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Spain
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Background:
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Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975, and rapid economic modernization (Spain joined the EU in 1986) have given Spain one of the most dynamic economies in Europe and made it a global champion of freedom. Continuing challenges include Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorism, illegal immigration, and slowing economic growth. |
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Location:
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Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France |
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Geographic coordinates:
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40 00 N, 4 00 W |
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Map references:
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Europe |
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Area:
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total: 504,782 sq km
land: 499,542 sq km
water: 5,240 sq km
note: there are two autonomous cities - Ceuta and Melilla - and 17 autonomous communities including Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, and three small Spanish possessions off the coast of Morocco - Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly more than twice the size of Oregon |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 1,917.8 km
border countries: Andorra 63.7 km, France 623 km, Gibraltar 1.2 km, Portugal 1,214 km, Morocco (Ceuta) 6.3 km, Morocco (Melilla) 9.6 km |
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Coastline:
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4,964 km |
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm (applies only to the Atlantic Ocean) |
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Climate:
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temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast |
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Terrain:
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large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands 3,718 m |
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Natural resources:
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coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land |
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Land use:
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arable land: 27.18%
permanent crops: 9.85%
other: 62.97% (2005) |
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Irrigated land:
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37,800 sq km (2003) |
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Total renewable water resources:
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111.1 cu km (2005) |
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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total: 37.22 cu km/yr (13%/19%/68%)
per capita: 864 cu m/yr (2002) |
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Natural hazards:
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periodic droughts |
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Environment - current issues:
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pollution of the Mediterranean Sea from raw sewage and effluents from the offshore production of oil and gas; water quality and quantity nationwide; air pollution; deforestation; desertification |
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants |
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Geography - note:
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strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar |
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Population:
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40,448,191 (July 2007 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 14.4% (male 3,005,818/female 2,826,805)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 13,758,869/female 13,661,295)
65 years and over: 17.8% (male 3,002,585/female 4,192,819) (2007 est.) |
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Median age:
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total: 40.3 years
male: 39 years
female: 41.7 years (2007 est.) |
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Population growth rate:
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0.116% (2007 est.) |
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Birth rate:
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9.98 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
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Death rate:
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9.81 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
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Net migration rate:
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0.99 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
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Sex ratio:
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at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.063 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.007 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.716 male(s)/female
total population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate:
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total: 4.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.7 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total population: 79.78 years
male: 76.46 years
female: 83.32 years (2007 est.) |
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Total fertility rate:
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1.29 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.7% (2001 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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140,000 (2001 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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less than 1,000 (2003 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun: Spaniard(s)
adjective: Spanish |
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Ethnic groups:
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composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types |
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Religions:
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Roman Catholic 94%, other 6% |
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Languages:
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Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally |
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.9%
male: 98.7%
female: 97.2% (2003 est.) |
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Country name:
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conventional long form: Kingdom of Spain
conventional short form: Spain
local long form: Reino de Espana
local short form: Espana |
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Government type:
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parliamentary monarchy |
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Capital:
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name: Madrid
geographic coordinates: 40 24 N, 3 41 W
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
note: Spain is divided into two time zones including the Canary Islands |
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Administrative divisions:
