   #copyright

Spain

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Countries; European
Countries

                                Reino de España
   Kingdom of Spain

   Flag of Spain Coat of arms of Spain
   Flag          Coat of arms
   Motto: Plus Ultra
   (Latin: "Further Beyond")
   Anthem: Marcha Real ^1
   (Spanish: "Royal March")
   Location of Spain
   Capital
   (and largest city)         Madrid
                              40°26′N 3°42′W
       Official languages     Spanish. In some autonomous communities, Aranese,
                              Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official.
   Government                 Constitutional monarchy
    - King                    Juan Carlos I
    - Prime Minister          José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
           Formation          15th century
    - Dynastic union          1516
    - Unification
    -    De facto             1716
    -    De jure              1812
        Accession to EU       January 1, 1986
                                      Area
    - Total                   505,992 km² ( 51st)
                              195,364 sq mi
    - Water (%)               1.04
                                   Population
    - 1 January 2006 estimate 44,395,286 ( 29th)
    - 2005 census             44,108,530
    - Density                 87,8/km² ( 106th)
                              220/sq mi
           GDP ( PPP)         2005 estimate
    - Total                   $1.029 trillion ( 9th)
    - Per capita              $26,320 ( 25th)
          HDI  (2004)         0.938 (high) ( 19th)
            Currency          Euro ( €)^2 ( EUR)
           Time zone          CET^3 ( UTC+1)
    - Summer ( DST)           CEST ( UTC+2)
          Internet TLD        .es^4
          Calling code        +34
   ^1 Also serves as the Royal anthem.

   ^2 Prior to 1999: Spanish Peseta.
   ^3 Except in the Canary Islands, which are in the GMT time zone ( UTC,
   UTC+1 in summer).
   ^4 The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European
   Union member states.

   Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España, short
   form: Image:loudspeaker.png España), is a country located in Southern
   Europe, with two small exclaves in North Africa (both bordering
   Morocco). Spain is a democracy which is organized as a parliamentary
   monarchy. It is a developed country with the ninth-largest economy in
   the world. It is the largest of the three sovereign nations that make
   up the Iberian Peninsula—the others are Portugal and the microstate of
   Andorra.

   To the west and to the south of Galicia, Spain borders Portugal. To the
   south, it borders Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and, through
   its cities in North Africa ( Ceuta and Melilla), Morocco. To the
   northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the
   tiny principality of Andorra. It also includes the Balearic Islands in
   the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a
   number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait
   of Gibraltar, known as Plazas de soberanía, such as the Chafarine
   islands, the isle of Alborán, the "rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and
   Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil. In the northeast along the
   Pyrenees, a small exclave town called Llívia in Catalonia is surrounded
   by French territory.

   The term Spain (España in Spanish) is derived from the Roman name for
   the region: Hispania.

History

Prehistory and Pre-Roman peoples in the Iberian Peninsula

   The earliest records of hominids living in Europe to date has been
   found in the Spanish cave of Atapuerca which has become a key site for
   world Paleontology due to the importance of the fossils found there,
   dated roughly 1,000,000 years ago.

   Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian
   Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The more
   conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous
   paintings in the northern Spanish Altamira (cave), which were done ca.
   15,000 BCE and are regarded, along with those in Lascaux, France, as
   paramount instances of cave art.

   The earliest urban culture documented is that of the semi-mythical
   southern city of Tartessos, pre- 1100 BCE. The seafaring Phoenicians,
   Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean
   coast and founded trading colonies there over a period of several
   centuries. Around 1100 BCE, Phoenician merchants founded the trading
   colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day Cádiz) near Tartessos. In the 9th
   century BCE the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern
   Empúries), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the East,
   leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible
   for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber ( Ebro in
   Spanish). In the 6th century BCE the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia
   while struggling first with the Greeks and shortly after with the
   Romans for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important
   colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena).

   The native peoples which the Romans met at the time of their invasion
   in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting from the
   Southwest part of the Peninsula through the Northeast part of it, and
   then the Celts, mostly inhabiting the north and northwest part of the
   Peninsula. In the inner part of the peninsula, where both groups were
   in contact, a mixed, distinctive, culture was present, the one known as
   Celtiberian.

Roman Empire and Germanic Invasions

   Roman bridge in Cordoba
   Enlarge
   Roman bridge in Cordoba

   The Romans arrived in the Iberian peninsula during the Second Punic war
   in the 2nd century BCE, and annexed it under Augustus after two
   centuries of war with the tenacious Celtic and Iberian tribes (from
   whom they copied the short sword known as falcata). These, along with
   the Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian coastal colonies, became the
   province of Hispania. It was divided into Hispania Ulterior and
   Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and, during the Roman
   Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the
   south and Lusitania (province with capital in the city of Emerita
   Augusta) in the southwest.

   Hispania supplied Rome with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The
   emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Theodosius I, the
   philosopher Seneca and the poets Martial, Quintilian and Lucan were
   born in Spain. The Spanish Bishops held the Council at Elvira in 306.
   The collapse of the Western Roman empire did not lead to the same
   wholesale destruction of Western classical society as happened in areas
   like Britain, Gaul and Germania Inferior during the Dark Ages, even if
   the institutions, infrastructure and economy did suffer considerable
   degradation. Spain's present languages, its religion, and the basis of
   its laws originate from this period. The centuries of uninterrupted
   Roman rule and settlement left a deep and enduring imprint upon the
   culture of Spain.

   The first hordes of Barbarians to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th
   century, as the Roman empire decayed. The tribes of Goths, Visigoths,
   Swebians ( Suebi), Alans, Asdings and Vandals, arrived to Spain by
   crossing the Pyrenees mountain range. They were all of Germanic origin.
   This led to the establishment of the Swebian Kingdom in Gallaecia, in
   the northwest, and the Visigothic Kingdom elsewhere. (For a while, the
   Germans lived under their law while the much more numerous Spaniards
   continued more or less to live under Roman law.) The Visigothic Kingdom
   eventually encompassed the entire Iberian Peninsula with the Roman
   Catholic conversion of the Goth monarchs. The famous horseshoe arch,
   which was adapted and perfected by the later Muslim era builders was in
   fact originally an example of Visigothic art.

Muslim Iberia

   In the 8th century, nearly all the Iberian peninsula, which had been
   under Visigothic rule, was quickly conquered (711–718), by mainly
   Berber Muslims (see Moors), who had crossed over from North Africa, led
   by Tariq ibn Ziyad. Visigothic Spain was the last of a series of lands
   conquered in a great westward charge by the Islamically inspired armies
   of the Umayyad empire. Indeed they continued northwards until they were
   defeated in central France at the Battle of Tours in 732. Astonishingly
   the invasion started off as an invitation from a Visigoth faction
   within Spain for support. But instead the Moorish army, having defeated
   King Roderic proceeded to conquer the peninsula for itself. The Roman
   Catholic populace, unimpressed with the constant internal feuding of
   the Visigothic leaders, often stood apart from the fighting, often
   welcoming the new rulers, thereby forging the basis of the distinctly
   Spanish-Muslim culture of Al-Andalus. Only three small counties in the
   mountains of the north of Spain managed to cling to their independence:
   Asturias, Navarra and Aragon, which eventually became kingdoms.

