Spain

For other uses, see Spain (disambiguation).

"Spanish State" redirects here. For other uses, see Spanish State (disambiguation).

Kingdom of Spain
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Plus Ultra" (Latin: 'Further beyond')
Anthem: Marcha Granadera/Marcha Real Española
Spain Rest of the European Union Rest of Europe
Status	Member state of the European Union
Capital and largest city	Madrid 40°25′N 3°45′W
Official languages	Spanish
Demonym	Spanish, Spaniard
Member of	EU · NATO · UN · OECD · OSCE · OEI · ABINIA · EDA · EBRD · CoE · EuroMed · G-12 · G-20
Government	Parliamentary monarchy
• King	Felipe VI
• President of the Government	Pedro Sánchez
Formation
• Dynastic union	Hispanic Monarchy
• Single sovereign	House of Austria (1516–1714)
• Absolutist State	Nueva Planta (1707–1716)
• Liberal state	Constitution of 1812
• Second Republic	Constitution of 1931
• Francoist dictatorship	Francoist Cortes (1942–1977)
• Current democracy	Constitution of 1978
Area
• Total	505,944 km2 (195,346 sq mi) (52nd)
• Water (%)	1.04
• Land borders	1,952.7 km
• Coastline	4,964 km
Population
• 2024 (2nd quarter) estimate	48,692,804 (30th)
• Density	95.26/km2 (246.7/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2023 (est.) estimate
• Total	$2.401 trillion (15th)
• Per capita	$50,470 ([[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|38th]])
GDP (nominal)	2023 (est.) estimate
• Total	$1.580 trillion (15th)
• Per capita	$33,090 ([[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|34th]])
Gini (2023)	31.5 medium inequality
HDI (2022)	0.911 very high (27th)
Currency	Euro (€) (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code	+34
ISO 3166 code	ES
Internet TLD	.es
ISO code: 724 / ESP / ES Radio prefix: AMA-AOZ, EAA-EHZ Vehicle registration code: E Aircraft registration code: EC, EM

Spain, also called the Kingdom of Spain, is a transcontinental country, a member of the European Union, constituted as a social and democratic State under the rule of law, whose form of government is parliamentary monarchy. Its territory, with its capital in Madrid, is organized into seventeen autonomous communities, themselves made up of fifty provinces, and two autonomous cities.

Spain is located both in the south of Western Europe and in North Africa. In Europe, it occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula, known as Peninsular Spain, and the Balearic Islands (in the western Mediterranean Sea); in Africa lie the cities of Ceuta (on the Tingitana Peninsula) and Melilla (on Cape Three Forks), the Canary Islands (in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean), the Chafarinas Islands (Mediterranean Sea), the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (Mediterranean Sea), the Alhucemas Islands (gulf of the Alhucemas Islands) and Alborán Island (Alboran Sea). The municipality of Llívia, in the Pyrenees, is an enclave entirely surrounded by French territory. The set of territories is completed by a series of islands and islets off the peninsular coasts themselves.

It has an area of 505,370 km², making it the fourth-largest country on the continent, after Russia, Ukraine and France. With an average altitude of 650 meters above sea level, it is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe. Its population is 47,007,367 inhabitants (2019). The peninsular territory shares land borders with France and with Andorra to the north, with Portugal to the west, and with the British territory of Gibraltar to the south. In its African territories, it shares land and maritime borders with Morocco. It shares with France sovereignty over Pheasant Island at the mouth of the Bidasoa river and five Pyrenean facerías.

In accordance with the Constitution, and under its article 3.1, "Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it". In 2012, it was the mother tongue of 82% of Spaniards. Under article 3.2, "the other Spanish languages shall also be official in the respective Autonomous Communities in accordance with their Statutes".

Its gross domestic product places the Spanish economy in thirteenth position worldwide. Spain is a tourism powerhouse, as it is the second most visited country in the world, with 82 million tourists in 2017, and the second country in the world in economic revenue from tourism. It is, moreover, the eighth country in the world with the greatest presence of multinational corporations. It has a very high Human Development Index (0.891), according to the 2017 report of the UN Development Programme.

The first confirmed presence of hominids of the genus Homo dates back 1.2 million years before present, as attested by the discovery of a jaw of a still unclassified Homo at Atapuerca. In the 3rd century BC, the Roman intervention in the Peninsula took place, which led to a subsequent conquest of what would later become Hispania. In the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by various Germanic peoples and by the Muslims, the latter maintaining a presence for somewhat more than seven centuries. It is not until the 15th century, with the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon and the culmination of the Reconquista, together with the subsequent annexation of Navarre, that one can speak of the foundation of Spain, as it was recognized abroad. Already in the Modern Age, the Spanish monarchs ruled the first global overseas empire, which encompassed territories on all five continents, leaving a vast cultural and linguistic heritage across the globe. At the beginning of the 19th century, after successive wars in Hispanic America, it lost most of its territories in America, a situation that was aggravated by the Disaster of '98. During this century there would also be a war against the French invader, a series of civil wars, a short-lived republic replaced once again by a constitutional monarchy, and the process of modernization of the country. In the first third of the 20th century, a constitutional republic was proclaimed. A failed military coup d'état caused the outbreak of a civil war, whose end gave way to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which ended with his death in 1975, at which point a transition to democracy began, whose climax was the drafting, ratification by referendum and promulgation of the Constitution of 1978, which upholds freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism as the highest values of the legal order.

Toponymy

Origin of the word Hispania

Castle of Sancti Petri (San Fernando, Cádiz). The Temple of Hercules Melqart stood at this site.

The name of Spain derives from Hispania, the name by which the Romans geographically designated the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, a term alternative to the name Iberia, which was preferred by Greek authors to refer to the same area. However, the fact that the term Hispania is not of Latin root has led to the formulation of several theories about its origin, some of them controversial.

Hispania comes from the Phoenician i-spn-ya, a term whose use is documented from the second millennium before Christ, in Ugaritic inscriptions. The Phoenicians were the first non-Iberian civilization to reach the peninsula in order to expand their trade, and they founded, among others, Gadir, present-day Cádiz, the oldest inhabited city in Western Europe. The Romans took the name from the defeated Carthaginians, interpreting the prefix i as "coast", "island" or "land", with ya meaning "region". The lexeme spn, which in Phoenician and also in Hebrew can be read as saphan, was translated as "rabbits" (in reality "hyraxes", rabbit-sized animals widespread across Africa and the Fertile Crescent). The Romans, therefore, gave Hispania the meaning of "land abounding in rabbits", a usage recorded by Cicero, Caesar, Pliny the Elder, Cato, Livy and, in particular, Catullus, who refers to Hispania as the cuniculosa peninsula (on some coins minted in the time of Hadrian, personifications of Hispania appeared as a seated lady with a rabbit at her feet), in reference to the time he lived in Hispania.

On the Phoenician origin of the term, the historian and Hebraist Cándido María Trigueros proposed a different theory at the Royal Academy of Good Letters of Barcelona in 1767, based on the fact that the Phoenician alphabet (like the Hebrew one) lacked vowels. Thus spn (sphan in Hebrew and Aramaic) would mean "the north" in Phoenician, a name the Phoenicians would have adopted on reaching the Iberian Peninsula while skirting the African coast, seeing it to the north of their route, so that i-spn-ya would be the "land of the north". For his part, according to Jesús Luis Cunchillos in his Gramática fenicia elemental (2000), the root of the term span is spy, meaning "to forge" or "to beat metals". Thus, i-spn-ya would be "the land where metals are forged".

Apart from the theory of Phoenician origin, which is the most widely accepted even though the precise meaning of the term is still a subject of debate, various hypotheses have been proposed throughout history, based on apparent similarities and more or less related meanings. At the beginning of the Modern Age, Antonio de Nebrija, following Isidore of Seville, proposed its native origin as a deformation of the Iberian word Hispalis, which would mean "the city of the west" and that, Hispalis being the principal city of the peninsula, the Phoenicians and later the Romans gave its name to its whole territory. Later, Juan Antonio Moguel proposed in the 19th century that the term Hispania could come from the Basque word Izpania, which would mean "that divides the sea", being composed of the words iz and pania or bania, meaning "to divide" or "to split". In this regard, Miguel de Unamuno declared in 1902: "The only difficulty I find [...] is that, according to some of my countrymen, the name España derives from the Basque ezpaña, lip, alluding to the position our peninsula has in Europe". Other hypotheses supposed that both Hispalis and Hispania were derived from the names of two legendary kings of Spain, Hispalus and his son Hispan or Hispanus, son and grandson, respectively, of Hercules.

Evolution of the word Hispania into España

From the Visigothic period onward, the term Hispania, until then used geographically, also began to be used with a political connotation, as shown by the use of the expression Laus Hispaniae to describe the history of the peoples of the peninsula in the chronicles of Isidore of Seville.

