Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/345

 1066 HISPAIOA. the top of Arthur's Seat, the biU or moontain which overhiuigs Edinburgh." (^History of Rome^ vol. iii. p. 391.) The elevation of this central tablo-bad is, in fact, higher than that of any other table-land in Europe, while its extent is so great as to comprehend nearly one-half of the area of the peninsula. Its limits correspond pretty nearly to that of the qua- drangle formed by the parallels of 3S^ and 43^ N. lat. and the meridians of 1^ and 8^ W. long. Its boundaries on the N. and S. are strikingly defined by the continuous and lofty chains of mountains called respectively the M<nmtain$ofAtturia$ [Vab- CONUM Saltus, and Vinoius M.] and the Sierra Morena, On the £. its separation from the basin of the £lfro and the £. maritime district is effected by a less perfectly continuous series of high lands and mountain ridges, called by the ancients Idubbda in the N. part, and Obospbda in the S. ; and on the W. it subsides to the Atlantic by means of the ex- treme portions of the mountains which traverse it from E. to W., with a dedination more oriess to the S.*, becoming more decided towards the extre* mities, till at last their W. slopes fall down to the AtUntic, forming the valleys and terraces of Portugal. [Comp. LusiTAKiA.] Of the ranges which thus traverse the table-land the most im^iortant is Uiat which runs SW. almost through its centre, and ter- minates in C, da Roea (Magnum Pr.), W. of the mouth of the Tagus (where it was called Hbbhi- xiua M. : no specific names are given to the other portions of the chain), dividing the region into two nearly equal parts. Of these divisions the northern contains the river basin of the Dovro [DuRius], and IS now known as the table -land of Old CatUle and Leon i the southern, or table-land of New CaeUle and £Mtremaduraj is much more mountainous, and is subdivided by another range, which has no specific ancient name, into the river-basins of the ToffUi [Taoub] and the GwtdUma [Anas]. Of the lower districts by which this table-land is inclosed on all sides, like a platform surrounded with ascents of various slopes, Uiat on the W. coast is so closely connected with the valleys of the table-land itself, that (however distinct from it in modem geo> graphy and history) the former may be considered by the student of ancient history wfi an appendage to the latter. The N. maritime district forms the narrow strip along the hag of Bieeaff^ which was peopled by tribes as rugged as itself. [Asturbs, Gaitiabri, Galiabcia.] The districts £. and S. of the central table-land are of the utmost importance in history. Lying open to the Mediterranean, with a vast sea-board, uid abounding in valuable produc- tions, they early came to be more closely connected with the civilised states around the Inner Sea than with the wild regions in the interior of the peninsula. The £. portion consists property of two parts ; the river basin of the Ebro [Ibbrus]. which lies much lower than the central table-land, but still considerably higher than the sea ; and the £. maritime region, extending from the Pyrenees to New Carthage: but the two parts are so closely c(Hinected in ancient history that they may be regarded as one division. Thus viewed, the £. district is of a trianguUr form, having the Pyrenees fur its base, and its vertex at under this description : its course is almost due W. until it throws off a number of branches, by which it subsides to the Atlantic, forming the mountain region of Gallicia, HISPANU. New Carthage abd the C. de Poloe, ito E. nl« ibnned by tlie Meditermnean shore, and its W. mdie by the ranges which divide it from the central table- land ; and answering to the provinces of Cataiamia, Arragofit with the S. part of Navarre^ Valemda, and parts of A eio CasiUe and MmrcUa^ The S. district is of still &r greatar importaiiDe, and may be regarded as forming, to a great degree^ a country by itself, distinok from all the rest of tlie peninsula; as, indeed, it has been politically sad historically a separate country durii^ some of the most important periods of Spanish histofy. Tfaia country — the Tartessu and Bakhca of ths ancients, the Andahtcia (^ modem geographj — is severed from the rest of Spain by the great chain of the Sierra Morena [Marianus Moks], on the &. of which lies the valley of the Guadalqtgipfr [Bab- Tis], open entirely to the W. shore, but iodoasd cm the S. by another chain of Icrfty mountains, named, from their snowy summits, the Sierra Nevada [Iu< pula], which sink down to the 8. coast by tbs in- termediate chain of the Alpujarrae, and fintn on the N. the plain of Granada. On the E. side, the vaDcy of the Baetis is entirely shut in by raises wfaidi run N£. and SW., linking the Sierra Nevada ami the Sierra Morena to one another and to the chain of OBOBFEDAontheW.bordorof the eastern districC Of these cross chains, the chief ars those called the Gas- TULOiTBXSU Saltus and the Arobhtarius Mobs. While thus separated by mountains finom ths leA of Spain, Andtducia lies perfectly (^»en to Africa and the Mediterranean,— a fact of the utmost importaats in relation to its ancient ethnography as vdl as its modem history. No one who rightly appRdates this ^Mst will wonder that it was a Phoenician defayieocf while all the rest of Spain was still bariianaa, nsr that it was united to Morocco under the later Boaao empire, under the Vandals, and under the Arabs, nor that the kingdom of Granada should Ymre so leng sqr* vived the expulsion of the Moors from the rast of Spsia. To sum up this description. For the pnrposes of ancient history and geography the peniiumh of Spain is divisible into four main parts : — (I.) The oevlnl table knd, with the W. coast, containing the rinr basins of tJie Douro, Tagus, and Guadiana [Avas]: (2.) Ths mountainous N. coast, oomprisiag the an- cient Gallabcia, Asturia, and Caktabria: (3.) The valley of the IsEairfi, and the £. coasts (4.) Babtiga, or Andahida. The details respecting the moontains and riven which have been maitiooed, as well as the lists of many others, not important enough to be included in this general outline, are given under the ssveiai artkdes bearing their names, and under those de< scribing the tliree provinces and the smaller districts of the peninsula. VL Cumate A2n> Productions. The diversities in the surface of the peninsula are attended with a corresponding variety of climate ; m that Spain, though the southernmost country of En- rope, has, in different parts, the climates of nearly all the rest of the continent. This is well set forth by Niebuhr : — " Andalucia, the southernmost pait, is almost identical with ancient Baetica, and, as is observed eveu by Strabo, is a country quite diififeavnt from the rest of Spain. . . . While Valencia is flu and well watered, but wanting in energy, Andalncia and Granada are countries matured by the sun in the highest degree ; they are scarcely European, hot almost like tropical countries. The eastern dinska
 * The northernmost range does not come exactly