MADRID, a province of Spain, one of the five into which New Castile is divided, lies between N. Lat. 39. 53. and 41. 7., W. Long. 3. 10. and 4. 35. It is divided into thirteen paños, containing 225 pueblos, with a population in 1849 of 405,737, in a space of about 1310 square miles. It is separated from the province of Guadalajara by the Somosierra, and from Segovia by the Carpetanos and the Sierra
Guadarrama, whose ramifications form the principal mountains of the province. It lies in the basin of the Tagus, which, rising in the province of Cuenca, arrives in that of Madrid after a course of 20 leagues, and leaves it after a tortuous course of about 18, having received the Jarama, and some less important streams. Other rivers in this province are the Lozoya, the Guadarrama, the Manzanares, the Tajuña, and the Henares. The soil is mostly clayey, and there are sandy tracts. Agriculture is in a backward and neglected condition. The productions consist of wheat, barley, rye, oats, algarrobas (a kind of pulse), peas, French beans, and other legumes; wine, oil, flax, hemp, fruits, wax, honey, &c. Gardening is carried on to some extent near the capital, though the markets of Madrid receive their most liberal supply of fruits and vegetables from Valencia. Sheep, goats, and horned cattle are reared; and fish are found in the Jarama and other rivers. In the Sierra Guadarrama are quarries of granite, lime, and gypsum. There are mines of lead, iron, and copper in the same sierra, and several of silver, not at all productive. There are manufactures of coarse cloth, of baize and frieze, of counterpanes and other coarse stuffs; also of leather, paper, earthenware, porcelain at Moncloa, bricks and tiles, saltpetre, glass and crystal, guitar strings, chocolate. The extensive cotton manufactures of San Fernando, about 22 leagues from Madrid, have been for many years discontinued. Many women, especially in the partido of Getafe, are employed in the embroidery of tulle for mantillas. There is very little commerce beyond that for the supply of the capital with necessaries. Primary instruction not many years ago was deplorably neglected, but there has recently been some advance in this respect. The university of Alcalá has long been transferred to Madrid, so that the whole higher instruction of the province is centred in the capital.
On account of the elevated situation of this province, and its being surrounded with snow-covered summits, the air is at all seasons keen and penetrating, and even in the suffocating heats of summer the breeze is cold; yet the climate is generally salubrious.