You are, O Hispania, sacred and ever-happy mother of princes and peoples, the most beautiful of all the lands that stretch from the West to India. You, by right, are now the queen of all the provinces, from whom not only the setting sun but also the East receive their light on loan. You are the honor and ornament of the world and the most illustrious portion of the earth, in which the glorious fertility of the Gothic nation greatly rejoices and splendidly flourishes. Rightly has nature enriched you and been more indulgent with you in the abundance of all created things; you are rich in fruits, copious in grapes, joyful in harvests... You lie in the most pleasant region of the world, neither scorched by the tropical heat of the sun nor numbed by glacial rigors, but, girded by a temperate zone of the sky, you are nourished by happy and gentle zephyrs... And therefore, rightly, golden Rome, head of the nations, long ago desired you and, although the Roman power itself, first victorious, possessed you, yet in the end the flourishing nation of the Goths, after countless victories throughout the world, conquered you with zeal and loved you, and until now enjoys you securely amid royal insignia and most copious treasures, in the security and happiness of empire.

— Isidore of Seville, Saint (6th–7th century). Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum [Historia de los reyes de los godos, vándalos y suevos] (in español). Trans. by Rodríguez Alonso (1975). León. pp. 169 and 171. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

The word España derives phonetically from Hĭspanĭa, regularly, through the palatalization of /n/ into /ñ/ before the Latin yod -ĭa, the loss of the initial H- (which occurs in Late Latin) and the opening of the ĭ in initial position to /e/. However, España cannot be considered the Spanish translation of the Latin word Hispania, since modern usage designates a different extent.

Historical use of the term España

Use of the term España up to the Middle Ages

The evolution of the word España is in keeping with other cultural usages. Until the Renaissance, place names referring to national and regional territories were relatively unstable, both semantically and in terms of their precise geographical delimitation. Thus, in Roman times Hispania corresponded to the territory they occupied on the peninsula, the Balearics and, in the 3rd century, part of North Africa—Mauretania Tingitana, which was included in the year 285 in the Diocesis Hispaniarum.

Under Visigothic rule, King Leovigild, after unifying most of the territory of peninsular Spain at the end of the 6th century, styled himself King of Gallaecia, Hispania and Narbonensis. Saint Isidore of Seville narrates the pursuit of peninsular unity, finally achieved in the reign of Suintila in the first half of the 7th century, and speaks of "mother Spain". In his work Historia Gothorum, Suintila appears as the first King of Totius Spaniae ("all Spain"). The prologue of the same work is the well-known De laude Spaniae ("On the praise of Spain").

In the time of King Mauregatus, the hymn O Dei Verbum was composed, in which the apostle is described as the golden, shining head of Ispaniae ("Oh, vere digne sanctior apostole caput refulgens aureum Ispaniae, tutorque nobis et patronus vernulus").

Manuscript of the Estoria de España by Alfonso X of Castile, "the Wise".

With the Muslim invasion, the name Spania or España became اسبانيا, Isbāniyā. The use of the word España continued to be unstable, depending on who used it and in what circumstances. Some chronicles and other documents of the Early Middle Ages use that name (España or Spania) exclusively for the territory ruled by the Muslims. Thus, Alfonso I of Aragon, "the Battler", says in his documents that "He reigns in Pamplona, Aragon, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza" and, when in 1126 he made an expedition as far as Málaga, he tells us that he "went to the lands of Spain". But from the last years of the 12th century onward, the use of the name España for the whole Peninsula, whether Muslim or Christian, became widespread again. Thus there is talk of the five kingdoms of Spain: Granada (Muslim), León with Castile, Navarre, Portugal and the Crown of Aragon (Christian).

Identification with the Crowns of Castile and Aragon

As the Reconquista advanced, several kings proclaimed themselves princes of Spain, seeking to reflect the importance of their kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula. After the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon, the name España began to be used in these two kingdoms to refer to both, a circumstance that, in any case, was nothing new; thus, already in documents from the years 1124 and 1125, on the occasion of the military expedition through Andalusia of Alfonso the Battler, he—who had unified the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon after his marriage to Urraca I of León—was referred to with the terms "reigning in Spain" or reigning "in all the land of Christians and Saracens of Spain".

Independent evolution of the demonym español

The demonym español has evolved differently from what might be expected (something similar to "hispánico" would be expected). There are several theories about how the demonym español itself arose. According to one of them, the suffix -ol is characteristic of the Provençal Romance languages and uncommon in the Romance languages then spoken on the peninsula, so it holds that it would have been imported from the 9th century onward, with the development of the phenomenon of medieval pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, by the numerous Frankish visitors who traveled through the peninsula, favoring the gradual spread of the adaptation of the Latin name hispani based on the espagnol, espanyol, espannol, espanhol, español, etc. (the spellings gn, nh and ny, as well as nn, and its abbreviation ñ, represented the same phoneme) with which they designated the Christians of ancient Hispania. Later, it would have been the dissemination work of the educated elites that promoted the use of español and españoles: the word españoles appears twenty-four times in the cartulary of the cathedral of Huesca, a manuscript from 1139–1221, while in the Estoria de España, written between 1260 and 1274 at the initiative of Alfonso X the Wise, the demonym españoles was used exclusively.

The Diccionario de la lengua española published by the Royal Spanish Academy, in its twenty-third edition (2014), states that the word español comes from the Provençal espaignol, and this from the Medieval Latin Hispaniŏlus, from Hispania, España.

Main article: History of Spain

Prehistory, protohistory and Ancient Age

Main articles: Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula, Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula, and Ancient history of the Iberian Peninsula

Replica of one of the bison of the Cave of Altamira (Cantabria), painted during the Upper Paleolithic.

The present-day territory of Spain is home to two of the most important sites for European and world prehistory: the Sierra de Atapuerca (where the species Homo antecessor was defined and the most complete series of bones of Homo heidelbergensis has been found) and the Cave of Altamira (where Paleolithic art was identified for the first time).

The particular position of the Iberian Peninsula as the "Far West" of the Mediterranean world determined the arrival of successive cultural influences from the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly those linked to the Neolithic and the Metal Ages (agriculture, pottery, megalithism), a process that culminated in the so-called historical colonizations of the 1st millennium BC. Both because of their location, favorable for communications, and because of their agricultural possibilities and mineral wealth, the eastern and southern areas were the ones that reached the greatest development (Los Millares culture, Argaric culture, Tartessos, Iberian peoples). There were also continuous contacts with Central Europe (Urnfield culture, Celticization).

The Lady of Elche, masterpiece of Iberian art.

The oldest dating of a historical event in Spain is that of the legendary founding of the Phoenician colony of Gadir (the Roman Gades, today Cádiz), which according to Roman sources (Velleius Paterculus and Livy) would have taken place eighty years after the war of Troy, before that of Rome itself, which would place it in 1104 BC and would make it the founding of a city in Western Europe with the oldest references. The no less legendary references collected by Herodotus of Greek contacts with the Tartessian kingdom of Arganthonios would, for their part, be placed in the year 630 BC. The archaeological evidence of Phoenician settlements (Ebusus—Ibiza—, Sexi—Almuñécar—, Malaka—Málaga—) allows us to speak of a Phoenician monopoly of the trade routes around the Strait of Gibraltar (including those of the Atlantic, such as the tin route), which limited Greek colonization to the Mediterranean north (Emporion, present-day Ampurias).

The Phoenician colonies came to be controlled by Carthage from the 6th century BC, a period in which the disappearance of Tartessos also took place. Already in the 3rd century BC, the victory of Rome in the First Punic War further stimulated Carthaginian interest in the Iberian Peninsula, which led to a true territorial colonization or Carthaginian empire in Hispania, centered on Qart Hadasht (Cartagena) and led by the Barcid family.

Roman intervention came in the Second Punic War (218 BC), which began a gradual Roman conquest of Hispania, not completed until almost two hundred years later. The Carthaginian defeat allowed a relatively rapid incorporation of the eastern and southern areas, which were the richest and had a level of economic, social and cultural development more compatible with Roman civilization itself. Much more difficult proved to be the subjugation of the poorer peoples of the Meseta (Lusitanian Wars and Celtiberian Wars), which required confronting military approaches completely different from classical warfare (the guerrilla led by Viriathus—murdered in 139 BC—, extreme resistance such as that of Numantia—defeated in 133 BC—).

In the following century, the Roman provinces of Hispania, turned into a source of enrichment for Roman officials and merchants and of raw materials and mercenaries, were among the main theaters of the Roman civil wars, with the presence of Sertorius, Pompey and Julius Caesar. Pacification (Pax Romana) was the declared purpose of Augustus, who sought to settle it definitively with the subjugation of the Cantabrians and Astures (29–19 BC), although their effective Romanization did not take place.

Roman Theatre of Mérida. More than two thousand years after its construction it is still used as a performance venue.

In the rest of the territory, the Romanization of Hispania was so profound that some Hispano-Roman families attained the imperial dignity (Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius) and there were Hispani among the most important Roman intellectuals (the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the poets Lucan, Quintilian or Martial, the geographer Pomponius Mela or the agronomist Columella), although, as Livy wrote in the time of Augustus, "although it was the first important province invaded by the Romans, it was the last to be completely dominated and has resisted until our time," attributing this to the nature of the territory and the recalcitrant character of its inhabitants.

The Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula resulted in an assimilation of the Roman way of life with notable regional variations. In the region of Baetica, characterized by its early conquest and its agricultural and mineral wealth, Romanization was deep and advanced. Cities such as Corduba, Hispalis (Seville) or Italica became Romanized urban centers, with institutions, architecture and ways of life fully integrated into the Roman model, including the adoption of Latin, Roman law and the imperial religion. This region, densely urbanized and connected by roads, underwent an intense acculturation, favored by the presence of Italic settlers and the economic exploitation of resources such as oil and wine.

By contrast, in the northern and northwestern areas of the peninsula, such as the lands of the Cantabrians, Astures and Gallaeci, Romanization was slower and more superficial. These areas, definitively conquered after the Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC), had mountainous terrain and a social organization based on hillforts (castros), which hindered the implantation of Roman urban structures. Although cities such as Asturica Augusta (Astorga) or Lucus Augusti (Lugo) were founded, the adoption of Roman customs was partial, limited in many cases to local elites who collaborated with Rome, while rural communities maintained indigenous practices. Elements such as Latin or Roman law had a lesser penetration, and local traditions, such as indigenous cults, persisted for centuries. This disparity reflects the geographic, economic and cultural differences between the southern regions, more integrated into the Mediterranean world, and the northern ones, more isolated and resistant to Roman acculturation.

Middle Ages

Main article: Medieval history of Spain

Early Middle Ages

Votive crown of Recceswinth, Treasure of Guarrazar.

In the year 409 a group of Germanic peoples (Suebi, Alans and Vandals) invaded the Iberian Peninsula. In 416 they were followed in turn by the Visigoths, an equally Germanic people but much more Romanized, under the justification of restoring imperial authority. In practice this link ceased to have any significance, and they created a Visigothic Kingdom with its capital first in Tolosa (the present-day French city of Toulouse) and later in Toletum (Toledo), after being defeated by the Franks at the Battle of Vouillé (507). Meanwhile, the Vandals crossed to Africa and the Suebi formed the Kingdom of Braga in the former province of Gallaecia (the northwestern quadrant of the peninsula). Liuvigild built a powerful Visigothic monarchy with the successive defeats of the Suebi of the northwest and other peoples of the north (the Cantabrian area, little Romanized, remained for centuries without clear subjection to a state authority) and of the Byzantines of the southeast (Province of Spania, centered on Carthago Spartaria, present-day Cartagena), which was not completed until the reign of Suintila in the year 625. Saint Isidore of Seville in his Historia Gothorum rejoices that this King "was the first to possess the monarchy of the kingdom of all Spain that the ocean surrounds, something granted to none of his predecessors..." The elective character of the Visigothic monarchy brought great political instability, marked by continuous rebellions and regicides. Religious unity had come about with the conversion of Reccared to Catholicism (587), proscribing the Arianism that until then had set the Visigoths apart, preventing their fusion with the Hispano-Roman ruling classes. The Councils of Toledo became a body in which, gathered in assembly, the King, the principal nobles and the bishops of all the dioceses of the kingdom considered matters of both a political and a religious nature. The Liber Iudiciorum, promulgated by Recceswinth (654) as common law for Hispano-Romans and Visigoths, had great later influence.

In the year 689 the Arabs reached northwestern Africa, and in the year 711, called in by the Visigothic faction hostile to King Roderic, they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar (a name that recalls the Berber general Tarik, who led the expedition) and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Guadalete. The evidence of their superiority led them to turn the intervention, limited in character at first, into a true imposition as a new power in Hispania, which ended up becoming an emirate or province of the Arab empire called al-Andalus, with its capital in the city of Córdoba. The Muslim advance was swift: in 712 they took Toledo, the Visigothic capital; the remaining cities capitulated or were conquered until, by 716, Muslim control covered the whole peninsula, although in the north their rule was more nominal than effective. In Septimania, northeast of the Pyrenees, a nucleus of Visigothic resistance held out until 719. The Muslim advance against the Frankish Kingdom was halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers (732). The loosely controlled northwestern area of the Iberian Peninsula was the scene of the formation of a Christian nucleus of resistance centered on the Cantabrian Mountains, an area in which a group of little-Romanized peoples (Astures, Cantabrians and Vascones), scarcely subjected to the Gothic kingdom, had not aroused great interest among the new Islamic authorities either. In the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, the Gothic or Hispano-Roman lords either converted to Islam (the so-called muladíes, such as the Banu Qasi family, which dominated the middle Ebro valley) or remained loyal to the Muslim authorities while still being Christians (the so-called Mozarabs), preserving their economic and social position and even a high degree of political and territorial power (such as Tudmir, who dominated an extensive area of the southeast).

Victory Cross, Cámara Santa of the Oviedo Cathedral.

The initial uprising of Don Pelayo failed, but in a new attempt in the year 722 he managed to prevail over a Muslim punitive expedition in a small mountain stronghold, which historiography called the "Battle of Covadonga". The determination of the characteristics of that episode remains an unresolved matter, since rather than a claim of Visigothic legitimism (if Pelayo himself or the nobles who accompanied him were Visigoths) it manifested itself as a continuation of the resistance of the local Cantabrians to central power (despite the name finally adopted by the Kingdom of Asturias, the area belonged not to any of the Asturian peoples, but to the Cantabrian Vadinienses). The "Goticism" of later chronicles established its interpretation as the beginning of the "Reconquista", the recovery of the entire peninsular territory, to which the Christians of the north believed they had a right since they considered themselves the legitimate continuators of the Visigothic monarchy.

The eastern Christian nuclei had an initial development clearly different from that of the western ones. The continuity of the Goths of Septimania, incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, was the basis for the campaigns of Charlemagne against the Emirate of Córdoba, with the intention of establishing a Hispanic March north of the Ebro, similar to what he did with other border marches on the limits of his Empire. Once the conquest of the areas of the Ebro Valley proved impossible, the March was limited to the Pyrenean area, which was organized into various counties in constant change, conflict and alliance both among themselves and with the Arabs and muladíes of the south. The counts, of Frankish, Gothic or local origin (Vascones in the case of the County of Pamplona), exercised a de facto independent power, although they maintained vassalic subordination to the Emperor or, later, to the King of Francia Occidentalis. The process of feudalization that led to the breakup of the Carolingian dynasty, evident in the 9th century, gradually established the hereditary transmission of the counties and their complete emancipation from the link with the Frankish kings. In any case, the nominal link was maintained for a long time: until the year 988 the Counts of Barcelona kept renewing their contract of vassalage.

Interior of the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba.

In 756, Abd al-Rahman I (an Umayyad survivor of the extermination of the caliphal family dethroned by the Abbasids) was taken in by his supporters in al-Andalus and established himself as emir. From then on, the Emirate of Córdoba was politically independent of the Abbasid Caliphate (which moved its capital to Baghdad). Obedience to the central power of Córdoba was challenged at times by revolts or episodes of dissent led by different ethno-religious groups, such as the Berbers of the Duero Meseta, the muladíes of the Ebro Valley or the Mozarabs of Toledo, Mérida or Córdoba (Day of the Ditch of Toledo and Elipandus, Martyrs of Córdoba and Saint Eulogius), and there was even a serious uprising led by a Muslim converted to Christianity (Umar ibn Hafsun, at Bobastro). The nuclei of Christian resistance in the north became consolidated, although their effective independence depended on the strength or weakness that the Cordoban Emirate was able to show.

In 929, Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph, expressing his claim to dominion over all Muslims. The Caliphate of Córdoba only managed to impose itself, beyond the Iberian Peninsula, over a vague North African territory; but it did achieve notable economic and social growth, with great urban development and cultural vigor in all kinds of sciences, arts and letters, which made it stand out both in the Islamic world and in the then backward Christian Europe (sunk in the "Dark Age" that followed the Carolingian renaissance). Cities such as Valencia, Zaragoza, Toledo or Seville became important urban centers, but Córdoba became, during the caliphate of al-Hakam II, the largest city in Western Europe; it perhaps reached half a million inhabitants, and was undoubtedly the greatest cultural center of the time. In the final years of the 10th century, the general Almanzor led aceifas every spring (punitive and plundering expeditions) against the Christians of the north (Pamplona, 978; León, 982; Barcelona, 985; Santiago, 997). On his death in 1002, after his defeat by a Christian coalition at the Battle of Calatañazor, a series of conflicts began among the ruling Muslim families, which led to the disappearance of the caliphate and the formation of a mosaic of small kingdoms, called taifas.

The Kingdom of Asturias, with its capital fixed at Oviedo since the reign of Alfonso II the Chaste, had been transformed into the Kingdom of León in 910 with García I, when Alfonso III the Great divided his territories among his sons. In 914, after García's death, Ordoño II ascended the throne, reunified Galicia, Asturias and León, and definitively fixed his capital in the latter city. His territory, which reached the Duero, was gradually repopulated through the system of presura (granting the land to the first person who broke it for cultivation, in order to attract population to the dangerous frontier zones), while lay or ecclesiastical lordships (of nobles or monasteries) were established later. In the areas where the frontier was a more permanent condition and defense fell to the social figure of the commoner-knight, which occurred particularly in the eastern part of the kingdom, a territory with a markedly differentiated personality took shape: the County of Castile (Fernán González). A process to some extent similar (aprisio) took place in the Catalan counties of so-called Old Catalonia (up to the Llobregat, as opposed to New Catalonia, conquered from the 12th century onward).

