ARAGON, or Arragon, a province, or, as it is usually denominated by the inhabitants of the peninsula, a kingdom, of Spain, and one of the component parts of that monarchy, situated between 40. 17. and 42. 51. N. lat. It is almost surrounded by Old and New Castile, but to the south the province of Valencia adjoins it and a small part of Catalonia. It is the most thinly peopled and the most extensive of all the European dominions of the Spanish crown. Its superficies is 1232 square leagues; and its population, according to the census of 1803, was 657,376 souls. It is indeed contended that the numeration of that period was incorrect; but the highest calculation, made by the Economical Society of Saragossa, makes it amount to but a few hundreds more than the census on which we rely. The province is nearly divided into two equal parts by the river Ebro, which are distinguished by the appellations of trans-ibero and cis-ibero. Its surface is very irregular: the north-east part towards Old Castile begins with the Sierra de Moncayo, but from the foot of these mountains to the Ebro the country is a continued level and fertile plain hi the centre. To the south the ground rises gradually till it attains considerable elevation in the mountains near Cuença, in which are the sources of the most considerable rivers of Spain, some of which direct their courses to the Mediterranean, while others force their way to the A tian tic.

The agricultural productions of the province necessarily vary with the variations in the elevation and aspect of the land. The greater part is appropriated to feeding flocks of Merino sheep. The number of those belonging to the inhabitants of Aragon amounted to 2,050,000, and their wool forms the most important of the productions of the province. Wheat is grown more than sufficient for its own consumption, and it contributes to feed the neighbouring province of Navarre. Its wine and oil are generally more than itsown demands require, and they are both of the best quality which Spain produces; but having none but difficult communication with any other country where these valuable articles are wanted, the cultivation of them languishes. Near the banks of the Ebro flax and hemp are grown in more than sufficient quantities for the domestic manufactures; and a supply of the latter is furnished to some of the maritime towns of Biscay, where it is preferred for cables to any other. The whole annual quantity of its growth is 1000 tons. The supply of horses and cows is not equal to the demands of the inhabitants, and the deficiency is made up from the breed of the adjoining provinces. The mountainous parts abound with excellent ship-timber, but the badness of the roads prevents this branch of commerce irom being carried to any great extent.

The manufactures of the province are inconsiderable; that of silk, which was formerly extensive, has been gradually on the decline for some years. Manufactories for coarse cloths occupy the inhabitants of the town, or, as they call it, the city, of Albarracin, and the large village of Tarazona; and some cloths of fine wool are made <lt Jaca, and some baize in its vicinity. Some linen and sail-cloth are also made, but the quantity of each is small. There are iron manufactories on the mountains, where the abundance ol trees calculated for making charcoal have introduced forges; but the badness of the roads checks their extension.

Aragon is not deficient in mineral riches, though the labour applied to them, as to most other objects in Spain, ' is in a very languid state. Near the Pyrenees, besides mines of iron, there are three mines of lead and one of copper, and, what is unique in Spain, a mine of cobalt. Besides these there is a mine of alum near Alcaniz, which is very productive.

Though the soil is generally very dry, and the greater part of the province suffers from the want of water, yet the largest rivers of Spain, the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Xucar, have their sources within it, and by their early streams water the valleys, whilst, as before noticed, the Ebro runs through its centre. At two leagues N. N. E. of Albarracin is the extraordinary fountain called Celia, at an elevation of 3700 feet above the level of the sea. From this fountain the river Xiloca issues, and running through a beautiful country of 30 miles in extent, filled with inclosures, orchards, gardens, and vineyards, joins its waters, near Calatayud, to the more copious stream of the Xalon, which descends from Old Castile; and these united, lose their names by being emptied into the Ebro. Between the stream of the Xiloca and the mountains which separate Aragon from Molina, is a very extensive lake called Gallo-canta, which covers about 6000 acres of land; and at a little distance from the lake are the ruins of the ancient city Bilbilis, which has derived celebrity from being the native place of the Roman poet Martial. The Ebro receives the tributary streams of the Gallego and the Guervajustas it reaches the walls of Saragossa; and soon after the Martin joins it near the populous town of Caspe. In this vicinity are abundant coal-mines, which supply the inhabitants and the manufactories with that valuable fuel. In Aragon trans-ibero the river Cinca, issuing from the Pyrenees, passes the town of Ainsa, the former residence of the ancient kings of Aragon; and, increased by the streams of the Esera, the Vero, and the Alcanadre, in its passage to the Ebro, fertilizes the lands near the city of Huesea. In this place is a university and two colleges, the former of which is a building of great antiquity and considerable magnificence; and it is surrounded by the ruins of very ancient fortifications. After receiving, besides the streams noticed, several copious rivulets, whose short courses have scarcely received any names, the Ebro enters the province of Catalonia, and at length falls into the Mediterranean Sea near Tolosa.

The capital of Aragon is Saragossa, or, as the Spaniards spell it, Zaragosa, a city of more than 50,000 inhabitants; the description of which, with its memorable resistance to the French invaders, will be treated of under the article Saragossa. The other considerable cities and towns are Teruel, Daroca, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Alcaniz, Caspe, Barbastro, Monzon, Huesea, and Jaca. At the most southern part of the province a district called Cinco-villas is remarkably fruitful. The whole extent of 17,000 acres derives its fertility principally from an artificial canal, cut for the purpose of irrigation, called the royal canal of Tauste, by means of which the whole of the land may be flooded at pleasure.

The name of this kingdom was derived from the small but precipitous torrent Aragon, which rises in the Pyrenean Mountains, and, running from north to south, forms part of the waters of the Ebro.

A great portion of the Pyrenees is in the province of Aragon. They run from east to west, presenting towards Spain the convex part of a kind of spherical segment, losing their height gradually towards each extremity. The highest point of this range of mountains, called by the French Mont Perdu, and by the Spaniards Las Tres Sorores, is visible from the city of Saragossa. According to the actual measurement of the naturalist Ramond, who [7:3:374]reached its summit in 1802, it is 11,430 feet above the level of the sea. Its top is constantly covered with snow, the permanent limits of which, on the same authority, are stated at 7750 feet of elevation. Before the measurement of Ramond, the point called Canigu was supposed to be the highest peak of this range, but it was thereby ascertained to be but 10,050 feet high.

The regular passages from Spain into France are none of them through any of the ridges within the province of Aragon. One of them is in Biscay, one in Navarre, and one in Catalonia; but on an accurate survey by the French engineers, it appeared there were upwards of eighty practicable passages, of which twenty-eight would allow of cavalry, and seven of artillery and wheel-carriages. None of these had been ever examined by the Spanish government, though it was more than suspected that a very considerable contraband traffic had been conducted through these passes, in spite of the vigilance of the officers of revenue in both kingdoms.

The history of Aragon before its union with Castile by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, when it was merged in the kingdom of Spain, will be found in the general history of that country. Viage de Ponz; Geografia de Don Isidoro de Antillon; Historia de la Economia Politica de Aragon, por Don Ignacio de Asso. (g.)