598 



SPAIN 



The population of Spain includes 18,480 French, 

 6766 PorngaeM, 0719 BnglMi, 8877 Italian-, ivju 



Germans, and i'lTIW of oilier nationalities. 



Of (lii> once great colonies of S|inin. nil tli.-it re- 

 mained in 1898 were the Philippine Islands, Culm, 

 I'orto l.'ico, tin' ('aniline and Pclew Islands, tin* 

 Ladrones, with Kernando l'i>. Annolion, \c. of 

 these t In- Philippines, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Guam 

 (the chief island of tin- Ladroncs) were ceded to 

 tin- I'nited Stales in 1898 as a result of the war 

 with that power ; and the Carolines, Pelewg, and 

 remaining Ladrones were sold to Germany in 

 1890. 



Coast-line. The coast-line is estimated at 1317 

 miles, of which 7I-> belong to the Mediterranean 

 and 605 to the Atlantic. Spain has thus luit 1 mile 

 of coast-line to 145 wj. miles of area, while Italy 

 has 1 to 40 and Greece 1 to 7. The dliore of the 

 Bay of Biscay presents an almost unbroken wall 

 ol mountain and rock, but in the north-west and 

 west appears the most southerly prolongation of 

 th>' fiord or firth system of Norway, \vc-i mi Scot 

 land and Ireland, forming as usual tine li:u limn- 

 I'Vmil, Corunna, Vi^o. ,Vc. Portugal indents a 

 frontier of nearly 400 miles; to the south, from 

 Portugal to Gibraltar, the Atlantic coast is low. 

 Cadi/, is hern the- chief harbour. The southern 

 Mediterranean shore i rocky, backed up by (lie 

 IHI^'I' IIKIHS of the Sierra Nevada and its prolonga- 

 tion* to Cape Gata. Malaga and . MIIIIM ia arc the 

 chief harbours here ; in the south-east and cast are 



the naval arsenal of Cartagena and the commer- 

 cial ports of Valencia ami Barcelona and others.. 

 Tlmn^'li almost a peninsula, this uniform character 

 of the coast-line and the great elevation of its 

 central pjateau give Spain a more continental 

 character in its extreme range of temperature than 

 any of the other peninsulas of Europe. Thegnfttac 

 part of its surface consists of a plateau of bet .-en 

 2000 and 3000 feet above the sea-level, traversed 

 by loftier ranges. On the east the plateau U 

 buttressed by chain- which descend rapidly !> (In- 

 Mediterranean. The mountains of Oca, the Siena 

 '!> Moncayo, and the Idubeda Mountaii 

 sharply from the valley of the Ebro on the north ; 

 the Sierra Morena on the south is of inferior ele\ a- 

 tion ; the western ranges run into the frontier 

 of Portugal, and lose themselves in the Atlantic. 

 Outside tin- plateau lie the highest summits of the 

 whole country, the Pic de Ncthou in the Pyrenees 

 (11,151 feet), and the Pic de Velate in the" Sierra 

 Nevada (11,670), while the Picos de Europa in the 

 Cantabrian Range attain over 8000 feet. The 

 plateau itself is traversed by four mountain ranges, 

 the Oca and Idubeda Mountains above mentioned, 

 which separate the valley of the Ebro from that of 

 the Douro; the Guadarrama Itan^e, which divides 

 this river from the basin of the Tagus ; the Siena 

 de Toledo, which forms the watershed l<etween the 

 Tagus and the Guadiana; while the southern but- 

 tress, the Sierra Morena, forms the northern wall 

 of the valley of the Guadalquivir. The hole 

 plateau has a general slight inclination from east 

 or north-east to south-west, and hence all the con- 

 siderable rivers of Spain except the Ebro flow west- 

 ward to the Atlantic. The general elevation of 

 the plateau conceals the real height of its iiu.nn- 

 tains and posses; thus, the highest point of the 

 railway from the north to Madrid is about (><) feet 

 higher than the tunnel of Mont Cenis, and thai of 

 the old coach-road through the Guadarrama is 300 

 feet higher still. 



Geology. A mass of granitic, Cambrian, and 

 Silurian rocks extends from Galicia south-east 

 to the valley of the Guadalquivir. The Carbon- 

 iferous formation occupies the north and south- 

 west corners of the great plateau. The valley 

 of the Kbro is a trough of Secondary rocks extend"^ 

 ing from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean ; 

 another band of Secondary rocks forms the 

 of Andalusia south of the Guadalquivir; the I \<\<n 

 Cretaceous formation stretches from the basin of 

 the Ebro to the granite of the Gnadarrama and to 

 the east of Madrid; these older formation- are 

 overlaid by Tertiary, Eocene and Miocene, marine 

 and fresh-vyater deposits. The visible surface of 

 Spain consists of 3i per cent, of crystalline and 

 Paheo/oic rocks, 34 per cent, of Tertiaiy, 19 of 

 Secondary rocks, and 10 per cent, of Quaternary 

 <le|K)sits. The remains of undoubted volcanoes are 

 found at Olot in Catalonia, at Cabo de (iota in the 

 south-east, and at Ciudad Kea 1 in i,a Mancha. To 

 the frequency of older igneous action, ami to the 

 fractured condition of the later rocks, is perhaps 

 due the great mineral wealth of Spain. 



Climtif' inn! J'l-m/iii-ts. The configuration of the 

 country renders the climate ve.y v.-iried. In parts 

 of the north-west the rainfall is among the hem icst 

 in I '.mope. In the east, and south-east occasionally 

 no rain falls in the whole year. Even in the nortli 

 the contrasts ore striking. The rainfall in the 

 Western Pyrenees is very great. \et cm the northern 



slope of the valley of the Ebro there are districts 

 almost rainless. The western side of th< 

 plateau, speaking generally, is more humid and 



much colder than tl astern, where irrigation is 



:tcccssary for successful cultivation. \Vith (his 



ililferencein climate ^oc- a corresponding difference 



, in products. Galicia Is almost a cattle country; 