High Middle Ages

Church of Sant Climent de Taüll, Catalan Romanesque.

The 11th century began with the predominance of the Kingdom of Navarre among the Christian kingdoms. Sancho III the Great incorporated the central Pyrenean counties (Aragon, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza) and the Leonese County of Castile, establishing a de facto protectorate over the Kingdom of León itself. The conflicts among the Muslim taifas, which turned to the Christians as mercenary troops to prevail over one another, notably increased the Christians' power, which became sufficient to subject the taifas to the payment of parias.

The territories of Sancho the Great were distributed among his sons after his death. Ferdinand obtained Castile. His marriage to the sister of the Leonese King and Navarrese support allowed him to establish himself as King of León after the death of his brother-in-law at the Battle of Tamarón (1037). On Ferdinand's death a new territorial division was carried out, which multiplied the number of territories that acquired royal rank: the Kingdom of León, the Kingdom of Galicia, the Kingdom of Castile, as well as the city of Zamora. Reunifications and divisions followed one after another, always reversed, except in the case of the County of Portugal, which became a kingdom. The conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI (1085) allowed the repopulation of the broad region between the Duero and Tagus rivers through the granting of fueros and cartas pueblas to councils with jurisdiction over large areas (comunidad de villa y tierra), over which they exercised a kind of "collective lordship". A similar process took place in the Ebro Valley, repopulated (partly with Mozarabs who had emigrated from the south of the peninsula) after the conquest of Zaragoza (1118) by Alfonso I the Battler, King of Navarre and Aragon, who even became King consort of Castile and León (in a troubled marriage to Urraca I of Castile, which ended in annulment). On his death without direct heirs his kingdoms separated definitively: while Navarre was left on the margins of the Reconquista, without growth toward the south, Aragon became linked with Catalonia in 1137 through the marriage of Queen Petronilla to Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and they formed the Crown of Aragon.

Burgos Cathedral, Gothic, like many other cathedrals of Spain.

For its part, the formation of the Crown of Castile as a set of kingdoms, with a single king and a single Cortes, was not consolidated until the 13th century. The different territories preserved various juridical particularities, as well as their status as a kingdom, perpetuated in the royal titles: "King of Castile, of León, of Galicia, of Nájera, of Toledo,... Lord of Biscay and of Molina", successively adding the titles of sovereignty of the new kingdoms as they were conquered or acquired. Alfonso VII adopted the title of Imperator totius Hispaniae. The repopulation of the broad, relatively depopulated area between the Tagus and Sierra Morena was entrusted to the military orders (Santiago, Alcántara, Calatrava, Montesa).

Alhambra of Granada.

The Christian advances southward were successively confronted by two North African interventions: that of the Almoravids (battles of Zalaca, 1086, and Uclés, 1108) and that of the Almohads (Battle of Alarcos, 1195), which unified the taifas under a more rigorist conception of Islam, their rulers having been accused of corruption and of temporizing with the Christians. However, the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) meant a decisive imposition of Christian predominance, and within a few years only one Muslim stronghold remained on the peninsula, the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. The political and military decline of al-Andalus was simultaneous with its greatest splendor in the artistic and cultural fields (Aljafería Palace, Alhambra of Granada, Averroes, Ibn Hazm).

The Crown of Castile, under Ferdinand III the Saint, conquered in the central years of the 13th century the entire Guadalquivir Valley (the kingdoms of Jaén, of Córdoba and of Seville) and the Kingdom of Murcia; meanwhile the Crown of Aragon, after its expansion north of the Pyrenees was frustrated (Albigensian Crusade), conquered the kingdoms of Valencia and of Majorca (James I the Conqueror). The agreement between both crowns defined their respective zones of influence, and even marriage alliances (of Alfonso X the Wise with Violant of Aragon). The repopulation by Christians of these areas, densely inhabited by Muslims, many of whom remained after the conquest (Mudéjars), was carried out through the repartimiento of lots of rural and urban properties of varying importance according to the social rank of those who had taken part in the capture of each of the cities. The coexistence of Christians, Muslims and Jews produced a cultural exchange of the very highest level (Toledo School of Translators, Alfonsine tables, works of Ramon Llull), while several studium arabicum et hebraicum were opened (Toledo, Murcia, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona), as well as the studia generalia that became the first universities (Palencia, Salamanca, Valladolid, Alcalá, Lleida, Perpignan).

Late Middle Ages

Main article: Crisis of the Middle Ages in Spain

Hall of the Council of One Hundred, today the City Hall of Barcelona.

From the Sicilian Vespers (1282) onward, the Crown of Aragon began an expansion across the Mediterranean in which it incorporated Sardinia, Sicily and even, briefly, the duchies of Athens and Neopatras. In competition with Portugal, the Crown of Castile opted for an Atlantic expansion, based on its control of the Strait. In 1402 the conquest of the Canary Islands began; until then they had been inhabited exclusively by the Guanches. The initial occupation was carried out by Norman lords (Jean de Béthencourt) who paid vassalage to King Henry III of Castile. The process of conquest was not concluded until 1496, completed by the action of the crown itself. The demarcation of the Portuguese and Castilian zones of influence was agreed in the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479), which reserved for the Portuguese the routes of the South Atlantic and therefore the circumnavigation of Africa that would allow a sea route to India.

Saint Dominic Presiding over an Auto-da-fé, by Pedro Berruguete, c. 1495.

The great mortality caused by the Great Plague of 1348, particularly severe in the Crown of Aragon, preceded by the bad harvests of the cycle of 1333 (lo mal any primer), caused great instability, economic and social as well as political and ideological. In Castile the First Castilian Civil War (1351–1369) broke out between the supporters of Peter I the Cruel and his half-brother Henry II of Trastámara. In Aragon, on the death of Martin I the Humane, representatives of the three States of the Crown chose as successor, in the Compromise of Caspe (1412), Ferdinand of Antequera, of the Castilian House of Trastámara. Aragonese Mediterranean expansion continued with the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples during the reign of Alfonso V the Magnanimous. The crisis was particularly intense in Catalonia, whose political expression was the disputes between John II of Aragon and his son, Charles of Viana, which were exploited by the representative institutions of local power (the Generalitat or standing commission of the Cortes, and the Council of One Hundred or governing council of the City of Barcelona) to show how little effective power the Aragonese monarchy had over the particularism (pactism, foralism) of each of its territories, where the traditional constitutions, usages and customs (Usatges, observances) prevailed over the royal will. Simultaneously, social tensions broke out between la Busca and la Biga (upper and lower bourgeoisie of the City of Barcelona) and the revolts of the payeses de remença (peasants subjected to a particularly harsh regime of personal subjection), all of which triggered the complex Catalan Civil War (1462–1472). The weakening of Barcelona and Catalonia benefited Valencia, which became the seaport that centralized the commercial expansion of the Crown of Aragon and reached 75,000 inhabitants by the middle of the 15th century, with a cultural flowering that allows it to be defined as the Valencian Golden Age. The Kingdom of Aragon, landlocked and centered on fundamentally agricultural and livestock activities, saw its economic and social development limited. The privileges of the ricoshombres and of the lay and ecclesiastical nobility prevented the development of a thriving bourgeoisie, and its relative weight in the balance among the States of the Aragonese Crown diminished.

Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic Monarchs. Their marriage in 1469 sealed the dynastic union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon.

In 1479, with the accession to the throne of Ferdinand the Catholic, second son and heir of John II, and King consort of Castile through his marriage to Isabella the Catholic, social tensions were reduced, including peasant conflict (Arbitral Sentence of Guadalupe, 1486). The growing antisemitism, stimulated by preachers such as Saint Vincent Ferrer or the Archdeacon of Écija, had exploded in the anti-Jewish revolt of 1391, which, by provoking mass conversions, gave rise to the converso problem: the discrimination of the New Christians by the Old Christians, which even reached violent persecution (anti-converso revolt of Pedro Sarmiento in Toledo, 1449) and prompted the creation of the Spanish Inquisition (1478).

Modern Age

Main articles: Early modern history of Spain and Spanish Empire

Portrait of Charles I and Isabella of Portugal, copy by Rubens of a lost original by Titian.

The marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand (1469), and the victory of the side that supported them in the War of the Castilian Succession, determined the dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. The territorial unification of the peninsula increased with the Granada War (1482–1492) and the annexation of Navarre (1512), and territorial expansion continued in North Africa and Italy. The marriage policy of the Catholic Monarchs, who married their children to heirs of all the royal houses of Western Europe except the French (Portugal, England and the Habsburg States), led to a fortuitous concentration of kingdoms in their grandson Charles of Habsburg (Charles I as King of Spain, 1516; Charles V as Emperor, 1521), which, together with the enormous territorial dimension of the recently discovered America (1492), turned into a true colonial empire, made the Hispanic Monarchy the most powerful in the world. In that same annus mirabilis of 1492 the expulsion of the Jews was decreed and the Gramática castellana of Antonio de Nebrija appeared.