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17 autonomous communities (comunidades autonomas, singular - comunidad autonoma)and 2 autonomous cities* (ciudades autonomas, singular - ciudad autonoma); Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, Baleares (Balearic Islands), Ceuta*, Canarias (Canary Islands), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Cataluna, Comunidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Melilla*, Murcia, Navarra, Pais Vasco (Basque Country)
note: the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla plus three small islands of Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, administered directly by the Spanish central government, are all along the coast of Morocco and are collectively referred to as Places of Sovereignty (Plazas de Soberania) |
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Independence:
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the Iberian peninsula was characterized by a variety of independent kingdoms prior to the Muslim occupation that began in the early 8th century A.D. and lasted nearly seven centuries; the small Christian redoubts of the north began the reconquest almost immediately, culminating in the seizure of Granada in 1492; this event completed the unification of several kingdoms and is traditionally considered the forging of present-day Spain |
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National holiday:
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National Day, 12 October (1492); year when Columbus first set foot in the Americas |
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Constitution:
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approved by legislature 31 October 1978; passed by referendum 6 December 1978, effective 29 December 1978 |
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Legal system:
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civil law system, with regional applications; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations |
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Suffrage:
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18 years of age; universal |
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Executive branch:
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chief of state: King JUAN CARLOS I (since 22 November 1975); Heir Apparent Prince FELIPE, son of the monarch, born 30 January 1968
head of government: President of the Government (Prime Minister equivalent) Jose Luis RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO (since 17 April 2004); First Vice President (and Minister of the Presidency) Maria Teresa FERNANDEZ DE LA VEGA (since 18 April 2004) and Second Vice President (and Minister of Economy and Finance) Pedro SOLBES (since 18 April 2004)
cabinet: Council of Ministers designated by the president
note: there is also a Council of State that is the supreme consultative organ of the government, but its recommendations are non-binding
elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually proposed president by the monarch and elected by the National Assembly; election last held on 14 March 2004 (next to be held in March 2008); vice presidents appointed by the monarch on the proposal of the president
election results: Jose Luis RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO elected president; percent of National Assembly vote - 52.29% |
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Legislative branch:
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bicameral; General Courts or National Assembly or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (259 seats; 208 members directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures; to serve four-year terms) and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; each of the 50 electoral provinces fills a minimum of two seats and the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla fill one seat each with members serving a four-year term; the other 248 members are determined by proportional representation based on popular vote on block lists who serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held on 14 March 2004 (next to be held in March 2008); Congress of Deputies - last held on 14 March 2004 (next to be held in March 2008)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - PP 49%, PSOE 38%, Entesa Catalona de Progress 5.7%, PNV 2.8%, CC 2.4%, CiU 2%; seats by party - PP 102, PSOE 81, Entesa Catalona de Progress 12, PNV 6, CiU 4, CC 3; Congress of Deputies - percent of vote by party - PSOE 43.3%, PP 37.8%, CiU 3.2%, IU 3.2%, ERC 2.5%, PNV 1.6%, CC 0.9%, other 7.5%; seats by party - PSOE 164, PP 148, CiU 10, ERC 8, PNV 7, IU 5, CC 3, other 5 |
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Judicial branch:
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Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo |
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Political parties and leaders:
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Aragonese Party or CHA [Bizen FUSTER]; Basque Nationalist Party or PNV [Inigo URKULLU]; Basque Solidarity or EA [Begona ERRAZTI]; Canarian Coalition or CC [Jose Torres STINGA] (a coalition of five parties); Convergence and Union or CiU [Artur MAS i Gavarro] (a coalition of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia or CDC [Artur MAS i Gavarro] and the Democratic Union of Catalonia or UDC [Josep Antoni DURAN i LLEIDA]); Entesa Catalonia de Progress (a Senate coalition grouping four Catalan parties - PSC, ERC, ICV, EUA); Galician Nationalist Bloc or BNG [Anxo Manuel QUINTANA Gonzalez]; Initiative for Catalonia Greens or ICV [Joan SAURA i Laporta]; Navarra yes or Na Bai [Uxue BARKOS Berruezo] (a coalition of four Navarran parties); Popular Party or PP [Mariano RAJOY Brey]; Republican Left of Catalonia or ERC [Josep-Lluis CAROD-ROVIRA]; Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [Jose Luis RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO]; United Left or IU [Gaspar LLAMAZARES Trigo] (a coalition of parties including the PCE and other small parties) |
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Political pressure groups and leaders:
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Association for Victims of Terrorism or AVT (grassroots organization devoted primarily to opposing ETA terrorist attacks and supporting its victims); Basta Ya (Spanish for "Enough is Enough"; grassroots organization devoted primarily to opposing ETA terrorist attacks and supporting its victims); business and landowning interests; Catholic Church; free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); Nunca Mais (Galician for "Never Again"; formed in response to the oil Tanker Prestige oil spill); Socialist General Union of Workers or UGT and the smaller independent Workers Syndical Union or USO; university students; Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Commissions or CC.OO. |
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International organization participation:
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ADB (nonregional members), AfDB, Australia Group, BCIE, BIS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAIA (observer), MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, Union Latina, UNMEE, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC |
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Diplomatic representation in the US:
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chief of mission: Ambassador Carlos WESTENDORP
chancery: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037
telephone: [1] (202) 452-0100, 728-2340
FAX: [1] (202) 833-5670
consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico) |
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Diplomatic representation from the US:
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chief of mission: Ambassador Eduardo AGUIRRE, Jr.
