Page:EB1911 - Volume 25.djvu/552

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GENERAL SURVEY]
SPAIN
531


ocellata), which sometimes attains 3 ft. in length and is very abundant; the Platydactylus saccicularis, the grey amphisbaena (Blanus cinereus), the European pond-tortoise (Emys europaea), and another species, Emys Siegrizii. Insect life is remarkably abundant and varied. More than 350 species of butterflies, many of them endemic, have been counted in the province of Madrid alone. Besides the ordinary European scorpion, which is general in southern Europe, there is another species, the sting of which is said to be still more severe, found chiefly in the basin of the Ebro. Trout abound in the mountain streams and lakes, barbel and many other species of Cyprinidae in the rivers of the plains. For the sea fauna, see under Fisheries below.

Territorial Divisions and Population.—For administrative purposes the kingdom of Spain has since 1833 been divided into forty-nine provinces, forty-seven of which belong to the mainland. Before 1833 the mainland was divided into thirteen provinces, also enumerated below, which took their names from the ancient kingdoms and principalities out of which the modern kingdom was built up. All the continental provinces, ancient and modern, as also the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Annobon, Ceuta, Corisco, the Chaffarinas, Fernando Po, the Muni River Settlements and Rio de Oro are described in separate articles.

It is probable that the population of Spain attained its height during the early Roman Empire, when it has been estimated, though of course on imperfect data, to have numbered forty or fifty millions. The best evidence of a dense population in those days is that afforded by the specific estimates of ancient writers for some of the larger cities. The population of Tarraco (Tarragona) was estimated at 21/2 millions, and those of Nova Carthago (Cartagena), Italica (Sevilla la Vieja), and other cities at several hundreds of thousands. Emerita Augusta (Mérida) had a Roman garrison of 90,000 men, which also implies a large population.

The first Spanish census was made in 1594, but some of the provinces now included in the kingdom were not embraced in the enumeration, so that the total population assigned to Spain within its present limits for that date is obtained by adding the results of enumerations at different dates in the provinces then excluded. The total thus arrived at is 8,206,791. No other census took place till 1787, when the total was found to be 10,268,150; and this census was followed by another in 1797, when the population was returned as 10,541,221. Various estimates were made within the next sixty years, but the census of 1857 proved that some of these estimates must have been greatly below the truth. The total population then ascertained to exist in Spain was 15,464,340, an increase of not much less than 50% since the census of 1797. Between 1857 and 1877 the population increased to 16,631,869; and by 1897 it had risen to 18,132,475. The annual rate of increase during this period of forty years was less than .45%, or lower than that of any other European state, except France in the later years of the 19th century. The census of 1900, however, showed that the annual rate of increase had risen, between 1897 and 1900, to .89%, or nearly double its former amount. This fact may be explained partly by the growth of mining and certain other industries, partly, perhaps, by the recuperative power which the Spanish people has always exhibited after war—the most notable instance of which is the above-mentioned net increase of nearly 50% between 1797 and 1857, despite the Napoleonic invasion and other disastrous wars. A similar though much smaller acceleration in the annual rate of increase after the Carlist Wars of 1874–76 is largely attributable to the prosperity caused by railway development between 1877 and 1887. It would be unjustifiable to assume from the inadequate data available that the Spanish people retains the vitality which characterized it from 1797 to 1857. It is, however, clear from the census returns that at the beginning of the 20th century.

Area and Population of the Former and Present Provinces.
Provinces Area in
sq. m.
Pop., 1857. Pop., 1887 Pop., 1900.  Pop. per 
sq. m.,
1900.

