Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/40

16 16 WAR OF GRANADA. PART I. Description of Malaga. consented to capitulate on the usual conditions of security to persons, property, and religion. The capitulation of this place, April 27th, 1487, was followed by that of more than twenty places of in- ferior note lying between it and Malaga, so that the approaches to this latter city were now left open to the victorious Spaniards. ^ This ancient city, which, under the Spanish Arabs in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, form- ed the capital of an independent principality, was second only to the metropolis itself, in the kingdom of Granada. Its fruitful environs furnished abun- dant articles of export, while its commodious port on the Mediterranean opened a traffic with the va- rious countries washed by that inland sea, and with the remoter regions of India. Owing to these ad- vantages, the inhabitants acquired unbounded opu- lence, which showed itself in the embellishments of their city, whose light forms of architecture, min- gling after the eastern fashion with odoriferous gar- dens and fountains of sparkling water, presented an appearance most refreshing to the senses in this sultry climate. ^ The city was encompassed by fortifications of great strength, and in perfect repair. It was com- manded by a citadel, connected by a covered way 4 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 52. — Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14. 5 Coiide doubts wliether the name of Malaga is derived from the Greek /taXaiii, signifying meaning " royal." Either ety- mology is sufficiently pertinent. (See El Nubiense, Descripcion de Espaiia, p. 186, not.) For no- tices of sovereigns who swayed the sceptre of Malaga, see Casiri, Bibiiotheca Escunalensis, torn. ii. pp. 41, 56, 99, et alibi.
 * ' agreeable," or the Arabic malka,