Almeria (Arabic Al-Mariyat, 'the conspicuous'), the chief town of a Spanish province on the Gulf of Almeria, on the Mediterranean, 120 miles E. of Malaga. It is surrounded by high walls extending from the sea to the hill, has a well-defended harbour, a cathedral, besides 26 churches and monasteries, and a grammar-school. In the time of the Moors, it was, next to Granada, the richest and most important town in the kingdom, with about 150,000 inhabitants, and flourished alike in arts, industry, and commerce, being the great port of traffic with Italy and the
East. At one time it was as terrible a nest of pirates as Algiers itself, under the Moorish chief Ibn Mayman, when even Granada, according to the proverb, was merely its 'farm.' Now, it has only a few trifling manufactures, although it still keeps up considerable trade in grapes, esparto, lead, iron-ore, sulphur, and wine. Railway connection (with Linares) was established in 1894. Pop. (1877) 40,323; (1887) 35,865.—The province of Almería consists of the eastern portion of the ancient kingdom of Granada, and has an area of 3300 sq. m. The soil is fertile, but the province is not very prosperous. There are rich mines in the sierras, yielding copper, iron, mercury, silver, and lead. Pop. (1877) 349,076; (1887) 339,452.