1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seville (province)

SEVILLE, an inland province of southern Spain, one of the eight provinces into which Andalusia was divided in 1833; bounded on the N. by Badajoz, N.E. by Cordova, S. by Malaga and Cadiz and W. by Huelva. Pop. (1900) 555,256; area 5428 sq. m. The province is bisected by the navigable river Guadalquivir (q.v.), which here receives the Genil and Guadaira on the left, and the Guadalimar on the right. West of the Guadalquivir the surface is broken by low mountain ranges forming part of the Sierra Morena; the eastern districts are comparatively flat and very fertile, except along the frontiers of Cadiz and Malaga, where rise the Sierras of Gibalbin and Algodonales; and there are extensive marshes near the Guadalquivir estuary. Coal, copper, iron ore, silicate of alumina, marble and chalk are the chief mineral products; the province is famous for its oranges, and also exports wheat, barley, oats, maize, olives, oil, wine and chick-peas. Iron-founding and the manufacture of gunpowder and ordnance are carried on by the state, and a great expansion of the other manufactures-leather, pottery, soap, flour, cork products, &c.—took place after 1875 owing to the construction of railways between all the larger towns. Cattle-breeding is an important industry in the plains and marshes. Seville (q.v.) is the capital and chief river-port. Other towns described in separate articles are Écija (pop. 1900, 24,372), Osuna (17,826), Carmona (17,215), Utrera (15,138), Moron de la Frontera (14,190), Marchena (12,468), Lebrija. (10,997).