   The Muslim emirate proved strong in its first three centuries; stopping
   Charlemagne's massive forces at Saragossa and, after a serious Viking
   attack, established effective defences. Indeed it became a terror in
   its own right to Christian neighbours, with its "al-jihad fil-bahr"
   (holy war at sea). Christian Spain struck back from its mountain
   redoubts by seizing the lands north of the Duero river, and the Franks
   were able to seize Barcelona (801) and the Spanish Marches), but save
   for these and some other small incursions in the north, the Christians
   were unable to make headway against the superior forces of Al-Andalus
   for several centuries. It was only in the 11th century that the break
   up of Al-Andalus led to the creation of the Taifa kingdoms, who
   attempted to outshine each other in art and culture and were often at
   war, became vulnerable to the consolidating power of Spain's Christian
   kingdoms.

   The Moorish capital was Córdoba, in southern Spain. During this time
   large populations of Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in close
   quarters, and at its peak some non-Muslims were appointed to high
   offices under the some of the more lenient Muslim rulers. At its best
   it produced exquisite architecture and art, and Muslim and Jewish
   scholars played a major part in reviving the tradition of classical
   Greek philosophy, mathematics and science in Western Europe, whilst
   making their own contributions to it. However, there were restrictions
   on non-Muslims that grew after the death of Al-Hakam II in 976. Later
   invasions of stricter Muslim groups led to persecutions of non-Muslims,
   forcing some (including Muslim scholars) to seek safety in the then
   still relatively tolerant city of Toledo after its Christian reconquest
   in 1085.
   Interior of the Mezquita in Córdoba, a Muslim mosque.
   Enlarge
   Interior of the Mezquita in Córdoba, a Muslim mosque.

   Spanish society under Muslim rule became increasingly complex, partly
   because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of
   the much larger conquered population to Islam. At the same time,
   Christians and Jews were recognized under Islam as "peoples of the
   book", and so given dhimmi status. Most importantly, the Islamic Berber
   and Arab invaders were a small minority, ruling over several million
   Christians. Thus, Christians and Jews were free to practise their
   religion, but faced certain restrictions and financial burdens.
   Conversion to Islam proceeded at a steadily increasing pace, as it
   offered social and economic and political advantages. Merchants,
   nobles, large landowners, and other local elites were usually among the
   first to convert. By the 11th century Muslims are believed to have
   outnumbered Christians in Al-Andalus.

   The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social
   tensions. From the beginning, the Berber people of North Africa had
   provided the bulk of the armies, clashed with the Arab leadership from
   the Middle East. The Berbers, who were comparatively recent converts to
   Islam, resented the aristocratic pretensions of the Arab elite. They
   soon gave up attempting to settle the harsh lands of the north of the
   Meseta Central handed to them by the Arab rulers, and many returned to
   Africa during a Berber uprising against Arab rule. However, the Berbers
   later took over power and Muslim Spain fell under the rule of the
   Almoravid and then the Almohad dynasties, amongst others. Over time the
   relatively tiny number of Moors gradually increased with immigration
   and cross marriages. Large Moorish populations grew, most notably in
   the south in the Guadalquivir river valley, and in the east, along the
   fertile Mediterranean coastal plain and in the Ebro river valley.

   Muslim Spain was wealthy and sophisticated at the height of the Islamic
   rule. Cordoba was the richest and most sophisticated city in all of
   Western Europe. It was not until the 12th century that western medieval
   Christendom began to reach comparable levels of sophistication, and
   this was due in part to the stimulus coming from Muslim Spain.
   Mediterranean trade and cultural exchange flourished. Muslims imported
   a rich intellectual tradition from the Middle East and North Africa,
   including knowledge of mathematics and science that they helped revive.
   Crops and farming techniques introduced by the Arabs, led to a
   remarkable expansion of agriculture, which had been in decline since
   Roman times. In towns and cities magnificent mosques, palaces, and
   other monuments were constructed. Outside the cities, the mixture of
   large estates and small farms that existed in Roman times remained
   largely intact because Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners.
   The Muslim conquerors were relatively few in number and so they tried
   to maintain good relations with their subjects.

   The relative social peace and splendour, which was already
   deteriorating ever since the late 10th century, broke down with the
   later, stricter, Muslim ruling sects of Almoravids and Almohads.

   Roman, Jewish, and Muslim culture interacted in complex ways. A large
   part of the population gradually adopted Arabic. Arabic was the
   official language of government. Even Jews and Christians often spoke
   Arabic, while Hebrew and Latin were frequently written in Arabic
   script. These diverse traditions interchanged in ways that gave Spanish
   culture — religion, literature, music, art and architecture, and
   writing systems - a rich and distinctive heritage. However, as the 11th
   century drew to a close most of the north and centre of Spain was back
   under Christian control.

Fall of Muslim rule and Unification

   Equal partners: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile
   Enlarge
   Equal partners: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile

   The long period of expansion of the Christian kingdoms, beginning in
   722 with the Muslim defeat in the Battle of Covadonga and the creation
   of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias, only eleven years after the
   Moorish invasion, is called the Reconquista. As early as 739 Muslim
   forces were driven out of Galicia, which came to host one of
   Christianity's holiest sites, Santiago de Compostela. Areas in the
   northern mountains and around Barcelona were soon captured by Frankish
   and local forces, providing a base for Spain's Christians. The 1085
   conquest of the central city of Toledo largely completed the reconquest
   of the northern half of Spain.

   In 1086 the Almoravids, an ascetic Islamic sect from North Africa,
   conquered the divided small Moorish states in the south and launched an
   invasion in which they captured the east coast as far north as
   Saragossa. By the middle of the 12th century the Almoravid empire had
   disintegrated. The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 heralded the
   collapse of the great Moorish strongholds in the south, most notably
   Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248. Within a few years of this nearly
   the whole of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered, leaving only
   the Muslim enclave of Granada as a small tributary state in the south.
   Surrounded by Christian Castile but afraid of another invasion from
   Muslim northern Africa, it clung tenaciously to its isolated mountain
   splendour for two and half centuries. It came to an end in 1492 when
   Isabella and Ferdinand captured the southern city of Granada, the last
   Moorish city in Spain. The Treaty of Granada guaranteed religious
   tolerance toward Muslims while Spain's Jewish population of over
   200,000 people was expelled that year. At Ferdinand's urging the
   Spanish Inquisition had been established in 1478. With a history of
   being invaded by three Islamic empires (Ummayad, Almoravid and
   Almohad), there was a fear that Muslims might assist yet another
   invasion. Also, Aragonese labourers were angered by landlords' use of
   Moorish workers to undercut them. A 1499 Muslim uprising, triggered by
   forced conversions, was crushed and was followed by the first of the
   expulsions of Muslims, in 1502. The year 1492 was also marked by the
   discovery of the New World. Isabella I funded the voyages of
   Christopher Columbus. Ferdinand and Isabella, as exemplars of the
   Renaissance New Monarchs, consolidated the modernization of their
   respective economies that had been pursued by their predecessors and
   enforced reforms that weakened the position of the great magnates
   against the new centralized crowns. In their contests with the French
   army in the Italian Wars, Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de
   Córdoba eventually achieved success, against the French knights,
   thereby revolutionizing warfare. The combined Spanish kingdoms of
   Castile and Aragon, long vibrant and expansive, emerged as a European
   great power.