New Castile
 Madrid
 Guadalajara
 Toledo
 Cuenca
 Ciudad Real
Old Castile
 Burgos
 Logrono
 Santander
 Avila.
 Segovia
 Soria
 Palencia
 Valladolid
Asturias
 Oviedo
Leon
 Salamanca
 Zamora
 Leon
Estremadura
 Badajoz
 Cáceres
Galicia
 Corunna (Coruña)
 Lugo
 Orense
 Pontevedra
Andalusia (Andaluçia)
 Almeria
 Granada
 Malaga
 Cordova
 Jaen
 Cadiz (with Ceuta)
 Seville
 Huelva
Valencia
 Castellon de la Plana 
 Valencia
 Alicante
Murcia
 Albacete
 Murcia
Catalonia
 Lérida
 Gerona
 Barcelona
 Tarragona
Aragon
 Huesca
 Saragossa
 Teruel
Navarre (Navarra)
 Navarre
Basque Provinces
 Biscay (Vizcaya)
 Guipúzcoa
 Alava
Balearic Islands
Canary Islands

27,935
3,084
4,676
5,919
6,636
7,620
25,372
5,480
1,946
2,108
3,042
2,635
3,983
3,256
2,922
4,205
4,205
14,862
4,829
4,097
5,936
16,118
8,451
7,667
11,254
3,051
3,814
2,694
1,695
33,777
3,360
4,928
2,812
5,299
5,203
2,834
5,428
3,913
8,830
2,495
4,150
2,185
10,190
5,737
4,453
12,427
4,690
2,264
2,968
2,505
18,294
5,848
6,726
5,720
4,055
4,055
2,739
836
728
1,175
1,935
2,807

1,477,915
475,785
199,088
328,755
229,959
244,328
1,609,948
333,356
173,812
214,441
164,039
146,839
147,468
185,970
244,023
524,529
524,529
861,434
263,516
249,162
348,756
707,115
404,981
302,134
1,776,879
55L989
424,186
371,818
428,886
2,937,183
315,664
444,629
451,406
351,536
345,879
390,192
463,486
174,391
1,246,485
260,919
606,608
378,958
582,087
201,118
380,969
1,652,291
306,994
310,970
713,734
320,593
880,643
257,839
384,176
238,628
297,422
297,422
413,470
160,579
156,493
96,398
262,893
234,046

1,778,155
683,484
205,040
356,398
246,091
287,142
1,744,301
342,988
183,430
249,116
195,321
155,927
157,008
189,349
271,162
615,844
615,844
984,711
320,588
274,890
389,233
808,685
476,273
332,412
1,967,239
635,327
438,076
415,237
478,599
3,393,681
345,929
482,787
523,915
413,883
428,152
423,261
535,687
240,067
1,461,453
292,952
730,916
437,685
720,843
231,073
489,770
1,836,139
296,609
311,153
879,771
348,606
922,554
260,585
415,152
246,817
307,994
307,994
510,194
234,880
181,149
94,165
313,480
301,963

1,923,310
775,034
200,186
376,814
249,696
321,580
1,785,403
338,828
189,376
276,003
200,457
159,243
150,462
192,473
278,561
627,069
627,069
982,393
320,765
275,545
386,083
882,410
520,246
362,164
1,980,515
653,556
463,386
404,311
457,262
3,562,606
359,013
492,460
511,989
455,859
474,490
452,659
555,256
260,880
1,587,533
310,828
806,556
470,149
815,864
237,877
577,987
1,966,382
274,590
299,287
1,054,541
337,964
912,711
244,867
421,843
246,001
307,669
307,669
603,596
311,361
195,850
96,385
311,649
358,564

60.8
251.3
42.8
63.6
37.6
42.2
70.3
61.8
97.3
130.9
65.9
60.4
37.7
59.1
95.3
149.1
149.1
66.1
66.4
67.2
65.0
54.7
61.6
47.2
175.8
214.2
122.0
150.1
269.8
105.4
106.8
99.9
182.1
85.8
91.2
159.7
100.4
66.6
179.7
124.5
194.3
215.1
80.0
41.3
129.8
158.2
58.5
132.2
355.3
134.9
49.8
41.8
62.7
43.0
75.8
75.8
220.3
372.4
269.0
82.0
161.1
127.5

Total  194,700  15,464,340  17,667,256  18,618,086 95.6