Andalu'sia

Andalu'sia (Span. Andalucía), a large and fertile region occupying the south of Spain. Its shores are washed both by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; and, though it is not now a political division of Spain, it is more frequently spoken of than the eight modern provinces into which it has been divided. The name is a form of Vandalitia or Vandalusia, from the Vandals, who overran it in the 5th century. When it was a Phoenician trade emporium, it was called Tartessus (probably the Tarshish of the Bible); the Romans named it Bætica, from the river Bætis, the modern Guadalquivir. In the 8th century, the Moors founded here a splendid monarchy, which quickly attained a high degree of civilisation. The four great Moorish capitals were Seville, Cordova, Jaen, and Granada. During the darkness of the middle ages, Cordova was 'the Athens of the west, the seat of arts and sciences.' The Moorish kingdoms were finally conquered by the Castilians in 1235-48. Christian intolerance seriously and permanently impoverished the country; but later, under the Spaniards, painting here arose in a new form in the schools of Velasquez and Murillo. Andalusia mainly consists of the great basin of the Guadalquivir, and the mountainous districts which bound it. In the south, the Sierra Nevada attains a height of 11,657 feet. Andalusia was called the garden and the granary of Spain; but now such names are merited only by portions of the country on both sides of the Guadalquivir, where, even with careless cultivation, the soil is luxuriantly productive, and vegetation generally assumes a tropical character. Cotton and sugar-cane flourish in the open air, and the cactus and aloe form impenetrable hedges. Wine and oil abound; but some tracts are very barren, especially in the west, owing to deficiency of water. On the whole, however, Andalusia is still one of the most fertile districts of Spain, owing to its delicious southern climate and the abundance of water supplied by its snowy mountains. Its breeds of horses and mules have long been celebrated. The mountains yield silver, copper, lead, iron, and coal; and some ores are extensively worked. The Andalusians are lively, imaginative, and active, but boastful, unwarlike, and superstitious. They speak a dialect of Spanish manifestly tinctured with traces of Arabic. Andalusia is divided into the provinces of Almeria, Jaën, Malaga, Cadiz, Huelva, Seville, Cordova, Jaën, and Granada. The chief towns are Seville, Cordova, Jaën, and Cadiz (q.v.). Area, 34,300; pop. 3,525,000.