   The reconquest from the Muslims is one of the most significant events
   in Spanish history since the fall of the Roman Empire. Arabic quickly
   lost its place in southern Spain's life, and was replaced by Castilian.
   The process of religious conversion which started with the arrival of
   the moors was reversed from the mid 13th century as the Reconquista was
   advancing south: as this happened the Muslim population either fled or
   forcefully converted into Catholicism, mosques and synagogues were
   converted into churches.

   With the union of Castile and Aragón in 1479 and the subsequent
   conquest of Granada in 1492 and Navarre in 1512, the word Spain
   (España, in Spanish) began being used only to refer to the new unified
   kingdom and not to the whole of Hispania (the term Hispania (from which
   España was originally derived) is Latin and the term Iberia Greek).

From the Renaissance to the nineteenth century

   Until the late fifteenth century, Castile and León, Aragón and Navarre
   were independent states, with independent languages, monarchs, armies
   and, in the case of Aragon and Castile, two empires: the former with
   one in the Mediterranean and the latter with a new, rapidly growing one
   in the Americas. The process of political unification continued into
   the early 16th century. It was the unification of these separate
   Iberian empires that became the base of what is now referred to as the
   Spanish Empire.
   King Charles I of Spain, akaHoly Roman Emperor Charles V
   Enlarge
   King Charles I of Spain, aka
   Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

   By 1512, most of the kingdoms of present-day Spain were politically
   unified by the crown, although not as a modern, centralized state. In
   contemporary minds, "Spain" was a geographic term that was more or less
   synonymous with Iberia, not the present-day state called Spain.

   During the 16th century, early Habsburg Spain (i.e. the reigns of
   Charles V, Philip II) became the most powerful state in Europe. The
   Spanish Empire covered most territories of South and Central America,
   Mexico, the south of North America, some of Eastern Asia (including the
   Philippines), the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire
   invaded by the Kingdom of Spain and the Duke of Alba in 1580), southern
   Italy, Sicily, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. It
   was the first empire about which it was said that the sun did not set.
   It was a time of daring explorations by sea and by land, the opening up
   of new trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginning of
   European colonization. Not only did this lead to the arrival of ever
   increasing quantities of precious metals, spices and luxuries, and new
   agricultural plants, that had a great influence on the development of
   Europe, but the explorers, soldiers, sailors, traders and missionaries
   also brought back with them a flood of knowledge that radically
   transformed the European understanding of the world, ending conceptions
   inherited from medieval times. An example of this Renaissance
   intellectual transformation is to be seen in the influential School of
   Salamanca.

   Of note during the 16th and 17th centuries was the cultural
   efflorescence now known as the Spanish Golden Age.
   Territories of the Vice-Royalty of New Spain. A part of the Spanish
   Empire.
   Enlarge
   Territories of the Vice-Royalty of New Spain. A part of the Spanish
   Empire.

   The middle and latter 17th century saw a grim decline and stagnation
   under the drifting leadership of the last Spanish Habsburgs. The
   lingering, "decline of Spain" after a long period of considerable
   growth was partly due to its successes in the 15th and 16th centuries
   that gave rise to the treasure fleets across the Atlantic and the
   Manila galleons across the Pacific, which, combined with the earlier
   political, social and military adaptations, made Spain the most
   powerful nation in Europe from the beginning of the 16th century until
   the middle of the 17th century.

   Inflation in the 16th century, partly caused in Spain's case by the
   opening of the American silver mines from the mid 16th century,
   engendered a inflation that undermined Spanish trades and commerce
   (never very large in the Iberian Peninsula, which wasn't highly
   populated, thus much of the manufactures and finance were diverted to
   peripheral parts of the Empire - when related to the Peninsula, that is
   to say - like Flanders or third countries like The Netherlands,
   northern Italy and other nearby countries like England or the German
   speaking States).

   The wars defending the Spanish empire against envious European rivals,
   internal successions and the European wars ( Eighty Years' War and
   Thirty Years' War) in fighting for the Habsburg's dynastic and
   religious interests ( Counter Reformation).

   The Thirty Years' War must be accounted as an on and off but almost
   continuous conflict which drained Spanish resources into war in Central
   Europe thus heavily burdening the Empire's economy. A steep economic
   and demographic decline in the Empire's overly burdened and plague
   ridden lynchpin (Castile), vast grants of land to the Church and the
   Habsburg's restoration of power to a self-serving nobility, also
   undermined the empire.

   Reasons for this war were both dynastic and religious. It should be
   stressed at this point, for a better understanding of the phenomenon,
   that the moral commitment of the Spanish Empire to the Catholic Church
   by that time was total and the Spanish Kings often waged war more in
   terms of genuine faith against the rising Protestantism rather than
   based in any national interest.
   Segovia Alcazar, a fusion of palace and military fortress
   Enlarge
   Segovia Alcazar, a fusion of palace and military fortress

   A fog of officially sanctioned orthodoxy gradually smothered a once
   vibrant and diverse intellectual life. The resentment of ordinary
   peasants and labourers found expression in implicating the nobility of
   Moorish ancestry and the churchmen of hypocrisy. The growing beggary
   forced many to live by their wits, increasing the popularity of
   picaresque literature. This 17th century stagnation was mirrored
   throughout Europe, as the growing global oceanic trade that had been
   pioneered by the Iberian countries, was increasingly diverted to
   North-Western Europe.

   Controversy over succession to the throne consumed what had become an
   essentially leaderless country with a vast empire, and much of Europe,
   during the first years of the 18th century.

   It was only after this war ended and a new dynasty—the French
   Bourbons—was installed that a true Spanish state was established when
   the absolutist first Bourbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 dissolved
   the pro-parliamentary Aragon court and unified the kingdoms of Castile
   and Aragon into a single, unified Kingdom of Spain, abolishing many of
   the regional privileges and autonomies ( fueros) that had hampered
   Habsburg rule. The British abandoned the conflict after Utrecht (1713),
   which led to Barcelona's easy defeat by the " absolutists" in 1714. The
   National Day of Catalonia still commemorates this defeat.

   Following the wars at its commencement the 18th century saw a long,
   slow recovery, with an expansion of the iron and steel industries in
   the Basque Country, a growth in ship building, some increase in trade
   and a recovery in food production and a gradual recovery of population
   in Castile. The new Bourbon monarchy drew on the French system in
   trying to modernize the administration and economy, in which it was
   more successful in the former than the latter. In the last two decades
   of the century, with the ending of Cadiz's royally granted monopoly,
   trade experienced rapid growth and even witnessed the initial steps of
   an industrialization of the textile industry in Catalonia. Spain's
   effective military assistance to the rebellious British colonies in the
   American War of Independence won it renewed international standing.

The early nineteenth century

   The reformatory efforts of Charles III and his ministers led to a
   profound gap between partisans of the Enlightenment ( Afrancesados) and
   the partisans of the Old Spain. The subsequent war with France in 1793
   ( French Revolutionary Wars) polarized the country in an apparent
   reaction against the Gallicised elites. The disastrous Spanish economic
   situation and the controversial relations with the juggernaut that was
   Napoleonic France led to the Mutiny of Aranjuez on March 17th 1808 and
   forced the abdication of the king in favour of Joseph Bonaparte. The
   abdication was masterminded by Napoleon, who distrusted the uncertain
   ally that was Spain under the House of Bourbon. The new foreign monarch
   was regarded with scorn. In May 2, 1808, the people of Madrid rose in
   arms in a nationalist uprising against the French army. A massively
   destructive and savagely cruel war known to the Spanish as the War of
   Independence and to the English as the Peninsular War followed.
   Napoleon was forced to personally intervene, bringing the Spanish army
   to its knees and driving the Anglo-Portuguese forces out, but
   triggering a massive guerrilla war as a result. The guerrillas and
   Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army were effective, their actions,
   combined with Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, led to the
   ousting of the French from Spain in 1814, and the return of king
   Ferdinand VII.

