Spain

The Spain , is a country of the south-west of the European Union which occupies most of the Iberian peninsula. Its territory is limited to north by the the Pyrenees which constitute the border with the France and the Andorre, in the west by a long North-South border with the Portugal, and in the south by the Straits of Gibraltar which separates the continent from the Africa. The two towns of Ceuta and Melilla, bordering on the Morocco, as well as the archipelagoes of the Islands the Canaries in the Atlantic Ocean and of the Islands Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, are nonpeninsular territories of Spain. Second older colonial power European after Portugal, the country grew rich by the 15th century at the 18th century, but declined with the loss of its colonies throughout 19th century. Spain is member of the European Union since 1986 and of NATO since 1982. It is one of the countries most visited in the world; it accommodates the seat of the Worldwide organization of tourism (OMT).

History

See also: History of Spain, Chronology of Spain, Flag of Spain

The populations autochtones of the Iberian peninsula were called the Ibères. But of the Celtic populations , which one calls the Celtibères will then come to incorporate oneself there.

As from the 9th century before Jesus-Christ, the Phénicie NS, Greeks, Carthaginois installed counters on the Mediterranean shores.

The Romains conquered the peninsula to the II E. The principal language, the religion and the laws derive mainly from the Roman period.

During the fall of the Roman Empire at the 5th century, Germanic barbarians, the Suèves, the Vandals and the Visigoths invaded Spain. The Vandals, installed temporarily in the south of the peninsula passed quickly in Tunisia, and the Visigoths imposed their law until the Moslem conquest.

The Arabo - Berbères carried out by Tariq ibn Ziyad conquered the country in 711. In 756, Moslem Spain became independent, under the reign of the Omeyyades of Spain. Into 929, the country is transformed into caliphate. At the 11th century, the caliphate crumbles and splits up in microphone-states, the Taïfas (up to 25).

The Christians, taken refuge in north within the Kingdom of Asturies, benefitted from this Moslem weakening and started the Reconquista - movement to drive out the Moslems - who ended in 1492 with the elimination of the last Moslem bastion, the Royaume of Grenade, under the reign of the catholic Kings, Isabelle de Castille and Ferdinand d' Aragon. At the end of this same year 1492, Christophe Colomb discovered, or redécouvrit, the America. The unification of current Spain took officially fine in 1512. At this same time, the Conquistadors conquered for Spain an immense colonial empire.

Taken in the religious exaltation of the Reconquista, the Spanish sovereigns decided in 1492 to force the Jewish of Spain to choose between conversion and the exile. The majority of them found refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The Moslems remained in Spain after the Reconquest, or Morisque S, will be converted of force at the beginning of 15th century, and will be finally expelled, following several revolts, in 1609.

Spain became during the 16th century, more the great power of Europe thanks to its presence on the American continent and with the brought back richnesses.

However, the power of Spain declined gradually because of the expensive wars which it carried out and of the revolts which burst, and also because it tended to fall asleep on the richnesses drawn from the New World and the gold easily extracted the South American mines, which then conferred to him an artificial prosperity and without relationship with the real economy of the country.

In 1700, the grandson of Louis XIV, whose first wife was a Spanish infante, became king d' Espagne under the name of Philippe V, and founded the dynasty of the Bourbons kings d' Espagne, bound by the pact of family to the Bourbons kings de France. See: House capétienne of Bourbon. At the 18th century of the fights between the applicants with the throne weakened the crown. In 1801, Madrid managed to occupy the district of Olivença located at the south of Badajoz, a territory asserted by Portugal since then.

France occupied under Napoleon I {{er}} Spain at the beginning of the 19th century, but never managed to control it effectively. This foreign presence involved particularly bloody conflicts and revolts in the country, which could not be pacified durably.

Because of these weakenings, Spain lost the majority of its colonies at the 19th century, especially as from the years 1820.

A First Republic Spanish was briefly set up in 1873 and 1874.

The last colonies (Cuba, Filipino , Puerto Rico, Guam) separated from the crown in 1898 after the war which opposed Spain to the the United States.

Somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe, Spain stagnated in a state of relative economic and political backwardness.

The Second Republic Spanish drove out the monarchy of the Bourbons in 1931. But, after the victory of the Spanish Popular front in 1936, the extreme-right-hand side (carlist S and phalangists) was raised. Spain was then subjected, after a tragedy civil war which lasted of 1936 with 1939, with the dictatorship of the general Franco. This one, originally monarchist, decided to preserve the capacity, and to make restore monarchy only after its death.

After its death, in 1975, the royalty was actually restored. But Juan Carlos I {{er}}, the new king, restores the democracy quickly, and the country integrated in 1986 the European Union.

The new constitution, very liberal, breaks with the very thorough centralism of the pro-Franco time, and sets up a very broad decentralization. Many nationalist parties local are again legalized, in particular in the peripheral provinces, where remain of the regional languages different from the Castillan (Galicia, Basque Country, Catalogne). Some assert more autonomy, others speak about independence (in particular with the Basque Country and in Catalogne). The Communist party is also legalized.

The most radical independantism and more the violent one will be that of the Basque ETA, terrorist organization preaching and practitioner the armed struggle.

The economic success of the thirty last year old Spain which distinguishes it from his/her Iberian sister, induced the idea of a Spanish Economic miracle to describe its contemporary evolution of it.

Policy

See also: Political of Spain

Since 1978, the political organization of Spain east governed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 which establishes a democratic mode of Constitutional monarchy and and the plurality of the political parties.

