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Spain Overview

The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne d'Espanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in the north of Africa, and a number of minor uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar, such as the Chafarine islands, the "rocks" (es: peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas, and the tiny Parsley Island (disputed). Strong economic growth and an expansion in trade following membership of the European Union in 1986 made the country's economy the tenth largest in the world in 2002. Life expectancy, public transportation, sanitation, infrastructure, and healthcare are first-rate, although the GDP per capita remains at 87% of that of the four leading European economies.

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 east by Mediterranean Sea (containing the Balearic Islands), to the north by the Bay of Biscay and to its west by the Atlantic Ocean, where the Canary Islands off the African coast are found.

Spain's climate can be divided in four areas:

* The Mediterranean: mostly temperate in the eastern and southern part of the country; rainy seasons are spring and autumn. Mild summers with pleasant temperatures. Hot records: Murcia 47.2º, Malaga 44.2º, Valencia 42.5º, Alicante 41.4º, Palma of Mallorca 40.6º, Barcelona 39.8º.

* Inner spain: Very cold winters (frequent snow in the north) and hot summers. Hot records: Sevilla 47.0º, Cordoba 46.6º, Badajoz 45.0º, Zaragoza 42.6º, Madrid 42.2º, Valladolid 40.2º. Low records: Guadalajara -25.0º.

* Northern Atlantic coast: precipitations mostly on winter, with mild summers (slightly cold). Hot records: Bilbao 42.0º, La Coruña 37.6º, Gijón 36.4º.

* The Canary Islands: subtropical weather, with mild temperatures (18º to 24º celsius) throughout the year.

Biggest metropolitan areas

1. Madrid 5,603,285

2. Barcelona 4,667,136

3. Valencia 1,465,423

4. Sevilla 1,294,081

5. Malaga 1,019,292

History

Medieval Spain

As the Roman empire declined, the Suebi, Vandals and Alans each took control of part of Hispania. In the 5th century AD the Visigoths, a romanized germanic tribe, conquered all of Hispania and established a relatively stable kingdom lasting until 711, when it fell to an invasion by Islamic North African Moors and became part of the expanding Umayyad empire, under the name of Al-Andalus. When the Umayyad empire gave way to the Abbaside empire, an Umayyad exile established the Caliphate of Cordoba, effectively making Al-Andalus independent from the empire.

Modern Spain began to take form during the Reconquista, the struggle between the Christian kingdoms arising in the northern regions left unconquered by the Moors and the Muslim kingdoms into which Al-Andalus eventually split.

Three states came to dominate Christian Spain: Portugal, Aragon and Castile. During the last half of the XV century two heirs of Castile married, Isabella of Castile with Ferdinand II of Aragon de Aragon and Juana la Beltraneja with Alfonso V of Portugal. After a succession war, Isabella and Ferdinand overtook the kingdom, and Portugal remained separate. In 1492, Granada, the last of the Moorish kingdoms, was conquered by the Catholic monarchs.

The kingdom of the Catholic monarchs then imposed the Christian religion; in 1492, Isabel and Fernando ordered the expulsion of all Jews from their dominions, having imposed physical segregation in 1480 (two years after the establishment of the Inquisition) and, in 1502, Muslims were forced to convert to Christianity or be banished.

Just before the conquest of Granada, Isabel funded Christopher Columbus in his attempts to reach Asia through a western route across the Atlantic Ocean -- resulting in the "discovery" of the "New World". In 1492, Granada was taken and America discovered.

In 1499, about 50,000 Moors in Granada were coerced into taking part in a mass baptism. During the uprising that followed, people who refused the choices of baptism or deportation to Africa, were systematically eliminated. What followed was a mass flight of Moors, Jews and Gitanos from the city of Granada and the surrounding villages to the mountain regions (and their hills) and the rural country. It was in this socially and economically difficult situation that the musical cultures of the Moors, Jews and Gitanos started to form the basics of flamenco music.

Renaissance in Spain

By 1512, most of the kingdoms of present-day Spain were politically unified, although not as a modern centralized state. The grandson of Isabel and Fernando, Carlos I, extended his crown to other places in Europe and the rest of the world. The unification of Iberia was complete when Carlos I's son, Felipe II, became King of Portugal in 1580, as well as of the other Iberian Kingdoms (collectively known as "Spain" since this moment).

During the 16th century,with Carlos I and Felipe II, Spain became the most powerful European nation, its territory covering most of South and Central America, Asia - Pacific, the Iberian peninsula, southern Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. This was later known as the Spanish Empire.

It was also the wealthiest nation but the uncontrolled influx of goods and minerals from Spanish colonisation of the Americas resulted in rampant inflation and economic depression.

In 1640, under Felipe IV, the centralist policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked wars in Portugal and Catalonia. Portugal became an independent kingdom again and Catalonia enjoyed some years of French-supported independence but was quickly returned to the Spanish Crown.

A series of long and costly wars and revolts followed in the 17th century, beginning a steady decline of Spanish power in Europe. Controversy over succession to the throne consumed the country during the first years of the 18th century (see War of the Spanish Succession). It was only after this war ended and a new dynasty was installed -- the French Bourbons (see House of Bourbon) -- that a centralized Spanish state was established and the first Borbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 canceled the Aragon court and changed the title of king of Castilla and Aragon for the current king of Spain.

French occupation

Spain was occupied by Napoleon in the early 1800s, but the Spaniards raised in arms. After the War of Independence (1808-1814), a series of revolts and armed conflicts between Liberals and supporters of the ancien régime lasted throughout much of the 19th century, complicated by a dispute over dynastic succession by the Carlists which led to three civil wars. After that, Spain was briefly a Republic, from 1871 to 1873, a year in which a series of coups reinstalled the monarchy.

In the meantime, Spain lost all of its colonies in the Caribbean region and Asia-Pacific region during the 19th century, a trend which ended with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam to the United States after the Spanish-American War of 1898.

20th century

The 20th century initially brought little peace; colonisation of Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea was attempted. A period of dictatorial rule (1923-1931) ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republic offered political autonomy to the Basque Country and Catalonia and gave voting rights to women. However, with increasing political polarisation, anti-clericalism and pressure from all sides, coupled with growing and unchecked political violence, the Republic ended with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936. Following the victory of the nationalist forces in 1939, General Francisco Franco ruled a nation exhausted politically and economically.

After World War II, being one of few surviving fascist regimes in Europe, Spain was politically and economically isolated and was kept out of the United Nations until 1955, when it became strategically important for U.S. president Eisenhower to establish a military presence in the Iberian peninsula. This opening to Spain was aided by Franco's rabid anti-communism. In the 1960s, more than a decade later than other western European countries, Spain began to enjoy economic growth and gradually transformed 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 the dictator 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, the old historic nationalities -- Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia-- were given far-reaching autonomy, which was then soon extended to all Spanish regions, resulting in one of the most decentralized territorial organizations in Western Europe. However, ETA's terrorism coctinue being one of the most important problems facing Spain.

Adolfo Suárez González, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Bustelo, after an attempted coup d'état in 1981, Felipe González Márquez (when Spain joined NATO and European Union), José María Aznar López and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, after the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks, have been Presidents of Spain.

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