supported them against rebels. The end came when the weakness of Mahommedan rulers in Morocco coincided with the rule of strong sovereigns in Castile. Frontier wars between Mahommedan and Christian borderers were incessant, and at long intervals the kings of Castile made invasions on a considerable scale, without, however, following up any successes they might gain. The comparative prosperity of Granada was due to the concentration of a large population driven from other parts of Spain, and the consequent necessity for the intensive cultivation of the rich valleys lying among the ranges of mountains which encircle the kingdom, and the extensive “Vega” or plain of Granada. The reputation for civilization which the agitated Mahommedan state enjoys in history is based on the surviving parts of the highly decorated fortress palace of the Alhambra, which was mainly the work of three of the sultans, the founder, Mahommed el Ghalib, and his two successors.
See S. Lane-Poole, The Mahommedan Dynasties (London, 1894); and Historia de Granada. by Don M. Lafuente Alcantara (Granada, 1884).
NASSARAWA, a province of the British protectorate of northern Nigeria, lying approximately between 6° 40′ and 9° E. and between 7° 40′ and 9° 40' N. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Benue, which in its windings forms the southern frontier of the province. Nassarawa is bounded E. by the province of Muri, N.E. by Bauchi, N. by Zaria and W. by Nupe and the trans-Nigerian portion of the province of Kabba. It has an area of 18,000 sq. m. and an estimated population of 1,500,000. The province, like that of Bauchi, is traversed by mountainous regions. It possesses valuable forests and many fertile river valleys. Native products include rubber, palm kernels and beni seed. Cotton is grown extensively.
Until the middle of the 18th century Nassarawa appears to have been peopled by many native tribes of a primitive type. About 1750 an important pagan tribe, the Igbira, came from the south-west across the Niger and established two rival kingdoms in the western portion of the province. Later the native inhabitants of Zaria, driven before the Fula, came from the north and occupied the central portion of Nassarawa. Later still (about 1840) certain Fula of Zaria themselves conquered portions of the province, founded Keffi, spread as far as the Benue in the south-west corner and occupied the town and district of Abuja in the west. Fula also made a settlement at the town of Nassarawa and at Darroro in the N.E. A colony from Bornu entered the province and founded the important town of Lafia Berebere in the eastern district. As a result of these movements the aboriginal tribes were driven into the hilly regions of the S.E. and N.E. The Munshi, a truculent and hardy people, hold a portion of the northern bank of the Benue, and the Kagoro and Attakar tribes hold the hilly country to the N.E., through which the road passes from Kefli and Lafia to the Bauchi highlands. Before the British occupation the state of Nassarawa had become a partially subdued Fula emirate, exercising doubtful sway over the native pagans and paying a scarcely less doubtful allegiance on its own part to the Fula ruler of Zaria. The riverain tribes of Nassarawa were among the first to break into open aggression against the British administration established at Lokoja. In January 1900 they attacked a telegraph construction party in the Munshi country on the banks of the Benue. The result was the occupation of Keffi by British troops and the gradual subjugation of the province. In 1902 the first British resident, Captain Moloney, was murdered at Keffi by an official of the emir’s court. The emir repudiated all responsibility for the crime, and the murderer fled to Kano, where his reception on friendly terms was among the incidents which determined the Sokoto-Kano campaign of 1903. The British were now recognized as the rulers of Nigeria, and the emir of Nassarawa threw in his lot with the British government. Slave raiding was abolished and the slave trade made illegal. A British court of justice was established at the provincial headquarters and native courts in every district. Roads have been opened and trade is steadily increasing. In 1905 an expedition was required against the Kagoro people, who occupy a vast open plateau having an elevation of about 1800 ft. through which a short road to the Bauchi tin mines passes from the Benue. These people had been raiding the Fula for cattle and murdering traders upon the road. A splendid grazing country, healthy and also rich in rubber, was opened. The road to the tin mines was rendered safe and is now the Bauchi mail route. There is a cart road from Loko on the Benue to Keffi. (F. L. L.)
NASSAU, a territory of Germany, now forming the bulk of the government district of Wiesbaden, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, but until 1866 an independent and sovereign duchy of Germany. It consists of a compact mass of territory, 1830 sq. m. in area, bounded on the S. and W. by the Main and Rhine,
on the N. by Westphalia and on the E. by Hesse. This territory is divided into two nearly equal parts by the river Lahn, which flows from east to west into the Rhine. The southern half is almost entirely occupied by the Taunus Mountains, which attain a height of 2900 ft. in the Great Feldberg, while to the north of the Lahn is the barren Westerwald, culminating in
the Salzburgerkopf (2000 ft.). The valleys and low-lying
districts, especially the Rheingau, are very fertile, producing
abundance of grain, flax, hemp and fruit; but by far the most
valuable product of the soil is its wine, which includes several of
the choicest Rhenish varieties, such as Johannisberger, Marcobrunner
and Assmannshauser. Nassau is one of the most thickly
wooded regions in Germany, about 42% of its surface being
occupied by forests, which yield good timber and harbour large
quantities of game. The rivers abound in fish, the salmon
fisheries on the Rhine being especially important. There are
upwards of a hundred mineral springs in the district, most of
which formerly belonged to the duke, and afforded him a considerable
part of his revenue. The best known are those of
Wiesbaden, Ems, Soden, Schwalbach, Schlangenbad, Geilnau
and Fachingen. The other mineral wealth of Nassau includes
iron, lead, copper, building stone, coals, slate, a little silver
and a bed of malachite. Its manufactures, including cotton
and woollen goods, are unimportant, but a brisk trade is carried
on by rail and river in wine, timber, grain and fruit. There are
few places of importance besides the above-named spas; Höchst
is the only manufacturing town. Wiesbaden, with 100,955
inhabitants, is the capital of the government district as it
was of the duchy. In 1864 the duchy contained 468,311 inhabitants,
of whom 242,000 were Protestants, 215,000 Roman
Catholics and 7000 Jews. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction was
in the hands of the Protestant bishop of Wiesbaden and the
Roman Catholic bishop of Limburg. Education was amply
provided for in numerous higher and lower schools. The annual
revenue of the dukedom was about £400,000 and it furnished a
contingent of 6000 men to the army of the German Confederation.
History.—During the Roman period the district enclosed by the Rhine, the Main and the Lahn was occupied by the Mattiaci and later by the Alamanni. The latter were subdued by the Franks under Clovis at the end of the 5th century, and at the partition of Verdun in 843 the country became part of the East Frankish or German kingdom. Christianity seems to have been introduced in the 4th century. The founder of the house of Nassau is usually regarded as a certain Drutwin (d. 1076), who, with his brother Dudo, count of Laurenburg, built a castle on a hill overlooking the Lahn, near the present town of Nassau. Drutwin’s descendant Walram (d. 1198) took the title of count of Nassau, and placed his lands under the immediate suzerainty of the German king; previously he had been a vassal of the archbishop of Trier. Then in 1255 Walram’s grandsons, Walram and Otto, divided between them their paternal inheritance, which had been steadily increasing in size. Walram took the part of Nassau lying on the left bank of the Lahn and made Wiesbaden his residence; Otto took the part on the right bank of the river and his capital was Siegen. The brothers thus founded the two branches of the house of Nassau, which have flourished to the present time.
The fortunes of the Ottonian, or younger line, belong mainly to the history of the Netherlands. The family was soon divided into several branches, and in the 15th century one of its members.
