San Sebastian
a city and seaport in the N. E. of Spain; capital of the province of Guipuzcoa, partly on the side of Mount Urgull, which projects into the Bay of Biscay, and partly on the isthmus connecting it with the mainland. It was SANSKRIT once strongly fortified, its fortifications including the castle of Mota on the summit of Urgull, 493 feet high. The town, which was destroyed by fire in 1813, consists for the most part of modern houses arranged in spacious streets and squares. The manufactures consist chiefly of cordage, sail cloth, leather, candles, and soap. The trade has greatly decayed; but the place is much frequented for sea bathing. San Sebastian is of considerable antiquity, and having by its early fortification become the key of Spain on the side of France, figures much in all the wars between the two countries.
In 1813 it was stormed by the British.
Pop. (1918) 57,282.