The power of the "imperials" did not take root in Castile without overcoming strong opposition (War of the Communities), which showed the centrality of the Spanish kingdoms within Charles's Empire. Despite his triumph in the Italian Wars against France, the failure of the imperial idea of Charles V (largely caused by the opposition of the German Protestant princes) led the Emperor to plan the division of his States between his brother Ferdinand I (Archduchy of Austria and the German Empire) and his son Philip II (Flanders, Italy and Spain, together with the overseas empire). The alliance between the Habsburgs of Vienna and the Habsburgs of Madrid was maintained between 1559 and 1700. Spanish hegemony was even increased with the Iberian Union with Portugal, maintained between 1580 and 1640; and it was able to face open conflicts throughout Europe: the French Wars of Religion, the Revolt of Flanders (1568–1648, which ended with the division of the territory into a Protestant north—Holland—and a Catholic south—the Spanish Netherlands) and the growing Turkish power in the Mediterranean (halted at the Battle of Lepanto, 1571). Command of the seas was challenged by the Dutch and the English, who managed to resist the so-called Invincible Armada of 1588. Within Spain the Alterations of Aragon (1590) and the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568) were harshly suppressed. The latter was a manifestation of the non-integration of the Moriscos, which found no solution until the radical expulsion of 1609, in the following reign, which in areas such as Valencia caused severe depopulation and the decline of the productive agriculture characteristic of this social group.

Portrait of Philip II, traditionally attributed to Alonso Sánchez Coello and recently to Sofonisba Anguissola, 1570.

The price revolution of the 16th century was caused by the massive arrival of silver in Castile, which monopolized the American trade, and brought about the collapse of local productive activities, while manufactured European products were imported. The crisis of the 17th century particularly affected Spain, which under the so-called Minor Habsburgs (Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II) entered an evident decline. Simultaneously, Spanish art and culture were living the most brilliant moments of the Golden Age. Having overcome the critical juncture of the crisis of 1640, in which it was on the verge of dissolving (revolt of the Catalans, revolt of Masaniello in Naples, Andalusian alterations, independence of Portugal), the Hispanic Monarchy redefined itself, now without Portugal and with the French border fixed in the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659).

The Family of Philip V, by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1743.

The War of the Spanish Succession (1700–1715) and the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt determined the change of dynasty, with the House of Bourbon taking the throne (with which the Family Compacts were maintained during almost the whole of the 18th century), although it meant the loss of the territories of Flanders and Italy to the benefit of Austria and onerous concessions in the American trade to the benefit of England, which also retained Gibraltar and Minorca. Within Spain a political model was imposed that adapted French absolutism and centralism to the institutions of the Crown of Castile, which were imposed on the Crown of Aragon (Nueva Planta decrees). Only the Basque provinces and Navarre kept their foral regime. In the context of a new period of growth, economic reactivation and colonial recovery in America were pursued, with mercantilist measures in the first half of the century, which gave way to the new paradigm of freedom of trade, already in the reign of Charles III. The Esquilache Riots (1766) allow a comparison of the differing degree of sociopolitical development with France, where a to some extent similar situation led to the Revolution, while in Spain the crisis was closed with the replacement of the team of enlightened ministers and the halting of their reformist program, the expulsion of the Jesuits and a rebalancing of positions at court between the factions of the golillas and manteístas.

Spanish and Portuguese empires in 1790.

Contemporary Age

Main article: Contemporary history of Spain

19th century

See also: Napoleonic Invasion of Spain, Hispanic American War of Independence, Spain during the Spanish War of Independence, Napoleonic Spain, Absolutist Restoration in Spain, Reign of Isabella II of Spain, Revolution of 1868, Sexenio Democrático and Bourbon Restoration in Spain.

The Second of May 1808 in Madrid, by Goya, shows the uprising of May 2 of the people of Madrid against the invading French army, which triggered the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain.

The Contemporary Age did not begin very well for Spain. In 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar, a Spanish-French squadron was defeated by the United Kingdom, which meant the end of Spanish supremacy at sea in favor of the United Kingdom, while Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, who had taken power in that country in the complex political scenario that arose after the triumph of the French Revolution, took advantage of the disputes between Charles IV and his son Ferdinand and ordered his powerful army sent to Spain in 1808. His pretext was to invade Portugal, for which he counted on the complicity of the Spanish King's first minister, Manuel Godoy, to whom he had promised the throne of one of the parts into which he intended to divide the Portuguese country. The French Emperor imposed his brother Joseph I on the throne, which unleashed the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain, which would last five years. During that time the first Spanish Constitution, of a markedly liberal character, was drafted in the so-called Cortes of Cádiz. It was promulgated on March 19, 1812, the feast of Saint Joseph, which is why it was popularly known as "la Pepa". After the defeat of Napoleon's troops, which culminated at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, Ferdinand VII returned to the throne of Spain.

The Promulgation of the Constitution of 1812, work by Salvador Viniegra (Museum of the Cortes of Cádiz).

During the reign of Ferdinand VII the Spanish Monarchy underwent the transition from the Ancien Régime to the Liberal State. After his arrival in Spain, Ferdinand VII repealed the Constitution of 1812 and persecuted the constitutionalist liberals, beginning a rigid absolutism. Meanwhile, the Hispanic American War of Independence continued its course, and despite the military effort of the royalists, when the conflict ended only the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, in America, remained under Spanish government. With the end of the Ominous Decade and with the support of the liberal politicians for the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830, Spain was once again organized as a parliamentary monarchy. In this way both revolutionary processes gave rise to the new national States that exist today. The end of the reign of Ferdinand VII also marked the extinction of absolutism throughout the Hispanic world.

Queen Isabella II of Spain.

The death of Ferdinand VII in 1833 opened a new period of strong political and economic instability. His brother Carlos María Isidro, backed by the absolutist partisans, rebelled against the designation of Isabella II, daughter of Ferdinand VII, as heiress and constitutional Queen, and against the repeal of the Regulation of Succession of 1713, which prevented the succession of women to the Crown. Thus the First Carlist War broke out. The reign of Isabella II was characterized by the alternation in power of progressives and moderates, although this alternation was motivated more by military pronunciamientos of both stripes than by a peaceful transfer of power according to election results.

Proclamation of the First Republic, during the Sexenio Democrático, in the Plaza de San Jaime of Barcelona (February 1873).

The Revolution of 1868, called "the Glorious", forced Isabella II to leave Spain. Constituent Cortes were convened, which declared themselves in favor of the monarchical regime, and, on the initiative of General Juan Prim, the Crown was offered to Amadeo of Savoy, son of the King of Italy. His reign was brief because of the weariness caused him by the politicians of the moment and the rejection of his person by important sectors of society, to which was added the loss of his main supporter, the aforementioned General Prim, assassinated before Amadeo even set foot in Spain. The First Republic was then proclaimed, which did not enjoy a long life either, though a very turbulent one: in eleven months it had four presidents: Figueras, Pi y Margall, Salmerón and Castelar. During this convulsive period there were serious territorial tensions and armed clashes, such as the declaration of independence of the Canton of Cartagena, the greatest exponent of cantonalism. This stage ended in 1874 with the pronunciamientos of Generals Martínez-Campos and Pavía, who dissolved Parliament.

The Bourbon Restoration proclaimed Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II, King. Spain experienced great political stability thanks to the system of government advocated by the conservative politician Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, which was based on the peaceful turn in government of the Conservative (Cánovas del Castillo) and Liberal (Práxedes Mateo Sagasta) parties. In 1885 Alfonso XII died and the regency was entrusted to his widow María Cristina, until the coming of age of her son Alfonso XIII, born after his father's death. The pro-independence rebellion of Cuba in 1895 induced the United States to intervene in the area. After the confusing incident of the explosion of the battleship USS Maine on February 15, 1898, in the port of Havana, the United States declared war on Spain. Defeated by the North American nation, Spain lost its last colonies: Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.

20th century

Alfonso XIII and Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1930

The 20th century began with a great economic crisis and the subsequent political instability. There was an interlude of commercial prosperity brought about by Spanish neutrality in the First World War, but the succession of government crises, the unfavorable course of the Rif War, which worsened as a result of native tribal opposition to the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, social unrest and the discontent of part of the army, led to the coup d'état of General Miguel Primo de Rivera on September 13, 1923. He established a military dictatorship that was accepted by a large part of the social forces and by King Alfonso XIII himself. During the dictatorship freedoms and rights were suppressed, which, added to the difficult economic situation and the growth of the republican parties, made the situation increasingly unsustainable. In 1930 Primo de Rivera submitted his resignation to the King and left for Paris, where he died shortly afterward. He was succeeded at the head of the Directorate by General Dámaso Berenguer and then, for a short time, by Admiral Aznar. This period is known as the "dictablanda".

