8451 sq. m. Badajoz is thus the largest province of the
whole kingdom. Although in many districts there are low ranges of hills,
the surface is more often a desolate and monotonous plain, flat or slightly
undulating. Its one large river is the Guadiana, which traverses the north
of the province from east to west, fed by many tributaries; but it is only
at certain seasons that the river-beds fill with any considerable volume of
water, and the Guadiana may frequently be forded without difficulty. The
climate shows great extremes of heat in summer and of cold in winter, when
fierce north and north-west winds blow across the plains. In the hot months
intermittent fevers are prevalent in the Guadiana valley. The rainfall is
scanty in average years, and only an insignificant proportion of the land
is irrigated, while the rest is devoted to pasture, or covered with thin
bush and forest. Agriculture, and the cultivation of fruit, including the
vine and olive, are thus in a very backward condition; but Badajoz
possesses more livestock than any other Spanish province. Its acorn-fed
swine are celebrated throughout Spain for their hams and bacon, and large
herds of sheep and goats thrive where the pasture is too meagre for cattle.
The exploitation of the mineral resources of Badajoz is greatly hindered by
lack of water and means of communication; in 1903, out of nearly 600 mines
registered only 26 were at work. Their output consisted of lead, with very
small quantities of copper. The local industries are not of much
importance: they comprise manufactures of woollen and cotton stuffs of a
coarse description, soaps, oils, cork and leather. The purely commercial
interests are more important than the industrial, because of the transit
trade to and from Portugal through no less than seven custom-houses. Many
parts of the province are inaccessible except by road, and the roads are
ill-made, ill-kept and wholly insufficient. The main line of the
Madrid-Lisbon railway passes through Villanueva de la Serena, Merida and
Badajoz; at Merida it is joined by the railways going north to Caceres and
south to Zafra, where the lines from Huelva and Seville unite. After
Badajoz, the capital (pop. (1900) 30,899), the principal towns are
Almendralejo (12,587), Azuaga (14,192), Don Benito (16,565), Jerez de los
Caballeros (10,271), Merida (11,168) and Villanueva de la Serena (13,489);
these, and also the historically interesting village of Albuera, are
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