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Kings of Spain: Granada
The population of Spain is distributed among 169 cities, 4707 towns, 30,386 villages, and 10,788 hamlets. The principal cities are Madrid, the capital; Barcelona , Malaga, comprising the Valencia, Seville, Granada, Cadiz, and Saragossa. There are 4 races comprising the population of Spain-the Castilian, or Spaniards proper; the Basques, the Modejars, and the Gypsies. The Basques, who are beyond question the descendants of the anof the ancient Iberians, form a majority of the population in the Basque provinces and in Nain Navarra in the northern portion of the kingdom. The Modejars are descended from the Moors, and may be found chiefly in Granada and Castile, many of them preserving the peculiar customs of their forefathers. The Gitanos or Gypsies, are scattered throughout the country, and speak a language peculiar to themselves. There is a strongly drawn line of caste in Spain, the nobility forming fully the 15th part of the population .
The higher nobility are the possessors of immense estates, while the lower classes are in many instances very poor. The Jewish race was once a conspicuous element in the Spanish population, but it has entirely dissappeared since their expulsion in 1492. The people in this country have of late years made some progress in agricultural pursuits, but the system is as yet very imperfect. The most careful cultivation is on the irrigated lands of Granada, Murcia, and Valencia, which are regarded as the gardens of Spain, producing all descriptions of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and plants. The chief crops are corn, wheat, barley, rice, hemp, and flax. The vine is very extensively cultivated, and the product celebrated. Sugar cane and cotton have been acclimated in the S. In the matter of fruits, the orange, citron, pomegranate, almond, fig, date, and banana grow in great abundance.
MANUFACTURES. - In the middle ages the manufacturing industry of Spain was very great, and at that period her wool, silks, cloths, and arms enjoyed a high and deserved reputation. When, however, the Moors and Jews were expelled, private interests became weighed down by heavy taxes, and this, together with the monopoly given to royal manufactories, had the effect to undermine the prosperity that the nation had long enjoyed. In more recent times, however, there has been an improvement. The manufacture of cotton goods is confined chiefly to Barcelona, and other places in Catalonia, where more than 1,300,000 spindles are employed, and about 100,000 men. Silk goods are made at Barcelona, Manresa, Tarragona, Toledo , Seville, and Valencia; woollen stuffs at Segovia, Arevalo, Colmenar, and Alcoy; leather at Barcelona, Cordova, Burgos, Toledo, Granada, and Madrid; and glassware at 1 Barcelona. In the Basque provinces there are manufactories of firearms, and cannon foundaries in several of the large cities. The government manufactures saltpetre, gunpowder, cannon and firearms, tobacco, porcelain and glass, but the works are mostly in decay, and the once famous sword manufactory at Toledo is nearly extinguished.
Government. On the 30th of June 1876 the present constitution was proclaimed. It consists of 79 articles, and provides, among other things, that the kingdom shall be a constitutional monarchy, the executive authority resting in the King, and that the power to make laws shall be " in the Cortes with the King." The Cortes comprises a senate and congress, the authority of each being equal. There are 3 classes of senators-those by their own right; life senators who are nominated by the Crown; and 130 senators elected by the corporations of state and by the largest payers of contributions. The first class of senators-those in their own right-are the sons, if any, of the king, and the immediate heir to the throne, who have attained their majority; grandees, or the nobility, who can prove an annual rental of $12,000; captain-generals of the army; admirals of the navy; the patriarchs of the Indies, and the archbishops; the president of the council of state, of the supreme tribunal, and of the tribunal of Cuentas del Reino. The elective senators are one-half renewable every 5 years, and by totality every time the King dissolves that part of the Cortes. The congress consists of deputies, of whom the law allows I to every 50,000 inhabitants. While it is held by the constitution that the King is inviolable, his ministers are made responsible, so that all his decrees must be countersigned by one of them. As to the marriage of the King, the Cortes must first approve of it before he is at liberty to contract, an alliance of this character, and he is debarred from marrying any one excluded by law from succesion to the Crown. The succession follows the regular order of primogeniture. If all the lines become extinct, the national Cortes will elect its monarch. Spain is divided into various provinces, districts, and communes, which are governed by their own municipal laws, the constitution of 1869 guaranteeing the municipal liberties of the people, and the national executive and the Cortes have no right to interfere in the case of the action of these local or provincial parliaments.
The army on the peace footing consists of 144,644 men. On a war footing it is raised to 410,190 men, with 510 guns. The colonial forces, including militia, number 236,000. Service is compulsory on all for 8 years in Spain, or 4 years in the colonies. The navy consists of 126 steam vessels, including 7 ironclads, and about 22,000 men.
RELIGION AND EDUCATION. - Spain is a Roman Catholic country, this being the national church, and to it belong the entire population, with the exception perhaps, of 60,000 persons. At the head of the church stands the archbishop of Toledo primate of Spain.