600 



SPA I N 



at either extremity of the Pyrenees connect the 

 >panish with the French and European linen, and 

 a third was in 1892 constructed through tlio centre | 

 of the chain. 10,070 miles of telegraph are o|ien. 



Tbegonerntnrnt of Spain is a hereditary monarchy 

 founded on the constitution of 1876. The Cortes 

 consists of two bodies the Senate, one-thin! of the 

 members of which sit by hereditary right, one- | 

 third are appointed by the sovereign for life, and 

 one-third elective. The Chamber of Deputies is ; 

 elected at the rate of one member to every 50,000 

 inhabitants. Universal suffrage (1890) ami trial 

 by jury have lately been introduced. The pro- 

 vinces are administered by governors and pro- 

 vincial deputations, and the towns by alcaldes and 

 municipal councils, all formed more or less after 

 the model of the French prefects, councils-general, 

 maire. >Vc. All these and other employees are 

 under the control of the government, who are 

 thus able to manipulate elections, except in the 

 large towns. The public debt of Spain, funded 

 ami floating, is about 259,900,000, bearing an 

 interest at 4 per cent of over 10,750,000. The 

 revenue and c.\[K'ii<liture, nominally nearly bal- 

 anced, have risen from 31,000,000 in 1881 to 

 30,000,000 in 1891, and the wealth uf the country 

 is gradually increasing. 



The mi i-,/ of Spain consists of two great ironclads 

 (with another building), six cruisers of the first 

 class, of 44,000 tons collectively, three smaller iron- 

 clads, and thirty-five nnarinoured cruisers, gun- 

 lioats, and toqiedo-ciitchers, besides fifty torpedo- 

 boats and small gunboats. A large proportion of 

 the naval ships were captured or destroyed in the 

 war with the United Suites, 1898. 



The legal official currency is founded like the 

 French on a decimal system, the jte^eta of 9'6 pence 

 being the unit; but tin' terms of the older coinage 

 are still in use, especially for copper money and 

 small change. The legal measures are still more 

 closely copied from those of France ; but the older 

 measures of capacity and weights are still in use in 

 many of the provinces. 



See, beside* the standard Spanish topographical and 

 statistical books, liorrow's BilJe in Spain, Ford's Hantl- 

 6ooiand Gathering* from Spain, A. J. C. Hare's Wamler- 

 itv.lt in Spain, and later hooks on the country and its life 

 by Mrs. Harvey (1875), Rose (1875 77), Campion (1876), 

 France* Elliot (1882), Gallenga (1883), Hope-Edwardes 

 (1883), Olive Patch (1884), Willkoinin (Prague, 1884), 

 Loraaa (1885), Parlow (Leip. 1888), H. T. Fiuck (1891), 

 and the present writer (18H1). 



HISTORY. Spain (Spania, Hispania, Iberia of 

 the Creeks and Humans), from its position as the 

 south-west peninsula of Europe, beyond which was 

 the ocean only, early became a very eddy of tribes 

 and races. Its prehistoric ethnology is not deter- 

 mined. The earliest race of which we have 

 authentic testimony is the Ilierian. It occupied 

 nearly the whole of Spain and the south of France 

 before the Roman conquest. Overlying these IWian 

 trilKssare probably two invasions of ( Vltic peoples : 

 the earlier mingled with the Iberians, ana formed 

 the Celtiberian trilies of central and western 

 Spain; the later has left the more purely Celtic 

 names in the north and north-west. There was 

 probably never any Iberian nation only a congeries 

 of tribes of the same race like that of the North 

 American ln.li.m-. but in a higher state of civilisa- 

 tion H civilisation excelling that of contempo- 

 raneous Caul or the more purely Celtic tribes to 

 the north. The Iberians were adepts at mining, 



and used writing I! \-i,'i T.s). Omitting traces 



left by mere tradeis. -m-h as the Phoenicians on 

 tin- south and south-west, the Kgyptians on the 

 east, Creeks from Maxsilia on the north-east, the 

 first power which seriously attempted to occupy 

 Spain was Carthage (q.v.). The Carthaginians 



had probably succeeded to the commercial entor- 

 pri-es of their mother-country Phn-mria ; but it 

 was not until they had retired liafiVd from Sicily 

 that the occupation of Spain wits seriously begun. 