Determined to find a solution to the political situation and establish the Constitution, the King promoted the holding of municipal elections on April 12, 1931. These gave a resounding victory to the republican-socialist candidacies in the large cities and provincial capitals, although the total number of councilors was mostly monarchist. The demonstrations organized demanding the establishment of a democratic republic led the King to leave the country and to its proclamation on April 14 of that same year. During the Second Republic there was great political and social agitation, marked by a sharp radicalization of left and right. Moderate leaders were boycotted and each side sought to create a Spain to its own measure. During the first two years, a coalition of republican and socialist parties governed. In the elections held in 1933 the right triumphed, and in 1936, the left. Violent acts during this period included the burning of churches, the monarchist uprising of the soldier José Sanjurjo, the Revolution of 1934 and numerous attacks on rival political leaders. On the other hand, it was also during the Second Republic that important reforms to modernize the country began—a democratic Constitution, agrarian reform, restructuring of the army, the first Statutes of Autonomy…—and citizens' rights were expanded, such as the recognition of women's right to vote, with universal suffrage being established.

Bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War (April 26, 1937).

Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975

On July 17 and 18, 1936, the military garrisons of Spanish Africa rose up against the government of the Republic, a coup d'état that succeeded in only part of the country. Spain was divided into two zones: one under the authority of the Republican Government—in which the Social Revolution of 1936 took place—and another controlled by the rebels. The situation led to the Spanish Civil War, in which General Francisco Franco was invested supreme commander of the rebels. The German support of Hitler and the Italian support of Mussolini for the rebels, firmer than the Soviet support of Stalin and the Mexican support of Lázaro Cárdenas for the Republicans, and the continuous clashes among the different Republican factions, among other reasons, led to the victory of the Francoists on April 1, 1939.

The victory of General Franco meant the establishment of a dictatorial regime. The development of a strong repression of the defeated forced thousands of Spaniards into exile and condemned as many others to death or imprisonment. Spain's support for the Axis powers during the Second World War led it to an international isolation of a political and economic nature. Nevertheless, the anticommunism of the Spanish regime meant that during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Francoist regime was tolerated and finally recognized by the Western powers. At the end of the 1950s its international isolation ended with the signing of several agreements with the United States that allowed the installation of joint Spanish-American military bases in Spain. In 1956, Morocco, which had been a Spanish and French protectorate, gained its independence, and a plan of economic stabilization of the country was launched. In 1968, Franco granted independence to Spanish Guinea, and the following year he named Juan Carlos de Borbón, grandson of Alfonso XIII, as his successor with the title of king. Although the regime maintained an iron repression against any political opposition, Spain experienced very significant industrial and economic development during the 1960s and 1970s.

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain from 1975 to 2014.

Francisco Franco died on November 20, 1975, and Juan Carlos I was proclaimed King two days later. A period known as the transition to democracy then began. Adolfo Suárez was appointed President of the Government by the King and managed to have the Law for Political Reform approved in the Francoist Cortes. In 1977 democratic elections were held. In 1978 the Spanish Constitution was promulgated, establishing a social and democratic State under the rule of law with parliamentary monarchy as its form of government. In 1979, after the first elections under the new constitution, the centrist coalition Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) obtained a simple majority in the Congress of Deputies and Adolfo Suárez was invested President of the Government. On January 29, 1981, he resigned due to internal pressure from his own party.

Adolfo Suárez, first President of the Government of the current democracy

During this period the Basque terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) committed a large number of attacks, especially against members of the army and the security forces, as well as others of an indiscriminate nature. During the investiture vote session for Suárez's successor, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo (UCD), on February 23, 1981, an attempted coup d'état promoted by high-ranking military commanders took place. The Palace of the Cortes was taken by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, but the coup attempt was aborted the same day by the intervention of King Juan Carlos in defense of the constitutional order. In 1981 the protocol of Spain's accession to NATO was signed in Brussels, beginning the process of integration into the Alliance, which ended in the spring of 1982, during the UCD Government.

In the general elections of 1982 the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) led by Felipe González won by an absolute majority; he was appointed President of the Government and remained in power for four legislatures. In 1986, Spain joined the European Economic Community, precursor of the European Union, and a referendum on Spain's continued membership in NATO was held, in which "yes" won. In 1992, Spain appeared in a striking way on the international stage, offering an image of a solid and modern country, with the holding of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the declaration of Madrid as European City of Culture and the holding in Seville of the Universal Exposition.

During this period a profound modernization of the Spanish economy and society took place, characterized by industrial restructurings and the replacement of the late-Francoist economic model by a more liberal one—which led to three major general strikes—, the generalization of contemporary thought and values in Spanish society, the development of the State of the Autonomies, the transformation of the armed forces and the enormous development of civil infrastructure—such as the multiplication of the highway network. However, there was also a situation of high unemployment, and toward the end of the period there was a significant economic stagnation, which did not begin to recover until 1999—when the unemployment rate fell from 23 % to 15 %. 1994 and 1995 were two of the worst years in the democracy because of the multiplication and discovery of corruption cases: the state terrorism of the Antiterrorist Liberation Groups (GAL), the Roldán case, the CESID wiretaps, etc.

In the early general elections of 1996 the People's Party (PP) won, opening a new political stage in Spain. However, it did not obtain an absolute majority, so José María Aznar had to make pacts with the nationalist parties in order to be invested President of the Government. His Government faced a key challenge: improving the economic data so as to allow Spain to be among the member countries of the European Union that would share the new single currency, the euro, a milestone achieved at the end of 1997. ETA terrorism remained active. On July 10, 1997, ETA kidnapped the PP councilor of Ermua Miguel Ángel Blanco and threatened to murder him if the Government did not meet its demands. Two days later, the ETA members took his life. His death provoked a massive movement of repudiation in the Basque Country and in the rest of Spain known as the Spirit of Ermua.

21st century

King Juan Carlos I and Presidents of the Government Aznar, González, Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy in 2015

The 21st century began with a brutal terrorist escalation by ETA in the year 2000 and with the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, which led Spain to support the American military interventions in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). The latter was carried out without the support of the UN and despite numerous demonstrations against it by Spanish and world public opinion.

In 2002 the euro came into circulation in Spain and in eleven other countries that made up the eurozone, replacing the peseta and the respective national currencies. This monetary change caused a concealed rise in prices. Between 1994 and 2007 there was a significant expansion of the Spanish economy, based fundamentally on the construction sector. At the end of the 20th century and throughout the 21st century Spain received a large number of immigrants from Latin American countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru or the Dominican Republic, as well as from different areas of Africa, Asia and Europe. The strong expansive economic growth the country showed from 1993 onward required a large amount of labor.

Tribute to the victims of the March 11, 2004 attacks, at the Alcalá de Henares station.

On Thursday, March 11, 2004, the 11-M attacks took place in Madrid, the largest terrorist attack in the history of Spain, which caused the deaths of 192 people and some 1,500 injured. Ten almost simultaneous explosions took place on four trains during the morning rush hour on the Madrid commuter rail network. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. The social dismay at the attacks and at the disputed reaction of the Government caused an enormous popular mobilization, in which 11 million citizens demonstrated in the streets of almost every city in the country. Three days after the attacks the general elections of 2004 were held. The popular agitation proved decisive in the outcome of the elections, in which the PSOE won. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero became the fifth President of the Government.

With Zapatero as President of the Government, the Spanish troops fighting in Iraq were withdrawn. This caused a considerable cooling of diplomatic relations with the United States. The European Constitution was signed and the referendum on the European Constitution was held, in which Spanish citizens approved the treaty. However, its rejection in referendums in France and Holland caused it to fail. Homosexual marriage was also approved, among other social reforms promised in the Socialists' electoral program.

On March 22, 2006, the terrorist organization ETA announced its second ceasefire, which it broke on December 30 of that same year by placing a van bomb in Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport, an attack in which two people lost their lives.

The elections of 2008 once again gave victory to the PSOE, and Zapatero formed his second Government. These elections consolidated and strengthened two-party dominance: the two major parties occupied 323 of the 350 seats in Congress. That same year Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008, whose theme was water and sustainable development. The worldwide Great Recession and the bursting of the property bubble caused a very serious economic crisis in Spain. From May 2011 onward, social movements known as the "indignados" or 15-M appeared, calling for a more participatory democracy. In September the constitution was reformed in order to guarantee the budgetary stability of the public administration. On October 20, 2011, the terrorist organization ETA announced the "definitive cessation of its armed activity" and made its dissolution effective on May 3, 2018.

Protests of the 15-M Movement, in May 2012, Barcelona.

In view of the difficult economic situation, early general elections were held in 2011, in which the People's Party obtained an absolute majority and Mariano Rajoy was invested President of the Government. Rajoy had to face a particularly difficult economic and social situation, territorial tensions in Catalonia and a growing discrediting of the political class. In 2012 he approved a severe plan of social cuts, and in June he requested from the European Union the bailout of the financial institutions, after the collapse of Bankia. In the first quarter of 2013, the number of unemployed in Spain peaked, exceeding six million unemployed for the first time.

