the elevation of the surface. In the mountains it is cool, while in the lower parts it is exceedingly hot and dry.
This difference in the climate is accompanied by a corresponding variation in vegetation, and the agricultural products of the region embrace both the hardier grains, such as corn and wheat, as well as delicate fruits like the olive and vine. Agriculture is in a backward state owing in part to scarcity of population. but chiefly because of the burdens laid by the Government on agrarian communities. In the Province of Teruel are found deposits of sulphur, copper, lead, and salt, which are mined to some extent. The manufacturing industries are confined to the production of linen and woolens and some leather goods. The com merce of the region is insignificant both on ac count of the agricultural and industrial back wardness, as well as of the hick of transportation facilities. Population, 1887, 912,187; 1897. 892, r46. Capital. and seat of the Captain-General, Saragossa.
Aragon came into the possession of Rome after the overthrow of the Carthaginian power in Spain, and was made a part of the Province of Hispania Ta•raeonensis. It was conquered by the Visigoths early in the Fifth Century, and these in turn were subdued by the Moors after 711. A remnant of the Christian inhabitants who escaped to the mountains and settled in the region between the Sierra de la Pefia and the Pyrenees, managed to their independ ence. For a long time Aragon was ruled by counts of Gothic origin. Subsequently it was in corporated with Navarre. but in 1035 it attained its independence under Ramiro 1., the son of Sancho the Great. and now made its appearance as a kingdom. Hemmed in by Navarre on the west and by the little State of Sobrarbe on the east, Aragon, of necessity, took a southward ex pansion. A long eonffiet was carried on with the Arabs, amounting, perhaps, to nothing more at times than mere guerrilla raids, but result ing in the gradual acquisition of individual strongholds and towns. Ito the capture of
lluesea in 10913. the capital of the country was removed from the mountain valleys to the plateau of northern Spain. Tin- conquest of Saragossa in 1118 brought the valley of the Ebro under the rule of the kings of Aragon. In 1137 Aragon was united with Catalonia by the marriage of Petron ella, the daughter of Ramiro H., with Count Raymond Berengar IV. of Barcelona. This union at once raised Aragon to a predominant position in the Iberian Peninsula. Through the activity of the seafaring population of Catalonia, the kings of Aragon gained possession of the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples in the course of the two following centuries. At the same time the consolidated strength of the king dom was directed against the Alohammedans, and in 1238 the important city of Valencia, with the surrounding region, fell into its power. During the later Middle Ages, Aragon possessed the freest political institutions in Europe. The power of the King was greatly limited by the privileges enjoyed by the towns. which in effect formed a republican State within the monarchy. Their affairs were administered by municipal officers and their representatives met in juntas, which were charged with the maintenance of public safety and the control of common affairs. At the head of the united towns stood the Justiciar of Aragon, to whom, on certain questions, even the King had to yield. The towns availed them selves of the King's financial embarrassments to charters of privileges from the crown. Pedro I• ., in the Fourteenth Century, first at tempted to assert the power of the erown over the cities; but though he was partially success ful, the task was not completed until after the Union of Aragon with Castile. During this period Barcelona developed into one of the greatest Mediterranean ports. and entered into rivalry with the Italian cities, and especially with Genoa. against which continual wars were waged. By the marriage of Ferdinand of Ara gon with Isabella, heiress to the crown of Cas tile, in 1460, the two States were united in 1479. The bond between the two, however, was only a personal one until 1516, when, on the accession of Charles 1., they were definitely merged into a new Spain. with which the sub sequent history of Aragon is identified.