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Aragón

Autonomous community and former kingdom of northeast Spain, including the provinces of Huesca, Teruel, and Zaragoza (Saragossa); area 47,669 sq km/18,405 sq mi; population (2001 est) 1,199,800. Agriculture is centred at the oases and irrigated areas; products include cereals, rice, olive oil, almonds, figs, grapes, and olives. Industries include the manufacturing of machinery, industrial vehicles, and electrical appliances; iron, sulphur, and lignite are mined; merino wool is a major export. The principal river of Aragón is the Ebro, which receives numerous tributaries both from the mountains of the south and from the Pyrenees in the north. Aragón was an independent kingdom from 1035 to 1479. The capital of modern Aragón is Zaragoza.

History

Aragón was a Roman province until it was captured in the 5th century by the Visigoths, who lost it to the Moors in the 8th century. It subsequently came under the rule of Navarre and became an independent kingdom in 1035; Aragón annexed Navarre in 1076, and by the time Zaragoza was taken by Alfonso I of Aragón in 1118 the kingdom extended over most of the territory of modern Aragón. Most of the Moorish population remained in Aragón in 1118; only the Moorish leaders were expelled. A large number of Moors were converted to Christianity; others were expelled much later on. The kingdom became united with Catalonia in 1137, and subsequently expanded to cover a confederation that included not only Aragón and Catalonia, but also Majorca, Valencia, and several French fiefdoms. It was united with Castile in 1479 through the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón (later Ferdinand V of Castile) and Isabella I of Castile. Aragón's political privileges and autonomy, which were gradually limited during the 17th century by the centralizing policies of the Spanish monarchy, came to an end in 1716. Aragón became an autonomous region in 1981.

Much of Aragón is sparsely populated and very arid. Irrigation works, started by the Moors, were resumed in the 16th century; the two lateral canals of the Ebro River are the most important.

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