Juan Carlos I de Borbón and his son Felipe, one day after the former's abdication

On June 2, 2014, King Juan Carlos I expressed his intention to abdicate the Crown in favor of his son. Felipe VI was proclaimed King of Spain before the Cortes Generales on June 19 of the same year, after the abdication became effective.

The general elections of 2015 saw the entry of two new parties, Podemos and Ciudadanos, leading to a four-party scenario in which no President of the Government could be invested. Rajoy declined to stand for investiture and the Socialist Pedro Sánchez failed in his attempt. In 2016, general elections were held again with similar results. Rajoy, supported by Ciudadanos, stood for investiture but was rejected. Finally, the abstention of a PSOE plunged into a deep internal crisis allowed Rajoy to be invested and form his second Government after ten months of a caretaker Government.

Failed attempt at independence in Catalonia in 2017.

Spain was once again the victim of a jihadist attack in Catalonia when, on August 17 and 18, 2017, terrorists of the Islamic State murdered 16 people in Barcelona and Cambrils. On October 1, a referendum on the independence of Catalonia not recognized by the State was held; the Catalan Parlament proclaimed independence (October 27) and the Government applied Article 155 of the Constitution and called regional elections; the president Carles Puigdemont fled the country and was arrested in Germany in March 2018, but the German courts denied Spain his extradition.

On June 1, 2018, Pedro Sánchez was invested President of the Government after a motion of censure against Rajoy. Throughout 2019 two general elections were held in the country. During those months of caretaker government, notable events were the exhumation of Francisco Franco from the Valley of the Fallen and the Supreme Court ruling on the members of the procés, which led to a week of strong protests in Catalonia. In January 2020, Sánchez was invested President and formed the first coalition government since the Second Republic, with Unidas Podemos. In March, the country, along with the rest of the planet, suffered the COVID-19 pandemic, accompanied by severe restrictions.

On May 29, 2023, after the failure of the PSOE in the regional and local elections, Sánchez called general elections for July 23 of the same year. On November 16, he was invested for the third time as President of the Government after obtaining the favorable vote of Sumar and of 5 pro-independence parties.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Spain

Spain is a social and democratic State under the rule of law whose political form is parliamentary monarchy. National sovereignty resides in the Spanish people, from whom the powers of the State emanate.

The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards, and recognizes and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions that make it up and the solidarity among all of them.

— Spanish Constitution of 1978, Article 2.

Separation of powers

The King of Spain Felipe VI.

The President of the Government Pedro Sánchez.

The head of state is the King, who arbitrates and moderates the regular functioning of the institutions and assumes the highest representation of the Spanish State in international relations, in addition to symbolizing the unity and permanence of the nation. In any case, he has no initiative of his own in his political acts, since he is not responsible for them and they must always be countersigned by the competent political authority.

The executive power—domestic and foreign policy and civil and military administration—as well as regulatory authority, are exercised by the Government. The Council of Ministers is presided over by the President of the Government, who appoints his ministers and has the functions proper to a head of government in a parliamentary system. He is accountable to the Cortes Generales. At the beginning of each legislature, the King holds a round of consultations with the leaders of the political groups and proposes a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. The Congress of Deputies votes on the investiture of the President of the Government, which requires an absolute majority in the first vote or a simple majority in the second. Until now the person elected President of the Government has always been the leader of the party or pre-electoral coalition that obtained the largest number of votes and seats. Although the formation of a coalition government is possible, since 1977 all governments have been "single-colored"—formed by a single party or pre-electoral coalition—even when they only had the parliamentary backing of a relative majority. The Congress of Deputies can remove the President of the Government through a constructive motion of censure in which it is determined who replaces him in his post.

The legislative power is exercised by the Cortes Generales, the supreme body of representation of the Spanish people. The Cortes Generales are a bicameral parliament composed of the Congress of Deputies—Lower House—and the Senate—Upper House. General elections are held every four years by universal suffrage, in which Spaniards over 18 years of age have the right to vote. The Congress of Deputies is made up of 350 members elected by multi-member proportional voting with closed lists. Seats are distributed among the candidacies using the D'Hondt system. The electoral district is the province. The Senate is the chamber of territorial representation and currently has 266 members elected through a mixed system, 208 directly elected and 58 appointed. The directly elected senators are chosen by partial multi-member majority voting with open lists. The appointed senators are chosen by the regional legislative bodies, at times different from those of the general elections, also for a period of four years.

The judicial power is formed by the body of courts and tribunals, made up of judges and magistrates, who have the authority to administer justice in the name of the King. Judges are career civil servants, at the summit of whom are the Audiencia Nacional and the Supreme Court, the highest jurisdictional body in all orders except in matters of constitutional guarantees, governed by the General Council of the Judiciary, which controls their appointments, promotions, inspection and disciplinary regime. The members of that institution, as well as those of the Constitutional Court—which, as a constitutional body separate from the judicial power, resolves appeals of unconstitutionality and conflicts of competence between the State and the country's autonomous communities—, are elected by different political bodies; this has resulted in an implicit link of each of them to the political party that appoints them, in contradiction with their theoretical independence, a circumstance explicitly highlighted by the media and in political and intellectual debate.

Foreign relations

Main pages: Foreign relations of Spain and Category:Bilateral relations of Spain

Signing ceremony of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007

Spain has been a member of the European Union since January 1, 1986.

In addition, it is part of international organizations such as the United Nations (since December 14, 1955), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (since May 30, 1982) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; continental ones such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the treaty of the Western European Union and the European Defence Agency; and organizations that strengthen the historical and cultural ties of the transatlantic bond, such as the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture, the Latin Union, the Ibero-American Community of Nations and ABINIA.

The Spanish Government contributes 2.52 % of the UN's annual budget (2006).

Armed forces

Main article: Spanish Armed Forces

The ship Juan Carlos I (L-61), Eurofighter fighters, Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan and a Leopard 2E tank.

The Spanish Armed Forces are responsible for national defense, and, as established in the eighth article of the Constitution, their mission is "to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain, to defend its territorial integrity and the constitutional order".

They have traditionally been divided into three branches: the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. At present, these branches are joined by the Royal Guard—a separate ceremonial corps, at the service of the King, which performs mainly security tasks—and the Military Emergencies Unit—an integrated corps whose mission is to intervene rapidly anywhere in the national territory in the event of catastrophe or other public needs—, both being made up of personnel from the three main branches.

Spain is one of the most important nations of the European Union Force (EUFOR) and of the Eurocorps. It also occupies a prominent position in the structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which it joined in 1982. In addition, it has the sixth most powerful navy, the oldest Marine Infantry corps in the world and the two oldest permanent military units in the world: the Inmemorial del Rey Infantry Regiment No. 1 and the Soria Light Infantry Regiment No. 9.

Spain has a prosperous military industry and access to cutting-edge technology: its suppliers are mainly national and European, although also American. The Spanish military industry has the capacity to develop and manufacture advanced technological solutions through companies with global reach such as Airbus—aerospace sector—, Navantia—a public shipbuilding company—, Santa Bárbara, ITP or Indra, companies in which the Spanish State has notable influence. In the 2010s, this sector experienced a notable boom that made Spain the seventh largest arms exporter in the world in 2020, having tripled the value of its military exports in the last decade.

Human rights

Europride 2007 in Madrid.

Status of Spain in the main international human rights instruments

Instrument	Status
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)	Signed and ratified
Optional Protocol to the CESCR (CESCR-OP)	Signed and ratified
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)	Signed and ratified
First Optional Protocol to the CCPR (CCPR-OP1)	Signed and ratified
Second Optional Protocol to the CCPR (CCPR-OP2)	Signed and ratified
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)	Signed and ratified; competence to receive individual communications recognized
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)	Signed and ratified
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)	Signed and ratified
Optional Protocol to the CEDAW (CEDAW-OP)	Signed and ratified
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)	Signed and ratified; competence to receive individual communications recognized
Optional Protocol to the CAT (CAT-OP)	Signed and ratified
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)	Signed and ratified
Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC-OP-AC)	Signed and ratified
Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC-OP-SC)	Signed and ratified
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (MWC)	Neither signed nor ratified
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)	Signed and ratified
Optional Protocol to the CRPD (CRPD-OP)	Signed and ratified

In signing and ratifying the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Spain has recognized the competence to receive and process individual communications on the part of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination belonging to the Commission on Human Rights.

Territorial organization

Main articles: Territorial organization of Spain and History of the territorial organization of Spain

State of the Autonomies

Main articles: Autonomous community and List of autonomous communities and cities of Spain

Spain is currently a "State of the Autonomies" or "Autonomic State", a formally unitary country that functions as a sui generis decentralized federation of autonomous communities, each with a different level of self-government. The differences within this system arise because the process of transferring powers from the center to the periphery was originally conceived as an asymmetrical process, one that would guarantee a greater degree of self-government only to those communities that sought a more federalist type of relationship with the rest of Spain (Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia, Navarre and the Basque Country). The remaining autonomous communities, on the other hand, would have a lesser degree of self-government. Despite this, as the years went by, other communities such as the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands gradually acquired more powers.