Consequences of the Napoleonic rule in Spain

   The French invasion had numerous consequences for Spain. The war proved
   disastrous for Spain's economy, reversing the improvements of the late
   18th century. It also brought a political and territorial legacy, but
   would also leave a deeply divided country prone to great political
   instability for over a century. In 1812, the Liberal Courts of Cádiz
   redacted a Constitution, bringing to the country a new form of
   government, and one by which future monarchs would have to rule, more
   or less willingly. The power vacuum between 1808 and 1814 had enabled
   local juntas in the Spanish colonies in America to rule independently.
   Starting as early as 1809, the continent started freeing itself from
   Spanish rule; by 1825 with the exceptions of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
   Philippines, and a number of tiny Pacific Islands, Spain had lost all
   its colonies in Latin America.

Spanish-American War

   At the end of the 19th century, Spain lost all of its remaining old
   colonies in the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific regions, including Cuba,
   Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam to the United States after
   unwittingly and unwillingly being thrust into the Spanish-American War
   of 1898. In 1899 Spain sold its remaining Pacific possessions to
   Germany.

   "The Disaster" of 1898, as the Spanish-American War was called, gave
   increased impetus to Spain's cultural revival ( Generation of '98) in
   which there was much critical self examination, and relieved it from
   the burden of its last major colonies. However, political stability in
   such a dispersed and variegated land, caught between pockets of
   modernity and large areas of extreme rural backwardness and strongly
   differentiated regional identities and deep divisions over legitimacy
   originating from the Napoleonic period, would elude the country for
   some decades yet, and was ultimately imposed only by a brutal
   dictatorship in 1939.

The 20th century

   The bombing of Gernika during the Spanish Civil War, 1937
   Enlarge
   The bombing of Gernika during the Spanish Civil War, 1937

   The 20th century initially brought little peace; Spain played a minor
   part in the scramble for Africa, with the colonization of Western
   Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. However the area
   assigned to Spain was mostly abrupt terrain populated by warlike
   tribesmen with an age-old history of fighting outsiders. A poorly
   planned and led advance into the interior due to political pressure led
   to military disaster in Morocco in 1921. This contributed to
   discrediting the monarch and worsened political instability. A period
   of dictatorial rule under General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1931)
   ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The
   Republic offered political autonomy to the Basque Country, Catalonia
   and Galicia (where the autonomy did not have any effect due to the
   civil war) and gave voting rights to women.

   In the elections in February 1936, the left-wing coalition Popular
   Front won a narrow victory over the right-wing National Front
   coalition, but tension continued to mount with the destruction of
   Church property and an increasing number of politically-motivated
   murders, including that of prominent right-wing leader José Calvo
   Sotelo. In July, a number of generals attempted a military takeover
   that they had been planning for months. The coup failed to topple the
   government and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) ensued. After nearly
   three years of bitter struggle, Nationalist forces led by General
   Francisco Franco emerged victorious with the support of Germany and
   Italy. The Republican side was supported by the Soviet Union and
   Mexico, but was crucially left isolated through the British-led policy
   of Non-Intervention. The Spanish Civil War has been called the first
   battle of the Second World War. Spanish involvement in the Second World
   War was in fact a continuation of its civil war, as the ideological
   conflicts involved had much in common (but also some important
   differences), despite Franco's official policy of neutrality and
   non-belligerency during the years of Axis success. In 1940, Francisco
   Franco and his brother-in-law, the foreign minister, Ramón Serrano
   Súñer, met Adolf Hitler in Hendaye (then in German-occupied France) to
   discuss Spanish participation in World War II as part of the Axis. This
   short trip across the border was the only time Franco left Spain during
   his long dictatorship. No agreement was reached and Spain remained
   neutral though sympathetic.

   Over a hundred thousand highly motivated Spanish Civil War veterans
   were to give both sides the benefit of their experience throughout the
   Second World War in Europe, the Eastern Front and North Africa. A
   number of the most effective forces in the French Resistance were
   Spanish as was the 9th Armoured Company that spearheaded Général
   Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division's liberation of Paris. On the other
   side, about 40,000 Spaniards fought against the Soviet Union in the
   Wehrmacht's División Azul ( Blue Division).

   The only legal party under Franco's regime was the Falange española
   tradicionalista y de las JONS formed in 1937 by the forcible fusion of
   the pseudo-fascist Falange and the monarchist Carlist movement. The
   party emphasized anti-Communism, Catholicism, nationalism, and imperial
   expansion and was one of the regime's major instruments of internal
   control.

   After World War II, being one of few surviving authoritarian regimes in
   Western Europe, Spain was politically and economically isolated and was
   kept out of the United Nations until 1955, when it became strategically
   important for US president Eisenhower to establish a military presence
   in the Iberian peninsula. Eisenhower, signed a treaty with Franco in
   1953 to build the military air base in Torrejón de Ardoz (this base had
   nuclear weapons) some 20km east of Madrid, the naval base of Rota,
   Cádiz (also with nuclear weapons in submarines), and the air bases of
   Morón de la Frontera, Seville, and Zaragoza. Franco’s opposition to
   Communism aided this opening to Spain. In the 1960s, Spain began to
   enjoy economic growth ( Spanish miracle) which gradually transformed it
   into a modern industrial economy with a thriving tourism sector. Growth
   continued well into the 1970s, with Franco's government going to great
   lengths to shield the Spanish people from the effects of the oil
   crisis.

   Upon the death of General Franco in November 1975, his personally
   designated heir Prince Juan Carlos assumed the position of king and
   head of state. With the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978
   and the arrival of democracy, some regions — Basque Country, Navarra—
   were given complete financial autonomy, and many — Basque Country,
   Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia— were given some political autonomy,
   which was then soon extended to all Spanish regions, resulting in what
   is regarded as the most decentralized territorial organization in
   Western Europe. In the Basque Country, moderate Basque nationalism
   coexists with radical nationalism supportive of the terrorist group
   ETA.

   On January 1, 1999 Spain adopted the Euro as its national currency.

   Ever since the current Constitution was passed in 1978, Spain has had 5
   Presidentes del Gobierno (Prime Ministers) as of September 2006: Adolfo
   Suárez González (1977-1981) who won the election for the Unión de
   Centro Democrático ( UCD, now extinct), Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Bustelo
   (1981-1982) also for the UCD (under his presidency there was an
   attempted coup d'état on 23 February 1981), Felipe González Márquez
   (1982-1996) who won four consecutive elections heading the Partido
   Socialista Obrero Español ticket ( PSOE), during his administrations
   Spain joined NATO and European Union) and then José María Aznar López
   (1996-2004) who won two consecutive elections for the Partido Popular
   (PP). Last in this list is current Presidente del Gobierno José Luis
   Rodríguez Zapatero ( 2004-Incumbent) again for the PSOE.

21st Century

   In November 2002, the oil tanker Prestige sank near to the Galician
   coast, causing a huge oil spill. It has since been regarded as one of
   the worst environmental disasters in Spanish history.

