Granada, an ancient Moorish kingdom of Spain, embracing the south-eastern portion of Andalusia, and now divided into the three modern provinces of Granada, Almería, and Málaga, the united areas of which amount to 11,062 sq. m., and the united pop. (1877) 1,328,464; (1887) 1,361,456. Except in the narrow strip of coast region along the Mediterranean, the surface is a succession of mountain and plateau rising in the centre to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada; but the soil is fertile, and the ancient Granada, which became an independent kingdom after the fall of the caliphate of Cordova in 1236, supported a population of 3 millions, and sent 100,000 men into the field. From 1246 the Moorish kings were obliged to recognise the supremacy of the kings of Castile. A quarrel, however, which arose between the vassal king of Granada and Ferdinand and Isabella in the 15th century resulted in a war of eleven years' duration, the result of which was the complete conquest of Granada by the Spaniards in 1492, and the total destruction of Moorish authority in Spain.
The modern province of Granada has an area of 4928 sq. m., which includes the highest mountains in the Peninsula, and one of the most picturesque regions in Europe. A great portion belongs to the basins of the Jenil and the Fardes (Guadiana Menor), tributaries of the Guadalquivir; the Guadalfeo and other streams flow into the Mediterranean. The climate is warm, but tempered by the snow-clad mountain-ranges; the fruitful soil yields the products of both the temperate and subtropical zones. Neither the mineral springs nor the rich deposits of salt, iron, lead, copper, zinc, sulphur, marble, and alabaster are much worked; the silk industry, formerly important, has nearly disappeared, and the manufactures are now chiefly weaving, sugar and brandy refining, &c.; and the trade of the province, hindered by a rock-bound, inhospitable coast and the absence of roads, is unimportant. Pop. (1877) 479,066; (1887) 480,594.