Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/734

Rh 708 SEVILLE and is represented in the cortes by four senators and twelve deputies. The following towns have a population of more than 10,000 within the municipal boundaries: Seville (see below), Carmona (17,426), Constantina (10,988), Ecija (24,955), Lebrija (12,864), Marchena (13,768), Moron de la Frontera (14,879), Osuna (17,211), and Utrera (15,093). SEVILLE (Span. Sevilla, Latin Ispalis, Arabic IM>i- (iya), capital of the above province and the seat of an archbishopric, with a population of 133,938 in 1877, is situated in 37 22' N. lat. and 5 58' W. long., 62 miles (95 by rail) north -north-east of Cadiz and 355 miles south- south-west of Madrid, on the left bank of the Guadal- quivir, which here flows through a level country as productive as a garden. The river is navigable up to the city, which is highly pictur- esque in its combination of ancient buildings with busy commerce. From the earliest times the port has been a chief outlet for the wealth of Spain. Under the Romans the city was made the capital of Baetica, and became a favourite resort for wealthy Romans. The emperors Hadrian, Trajan, and Theo- dosiiis were born in the neighbourhood at Italica (now Santiponce) where are the remains of a considerable amphitheatre. The chief existing monument of the Romans in Seville itself is the aqueduct, on four hundred and ten arches, by which the water from Alcala de Gua- daira continued until recently to be supplied to the town. At the beginning of the 5th century the Silingi Vandals made Seville the seat of their empire, until it passed in 531 under the Goths, who chose Toledo for their capital. After the defeat of Don Roderick at Guadalete in 712 the Arabs took posses- sion of the city after a siege of some months. Under the Arabs Seville continued to flourish. Edrisi speaks in particular of its great export trade in the oil of Aljarafe. The district was in great part occupied by Syrian Arabs from Emesa, part of the troops that entered Spain with Balj in 741 at the time of the revolt of the Berbers. It was a scion of one of these Emesan families, Abu '1-Kasim Mohammed, cadi of Seville, who on the fall of the Spanish caliphate headed the revolt of his townsmen against their Berber masters (1023) and became the founder of the Abbadid dynasty, of which Seville was capital, and which lasted under his son Mo'tadid (1042-1069) and grandson Mo'tamid (1069-1091) till the city was taken by the Almoravids. The later years of the Almoravid rule were very oppressive to the Moslems of Spain; in 1133 the people of Seville were prepared to welcome the victorious arms of Alphonso VII., and eleven years later Andalusia- broke out in general rebellion. Almohade troops now passed over into Spain and took Seville in 1147. Under the Almohades Seville was the seat of government and enjoyed great prosperity ; the great mosque was com- menced by Yusuf I. and completed by his son the famous Almanzor. In the decline of the dynasty between 1228 Plan of Seville. and 1248 Seville underwent various revolutions, and ulti- mately acknowledged the Hafsite prince, who, however, was unable to save the city from Ferdinand III., who restored it to Christendom in 1248. The aspect of the town even now is essentially Moorish, with its narrow tortu- ous streets and fine inner court-yards to the houses. Many of these date from before the Christian conquest, and the walls and towers which until recently encircled the city for a length of 5 miles have a similar origin. The victory of