   On March 11 2004, a series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in
   Madrid, Spain. This act of terror killed 191 people and wounded 1,460
   more, besides having a dramatic effect on the upcoming national
   elections. The 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings had an adverse
   effect on the then-ruling conservative party Partido Popular (PP) which
   polls were giving as a likely winner of the elections, thus helping the
   election of Zapatero's Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). There
   were two nights of incidents around the PP headquarters, with PSOE
   accusing the PP of hiding the truth by saying that the incidents were
   caused by ETA. These incidents are still a cause of discussion, since
   some factions of the PP suggest that the elections were "stolen" by
   means of the turmoil which followed the terrorist bombing, which was,
   according to this point of view, backed or fuelled by the PSOE. These
   incidents did interfere with the last day of campaigning when,
   according to the Spanish electoral system regulations, any kind of
   political propaganda is prohibited and PP's candidate ( Mariano Rajoy)
   appeared in some newspapers as interior minister.

   March 14 2004 saw the PSOE party elected into government, with Zapatero
   becoming the new PM of Spain. Since the PSOE's election victory
   Zapatero's government has withdrawn Spanish troops from Iraq and
   legalized same-sex marriages. He also presided over the Spanish
   Parliament's approval of the new (and controversial) Statute of
   Autonomy of Catalonia. Spain has experienced increasing immigration
   since the start of the twenty-first century.

Politics

   Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a
   bicameral parliament, the Cortes Generales. The executive branch
   consists of a Council of Ministers presided over by the President of
   Government (comparable to a prime minister), proposed by the monarch
   and elected by the National Assembly following legislative elections.

   The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies (Congreso
   de los Diputados) with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block
   lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a
   Senate or Senado with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by
   popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to
   also serve four-year terms.

   Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally
   unitary but, in fact, functioning as a highly decentralized Federation
   of Autonomous Communities, each one with slightly different levels of
   self-government. The little differences within this system are due to
   the fact that the devolution process from the centre to the periphery
   was a process initially thought to be asymmetrical, granting a higher
   degree of self government only to those autonomous governments ruled by
   nationalist parties (namely Catalonia and the Basque Country) who were
   much more vocal in the matter and seeking a more federalist kind of
   relationship with the rest of Spain. Conversely the rest of Autonomous
   Communities would have a lower self-government. This pattern of
   asymmetrical devolution has been described as a coconstitutionalism and
   the devolution process adopted by the United Kingdom since 1997 shares
   traits with it.

   However, as years passed, the Autonomous Communities which in the
   beginning were thought to have a lower profile have caught up in terms
   of self-government with the nationalist ruled Autonomous communities
   and the gap in terms of self-government is not that wide anymore.

   In the end, Spain is regarded as probably the most decentralized State
   in Europe at the present moment, with all of its different territories
   managing locally their Health and Education systems (just to mention
   some aspects of the public budget) and with some other territories (the
   Basque Country and Navarre) even managing their own public finances
   without hardly any presence of the Spanish central government in this
   regard or, in the case of Catalonia and the Basque Country, equipped
   with their own, fully operative and completely autonomous, police corps
   which widely replaces the State police functions in these territories
   (see Mossos d'Esquadra and Ertzaintza).

   The Government of Spain has been involved in a long-running campaign
   against Basque Fatherland and Liberty ( ETA), a terrorist organization
   founded in 1959 in opposition to Franco and dedicated to promoting
   Basque independence through violent means. They consider themselves a
   guerrilla organization while they are actually listed as a terrorist
   organization by both the European Union and the United States in their
   watchlists on the matter. Although the current nationalist led Basque
   Autonomous government does not endorse any kind of violence, their
   different approaches as to how to terminate ETA and their different
   approaches to the separatist movement are a source of tension between
   the central and Basque governments.

   Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military
   personnel and Spanish Government officials. As the security forces and
   prominent politicians improved their own security, ETA increasingly
   focused its attacks on the tourist seasons (scaring tourists was seen
   as a way of putting pressure on the government, given the sector's
   importance to the economy, although no tourists were injured) and local
   government officials in the Basque Country. The group carried out
   numerous bombings against Spanish Government facilities and economic
   targets, including a car bomb assassination attempt on then-opposition
   leader Aznar in 1995, in which his armored car was destroyed but he was
   unhurt. The Spanish Government attributes over 800 deaths to ETA during
   its campaign of rebellion.

   On 17 May 2005, all the parties in the Congress of Deputies, except the
   PP, passed the Central Government's motion giving approval to the
   beginning of peace talks with ETA, without making political concessions
   and with the requirement that it give up its weapons. PSOE, CiU, ERC,
   PNV, IU-ICV, CC and the mixed group —BNG, CHA, EA y NB— supported it
   with a total of 192 votes, while the 147 PP parliamentarians objected.
   ETA declared a "permanent cease-fire" that came into force on March 24,
   2006. In the years leading up to the permanent cease-fire, the
   government had had more success in controlling ETA, due in part to
   increased security cooperation with French authorities.

   On February 20 2005, Spain became the first country to allow its people
   to vote on the European Union constitution that was signed in October
   2004. The rules state that if any country rejects the constitution then
   the constitution will be declared void. Despite a very low
   participation (42%), the final result was very strongly in affirmation
   of the constitution, making Spain the first country to approve the
   constitution via referendum (Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia approved
   it before Spain, but they did not hold referenda).

Geography

   Mainland Spain is dominated by high plateaus and mountain ranges such
   as the Pyrenees or the Sierra Nevada. Running from these heights are
   several major rivers such as the Tajo, the Ebro, the Duero, the
   Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. Alluvial plains are found along the
   coast, the largest of which is that of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia,
   in the east there are alluvial plains with medium rivers like Segura,
   Júcar and Turia. Spain is bound to the south and east by Mediterranean
   Sea (containing the Balearic Islands), to the north by the Cantabrian
   Sea and to its west by the Atlantic Ocean, where the Canary Islands off
   the African coast are found.

   Due to Spain's own geographical situation which allows only its
   northern part to be in the way of the Jet Stream's typical path and due
   to its own orographic conditions, its climate is extremely diverse. It
   can be roughly divided in the following areas:
     * The Northern and Eastern Mediterranean coast (Catalonia, Northern
       half of the Land of Valencia and the Balearic islands): Warm to hot
       summers with relatively mild to cool winters. Precipitation
       averaging 600mm (23.6 in) a year. These show an average
       Mediterranean climate.
     * The South East Mediterranean coast (Alicante, Murcia and Almería):
       Hot summers and mild to cool winters. Very dry, virtually
       sub-desertic, rainfall as low as 150mm (5.9 in) a year in the Cabo
       de Gata which is reported to be the driest place in Europe. These
       areas qualify mostly as Semiarid climate in terms of precipitation.
     * Southern Mediterranean coast (Málaga area and Granada's coastal
       part): Warm summers, very mild winters. Average yearly temperatures
       close to 20 degrees Celsius (68 °F) and wet. Close to Subtropical
       climate.
     * The Guadalquivir valley (Seville, Cordoba): Very hot and dry
       summers and mild winters. Relatively dry climate.
     * South West Atlantic coast (Cadiz, Huelva): Pleasant summers, very
       mild and temperate winters. Relatively wet climate.
     * The inner land plateau: Cold winters (depending mostly on altitude)
       and hot summers, close to the Continental climate. Relatively dry
       weather (400-600mm or 15.7 - 23.6 in per year).
     * Ebro Valley (Zaragoza): Very hot summers, cold winters. Also close
       to the Continental climate. Dry in terms of precipitations.
     * Northern Atlantic coast or " Green Spain" (Galicia, Asturias,
       Coastal Basque country): A very wet climate (averaging 1000mm. or
       39.4 in a year, some spots over 1200mm. or 47.2 in), with mild
       summers and mild to cool winters. These show mostly an Oceanic
       climate.
     * The Pyrenees: overall wet weather with cool summers and cold
       winters, the highest part of it has an Alpine climate.
     * The Canary Islands: Subtropical climate in terms of temperature,
       being these mild and stable (18 °C to 24 °C; 64 °F to 75 °F)
       throughout the year. Desertic in the Eastern islands and moister in
       the westernmost ones. According to a study carried out by Thomas
       Whitmore, director of research on climatology at the Syracuse
       University (USA), the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria enjoys the
       best climate in the world.

