Spain

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Reino de España
Flag Coat of arms
Official flag Official Coat of Arms
National information
National motto: Plus Ultra (further beyond)
National anthem: Marcha Real
About the people
Official languages: Spanish (Castilian)
(in some self-governing communities, Catalan, Basque or Galician are all considered official languages; in the Val d'Aran, the Aranese local way of speaking, Occitan, is co-official)
Population: (# of people)
  - Total: 40,397,842 (ranked 29)
  - Density: 85 per km²
Geography / Places
country map
Here is the country on a map of the world.
Capital city: Madrid
Largest city: Madrid
Area
  - Total: 504,782 (ranked 50)
  - Water: 5250 km² (1.04%)
Politics / Government
Leaders: King Juan Carlos I (since 1975)
List of Presidents of the Government of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Economy / Money
Currency:
(Name of money)		 Euro (€)¹
International information
Time zone: +01:00
Telephone dialing code: 34
Internet domain: .ES

Spain is a country in the southwest of Europe. It is in the Iberian Peninsula near Portugal and Gibraltar. France and the little country of Andorra are on its northeast side, where the Pyrenees mountains are.

The people of Spain are called Spaniards. Most people there speak Spanish, but there are other languages in different parts of the country. They are Catalan, Basque, and Galician. The religion of most of the people in Spain is Roman Catholic.

Since 1958, Spain has had a king, who only does what the constitution allows him to. For example the king formally declares a war, but only if the Government asks him to do so. The parliament is called Las Cortes Generales, and has two bodies: "El Congreso" and "El Senado" and it is chosen by the Spanish people by voting. This kind of government is called a constitutional monarchy. The King of Spain is called Juan Carlos I. The President of the executive branch of the government is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The government and the king's palace are in Madrid, the capital of Spain.

Spain has more than five hundred thousand square kilometres of land. It is smaller than France, but it is bigger than Sweden or Germany. Around forty-three million people live in Spain.

Spain has 17 parts called autonomous communities (this means that they can decide upon some affairs themselves). Each part has its own government.

Contents

[change] History of Spain

Main article: History of Spain

[change] Early history

Lady of Elche made by the Iberians
Lady of Elche made by the Iberians

People have lived in Spain for a long time. There have been people living there since the Stone Age. The first references to Spain are in the Bible. Some of the first people to live there were Iberians and Celts, and the Phoenicians made a few cities there to get tin and silver to trade. Later, the Roman Empire controlled Spain for about five hundred years; then as the Roman Empire broke up, groups of Germanic people called Visigoths moved into Spain and took it over.

[change] Muslim occupation

In the 700s, Arabic people took over, and later groups from North Africa, called the Moors, ruled most of Spain for eight hundred years. They were Muslims, and Muslim Spain was the farthest western point of Islamic civilization. This civilization was quite advanced at architecture and urban planning. The Moors were very wealthy because they controlled the gold trade from the Ghana Empire in West Africa. They built many beautiful buildings, especially in the south of the country, a place called Al-Andalus. People can see many of their buildings still standing in cities in Andalusia, such as Seville, Granada, and Cordoba.

Muslim Spain was multicultural and tolerant with Jews, Christians and Muslims living side by side. There was also a huge Slavic population (saqaliba) near the Mediterranean coast, at first brought in to be slaves, but many Slavic generals rose to become rulers of their own cities (taifas) for a short time as the Caliphate of Cordoba fell apart in the early 11th century. Muslim Spain was focused on learning - the greatest library system outside Baghdad was also there.

[change] 1492

The Christian kingdoms that were still in the North of Spain fought to take the rest Spain again from the Muslims. They fought wars for many hundreds of years, and slowly pushed the border farther south. Many Christians from the north of Spain and Europe moved into the areas they won.

In the year 1492, they took the last part of Spain that still belonged to the Moors, Granada. Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrendered to King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile on 2 January 1492. It was Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile who now ruled all of Spain.

Before this, there were a number of Christian countries in what is now called Spain. Two of these countries, Castile and Aragon, came together when Ferdinand II of Aragon married the queen Isabella of Castile. It is very important to know that the King ruled as much as the Queen.

Inside of the Mezquita in Córdoba, a Muslim mosque which became a Christian cathedral.
Inside of the Mezquita in Córdoba, a Muslim mosque which became a Christian cathedral.

In the same year, 1492, they sent Christopher Columbus to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus found the islands of the Caribbean Sea.

When other European sailors explored more, they found out that there were two continents there - North America and South America. Spain sent many soldiers and businessmen to North and South America, and they took over very large parts of those two continents. This empire did not make Spain a rich country, for most of the money had to be spent in wars. Many of these wars were fought against other European countries who were trying to take over parts of the Americas.

Meanwhile, at home, the Muslim manuscripts had been either burnt or taken to other countries. Jews had also been expelled from Spain. Some Jews remained but they had to become Christians. Among the few things kept and respected in Spain were in music: harmony and stringed instruments. The buildings that had been built by the Moors were kept, and many Muslim religious buildings (mosques) were turned into churches. Some Jewish religious buildings were also turned into churches. Many Arab words became part of the Spanish Language.

[change] 16th and 17 century

The Emperor of Austria, Charles the V became the King of Spain and Portugal too. So the empire became bigger than ever. However it was not a single countries but many independent countries with a single King. At first many Spaniards did not want that Charles the V were their king, so they fought against him. But the King won.

Charles the V involved Spain in many wars to defend his Austrian empire.

[change] 18th century

In the 18th century some of the parts of that large empire became their own countries, or were taken over by new countries, such as the United States of America.

[change] 19th century

Spain (and other European countries) was invaded by Napoleon of France. Spain, Britain and Europe sent its troops to defend the peninsula, since it was so weak.

[change] 20th century

There was not much peace in Spain during the first part of the 20th century. Some Spaniards tried to set up a government chosen by the people (a democracy), and they made the King of Spain leave the country. However, in 1936, two different groups of Spaniards went to war over whether the government should be a democracy (although those on the side of the Republic were largely socialist or anarchist), or take orders from one person. In 1939, those who wanted democracy were defeated, and a nationalist dictator named Francisco Franco took over the government.

Franco died in 1975. He had decided that Spain should have a monarchy again, and he chose Juan Carlos, the grandson of the king who had been forced to leave the country, to be king. But the king did not rule as a dictator; instead, he chose to set up a democracy. Now Spain is a modern democratic country, and does business with many countries around the world. It is the eighth economy of the world and is an important part of the European Union.

[change] Geography of Spain

The middle of Spain is a high, dry, flat land called La Meseta. In La Meseta it can be very hot in the summer and cold or very cold in the winter. Spain also has many mountain ranges. On the south coast, the weather is warm and "temperate" - temperate weather is neither very hot nor very cold. Since Spain is in the south of Europe, it is very sunny. Many people from Northern Europe take their vacations in Spain, enjoying its beaches and cities.

[change] Cities

The most important cities or municipalities in Spain are:

Avila, Spain has las Murallas

[change] Culture

Spain has very interesting arts and entertainment. It is very multicultural and full of diversity.

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