JEREZ DE LOS CABALLEROS  , a

town of south-western Spain, in the province of Badajoz, picturesquely situated on two heights overlooking the river Ardila, a tributary of the Guadiana, 12 M . E. of the Portuguese frontier . Pop . (1900), 10,271 . The old town is surrounded by a Moorish wall with six gates; the newer portion is well and regularly built, and planted with numerous orange and other fruit trees . Owing to the lack of railway communication Jerez is of little commercial importance; its staple trade is in agricultural produce, especially in ham and bacon from the large herds of swine which are reared in the surrounding oak forests . The town is said to have been founded by Alphonso IX. of Leon in 1229; in 1232 it was ex-tended by his son St Ferdinand, who gave it to the knights templar .