rtile soil,
for after rain a luxuriant vegetation appears; but drought is common,
owing to the insufficient volume of the rivers, and the failure of the
Spaniards to extend the fine system of irrigation which the Moors
originated. Certain districts, indeed, in which a layer of heavy loam
underlies the porous and friable surface, are able to retain the
moisture which elsewhere is absorbed. Such land is found in Palencia,
and in the Mesa de Ocana, where it yields abundant crops; and many of
the northern mountains are well wooded. But vast tracts of land are
useless except as pasture for sheep, and even the sheep are driven by
the severe winters to migrate yearly into Estremadura (q.v.). The normal
Castilian landscape is an arid and sterile steppe, with scarcely a tree
or spring of water; and many even of the villages afford no relief to
the eye, for they are built of sunburnt unbaked bricks, which share the
dusty brownish-grey tint of the soil. Especially characteristic is the
great plain of La Mancha (q.v.).

The transformation of Castile from a small county in the north of what
is now Old Castile into an independent monarchy, was one of the decisive
events in the reconquest of Spain from the Moors. The successful
resistance offered by Asturias to the invaders had been followed by the
liberation of Galicia and Leon, when Ferdinand I. of Castile
(1035-1065), by his marriage with Sancha, widow of the last king of
Leon, was enabled to unite Leon and Castile in a single kingdom, with
its capital at Burgos. New territories were annexed on the south, until,
after the capture of Toledo in 1085, and the consequent formation of a
New Castile, the kingdom comprised the whole of central Spain.
Thenceforward its history is inseparable from that of the whole country;
and it is therefore described in full, together with the language and
literature of Castile, under SPAIN (q.v.).

Castilian, which is the literary language of Spain, and with certain
differences, of Spanish America, is spoken in Old and New Castile,
Aragon, Estremadura, and the greater part of Leon; in Andalusia it is
subject to various modifications of accent and pronunciation. As there
is little, if any, difference of racial origin, character and physical
type, among the inhabitants of this region, except in Andalusia, and, to
a less extent, in Estremadura, the Castilian is justly regarded as the
typical Spaniard. Among the Castilian peasantry, where education and
fo