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SPAIN
The Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It
shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal and Gibraltar. 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.
Although the official name of Spain is Reino de España, the same can be
translated into the other languages of Spain, as in Regne d'Espanya (Catalan),
Espainiako Erresuma (Basque), and Reino de España (Galician) .
Spain has been a constitutional monarchy and
a parliamentary democracy since the Spanish Constitution was approved in
1978.
History
The original peoples of the Iberian peninsula (in the sense that they are
not known to have come from elsewhere), consisting of a number of separate
tribes, are given the generic name of Iberians. This includes the Basque,
the only pre-Roman Iberian people surviving to the present day as a separate
ethnic group. The most important culture of this period is that of the city
of Tartessos. Beginning in the 9th century BC, Celtic tribes entered the
Iberian peninsula through the Pyrenees and settled throughout the peninsula,
becoming the Celt-Iberians.
The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled
along the Mediterranean coast and founded trading colonies there over a
period of several centuries.
Around 1,100 BC Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or
Gades (modern day Cádiz) near Tartessos. In the 8th century BC 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, after the river Iber (Ebro
in Spanish). In the 6th century BC the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia while
struggling with the Greeks for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their
most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day
Cartagena).
The Romans arrived in the Iberian peninsula during the Second Punic war in
the 2nd century BC, and annexed it under Augustus after two centuries of war
with the Celtic and Iberian tribes and the Phoenician, Greek and
Carthaginian colonies becoming the province of Hispania. Some of Spain's
present languages, religion, and laws originate from this Roman period.
As the Roman empire declined, the Suebi, Vandals and Alans each took control
of part of Hispania. In the 5th century CE 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 Califate 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.
Christian Spain was controlled by Germanic tribes, mainly Franks and
Visigoths. Two states came to dominate these areas: Aragon and Castile. In
1492, Granada, the last of the Moorish kingdoms, was defeated by the
Catholic monarchs, Isabel I of Castile (Isabel La Católica) and Fernando II
of Aragon (Fernando el Católico or Ferran el Catòlic).
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.
After 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 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 flee of Moors, Jews and Gitanos from Granada city
and the 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.
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. And the unification of Iberia was complete when Charles
I's son, Felipe II, became King of Portugal in 1580, as well as of the other
Iberian Kingdoms (collectively known as "Spain").
During the 16th century,with Carlos I and Felipe II, Spain became the most
powerful European nation, its territory covering most of South America, the
Iberian peninsula, southern Italy, Germany, and Holland. 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.
Spain was occupied by Napoleon in the early 1800s, but the Spaniards raised
in arms. After the War of Independence (1808-1812), 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 most of its colonies in the Americas during the
19th century, a trend which ended with the loss of Cuba and the Philippines
after the Spanish-American War of 1898.
The 20th century initially brought little peace; colonisation of Western
Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea was attempted as a substitute
for the loss of the Americas. A period of dictatorial rule (1923-1931) ended
with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republic afforded
political autonomy to the Basque Country and Catalonia and gave voting
rights to women. However, with increasing political polarisation 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 until
his death in 1975.
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. He played a key role in guiding Spain further in its
growth into a modern democratic state, notably in opposing an attempted coup
d'etat in 1981. Spain joined NATO in 1982 and became a member of the
European Union in 1986.
With the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the arrival of
democracy, the old historic nationalities — Basque Country, Catalonia and
Galicia — 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.
Politics
Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a
bicameral parliament, the Cortes or National Assembly. 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 Federation of Autonomous Communities, each
one with different powers (for instance, some have their own educational and
health systems, others do not) and laws. There are some problems with this
system, since some autonomous governments (especially those dominated by
nationalist parties) are seeking a more federalist kind of relationship with
Spain, while the Central Government is trying to restrict what some see as
excessive autonomy of some autonomous communities (e.g. Basque Country and
Catalonia).
Terrorism is a problem of present-day Spain, since ETA (Basque Homeland and
Freedom) is trying to achieve Basque independence through violent means,
including bombings and murders. Although Basque Autonomous government does
not condone any kind of violence, the different approaches to the problem
are a source of tension between Central and Basque governments.
Administrative divisions
Administratively, Spain is divided into 50 provinces, grouped into 17
autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities with high degree of autonomy.
Autonomous communities
Spain consists of 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas) and 2
autonomous cities (ciudades autónomas; Ceuta and Melilla).