   At 194,884 mi² (504,782 km²), Spain is the world's 51st-largest country
   (after Thailand). It is comparable in size to Turkmenistan, and
   somewhat larger than the US state of California.
            Location              Record highs          Record lows
                                (° C)     (° F)       (° C)       (° F)
         Mediterranean
   Murcia                      47.2^°C   117.0^°F    −6.0^°C    21.2^°F
   Malaga                      44.2^°C   111.6^°F   −3.8^°C     25.1^°F
   Valencia                    42.5^°C   108.5^°F   −7.2^°C     19^°F
   Alicante                    41.4^°C   106.5^°F   −4.6^°C     23.7^°F
   Palma of Mallorca           40.6^°C   105.1^°F   -           -
   Barcelona                   39.8^°C   103.6^°F   −10.0^°C    14^°F
   Girona                      41.7      107^°F      −13.0^°C   8.6^°F
         The inner land
   Sevilla                     47.0^°C   116.6^°F    −5.5^°C    22.1^°F
   Cordoba                     46.6^°C   115.9^°F    -          -
   Badajoz                     45.0^°C   113^°F      -          -
   Albacete                    42.6^°C   108.7^°F    −24.0^°C   −11.2^°F
   Zaragoza                    42.6^°C   108.7^°F    -          -
   Madrid                      42.2^°C   108.0^°F    −14.8^°C   5.4^°F
   Burgos                      41.8^°C   107.2^°F    −22.0^°C   −7.6^°F
   Valladolid                  40.2^°C   104.4^°F    -          -
   Salamanca                   -         -           −20.0^°C   −4.0^°F
   Teruel                      -         -           −19.0^°C   −2.2^°F
    Northern Atlantic coast     (° C)     (° F)       (° C)       (° F)
   Ourense                     45^°C     113^°F      −9.0^°C    58.2^°F
   Bilbao                      42.0^°C   107.6^°F    −8.6^°C    16.5^°F
   La Coruña                   37.6^°C   99.7^°F     −4.8^°C    23.4^°F
   Gijón                       36.4^°C   97.5^°F     −4.8^°C    23.4^°F
       The Canary Islands
   Las Palmas de Gran Canaria  38.6^°C   102^°F      11.4 ^°    48.6^°F

Territorial disputes

Territories claimed by Spain

   Spain has called for the return of Gibraltar, a small but strategic
   British overseas territory which lies near the Peninsula's southernmost
   tip, in the Eastern side of the Strait of Gibraltar. It was conquered
   during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704 and was ceded to
   Britain in perpetuity in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. An overwhelming
   majority of Gibraltar's 30,000 inhabitants want to remain British, as
   they have repeatedly proven in referenda on the issue. The UN
   resolutions (2231 (XXI) and 2353 (XXII)) call on the UK and Spain to
   reach an agreement to resolve their differences over Gibraltar, while
   Spain does not recognize this border and so it is ordinarily kept under
   strict traffic scrutiny (in the recent past it was often closed as a
   means to put pressure to Gibraltar, since its economy is partially
   dependent on Spanish goods and workers which arrive there from the
   Spanish side).

   Moreover, the exact tracing of the demarcation line established by the
   Treaty of Utrecht is disputed between both sides (Spain claims that the
   UK is also occupying a tract of land around the airport which was not
   originally included in the Treaty provisions).

   Gibraltar is officially a non-self governing territory or colony
   according to the UN original definition; in this regard, article 103 of
   the UN Charter states, universally speaking, that the right of
   self-determination of the people from the non-self governing territory
   should be the paramount and overriding principle. To this, the Spanish
   position objects that it would overrule the only legal document
   available on the matter, the Treaty of Utrecht, which states that the
   area must return to Spain should the UK renounce to it.

Spanish territories claimed by other countries

   Morocco claims the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Vélez,
   Alhucemas, Chafarinas, and Perejil islands, all on the Northern coast
   of Africa. Morocco points out that those territories were obtained when
   Morocco could not do anything to prevent it and has never signed
   treaties ceding them, but Morocco did not yet exist in the 14th and
   15th century when these places became Spanish possessions. Spain claims
   that these territories are integral parts of Spain and have been
   Spanish or linked to Spain since before the Islamic invasion of Spain
   in 711; the Ceuta area (including the islet of Perejil) returned to
   Spanish rule in 1415 and the rest did so only a few years after the
   conquest of Granada in 1492. Spain claims that Morocco's only claim on
   these territories is merely geographical. Parallelism with Egyptian
   ownership of the Sinai (in Asia) or Turkish ownership of Istanbul (in
   Europe) is often used to support the Spanish position.

   Portugal does not recognize Spain's sovereignty over the territory of
   Olivenza. The Portuguese claim that the Treaty of Vienna (1815), to
   which Spain was a signatory, stipulated return of the territory to
   Portugal. Spain alleges that the Treaty of Vienna left the provisions
   of the Treaty of Badajoz (1801) intact.

Economy

   King Juan Carlos, depicted on the Spanish €2 coin
   Enlarge
   King Juan Carlos, depicted on the Spanish €2 coin

   Spain's mixed economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 87%
   of that of the four leading West European economies. The centre-right
   government of former Prime Minister Aznar worked successfully to gain
   admission to the first group of countries launching the European single
   currency, the euro, on 1 January 1999. The Aznar administration
   continued to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation
   of the economy and introduced some tax reforms to that end.
   Unemployment fell steadily both under the Aznar and Zapatero
   administration. It affects now 7.6% of the labor force (October 2006)
   having fallen from a high of 20% and above in the early 1990s. It also
   compares favourably to the other large European countries, most
   notably, Germany with an unemployment of approximately 12%. Growth of
   2.4% in 2003 was satisfactory given the background of a faltering
   European economy, and has steadied since at an annualized rate of about
   3.3% in mid 2005 and 3.5% in the first quarter and 3,7% in the second
   quarter of 2006. There is a widespread concern, however, that the
   growth is too concentrated upon a few sectors (mainly residential
   building and those related to it). The current Prime Minister Rodríguez
   Zapatero has pointed out as matters to be addressed during his
   administration plans to reduce government intervention in business,
   combat tax fraud, and support innovation, research and development, but
   also intends to reintroduce labour market regulations that had been
   scrapped by the Aznar government. Adjusting to the monetary and other
   economic policies of an integrated Europe — and reducing unemployment —
   will pose challenges to Spain over the next few years. According to
   World Bank GDP figures from 2005, Spain has the ninth largest economy
   in the world, after Canada, and the fifth largest in Europe, after
   Italy.

