BAZA  , a

town of southern Spain, in the province of Granada; in the Hoya de Baza, a fruitful valley of the Sierra Nevada, not far from the small river Gallego, and at the terminus of a railway from Lorca . Pop . (1900) 12,770 . The dome-shaped mountain of Javaleon (4715 ft.) overlooks the town from the north-west . The ancient collegiate church of San Maximo occupies the traditional site of a cathedral founded by the Visigothic king Reccared about 6co, and afterwards converted into a mosque . There is a brisk local trade in farm produce, and in the linen, hempen goods and pottery manufactured in Baza . The town nearly doubled its population in the last quarter of the 19th century . Sulphurous springs exist in the vicinity . Baza is the Roman Basti, the medieval Basta or Bastian; and numerous relics of antiquity, both Roman and medieval, have been found in the neighbourhood . Its bishopric was founded in 306 . Under Moorish rule (c . 713–1489) it was one of the three most important cities in the kingdom of Granada, with an extensive trade, and a population estimated at 50,000 .

In 1489, after a stubborn

defence lasting seven months, it was captured by the Spaniards under Isabella of Castile, whose cannon still adorn the Alameda or public promenade . On the loth of August 1810 the French under Marshal Soult defeated a large Spanish force close to the town .