Class-book of geography; physical and descriptive

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 Excerpt: ...island of Leon, and one of the oldest cities in Europe; 15 miles north-east, Xeres, famous for its sherry wines; Sevilla, an important commercial town, was successively the Gothic and Moorish capital; Cordova, in the tenth century under the Moors, was the largest, wealthiest, and most learned city in Europe; to the south-east, on the Xentf, Granada, the last possession of the Moors, contains the fortress-palace of the Alhambra, perhaps the finest specimen of Saracenic architecture in the world. On the South and East Coasts:--Malaga, Almeria, and Alicante, have large exports of fruit; Carthagena was formerly an important arsenal; Murcia, on the Segura, in a fertile district, has trade in silk; Orihuela, in the " Garden of Spain;" Valencia is the chief seat of the silk manufacture; Barcelona, strongly fortified, is the chief commercial and manufacturing town in Spain. Reas has active manufactures of cottons, silks, and linens, and is about 9 miles south-west of Tarragona, a seaport town. In the basin of the Ebro:--Zaragoza, (Spanish pronunciation, Tharagotha), celebrated for its desperate resistance to the French in 1808-9; Pamplona, a strong fortress; and Vittoria, where Wellington gained a decisive victory in 1813. East of Valencia are the Balearic Islands--Ivica, Majorca, and Menorca. Palmas, in Majorca, is the capital; and Mahon, in Menorca, has one of the best harbours in the Mediterranean. Colonies--Subsequent to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the whole ef that continent, from the head of the Gulf of Mexico southwards, fell under the power of Spain, with the exception of Brazil. Its present possessions are Cuba, St. Domingo, and Puerto Eico, in the West Indies; Ceuta, and other five small settlements in the north of Marocco; the...