embassy: Serrano 75, 28006 Madrid
mailing address: PSC 61, APO AE 09642
telephone: [34] (91) 587-2200
FAX: [34] (91) 587-2303
consulate(s) general: Barcelona |
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Flag description:
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three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width), and red with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band; the coat of arms includes the royal seal framed by the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar |
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Economy - overview:
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The Spanish economy boomed from 1986 to 1990 averaging 5% annual growth. After a European-wide recession in the early 1990s, the Spanish economy resumed moderate growth starting in 1994. Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is equal to that of the leading West European economies. The center-right government of former President Jose Maria AZNAR successfully worked 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 under the AZNAR administration but remains high at 7.6%. Growth averaging more than 3% annually during 2003-07 was satisfactory given the background of a faltering European economy. The Socialist president, RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO, has made mixed progress in carrying out key structural reforms, which need to be accelerated and deepened to sustain Spain's economic growth. Despite the economy's relative solid footing significant downside risks remain including Spain's continued loss of competitiveness, the potential for a housing market collapse, the country's changing demographic profile, and a decline in EU structural funds. |
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$1.362 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP (official exchange rate):
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$1.415 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate:
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3.8% (2007 est.) |
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GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$33,700 (2007 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 3.8%
industry: 29.4%
services: 66.8% (2007 est.) |
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Labor force:
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22.01 million (2007 est.) |
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Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 5.3%
industry: 30.1%
services: 64.6% (2004 est.) |
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Unemployment rate:
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7.6% (2007 est.) |
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Population below poverty line:
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19.8% (2005) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 26.6% (2000) |
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Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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32 (2005) |
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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2.4% (2007 est.) |
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Investment (gross fixed):
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30.8% of GDP (2007 est.) |
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Budget:
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revenues: $571.1 billion
expenditures: $544.9 billion (2007 est.) |
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Public debt:
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35.7% of GDP (2007 est.) |
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Agriculture - products:
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grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish |
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Industries:
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textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism, clay and refractory products, footwear, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment |
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Industrial production growth rate:
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3% (2007 est.) |
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Electricity - production:
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270.3 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity - production by source:
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fossil fuel: 50.4%
hydro: 18.2%
nuclear: 27.2%
other: 4.1% (2001) |
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Electricity - consumption:
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243 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity - exports:
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11.56 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity - imports:
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10.21 billion kWh (2005) |
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Oil - production:
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29,350 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - consumption:
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1.6 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - exports:
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175,200 bbl/day (2004) |
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Oil - imports:
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1.714 million bbl/day (2004) |
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Oil - proved reserves:
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157.6 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Natural gas - production:
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151.5 million cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption:
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30.58 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports:
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0 cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports:
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31.76 billion cu m (2005) |
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Natural gas - proved reserves:
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2.444 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Current account balance:
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$-126.3 billion (2007 est.) |
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Exports:
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$248.3 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
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Exports - commodities:
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machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods |
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Exports - partners:
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France 18.8%, Germany 11%, Portugal 9%, Italy 8.6%, UK 8%, US 4.4% (2006) |
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Imports:
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$359.1 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
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Imports - commodities:
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machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments |
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Imports - partners:
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Germany 14.8%, France 13.4%, Italy 8.3%, UK 5.2%, Netherlands 4.9%, China 4.6% (2006) |
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Economic aid - donor:
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ODA, $1.33 billion (1999) |
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$16.32 billion (31 December 2007 est.) |
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Debt - external:
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$2.047 trillion (30 June 2007 est.) |
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$439.4 billion (2006 est.) |
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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$509.2 billion (2006 est.) |
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Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$960 billion (2005) |
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Currency (code):
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euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by the financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions with the member countries |
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Currency code:
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EUR |
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Exchange rates:
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euros per US dollar - 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003) |
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Fiscal year:
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calendar year |
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Telephones - main lines in use:
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18.385 million (2006) |
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Telephones - mobile cellular:
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46.152 million (2006) |
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Telephone system:
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general assessment: well developed, modern facilities; fixed-line teledensity is 45 connections for each 100 persons
domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is 160 telephones per 100 persons
international: country code - 34; submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, Middle East, Asia, and US; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to adjacent countries |
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Radio broadcast stations:
