GRANADA. A former kingdom of Andalu sia, Spain, situated along the southern coast, and bounded on the north by Cordova and Jaen, on the cast by Murcia, on the south by the Mediter ranean, and on the west by Seville. It comprises the modern provinces of Malaga, Granada, and Almeria, with an aggregate area of 10,950 square It is mountainous throughout, its east ern half being traversed by the snow-clad Sierra Nevada, reaching in the Cerro de Mulhacen a height of 11.420 feet. The principal river is the Jenil, a tributary of the Guadaiquiver, whose valley, the 'Vega of Granada,' is a veritable garden. Mining and agriculture are the chief resources of the inhabitants, the former producing lead, zinc, iron, silver, and coal; the latter sugar, flax, fruit, grain, and, above all, wine and oil. There are some manufactures of textiles, choco late, and bricks, and some oil and flour mills. Communications are still in a backward state, although a railroad has been completed from Almeria to Malaga and connected through Jaen and Cordova with Madrid. The population in 1900 was 1,391,048. The capital is Granada (q.v.).
Iffsroay. There has been considerable dispute concerning the etymology of Granada. There is no foundation for the statement that the city of Granada owes its name to its resemblance to a ripe pomegranate. As the Saracens, who invaded Spain in 711, were by no means a homogeneous race, it was found necessary to allot various portions of the conquered territory to the dif ferent elements among the conquerors. In the rich Vega (valley) of the Elvira were settled the Syrians of Damascus, and these were the nucleus around which the Moorish Kingdom of Granada was afterwards built up. In 1228 Beni Had, de scended from the old Moslem kings of Sara gossa, rebelling against the declining authority of the fanatical Almohades, made himself master of Granada, together with several other towns. But he in turn was overthrown within a few years by Mohammed Al Ahmar (the Fair or the Ruddy), and when by the Christian victories the latter was restricted to the rich districts in the extreme south of the Peninsula, the Kingdom of Gra nada fairly began. Al Ahmar was a great
soldier and legislator. but still better is he re membered as the builder of the magnificent red pile on the slopes of the hills near the city of Granada. About 1273 Al Ahmar was succeeded by his son Mohammed II. The latter began war almost immediately against Castile. As long as he was aided by Yusuf, the ruler of Morocco. his armies were victorious, and after the battle of Ecija in 1275 advanced even to the gates of Seville. But in the following year 'Yuma with drew his aid and even gave a subsidy to the King of Castile. Moslem progress was checked, and when Mohammed II. died in 1302 the Moorish power depended only upon the dissension prevail ing among the Christians. For several years Granada was a prey to disorder and anarchy. During the reign of Yusuf (1333-54) was fought the great battle of Salado (1340) in which Al fonso XI. was completely successful. In 1362 Peter the Cruel of Castile (1350-69) lured King Abu Said to Seville and killed him with his own hand. Thereafter calamity followed upon calam ity, and palace revolution upon palace revolution. The Moors had been able to conquer, but they lacked all genius of political organization, and in the management of affairs of State the harem was usually supreme.
In 1482 Ferdinand and Isabella entered upon a war for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Gra nada and the subversion of Moorish dominion in Spain. They were aided by the civil wars which raged in Granada. (See BOABDIL. ) On Novem ber 25, 1491, the city of Granada, the last strong hold of the Moslems, capitulated, the negotiations having been carried to a successful issue by Gon salvo de Cordova, and in January, 1492, the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon made their entry into the far-famed Moorish capital. At the height of its power the Kingdom of Granada is said to have contained 3,000,000 inhabitants. See GRANADA ( city ) .
Consult: Burke, History of Spain (2 vols., London, 1895) ; Bourke. A Concise History of the Moors in Spain (London, 1811) ; Die letzten Zeiten von Granada (Munich, 1863) ; Irving, A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada.
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