   There is general concern that Spain's model of economic growth (based
   largely on mass tourism, the construction industry, and manufacturing
   sectors) is faltering and may prove unsustainable over the long term.
   The first report of the Observatory on Sustainability (Observatorio de
   Sostenibilidad) — published in 2005 and funded by Spain's Ministry of
   the Environment and Alcalá University — reveals that the country's per
   capita GDP grew by 25% over the last ten years, while greenhouse gas
   emissions have risen by 45% since 1990. Although Spain's population
   grew by less than 5% between 1990 and 2000, urban areas expanded by no
   less than 25% over the same period. Meanwhile, Spain's energy
   consumption has doubled over the last 20 years and is currently rising
   by 6% per annum. This is particularly worrying for a country whose
   dependence on imported oil (meeting roughly 80% of Spain's energy
   needs) is one of the greatest in the EU. Large-scale unsustainable
   development is clearly visible along Spain's Mediterranean coast in the
   form of housing and tourist complexes, which are placing severe strain
   on local land and water resources. Recent developments include the
   construction of reverse osmosis plants along the Spanish Costas, to
   probably meet over 1% of Spain's total water needs. Other perennial
   weak points of Spain's economy include one of the lowest rates of
   investment in Research and Development, and in education in the EU.
   This is particularly worrying, given that the country's generally
   poorly-trained workforce is no longer as competitive in price terms as
   it was several decades ago. As a result, many manufacturing jobs are
   going abroad — mainly to Eastern Europe and Asia.

   On the brighter side, the Spanish economy is credited for having
   avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in
   the EU (namely France and Germany) by the late 90's and beginning of
   the 21st century in a process which started with former Prime Minister
   Aznar's liberalization and deregulation reforms aiming to reduce the
   State's role in the market place. Thus, in 1997 Spain started an
   economic cycle -which keeps going as of 2006- marked by an outstanding
   economic growth, with figures around 3%, often well over this rate.

   This has narrowed steadily the economic gap between Spain and its
   leading partners in the EU over this period. Hence, the Spanish economy
   has been regarded lately as one of the most dynamic within the EU, even
   able to replace the leading role of much larger economies like the
   aforementioned, thus subsequently attracting significant amounts of
   foreign investment.

Demographics

   Geographical distribution of the Spanish population in 2005
   Enlarge
   Geographical distribution of the Spanish population in 2005

   Spain's population density, at 87.8/km² (220/sq. mile), is lower than
   that of most Western European countries and its distribution along the
   country is very unequal. With the exception of the region surrounding
   the capital, Madrid, the most populated areas lie around the coast.

   The population of Spain doubled during the twentieth century, due to
   the spectacular demographic boom by the 60's and early 70's. Then,
   after the birth rate plunged in the 80's and Spain's population became
   stalled, a new population increase started based initially in the
   return of many Spanish who emigrated to other European countries during
   the 70's and, more recently, it has been boosted by the large figures
   of foreign immigrants, mostly from Latin America (38.75% of them),
   Eastern Europe (16.33%), Maghreb (14.99%) and Sub-Saharan Africa
   (4.08%). Also some important pockets of population coming from other
   countries in the European Union are found (20.77% of the foreign
   residents), specially along the Mediterranean costas and Balearic
   islands, where many choose to live their retirement or even telework.
   However, the pattern of growth was extremely uneven due to large-scale
   internal migration from the rural interior to the industrial cities
   during the 60's and 70's. No fewer than eleven of Spain's fifty
   provinces saw an absolute decline in population over the century.

Immigration in Spain

   Demographic evolution of Spain during the twentieth century
   Madrid
   Enlarge
   Madrid
   Barcelona
   Enlarge
   Barcelona
   The Hemispheric at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia
   Enlarge
   The Hemispheric at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia

   According to the Spanish government there were 3.7 million foreign
   residents in Spain in 2005; independent estimates put the figure at 4.8
   million or 11.1% of total population (Red Cross, World Disasters Report
   2006). According to residence permit data for 2005, around 500,000 were
   Moroccan, another half a million were Ecuadorian, more than 200,000
   were Romanians and 270,000 were Colombian. Other important foreign
   communities are British (6.09% of all the foreign residents), Argentine
   (6.10%), German (3.58%) and Bolivian (2.63%). In 2005, a regularization
   programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people.
   Since 2000 Spain has experienced high population growth as a result of
   immigration flows, despite a birth rate that is only half of the
   replacement level. This sudden and ongoing inflow of immigrants,
   particularly those arriving clandestinely by sea, has caused noticeable
   social tensions.

   Spain currently is thought to have one of the highest immigration rates
   within the EU. This can be explained by a number of reasons including
   its geographical position, the porosity of its borders, the large size
   of its submerged economy and the strength of the agricultural and
   construction sectors which demand more low cost labour than can be
   offered by the national workforce.

   On the other hand mass immigration has put downward pressure on the
   wages of Spanish born workers in construction and agriculture and in a
   number of service sector jobs at a time of soaring house and rental
   costs. This could aggravate social tensions in the event of economic
   deceleration.

Most populous metropolitan regions

    1. Madrid 5,646,572
    2. Barcelona 3,135,758
    3. Valencia 1,623,724
    4. Sevilla 1,317,098
    5. Málaga 1,074,074
    6. Bilbao 946,829

Identities

   The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognizes
   historic entities ("nationalities“, a carefully chosen word in order to
   avoid the more politically loaded "nations") and regions, inside the
   unity of the Spanish nation. However, Spain's identity is for some
   people more an overlap of different regional identities than a sole
   Spanish identity. Indeed, some of the regional identities may be even
   in conflict with the Spanish one.

   In particular, a large proportion of Catalans, Basques and Galicians,
   quite frequently identify, respectively, primarily with Catalonia, the
   Basque Country, and Galicia, with Spain only second or not at all. For
   example, according to the last CIS survey, 44% of Basques identify
   themselves first as Basques (only 8% first as Spaniards); 40% of
   Catalans do so with Catalonia (20% identify firstly with Spain), and
   32% Galicians with Galicia (9% with Spain).

   Almost all communities have a majority of people identifying as much
   with Spain as with the Autonomous Community (except Madrid, where Spain
   is the primary identity, and Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia, and
   the Balearics, where people tend to identify more with their Autonomous
   Community). It is this last feature of "shared identity" between the
   more local level or Autonomous Community and the Spanish level which
   makes the identity question in Spain complex and far from univocal.

Languages

   The languages of Spain (simplified) ██ Castilian (Spanish) ██ Catalan,
   co-official ██ Basque, co-official ██ Galician, co-official
   ██ Asturian, unofficial ██ Aragonese, unofficial ██ Aranese,
   co-official (dialect of Occitan) Enlarge
   The languages of Spain (simplified)
   ██ Castilian (Spanish) ██  Catalan, co-official ██  Basque, co-official
   ██  Galician, co-official ██  Asturian, unofficial ██  Aragonese,
   unofficial ██  Aranese, co-official (dialect of Occitan)

   The Spanish Constitution, although affirming the sovereignty of the
   Spanish Nation, recognizes historical nationalities.