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AM 208, FM 715, shortwave 1 (1998) |
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Radios:
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13.1 million (1997) |
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Television broadcast stations:
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224 (plus 2,105 repeaters; includes 11 television broadcast stations and 88 repeaters in the Canary Islands) (1995) |
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Televisions:
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16.2 million (1997) |
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Internet country code:
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.es |
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Internet hosts:
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2.552 million (2007) |
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Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
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56 (2000) |
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Internet users:
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18.578 million (2006) |
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Airports:
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154 (2007) |
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Airports - with paved runways:
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total: 96
over 3,047 m: 18
2,438 to 3,047 m: 11
1,524 to 2,437 m: 18
914 to 1,523 m: 25
under 914 m: 24 (2007) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways:
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total: 58
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 14
under 914 m: 42 (2007) |
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Heliports:
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8 (2007) |
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Pipelines:
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gas 7,858 km; oil 622 km; refined products 3,445 km (2007) |
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Railways:
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total: 14,974 km
broad gauge: 11,919 km 1.668-m gauge (6,950 km electrified)
standard gauge: 1,099 km 1.435-m gauge (1,054 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 1,928 km 1.000-m gauge (815 km electrified); 28 km 0.914-m gauge (28 km electrified) (2006) |
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Roadways:
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total: 666,292 km
paved: 659,629 km (includes 12,009 km of expressways)
unpaved: 6,663 km (2003) |
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Waterways:
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1,000 km (2003) |
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Merchant marine:
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total: 167 ships (1000 GRT or over) 2,365,450 GRT/2,282,245 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 9, cargo 13, chemical tanker 13, container 25, liquefied gas 10, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 52, petroleum tanker 15, refrigerated cargo 5, roll on/roll off 17, specialized tanker 2, vehicle carrier 5
foreign-owned: 33 (Cuba 1, Denmark 2, Germany 9, Italy 1, Mexico 3, Norway 6, US 9, Uruguay 2)
registered in other countries: 106 (Angola 1, Bahamas 11, Belize 2, Brazil 4, Cape Verde 1, Cuba 1, Cyprus 7, Irland 1, Malta 1, Marshall Islands 3, Nigeria 1, Panama 61, Portugal 10, St Kitts and Nevis 1, Venezuela 1) (2007) |
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Ports and terminals:
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Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Huelva, Tarragona, Valencia |
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Military branches:
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Spanish Armed Forces: Army (Ejercito de Tierra), Spanish Navy (Armada Espanola, AE; includes Marine Corps), Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire Espanola, EdA) (2006) |
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Military service age and obligation:
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20 years of age (2004) |
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Manpower available for military service:
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males age 20-49: 9,366,588
females age 20-49: 9,155,057 (2005 est.) |
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Manpower fit for military service:
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males age 20-49: 7,623,356
females age 20-49: 7,434,465 (2005 est.) |
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Manpower reaching military service age annually:
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males age 18-49: 233,384
females age 20-49: 221,805 (2005 est.) |
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Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
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1.2% (2005 est.) |
| Transnational Issues |
Spain |
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Disputes - international:
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in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to remain a British colony and against a "total shared sovereignty" arrangement while demanding participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; Morocco serves as the primary launching site of illegal migration into Spain from North Africa; Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz |
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Illicit drugs:
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despite rigorous law enforcement efforts, North African, Latin American, Galician, and other European traffickers take advantage of Spain's long coastline to land large shipments of cocaine and hashish for distribution to the European market; consumer for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish; destination and minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering site for Colombian narcotics trafficking organizations and organized crime |
History of Spain
Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula
The indigenous peoples of the Iberian peninsula, consisting of a number of separate tribes, are given the generic name of Iberians. This may have included the Basques, as one of the pre-Celtic people. The most important culture of this period is that of the city of Tartessos. Beginning in the 8th century BCE, Celtic tribes entered the Iberian peninsula through the Pyrenees and settled throughout the peninsula, becoming the Celtiberians. 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, after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish). In the 6th century BCE 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).
Roman Empire
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) along with the Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian coastal colonies becoming the province of Hispania. It was divided in 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 the Roman Empire with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian 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. 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.
Muslim Iberia
In the 8th century, nearly all the Iberian peninsula, which had been under Visigothic rule, was quickly conquered (711–718), by Muslims (the Moors), who had crossed over from North Africa. Visigothic Spain was the last of a series of Christian and pagan lands conquered in a great westward charge from the Middle East and across north Africa by the religiously inspired armies of the Umayyad empire. Indeed this onslaught continued northwards until it was decisively defeated in central France at the Battle of Tours in 732. Astonishingly the invasion started off as an invitation from a Visgothic faction within Spain for support. But instead the Berber army, having defeated King Roderic, with its superior tactics and the help of internal infighting among the Visigoths, proceeded to conquer the entire peninsula for itself. 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.
Despite internal discord, the Muslim emirate proved strong in its first three centuries — was able to stop Charlemagne's massive forces at Saragossa and, after suffering from a serious Viking surprise attack in the south, was able to quickly establish effective defences at a time when they were the terror of Europe. Indeed it became a terror in its own right to Christian neighbours with its own "al-jihad fil-bahr" (holy war at sea), raiding shipping and coastal settlements for the purposes of looting and enslavement. The Christian kingdoms were able to seize the lands north of the Duero river from their mountain redoubts, and the Franks were able to seize Barcelona (801) and nearby areas (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. War settled into a pattern of raids and retaliations, with Christian Spain on the defensive. It was only in the 11th century, when Muslim Spain split into small warring kingdoms that the gradually consolidating Christian kingdoms were able to make large, sustained advances southward. By this stage the Christian kingdoms had attained such power that they were much more afraid of each other than of the Muslim kingdoms, and so a free-for-all fight, involving alliances and divisions which often ignored religious affiliations, developed among the Muslim and Christian kingdoms. In trying to increase their status, the Muslim taifa kings competed in patronage of the arts, and the Jewish population of Iberia set the basis of Sephardic culture. The distinctiveness of much Spanish art originates from the Muslim influence of this period, and many Arabic words made their way into Castilian (Spanish) and Catalan, and from them to other European languages. Later, even as Muslim Spain retreated southward, Mozarabs (Christians who spoke an Iberian tongue but used Arabic script to write it) and converts to Christianity brought with them the art and architecture of Muslim Spain into the Christian north.