Andalusia (Andalucía)
Aragon (Aragón)
Asturias, Principality of (Principáu d'Asturies in Asturian/Principado de
Asturias in Spanish )
Balearic Islands (Illes Balears in Catalan /Islas Baleares in Spanish )
Basque Country (Euskadi in Basque/País Vasco in Spanish )
Canary Islands (Islas Canarias)
Cantabria
Castile-La Mancha (Castilla-La Mancha)
Castile-Leon (Castilla y León in Spanish/Castiella y Llión in Astur-leonese
)
Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan/Cataluña in Spanish/ Catalunha in Aranese )
Extremadura
Galicia or Galiza
La Rioja
Madrid
Murcia
Navarre (Nafarroa in Basque/Navarra in Spanish )
Valencia (Comunitat Valenciana in Valencian (Catalan) /Comunidad Valenciana
in Spanish, as official denominations).
The Spanish constitution recognises historic nationalities, but does not
grant a special status for them. Navarre and the Basque Country have a
special tax revenue system.
Provinces
The Spanish kingdom is also divided in 50 provinces (provincias). Autonomous
communities group provinces (for instance, Extremadura is made of two
provinces: Cáceres and Badajoz). The autonomous communities of Asturias, the
Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarre, Murcia, and Madrid are each
composed of a single province.
Places of sovereignty
There are also five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberanía) on and off
the African coast: the cities of Ceuta and Melilla are administered as
autonomous cities, an intermediate status between cities and communities;
the islands of the Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Vélez
de la Gomera are under direct Spanish administration.
The Canary islands, Ceuta and Melilla, although not officially historic
communities, enjoy a special status.
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 Tagus, 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 souther 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.
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 24 º
celsius) throughout the year.
Biggest metropolitan areas
Madrid 5.603.285
Barcelona 4.667.136
Valencia 1.465.423
Sevilla 1.294.081
Malaga 1.019.292
Territorial disputes
Spain has called for the return of possession of Gibraltar, a tiny British
possession on its southern coast. It changed hands during the War of the
Spanish Succession in 1713. The most recent talks dealt with the idea of
"total shared sovereignty" over Gibraltar, subject to a constitutional
referendum by Gibraltarians, who have expressed opposition to any form of
cession to Spain. The talks have been frozen, after the result of a
referendum in Gibraltar where 91% of the people opposed them. See Gibraltar
for more information.
Morocco disputes the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and the uninhabited
Vélez, Alhucemas, Chafarinas, and Perejil ("Parsley") islands, all on the
northern coast of Africa.
The town of Olivenza (Extremadura) and its adjoining countryside is claimed
by Portugal, but the Spanish public is not generally aware of that claim.
Economy
Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis
is 80% that of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right
government successfully worked to gain admission to the first group of
countries launching the European single currency on January 1, 1999. The
administration of José María Aznar has continued to advocate liberalisation,
privatisation, and deregulation of the economy and has introduced some tax
reforms to that end. Unemployment has been steadily falling under the Aznar
administration but remains the highest in the EU at 11.7%. The government
intends to make further progress in changing labour laws and reforming
pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of both Spain's
internal economic advances and its competitiveness in a single currency
area. A general strike in mid-2002 reduced co-operation between labor and
government. Growth of 2.4% in 2003 was satisfactory given the background of
a faltering European economy. 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.
Spain is the second tourism destination in the World after France. They
welcome 52 million tourists per year.
With over 51,7 million tourists a year, behind France (77M) and ahead United
States (41,9M) Spain is ranked as the second major tourist destination in
the world.
Languages
Languages of Spain and their dialects
The Spanish Constitution, although affirming the sovereignty of the Spanish
Nation, recognises historical nationalities.
The Castilian-derived Spanish (called both Español and Castellano in the
language itself) is the official language throughout Spain, but other
regional languages are also spoken, which are also recognised by the Spanish
Constitution as official but only spoken in certain autonomous communities:
Catalan (català) in Catalonia (Catalunya), the Balearic Islands (Illes
Balears) and Valencia.
Basque (euskara) in Basque Country (Euskadi), and parts of Navarre. A
non–Indo-European language.
Galician (galego) in Galicia (Galiza).
Occitan (the Aranese dialect). Spoken in the Val d'Aran in Catalonia.
Catalan, Galician, Aranese (Occitan) and Spanish (Castilian) are all
descended from Latin and have their own dialects, some championed as
separate languages by their speakers (the Valenciano of Valencia, a dialect
of Catalan, is one example).
There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages: Asturian, in
Asturias and parts of Leon, Zamora and Salamanca, and the Extremaduran in
Caceres and Salamanca, both descendents of the historical Astur-Leonese
dialect; the Aragonese or fabla in part of Aragon; the xalimegian or a fala
in Extremadura; and some Portuguese dialectal towns in Extremadura and
Castile-Leon. However, unlike Catalan, Galician, and Basque, these do not
have any official status.