   Castilian (called both español and castellano in the language itself)
   is an official language throughout Spain, but other regional languages
   are also spoken, and are the primary languages in some of their
   respective geographies. Without mentioning them by name, the Spanish
   Constitution recognizes the possibility of regional languages being
   co-official in their respective autonomous communities. The following
   languages are co-official with Spanish according to the appropriate
   Autonomy Statutes.
     * Catalan (català) in Catalonia (Catalunya), the Balearic Islands
       (Illes Balears), parts of Valencia (València) (as Valencian)
     * Basque (euskara) in Basque Country (Euskadi or País Vasco), and
       parts of Navarre (Nafarroa or Navarra). Basque is not known to be
       related to any other language.
     * Galician (galego) in Galicia (Galicia or Galiza) and the occidental
       borders of Asturias and Leon.
     * Occitan (the Aranese dialect). Spoken in the Val d'Aran in
       Catalonia.

   Catalan, Galician, Aranese (Occitan) and Castilian are all descended
   from Latin and some of them have their own dialects, some championed as
   separate languages by their speakers. A particular case is Valencian,
   the name given to a variety of Catalan, that also has the co-official
   language status recognized in Autonomous Community of Valencia.

   There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages:
   Asturian / Leonese, in Asturias and parts of Leon, Zamora and
   Salamanca, and the Extremaduran in Caceres and Salamanca, both
   descendants of the historical Astur-Leonese dialect; the Aragonese or
   fabla in part of Aragon; the fala, spoken in three villages of
   Extremadura; and some Portuguese dialectal towns in Extremadura and
   Castile-Leon. However, unlike Catalan, Galician, and Basque, these do
   not have any official status.
   Spain's legacy: a map of the Hispanophone world.
   Enlarge
   Spain's legacy: a map of the Hispanophone world.

   In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean costas and the islands,
   German and English are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents and
   tourism workers. On the other side, recent African immigrants and large
   minority of their descendants speaks the official European languages of
   their homelands (whether standard Portuguese, English, French, or its
   Creoles.)

Minority groups

   Since the 16th century, the most famous minority group in the country
   have been the Gitanos, a Roma group.

   Spain harbours a number of black African-blooded people — who are
   descendants of populations from former colonies (especially Equatorial
   Guinea) but, much more important than those in numbers, immigrants from
   several Sub-Saharan and Caribbean countries who have been recently
   settling in Spain. There are also sizeable numbers of Asian-Spaniards,
   most of whom are Chinese, Filipino, Middle Eastern, Pakistani and
   Indian origins; Spaniards of Latin American descent are sizeable as
   well and a fast growing segment.

   The important Jewish population of Spain was either expelled or forced
   to convert in 1492, with the dawn of the Spanish Inquisition. After the
   19th century, some Jews have established themselves in Spain as a
   result of migration from former Spanish Morocco (actually Melilla
   enjoys the highest ratio of Jews in Spain), escape from Nazi repression
   and immigration from Argentina. The Spanish law allows Sephardi Jews to
   claim Spanish citizenship.

   A sizeable and increasing number of Spanish citizens also descend from
   these communities, as Spain applies jus soli and provides special
   measures for immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries to obtain
   Spanish citizenship.

Religion

   Roman Catholicism is the most popular religion in the country.
   According to several sources (CIA World Fact Book 2005, Spanish
   official polls and others), from 94% to 81% self-identify as Catholics,
   whereas around 6% to 19% identify with either other religions or none
   at all. It is important to note, however, that many Spaniards identify
   themselves as Catholics just because they were baptized, even though
   they may not be very religious.
   Barcelona Cathedral
   Enlarge
   Barcelona Cathedral

   Evidence of the secular nature of contemporary Spain can be seen in the
   widespread support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain —
   over 70% of Spaniards support gay marriage according to a 2004 study by
   the Centre of Sociological Investigations. Indeed, in June 2005 a bill
   was passed by 187 votes to 147 to allow gay marriage, making Spain the
   third country in the European Union to allow same-sex couples to marry.
   This vote was split along conservative-liberal lines, with PSOE and
   other left-leaning parties supporting the measure and PP against it.
   Proposed changes to the divorce laws to make the process quicker and to
   eliminate the need for a guilty party are also popular.

   There are also many Protestant denominations, all of them with less
   than 50,000 members, and about 20,000 Mormons. Evangelism has been
   better received among Gypsies than among the general population;
   pastors have integrated flamenco music in their liturgy. Taken
   together, all self-described "Evangelicals" slightly surpass Jehovah's
   Witnesses (105,000) in number. Other religious faiths represented in
   Spain include the Bahá'í Community.

   The recent waves of immigration, especially during and after the 90's,
   have led to an increasing number of Muslims, who have about 1 million
   members. Muslims had ceased to live in Spain for centuries, ever since
   the Reconquista, when they were given the ultimatum of either convert
   to Catholicism or leave the country. By the 16th century, most of them
   had left the Spanish kingdom. However, the colonial expansion over
   Northern and Western Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries supposed
   that large numbers of Muslim populations (those in the Spanish Morocco
   and the Sahara Occidental) were again under Spanish administration,
   with a minority of them getting full citizenship. Nowadays, Islam is
   the second largest religion in Spain, after Roman Catholicism,
   accounting for approximately 3% of the total population. Hindus and
   Sikhs account for less than 0.3%.

   Since the expulsion of the Sephardim in 1492, Judaism was practically
   nonexistent until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to
   enter the country. Currently there are around 50,000 Jews in Spain, all
   arrivals in the past century and accounting less than 1% of the total
   number of inhabitants. There are also many Spaniards (in Spain and
   abroad) who claim Jewish ancestry to the Conversos, and still practise
   certain customs. Spain is believed to have been about 8% Jewish on the
   eve of the Spanish Inquisition.

   Over the past thirty years, Spain has become a more secularized society
   as the number of believers has decreased significantly. For those who
   do believe, the degree of accordance and practice to their religion is
   diverse.

International rankings

     * Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2002: Rank
       40 out of 139 countries.

     * The Economist Intelligence Units worldwide quality-of-life index
       2005: Rank 10 out of 111 countries (above countries like the United
       States of America, the United Kingdom, and France)

     * Nation Master's list by economic importance: Rank 9 of 25
       countries, only surpassed by G-8 members (except Russia) and
       Australia.

     * Nation Master's list by technological achievement: Rank 18 of 68
       countries.

Neighbouring countries

   North Atlantic Ocean Bay of Biscay Flag of France  France •  Flag of
   Andorra  Andorra
   North Balearic Sea
   West    Flag of Spain  Spain     East
   South
   Flag of Portugal  Portugal
   North Atlantic Ocean Flag of Gibraltar  Gibraltar
   Strait of Gibraltar
   Image:Template CanadianCityGeoLocation South.png
   Flag of Morocco  Morocco Mediterranean Sea
   Image:Template CanadianCityGeoLocation South.png
   Flag of Algeria  Algeria

Other images

   The Sagrada Familia by night, Barcelona

   Seville

   The Alhambra, Granada

   Aqueduct of Segovia

   The Sanctuary of Santa María Magdalena in Novelda, Spain

   Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

   Rural Basque country

   Cabo Trafalgar in Cádiz (Spain)

   Port of Cadaqués, Catalonia

   Antequera, in Málaga (Spain)

   Coast of Cantabria, in the so called Green Spain.

   Jávea, Xàbia

   Llanes, Asturias

   The Maspalomas dunes Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

   Aran valley, Catalonia

   The Pyrenees

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