The Moorish capital was Córdoba, in the southern portion of Spain known as Andalucía. During the time of Arab-Berber occupation, large populations of Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in close quarters, and at its peak some non-Muslims were appointed to high offices. At its best it produced exquisite architecture and art, and Muslim and Jewish scholars played a great part in reviving the study of ancient Greek and Roman culture and philosophy. However, there were also restrictions and prohibitions on non-Muslims, which tended to grow after the death of Al-Hakam II in 976. Later invasions of stricter Muslim groups from north Africa 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.
Spanish society under Muslim rule became increasingly complex, partly because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of the 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. Christianity and Judaism shared with Islam the tradition of the Old Testament, and Islam considered Jesus Christ a major prophet. Most importantly, the Islamic Berber and Arab invaders were a small minority, ruling over a few million Christians. Thus, Christians and Jews were free to practice their religion, but they had to pay a prescribed poll tax. They were not permitted to build new churches or synagogues, and clothing conventions were used to mark them out. Conversion to Islam proceeded slowly at first but then at a steadily increasing pace, as it offered social and economic advantages and an escape from the humiliations of dhimmi status. Merchants, nobles, large landowners, and other local elites were usually the first to convert. By the eleventh century Muslims outnumbered Christians in Al-Andalus.
The Roman Catholic Church in Muslim Spain continued to function, although it lost contact with religious reforms in Rome. Muslim Spain came to include a growing number of Mozarabic Christians, people who adopted Arabic script and culture and preserved the old Christian rites from Visigothic times, that differed from the newer rites in Rome. Under some Muslim rulers, many Jews held prominent positions in commerce and the professions, and sometimes even positions in government.
The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social tensions. From the beginning, the Berber tribespeople of North Africa, who had provided the bulk of the soldiers, clashed with the Arabs of the Middle East, who formed the ruling elite. The Berbers, who were comparatively recent converts to Islam, accounted for the majority of Moors in Spain and they resented the sophistication and aristocratic pretensions of the Arab elite. They soon gave up attempting to settle the harsh lands of the northern reaches of the Meseta Central handed to them by the Arab elite, and, complaining of Arab duplicity, many returned to Africa during a Berber uprising against Arab rule.
Muslim Spain was wealthy and sophisticated under 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 Christiandom began to reach comparable levels of sophistication, and this was due in part to the intellectual and commercial 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, and they helped revive in Europe the Greek philosophical tradition, which they continued to build upon in Spain. Crops and farming techniques introduced by the Arabs, including new irrigation practices, led to a remarkable expansion of agriculture, which had been in decline since Roman times. In towns and cities the Muslims constructed magnificent mosques, palaces, and other architectural monuments, many of which still stand today. 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. This relative social peace, which was already deteriorating from the late 10th century, broke down with the stricter, less tolerant, Muslim sects that arrived from the end of the 11th century.
Roman, Jewish, and Muslim culture interacted in complex ways. A large part of the population gradually adopted Arabic. 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.
Life in Muslim Spain was very different from life in contemporary Christian Spain. Arabic was the official language of government, commerce and scholarship in Muslim controlled areas of Spain, and the majority of the population, including Christians and Jews, spoke it, though many were bilingual and the majority had been converted to Islam. 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
The long, convoluted period of expansion of the Christian kingdoms, beginning in 722, only eleven years after the Moorish invasion, is called the Reconquista. As early as 739, the north-western region of Galicia, which became one of the most important centres of western medieval Christian pilgrimage (Santiago de Compostela), had been liberated from Moorish occupation by forces from neighbouring Asturias. Other areas in the northern mountains and around Barcelona were also soon liberated by Frankish and local forces, providing a base for Spain's Christians. The 1085 conquest of the central city of Toledo had largely brought to an end the reconquest of the northern half of Spain. In 1086 the Almoravids, an ascetic Islamic sect from Africa, quickly conquered the small Moorish states in the south and then launched an invasion in which they captured the east coast as far north as Saragossa. This Islamic revival was short-lived, as by the middle of the 12th century the Almoravid empire had collapsed. 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. By the middle of the 13th century nearly all of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered, leaving only Granada as a small tributary state in the south. Surrounded by Christian Castile but afraid of another invasion by Islamic fundamentalists from Africa, it clung tenaciously to its isolated mountain splendour for two and half centuries. It came to an end when in 1492 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. Having seen out the invasions of no less than three Islamic empires (Ummayad, Almoravid and Almohad), and all too aware of the rapid conquests of a fourth, the Ottoman, there existed a real fear that the local 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. 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 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. In the south the process of conversion was reversed from the 13th century: the majority Muslim population was gradually converted to Roman Catholicism. The mosques and synagogues were converted into churches.
With the union of Castille and Aragon in 1479 and the subsequent incorporation of 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 sixteenth century. It was the unification of these separate Iberian empires that became the base of what is now referred to as the Spanish Empire.
