1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Guadix

GUADIX, a city of southern Spain, in the province of Granada; on the left bank of the river Guadix, a subtributary of the Guadiana Menor, and on the Madrid-Valdepeñas-Almería railway. Pop. (1900) 12,652. Guadix occupies part of an elevated plateau among the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is surrounded by ancient walls, and was formerly dominated by a Moorish castle, now in ruins. It is an episcopal see of great antiquity, but its cathedral, built in the 18th century on the site of a mosque, possesses little architectural merit. The city was once famous for its cutlery; but its modern manufactures (chiefly earthenware, hempen goods, and hats) are inconsiderable. It has some trade in wool, cotton, flax, corn and liqueurs. The warm mineral springs of Graena, much frequented during the summer, are 6 m. W. Guadix el Viejo, 5 m. N.W., was the Roman Acci, and, according to tradition, the seat of the first Iberian bishopric, in the 2nd century. After 711 it rose to some importance as a Moorish fortress and trading station, and was renamed Wad Ash, “Water of Life.” It was surrendered without a siege to the Spaniards, under Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1489.