Berber language is spoken among Muslims in Ceuta and Melilla.
In the touristic areas of the Mediterranean costas and the islands, German
and English are spoken by tourists, foreign residents and tourism workers.
Many linguists claim that most of the Spanish language variants spoken in
Latin America (Mexican, Argentinian, Columbian, etc. variants) descended
from the Spanish spoken in southwestern Spain (Andalusia and Extremadura).
Identities
Spain is considered by many, including a large part of Spanish population,
to be a group of nations unified under a single State, much like Belgium,
Switzerland or the United Kingdom. Despite this, the policy of many Spanish
governments has led to a "Spanish nationhood" which is the one people
identify with Spain internationally.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 recognizes historic entities
("nationalities", not "nations") such as Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque
Country or Navarre. In the 19th and 20th centuries, similar recognition was
rare and short-lived.
But Spain's identity is, in fact, an overlap of different national
identities, some of them even conflicting.
Castile is considered to be by many the "core" of Spain. However, this may
just be a reflection of the fact that the Castilian national identity was
the first one to be quashed by the Spanish Empire in the revolt of the
Communards (comuneros). Today, Castilians generally consider themselves to
be Spanish first, with regional identity being of lesser importance.
The opposite is the case of Galicians, Catalans and Basques, who quite
frequently identify primarily with Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country
first, with Spain only second, or even third, after Europe.
The situation is even more confusing, since there are regions with ambiguous
identities, like Navarre, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary
Islands, etc. There has been a lot of internal migration (rural exodus) from
regions like Galicia, Andalusia and Extremadura to Madrid, Catalonia, Basque
Country and the islands.
Until 1714, Spain was a loose confederation of kingdoms and statelets, under
the same king, until — Philip V — removed the autonomous status of the
Aragonese crown. Moreover, the creation of a unified state in the 19th and
20th centuries has lead to the present situation, apparently simple, but
sometimes extremely confusing. During the Second Spanish Republic, the
Basque and Catalan were given limited self-government, which was restored
after 1978.
Yet, relationships betweeen Hispanic peoples have created strong ties
between them, which are more apparent to foreigners than differences.
Minority groups
The most important minority group in the country are the Gitanos. Other
indigenous minorities are Mercheros (or Quinquis) and Vaqueiros de alzada.
Foreign minorities include Arabs and Berbers mainly from Morrocco and other
countries of North Africa, and South-Americans mainly from Ecuador and
Colombia.
Religion
Roman Catholic is, by far, the most popular religion in the country, with
four in five Spaniards (80%) self-identifying as Catholics. The next group
(one in eight, or 12%) is represented by atheists or agnostics. Minority
religions account for one in seventy (1.4%) of all Spaniards.
According to membership source?, the second religion of Spain is the church
of the Jehovah's Witnesses; there are also many protestant branches, 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 lithurgy. Taken together,
all self-described "evangelicals" slightly surpass Jehova's witnesses in
number.
The recent waves of immigration have led to an increasing number of Muslims,
who still acccount for only a fraction of a percent. Muslims were forcibly
converted an then expelled in the 16th century. Since the expulsion of the
Sephardim in 1492, Judaism was practically nonexistent until the 19th
century.
During the last thirty years, Spain is becoming a secularised society. The
number of believers has decreased significantly and for those who believe
the degree of accordance and practice to their church is quite diverse.
According to the latest official poll (CIS, 2002), 80% of Spaniards
self-identify as Catholic, 12% as non-believer, and 1% as other (the
remaining 7% declined to state). Of the 1.4% identifying as other, 29%
identified as Evangelical Christian, 26% as Jehova's Witnesses and 3% as
Muslim (the rest either mentioned smaller religions or declined to state).
According to the same poll, 73% believe in God, 14% don't and 12% are unsure
(1% declined to state). Additionally, according to this poll, only 41%
believe in Heaven. 24% of the Spaniards think that the Bible is just a
fable. Only 25% of Catholics go to church once a week.
According to the CIA World Factbook, 94% of Spaniards are Roman Catholic.
This is consistent with the Catholic Church's practice to claim all baptized
as Catholic regardless of self-identification, and with the CIS poll's
finding that 91% to 96% of all parents are remembered as being catholics.
Despite only 80% of spaniards self-describing as catholics, 94% report
having baptized their children but only 79% being inclined to baptize new
children. 90% had a religious wedding.
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