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, although today's more restricted notion of it was beginning to gain in currency. As the old states continued to exist and function with their own laws, assemblies and administrations under one monarch the title of the reigning Habsburgs was "The King of the Spaniards", not "Spain". The grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor but called in Spain Carlos I, extended his crown to other places in Europe and the rest of the world. The unification of Iberia was complete when Charles V's son, Philip II, became King of Portugal in 1580.
During the 16th century, early Habsburg Spain (i.e. the reigns of Charles V and Philip II) became the most powerful state in Europe. The Spanish Empire covered most territories of South and Central America, Mexico, some of Eastern Asia (including The Philippines), the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire from 1580), southern Italy, Sicily, Germany, 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. This Renaissance intellectual transformation is best seen in the influential School of Salamanca.
The treasure fleet across the Atlantic and the Manila galleons across the Pacific made it the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Europe, but the rapidly rising influx of silver and gold from the colonies in the Americas in the last decades of the 16th century ultimately resulted in economically damaging rampant inflation and led to economic depression by the 17th century. Religious and dynastic wars supported by the Spanish crown, especially in the Netherlands, also greatly burdened the empire's economy.
In 1640, under Philip IV, the centralist policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked wars in Portugal and Catalonia. Portugal became an independent kingdom again, taking with it its empire, and Catalonia enjoyed some years of French-supported independence but was quickly returned to the Spanish Crown, except Roussillon.
A series of long and costly wars and revolts followed in the early 17th century, and began a gradual decline of Spanish power in Europe from the 1640s.
Of note during the 17th century was the cultural efflorescence now known as the Spanish Golden Age.
Spain had vast colonies in the Americas, stretching from Chile and Argentina to Central America and Mexico, to some states in the present-day United States. These included all of Florida, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming. The influence of Spain on these cities is still evident in such cities as Los Angeles, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and San Antonio, Texas, as well as the Spanish language's dominance in these states (it is interesting to note that in New Mexico, Spanish is considered one of the 'de facto' official languages, along with English.)
Historically the period of the mid 17th century to the mid 20th century was a relative failure for Spain compared to north western Europe. The lingering, "decline of Spain" after a long period of considerable growth of population was due in large part, ironically, to its spectacular successes in the 15th and 16th centuries that led to the centuries of the treasure fleets. These shipments of silver engendered inflation that ate away at Spanish trades and commerce (never large or sophisticated in the harsh, thinly populated country — much of the manufactures and finance had always originated in third countries). This proved disastrous when the mines declined in output. Worsening matters were the wars defending the global 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). During the vast Thirty Years War the government sought to meet its needs by tampering with the silver content of the currency, leading to severe bouts of inflation and deflation. The financial instability led to the collapse of the Castilian economy and in 1628 Castilians resorted to bartering. A steep economic and demographic decline followed in the empire's plague ridden lynchpin, Castile. Many emigrated, with the shift of much of Spain's population to the Americas combined with a low natural increase contributing to the decline. Habsburg policies that had entrenched the privileges and exemptions of the nobility from the time of the Castilian War of the Communities (1518–1520), and the vast grants of land to the Church, helped to undermine the economy and curtail the spread of modern thought. The resentment of ordinary peasants and labourers would find expression in implicating the nobility of Moorish ancestry and the churchmen of hypocrisy and found its way into the theatre and literature. 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 the country 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 parliamentarist 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 modernise 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 an extraordinary growth (from a relatively low base) which even witnessed the initial steps of an industrialisation 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 status. But this promising late eighteenth century resurgence was short-lived, being totally disrupted by the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century. This initiated a period of turmoil that led to the loss of the vast mainland American territories and plunged the country into endemic political instability until 1939. The Napoleonic incursion led to a fierce guerilla war (Peninsular War) which saw the first wide spread manifestation of Spanish nationalism. The unexpectedly ferocious resistance to the invaders led to manifold atrocities being committed by the French soldiers. Some of these atrocities (and metaphoric references to them) were depicted by Goya the most celebrated artist of the period. The Romantic travellers saw in a backward Spain an exotic country, based on romantic 19th century mythmaking that was confirmed by the instability of the times. In the latter half of the 19th century Spanish Catalonia became the main centre of Spain's industrialization. Pockets of considerable modern industry would appear, especially in Catalonia, (Cataluña) and the Basque country, but generally Spain's political instability and difficult geography made progress slow and extraordinarily uneven.
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 a large number of Pacific islands to the United States after unwittingly and unwillingly being thrust into the Spanish-American War of 1898.
See also: Battle of Guam (1898)
"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 would elude the country for some decades yet, and was ultimately imposed only by a brutal dictatorship in 1939.
Twentieth century
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 it had occupied had an age old history of fighting Europeans, resulting in the military disaster in Morocco in 1921. This contributed to discrediting the monarch and worsened political instability. 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, Catalonia and Galicia (where the autonomy did not have any effect due to the civil war) and gave voting rights to women.