The monarch has political powers and symbolic systems, defined by article 62 of the constitution: he ratifies the laws, is the chief of the armies, can dissolve the Parliament ( Las the Cortes Generales ), names the President of the government. In addition (Article 63), he is the chief of the diplomacy of the State. The current king is Juan Carlos Ier.

The President of the government ( President del Gobierno ) (role comparable with that of a Prime Minister), is with the head of the executive for one four years renewable duration. The President of the government is named by the King after the acceptance of his candidature by the Congreso of los Diputados ; he chairs the Council of Ministers. Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is President of the government since mid-March 2004, after the victory of its party to the legislative elections. It succeeds Jose María Aznar.

The legislative power lies in the the Cortes Generales , which constitute the supreme body of representation of the Spanish people. The Cortes Generales are composed by a Lower House, the Congreso of los Diputados , and a Upper House, the Senado . The Congress of the deputies ( Congreso of los Diputados ) account 350 members elected for four years by the direct suffrage. The Senate ( Senado ) consists of 248 members including 208 directly elected and 40 indicated by the areas.

The elections proceed normally every 4 years. The last general elections took place in March 2004.

Spain is member of NATO and the European Union.

Territorial organization of Spain

See also: the autonomous Communities of Spain, Provinces of Spain

Spain is divided into 17 areas, called autonomous communities . They are kinds of federate States having a certain degree of independence, even if the competences yielded by the Central state can vary much and if the terms “independence” and “federal” are somewhat taboos. The autonomous communities are in their turn made up of one or more provinces, by making a total of 50. In addition, two cities, (Ceuta and Melilla), have a special statute.

Spain counts 8  111 communes, of which the enclave of Llivia in the the Eastern Pyrenees.

See also: List of the Spanish communities by surface, List of the Spanish communities by population, List of the communes of Spain

Geography

See also: Geography of Spain

Located in Western Europe, Spain occupies the major part of the Iberian peninsula and, apart from it, two archipelagoes (that of the Canary islands to the Atlantic Ocean and that of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean) and two cities (Ceuta and Melilla) and some islands and small islands in the north of the Morocco, like the islands Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, Peñón de Vélez of Gomera or the small island Persil. In addition, Spain asserts sovereignty on the rock of Gibraltar.

It is about the fourth country of Europe as for its territorial extension, after the Russia, the Ukraine and the France, and the second of the European Union.

The physical limits of Spain are the following ones: in the west, Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean; in the east, the Mediterranean; in the south, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Morocco; in north, the the Pyrenees and the the Bay of Biscay.

The principal mountainous systems are the the Pyrenees, the Iberian Système, the Cantabric Cordillère, the central Système and the betic Cordillères.

Several Fleuve S crosses Spain of which the Douro, the Èbre, the Tage, the Guadalquivir, the Guadiana, the Jucar and the Segura; its relief in many plates gives him many coastal rivers of which the very historical Bidassoa.

The oceanic and very wet climate of North is opposed to the Mediterranean climate and very dryness of the South. In most of Spain, precipitations are weak and the lack of water is a problem.

Demography

See also: Demography of Spain

Spain counted 40  499  799 inhabitants at January 1st 2000, and 45.116.000 inhabitants at January 1st 2007. The Population density, of 87,41 hab/km ², is lower than that of the majority of the other countries of the Western Europe and its distribution through the national territory is very irregular. The surfaces densément populated concentrate on the coast and in the neighborhoods of Madrid, while the remainder of the interior is very slightly occupied.

The Spanish population strongly increased since the end of the year 1990 thanks to the arrival of more than three million immigrants. Between 2000 and 2005, Spain knew the greatest rate of immigration of the world, in source mainly of Latin America, of Europe of the East and the the Maghreb. Between 2001 and 2006, the country accommodated an average of: 600000 people per annum.

Principal agglomerations

The greatest agglomerations are (in 2007):

  1. Madrid 7  343  041

  2. Barcelona 4  306  701
  3. Valence 1  764  970
  4. Seville 1  417  098
  5. Malaga 1  104  074
  6. Bilbao 1  023  041
  7. Asturies (Gijón, Oviedo, Avilés, Mieres and Langreo) 910  199
  8. Saragossa 783  763
  9. Alicante - Elche 741  215
  10. Bay of Cadiz (Cadiz - Sherry) 688  076
  11. Las Palmas of Gran Canaria 656  903
  12. Murcie 633 272

Economy

See also: Economy of Spain, List of Spanish companies

Remained a long time an agricultural country, Spain knew important socio-economic changes in the last quarter of the 20th century. It has today an economy diversified, thanks in particular to the rapid growth of industry since the Fifties and to the rise of tourism. Between 1995 and 2001, the industrial employment increased by 38%. As from 1964, a series of development plans contributed to the economic expansion of the country. The development of industries metallurgical and textile, naval construction and the mining extraction was privileged. Spain became in less than twenty years an industrial and agricultural great power. However, it is tourism which the country draws today the most incomes.

According to the World Bank Spain is today the 8th world economic power, and the 5th European one.

The standard of living of Spanish increases very quickly. According to recent studies, in 2020, Spain will propose the best standard of living of Europe.

Culture

See also: Culture of Spain

According to a recent investigation of the public sociological research Center ( Le Monde , July 2005), 82,4% of the Spaniards are said catholic and 47,7% of them practitioners.

The official language of Spain is the Spanish (Castillan). However, this language is not the only one which is spoken, certain autonomous communities have their official own language beside Spanish, here their list:

Codes

Spain has as codes:

See too

Related articles

External bonds

  • Official site of the Spanish government
  • Gate of the Spanish administration
  • the Councils with the travellers
  • Made and figures on Spain

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