SPAIN 



599 



Estremadura possesses vast flocks of sheep and 

 herds of swine. The vegetable productions of 

 Galicia and the Asturias are almost those of 

 Devonshire and of south-west Ireland. Till the 

 18th century cider was the great beverage in the 

 north; but in the basin of the Minho, in the 

 Riojas on the Ebro, in Navarre, Aragon, and 

 Catalonia strong red wines are jjrown in abund- 

 ance. The productions of Catalonia and Tarragona 

 are almost those of Provence and the Riviera. 

 The plains of Leon and of Old and New Castile 

 tie excellent corn-growing regions. From Valencia 

 southwards the products are semi-tropical; the 

 climate is almost more tropical than that of the 

 opposite coast of Africa. Fruits of all kinds, 

 luscious or fiery wines, oil, rice, esparto grass, and 

 sugar are common along the coast. No other 

 part of the soil of Europe is so rich in varied 

 produce. It is curious to note how much of this 

 is originally exotic, but has become naturalised. 

 Like all other countries of western Europe, the agri- 

 culture of Spain has been depressed of late years 

 by competition with America; but her export 

 or wine to France has been greatly increased 

 owing first to the destruction of the French vine- 

 yards by the phylloxera, and afterwards to the 

 war of tariffs between France and Italy ; the export 

 of wine to France is over 10,000,000, while that 

 to England is only 866,000. The quantity of 

 agricultural produce in Spain in cereals, wine, oil, 

 and fruit seems to be limited only by the paying 

 demand, and is checked only by the cheaper com- 

 petition of other countries. Large tracts of Spain 

 once cultivated in Roman or in Moorish times now 

 lie abandoned and unproductive; 46 per cent, of 

 the territory is uncultivated. 



Population. For a moment in the 16th century 

 Spain was the most important country in Europe ; 

 but the population was unequal to the drain 

 upon it caused by constant warfare, emigration, 

 expulsion of portions of the inhabitants of the 

 peninsula, and above all by adverse economical 

 and industrial conditions. Thus a population 

 of over 10 millions at the end of the 15th and 

 Ittginning of the 16th centuries fell to little 

 more than 6 millions in the 17th; the numbers 

 then slowly rose: (1768) 9,307,804; (1797) 

 10,541,221; (1857) 15,464,340; (1860) 15,673,536; 

 {1870) 16,835,506. Spain, if the census can be 

 trusted, has increased in population some 

 7,000,000 during the 19th century. As in other 

 countries, the town and industrial population has 

 augmented in a greater ratio than the rural and 

 agricultural. In 1887 there were in Spain one city 

 with over 400,000 inhabitants, Madrid; one of 

 250,000, Barcelona; three of between 150,000 and 

 100,000, Seville, Valencia, and Malaga. The most 

 densely populated provinces are Madrid, Barcelona, 

 Galicia, and the Basque Provinces. Emigration, 

 which is steadily on the increase, is proving a 

 heavy drain on tne country ; already there are not 

 enough labourers in the agricultural districts, and 

 every year thousands of families are seeking new 

 homes and higher wages in South America, Algeria, 

 and elsewhere. 



Industries. Some 60 or 70 per cent, of the 

 population are engaged in agriculture of various 

 kinds, and 10 or 1 1 per cent, in mining or manufac- 

 turing industries and trade. Since the sale of 

 church, crown, and much of the municipal property 

 during the 19th century the land has become much 

 divided; it is estimated that there are about 3* 

 millions of farms, of which J million are occupied 

 by tenants, the rest by proprietors. The seat of 

 the manufacturing industries mainly cotton is 

 chiefly Catalonia; and the manufacture of corks 

 <l,4ixi,000,000 yearly) employs over 8000 men in 

 that province. The mineral wealth is more widely 



distributed iron in Biscay and the province of 

 Huelva; copper at Huelva, in the Rio Tinto and 

 Tharsis mines; lead at Linares; quicksilver at 

 Almaden; coal chiefly in the Asturias; salt in 

 Catalonia, and by evaporation near Cadiz. The 

 amount producedln 1888 was as follows : 



Mineral*. Production in TODS. Exported in Tom. 



Iron 5,609,876 4,464,385 



Lead 356,545 2,168 



Argentiferous Lead 183,441 8,825 



Copper 8,202,418 825,046 



Zinc 74,353 32,004 



Quicksilver 27,847 



Salt 413,886 235,182 



Coal, Coke 1,225,178 



Smelted iletmll. Production In Ton*. Exported in Tons. 



Iron and Steel 252,116 96,801 



Lead 161,462 58,957 



Argentiferous Lead 7S.37S 70,636 



Copper 70,719 45,080 



Zinc 26,178 1,089 



Quicksilver 1,865 1,104 



Until lately the only religion tolerated was that 

 of the state, the Roman Catholic ; now a certain 

 toleration is allowed to other denominations. The 

 Catholic clergy are paid by the state ; ecclesiastical 

 matters are regulated by the Concordat of 1851. 

 There are nine archbishops, with fifty-seven suf- 

 fragan bishops, four unattached bishops, and about 

 35,000 clergy. Since 1868 the theological educa- 

 tion is given in seminaries entirely under the hands 

 of the bishops. 



Education varies greatly among different classes 

 and in different provinces. In the large towns and 

 in some of the provinces a great effort is made to 

 keep the higher and the technical schools on a 

 level with the best in other European countries. 

 In other parts the neglect is very great. There 

 are ten universities Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, 

 Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, 

 Valladolid, and Saragossa : the number of students 

 is about 17,000. In the episcopal seminaries and 

 religious schools about 9000 are educated. Of 

 secondary institutions there are about 70, with 

 356 affiliated colleges. The primary schools 

 number some 25,000, with 1,500,000 pupils, and the 

 private schools 5000, with about 300,000 pupils. 

 Many of the primary schools in the provinces are 

 in a wretched condition, the salary of the teachers 

 being only about 5 per annum, and the buildings 

 and other appliances to match. The great fault of 

 the higher Spanish education is in the numbers 

 who press into professional, literary, and political 

 careers in comparison with those who dedicate 

 themselves to commercial, industrial, or agricultural 

 pursuits. By reason of this Spain loses great part 

 of the advantages of her natural wealth. All 

 her principal mines are worked, her railways built, 

 schemes of irrigation carried out with foreign 

 capital, and in spite of the excellence of her 

 labourers the higher employees are often foreigners. 

 The progress of agriculture is impeded in the same 

 way, and legislation is too often founded on merely 

 theoretical ideas, instead of any practical know- 

 ledge of the real needs of the country. 



The total imports and exports of Spain have 

 much increased of late years. The imports in 

 1877 amounted to 16,340,672, and the exports to 

 18,175,140; in 1887 22,550,072 and 25,326,612; 

 in 1890 37,645,517 and 37,510,395 respectively. 

 The recent increase is chiefly due to the export of 

 wine to France and imports from that country. 

 The exports from Spain to Great Britain are about 

 11,500,000, and the imports 5,000,000; but the 

 statistics are always behind-hand and often very 

 confused. Since October 1848 over 6000 -miles of 

 railway have been constructed. Madrid, the 

 capital, is now in railway communication with 

 all the chief harbours and commercial routes in 

 the kingdom, and also with Portugal. Two lines 