In July 1936, against a backdrop of increasing political polarization, anti-clericalism and pressure from all sides, coupled with growing and unchecked political violence, including the murder of the prominent right-wing political figure José Calvo Sotelo by communist agents, the Republic was faced with an attempted military coup d'etat led by right-wing army generals. Although the coup initially failed, the ensuing Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with the victory of the nationalist forces led by the ruthlessly efficient General Francisco Franco and supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The Republican side, receiving only tepid assistance from European democracies, was supported by the Soviet Union and volunteer International Brigades organized by the Communist Parties of other nations. The Spanish Civil War has been called the first battle of the Second World War. After the civil war, General Francisco Franco ruled a nation exhausted politically and economically. Guerilla warfare in the countryside continued until 1950. During the Second World War, Franco, under extreme pressure (Hitler had brought his army to the border of Spain after invading France), opted to remain neutral arguing that Spain could not afford a new war, but, as a concession to his civil war backer, authorised volunteers to go to the Russian front to fight the Soviet Union in an anti-Communist crusade in what came to be known as the Blue Division. On the other hand tens of thousands of Spanish refugees in France, many of them experienced anti-fascist soldiers and guerrilla fighters, played a leading role in the French resistance. The resentment of Franco's brutality towards the more industrialized pro-Republican regions of Catalonia and the Basque country, whose distinctive languages and identities he suppressed during his long reign, continues to fuel strong separatist movements to this day.
The only official party in Spain at the time of Franco’s regime was the Falange party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Primo de Rivera denied his party was fascist, calling fascism fundamentally false. His political philosophy was based on Catholicism, saying that man "carries eternal values" and carries "a soul that is capable of damning or saving itself". He called for "the greatest respect for… human dignity, for the integrity of man and for his liberty." Primo de Rivera called for what he called "organic democracy", which amounted for all intents and purposes to the fascism he repudiated. Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera was executed in Alicante in 1936.
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 opposition to communism. 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 Andalucia— were given some political autonomy, which was then soon extended to all Spanish regions, resulting in a quite decentralized territorial organization in Western Europe. Remaining dysfunctions, such as unlimited financial strain on contributor regions such as Catalonia make their people aim for a more equilibrated system, such as those enjoyed in Germany, where financial contribution to the whole can never exceed 4% of a Land's GDP. In the Basque Country moderate Basque nationalism coexist with radical nationalism supportive of the terrorist group ETA, which remains one of the biggest problems faced by Spanish citizens.
Adolfo Suárez González, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Bustelo (after an attempted coup d'état on 23 February 1981, Felipe González Márquez (when Spain joined NATO and European Union), José María Aznar López and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero have been presidents of the government of Spain.
Twenty first century
On March 11, 2004, a series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid, Spain. This act of terror resulted in 191 people dead and 1,460 wounded and had a dramatic effect on the upcoming national elections. This was due to the ruling government's role in the Iraq war that was against the opinion of the majority of the spanish population.
Culture of Spain
The Spanish culture has roots in Iberian and Latin influences, Catholicism, Moorish Islam, tension between the centralized Castilian state and its regions, and its minority peoples. In addition, the history of the nation and its Mediterranean climate and geography have played strong roles in shaping its culture.
Regionalism
A strong sense of regional identity exists in many regions of Spain. These regions or nationalities — even those that least identify themselves as Spanish — have contributed greatly to many aspects of mainstream Spanish culture.
Most notably, the Basque Country and Catalonia have widespread nationalist sentiment. Many Basque and Catalan nationalists back statehood for their respective regions. Basque aspirations to statehood have been a cause of violence (notably by ETA), although most Basque nationalists (like virtually all Catalan nationalists) currently seek to fulfill their aspirations by peaceful means.
There are also several communities where, despite widespread acceptance of the community's inclusion in Spain, there is a great sense of regional identity: Andalusia, Galicia, Navarre and Valencia each have their own version of nationalism, but generally without aspirations to independent statehood and generally with a smaller percentage of nationalists than in the Basque Country and Catalonia.
There are other regions which, despite a broad Spanish nationalist feeling, have strong regional identities: Cantabria, Asturias, Rioja, Aragon, Balearic Islands and Extremadura.
There are also the cases of Madrid, an administrative autonomous community inside the two Castilles; the two north African autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and the autonomous community of Murcia. Castile was the core kingdom under which Spain eventually unified after centuries of evolution and incorporations.
Spain has a long history of tension between centralism and regionalism. The current organization of the state into autonomous communities (similar to a federal organization) under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 is intended as a way to incorporate these communities into the state.
Languages of Spain
While nearly everyone in Spain can speak Spanish (which is almost universally known in Spain as castellano — "Castilian" — rather than español — "Spanish") other languages figure prominently in many regions: Basque (Euskara) in the Basque Country and Navarre; Catalan in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia (where it is known as valencià, "Valencian"); and Galician in Galicia. Spanish is official throughout the country; the rest of these have co-official status in their respective regions and all are major enough that there are numerous daily newspapers in these languages and (especially for Catalan and Basque) a significant book publishing industry. Many citizens in these regions consider their regional language as their primary language and Spanish as secondary; these languages cover broad enough regions to have multiple distinct dialects. (Spanish itself also has distinct dialects around the country, with the Andaluz dialect being closer to the Spanish of the Americas, which it heavily influenced.)