 Hamilcar, first of the great line of ( 'artliaginian 

 generals, opened the conquest in 238 B.C. (see 

 C'AKTiiAiiK, HAMILCAR, H ANMHAU. Here again 

 they were met and thwarted by the Romans (see 

 ROME, HANXIIIAI,, Scil'io). It' then became the 

 task of the Romans to conquer Spain. In sub- 

 jugating the Iberian and Celtiberian trilics of 

 Spain they found far greater ditliciilty than with 

 anymore purely Celtic race. Spain early showed 

 her tenacity of resistance. The sieges of Saguntuni. 

 Numantia, Clunia are memorable in histon. i:\.-n 

 when conquest seemed assured Viriathus' (147-140 

 B.C. ), probably a native, and Sertorius, a Sahinc 

 leader (83-72 B.C.), tried the capacity of the best 

 generals of Rome. Itwas in Spain too that the final 

 issue between Csesarand the PoBpeUiM was fought 

 out at Miinda. Spain was not completely brought 

 under Roman rule till the time of Augustus. Once 

 subdued, it became thoroughly Roman. The impress 

 of Rome has l>een deeper on the language, manners, 

 and religion of Spain than on those of any other 

 country. Under the Romans Spain was divided 

 first into two provinces Nearer and Farther Spain : 

 in the timeof Augustus these became three Ba-tica, 

 embracing n early the modern Andalusia; l.u-itania, 

 Portugal with some of the western Spanish pro- 

 vinces; and Tarraconensis.comprisingthe remainder 

 of the country. Local rule ami customs and speech 

 weie, however, not wholly obliterated in the varied 

 Municipia and Respublicse. Celtiberian coinage 

 continued contemporaneously with that of Rome, 

 and for probably 200 years after Augustus. All 

 the great arts and works of Roman civilisation 

 tlourished. l^atin was the language of the educated 

 classes, and Spain furnished a large contingent of 

 authors to the silver age Martial. Seneca, Quin- 

 tilian, Lucan, Silius Itahcus, Columella, Pomponius 

 Mela. Trajan was a Spaniard. Some of Spain's 

 greatest cities still l>ear Latin names Legio (Leon), 

 Emerita Augusta (Merida), Cit-sar Augusta (Zara- 

 goza or Saragossa), Pompeiopolis ( Pamplona). 

 I Miring Roman rule Christianity was introduced 

 into Spain, and rapidly spread. In 325 A.D., at th 

 Council of Nicea, aosimof Cordova was the greatest 

 name in the west, overshadowing that of the bishop 

 of Rome. Prudentius (338-405), almost the first 

 Latin Christian poet, was a native of northern Spain. 

 Two centuries later (560-636) Isidore, bishop of 

 Seville, was the most learned writer of the west. 



With all western Europe Spain felt the ellects 

 of the downfall of the Roman empire. The 

 native Spanish legionaries were serving in all 

 parts of the empire; barely two foreign legions 

 garrisoned the whole of Spain. Thus, when 

 the Suevi, Alans, Vandals (c. 409*, Visigoths 

 (414; see GOTHS) invaded Spain, the country, 

 which had cost the Romans two centuries to 

 sulidue, had little means of resistance. The 

 Sucvi established themselves in (ialicia and 

 Lusitania, the Vandals penetrated farther south, 

 and gave their name to (V)andalusia: thence in 

 4.11 they crossed to Africa. The A 'i-igol lis brought 

 with them more than a tinge of Roman civilisation. 

 Though Ixith Visigoths and Vandals \veie nominally 

 Christians, their Arian heresy placed them in opposi- 

 tion to the native bishops, the most ardent defenders 

 of the Niccne faith. For some time Spain was 

 only a province of a larger Visigothic kingdom. 

 Thetidis (573) was the first Visigothic king who 

 fixed his court in Spain. It wo-s not till the reign 

 of Leovigihl (5S4) that the Suevi were definitely 

 dispossessed, and not till the reign of Suintilla (<i-4) 

 that the Byzantine Romans were finally expelled 

 from the east coast; and even to the end they 