In addition, there is strong and growing support for other regional languages, some of them in danger of extinction. These include Asturian in Asturias, Aragonese in Aragon, and Aranese, a dialect of Gascon spoken only in the tiny Val d'Aran, but enough of a live language to be used in the public schools there.
With the exception of Basque, which appears to be a language isolate, all of these are Romance languages.
For more information, see:
Aragonese language
Asturian language
Basque language (Euskara)
Catalan language
Valencian
Extremaduran language
Galician (Gallego)
Gascon language
Aranese language
Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish, Sefardi, etc.)
Occitan language
Spanish language (Castellano)
Contemporary culture
As recently as the mid-20th-century, much of Spain (especially outside of the major cities) remained quite distinct from the rest of Europe. In 1954, V.S. Pritchett could still write of small Spanish towns, "The inn, if there is one, will not be a hotel, nor even a fonda — the Arab word — but perhaps a posada: a place one can ride into with a mule or a donkey, where one can stable an animal and lie down oneself on a sack of straw, the other side of the stall." [Pritchett, 1954 p. 46-47] The idea of Spain as romantically backward, a country of landed aristocrats, illiterate peasants, colourful gypsies and bullfighters, and intense medieval-style religiosity, in great contrast to surrounding modern, industrialised, urbanised European countries was summed up in the saying "Africa begins in the Pyrenees", i.e. Spain was seen as more like North Africa than modern Europe. However, especially since the 1975 death of Francisco Franco, Spain has become increasingly modern, prosperous and European; Pritchett's rustic posada would be unimaginable today.
Franco's death ended a decades-long regime of censorship, leading to an explosive growth in a wide range of cultural areas. The subsequent recognition of strong cultural autonomy for the various Autonomous Communities reinvigorated many aspects of local culture that had been almost entirely repressed since the Spanish Civil War. Spain joined the European Union in 1986.
Dress Style
Historically, various regions of Spain had quite distinct regional dress. Today, most people in Spain dress in a manner comparable to most other contemporary Europeans, although some regional variations persist. Dress in Extremadura and in the smaller cities of Castile remains relatively austere, even on festive occasions, while Andaluz dress on festive occasions is elaborate and ostentatious. Barcelona is one of the most stylish cities in Europe, though more restrained and with a more determinedly timeless style than Paris or Milan.
Customs
While the siesta — an hours-long mid-afternoon break from work — is generally in decline, the typical rhythm of the day in Spain remains relatively distinct from the European norm. Many shops and some museums (though relatively few other businesses) still split their hours into two distinct periods of opening with a two or three hour break in the middle; a paseo (stroll) in the early evening remains a common custom in many smaller cities and to some extent even in the larger ones; the dinner hour is the latest in Europe, typically about 10 p.m.; nightlife begins accordingly late, with many dance clubs (even in relatively small cities) opening at midnight and staying open until dawn; in Madrid in the summer there is nothing unusual about a live musical performance being scheduled for one or two o'clock at night.
Music of Spain
Spain's musical output includes a long history of innovation in Western and Andalusian classical music, as well as a domestic popular music industry, and diverse styles of folk music. In addition, modern Spain has a number of performers in the fields of rock and roll, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop.
The best-known variety of Spanish folk music is probably flamenco, a diverse genre created by Andalusian Roma. Flamenco has been known since at least the 1770s, and has been through several cycles of dwindling popularity and rebirth. The style has produced many of the most famous Spanish musicians, including singer Camarón de la Isla and guitarist Carlos Montoya.
Outside of flamenco, regional Spanish folk music includes the distinct Basque trikitrixa and accordion music, Galician and Asturian gaita (bagpipe) and Aragonese jota. Though some folk traditions have died out or are moribund, some retain great popularity and have been modernized and adapted to new instruments, styles and formats. These include the popular Celtic music of Galicia, the singer-songwriter tradition of nova canço and New Flamenco.
The first distinctly modern popular music of Spain began to appear in about 1959. Soon, Ye-Yé dominated the Spanish charts, followed by the import of American and British rock, French singers and other pop stars.
Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine is made of very different kinds of dishes due to the differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by the variety of seafood available from the waters that surround the country.
As Spain has had a history with many different cultural influences, the richness and variety of its cuisine is overwhelming, but all these ingredients have made up a unique cuisine with thousands of recipes and flavours. Much influence on Spanish cuisine has come from the Jewish and Moorish traditions. The Moors were a strong influence in Spain for many centuries and their food is still eaten in Spain today.
Last update on 14 March 2008
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