Today, Spain is considered one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, since all its different territories administer their health and education systems locally, as well as some aspects of the public budget; some of them, such as the Basque Country and Navarre, also administer their public finances with almost no supervision (except for the quota) from the Spanish central government. Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Navarre and the Basque Country are equipped with their own police forces, fully operational and completely autonomous, which replace the functions of the National Police in these territories, except in Navarre and the Canary Islands, where the transfer is still in progress.

Spain is a nation territorially organized into seventeen autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. Title VIII of the Constitution establishes the territorial organization of the State into municipalities, provinces and autonomous communities, the latter with powers to manage their own interests with a broad level of autonomy, and with legislative, budgetary, administrative and executive powers over the exclusive competences that the State guarantees them through the Constitution and each Statute of Autonomy. Although Navarre was not constituted as an autonomous community as such, being de iure a chartered community, and did not draw up a Statute of Autonomy but instead articulated an improvement of its traditional fueros, it is considered an autonomous community for all purposes, according to the interpretation of the Constitutional Court.

Each autonomous community is made up of one or more provinces, for a total of fifty.

Since 2003, the three-level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, or NUTS units, has been adopted for purely statistical purposes, based on European regulations and set by Eurostat. The fifty Spanish provinces and the two autonomous cities are classified at the NUTS-3 level; the seventeen autonomous communities are classified at the NUTS-2 level; and for the NUTS-1 level, groups of autonomous communities have been created.

Today, Spain is considered one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, since all its different territories administer their health and education systems locally, as well as some aspects of the public budget; some of them, such as the Basque Country and Navarre, also administer their public finances with almost no supervision (except for the quota) from the Spanish central government. Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Navarre and the Basque Country are equipped with their own police forces, fully operational and completely autonomous, which replace the functions of the National Police in these territories, except in Navarre and the Canary Islands, where the transfer is still in progress.

Territorial claims and disputed territories

Spanish territories in North Africa (the Canary Islands are not included).

Spain has historically claimed the retrocession of the colony of Gibraltar, which currently has the status of a British Overseas Territory, although it has recently shown itself open to formulas of shared sovereignty. The claim began from the moment Anglo-Dutch troops took the stronghold in the name of Archduke Charles during the War of the Spanish Succession (1704), after which it passed into British hands through the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). The claim, which included military operations, was particularly intense during the 18th century, languished during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and was taken by the Francoist government to the United Nations during the 1960s. There, within the framework of the decolonization processes, Spain obtained support for its position when the relevant resolutions (2231 and 2353) recognized that the decolonization process had to respect Spain's right to territorial integrity and that the interests, and not the wishes, of the Gibraltarians had to be respected (see History of Gibraltar). Spain does not, however, recognize British sovereignty over the isthmus that joins the mainland to the Rock.

On the other hand, Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the comarca of Olivenza in the province of Badajoz, which includes the municipalities of Olivenza and Táliga (although it does not actively claim sovereignty over it), ceded by Portugal to Spain through the Treaty of Badajoz (1801). The resolutions of the Congress of Vienna are interpreted divergently by the two countries. While Portugal considers that they obliged Spain to return Olivenza, Spain holds that they were a simple declaration of good intentions, with no binding force, which is why Olivenza remained part of Spain. Finally, although Spain recognizes Portuguese sovereignty over the Savage Islands (a tiny uninhabited archipelago in the Atlantic, 160 kilometers north of the Canary Islands and 280 south of Madeira), it opposes Portugal's claim to establish a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the territory, recognizing only 12 miles of territorial sea.

Sovereignty over the uninhabited Perejil Island is also disputed with Morocco. Although it was vacated after the armed incident of 2002, by agreement between both countries no military or police force is stationed there, and neither party has renounced its claims to sovereignty. Furthermore, Morocco informally claims the cession of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the so-called plazas de soberanía on the African continent. Some irredentist movements in Morocco, such as the Istiqlal Party, call for the inclusion of the Canary Islands in the so-called Greater Morocco.

The case of Western Sahara

Main article: Political status of Western Sahara

1924 stamp dedicated to Spanish Sahara. For the UN, the territory is de iure under Spanish sovereignty, despite the Spanish renunciation embodied in the Madrid Tripartite Agreement.

In 1975, through the Madrid Tripartite Agreement, the Spanish State formally renounced the administration of Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory according to the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations, which then temporarily passed to Moroccan and Mauritanian control. The UN itself, in its document S/2002/161, states:

On November 14, 1975, Spain, Morocco and Mauritania issued in Madrid a declaration of principles on Western Sahara (the "Madrid Agreement"), under which the powers and responsibilities of Spain, as the administering Power of the Territory, were transferred to a temporary tripartite administration. The Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the Territory, nor did it confer upon any of the signatories the status of an administering Power, a status which Spain alone could not have unilaterally transferred. The transfer of administrative authority over the Territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975 did not affect the international status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory.

Therefore, Spain would remain the administering power over the territory. Indeed, in 2014, the Prosecutor's Office of the Spanish National Court itself, in the investigation of two cases looking into possible crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by high-ranking Moroccan authorities against the population of the territory, stated that "under international legality, that territory cannot be considered Moroccan" and, consequently, "Spain, de iure though not de facto, remains the administering power".

Geography

Main article: Geography of Spain

Relief of peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands.

Located in Western Europe and North Africa, Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula and, outside it, two main archipelagos (the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea), two cities, Ceuta and Melilla, in North Africa, Alboran Island, and a series of islands and islets lying off the peninsular coasts, such as the Columbretes Islands. It also comprises minor non-continental territories such as the Chafarinas Islands, the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the Peñón de Alhucemas, all off the African coast.

In territorial extent it is the fourth-largest country in Europe, behind Russia, Ukraine and France, and the second-largest in the European Union.

The physical boundaries of Spain are as follows: to the west, Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean; the Mediterranean Sea to the east; the Strait of Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Pyrenees, together with the Bay of Biscay in the Cantabrian Sea, to the north.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Spain

Spain has a very diverse climate throughout its territory. The Mediterranean character predominates across almost all of its geography. The southern and Mediterranean coasts have a climate called coastal Mediterranean, which is also found in the Guadalquivir valley: mild temperatures and abundant precipitation almost all year round except in summer.

Moving further inland, the climate becomes more extreme, since it is the continental Mediterranean climate, which covers almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, with low temperatures in winter, high temperatures in summer and irregular precipitation (depending on geographical position). In general, the western communities receive more precipitation than the eastern ones. Thus, Galicia and the Cantabrian region have an oceanic climate, characterized by abundant precipitation throughout the year, especially in winter, and cool temperatures.

The mountain climate can be observed at high altitudes, in the Cantabrian Mountains, the Montes de León, the Pyrenees, the high points of the Iberian System, the Sistema Central and the Baetic System, as well as at high altitudes in the Canary Islands, where there are low temperatures (cold or very cold winters) and generally abundant precipitation.

Arid or semi-arid climates (less than 300 mm per year) are found at certain points in the east of the peninsula: Almería (with the famous Tabernas Desert) or the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park (where less than 200 mm per year is recorded), Granada (Guadix), Murcia, Alicante and the Ebro valley, where the foehn effect is the main cause of such low precipitation.

Landscape of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, located on the coast of Níjar, Province of Almería.

The subtropical character is typical of the Canary Islands, with warm temperatures throughout the year and little precipitation (more abundant on the western islands). However, this climate also occurs on the southern coasts of the peninsula (Málaga, Granada, Almería), where temperatures are relatively mild all year round, although precipitation is somewhat more abundant than in the Canary Islands.

Mountain systems

Main article: Relief of Spain

Teide, on the island of Tenerife, is the highest peak in Spain.

Los Encantados, two emblematic peaks of the Pyrenees, and Lake San Mauricio.

The relief of Spain is characterized by being quite high, with an average altitude of 660 meters, and mountainous compared with the rest of the countries of Europe, with the exception of Switzerland, Austria and the microstates of Andorra and Liechtenstein, whose average altitude is considerably higher. In peninsular Spain, the relief is structured around a great Central Plateau that occupies most of the center of the Iberian Peninsula and has an average altitude of 660 meters. Outside the plateau lie the depression of the Guadalquivir River, in the southwest of the peninsula, and that of the Ebro River, in its northeast. The main mountain systems are: the Pyrenees, the Iberian System, the Cantabrian Mountains, the Montes de León, the Sistema Central and the Baetic System (Subbaetic and Penibaetic)

Fauna and vegetation

Main article: Fauna of Spain

Main article: Vegetation of Spain

Environment

Main article: Environment of Spain

CO₂ emissions during the decade from 1994 to 2004. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Since 1996, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have increased notably, falling far short of the targets of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change regarding emissions that generate the greenhouse effect and contribute to climate change. The environmental reports suggested by the recommendations for review of the Spanish inventory carried out by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (SCMCC) give the following carbon dioxide result (equivalent in gigagrams):

Spain is a country particularly affected by the phenomenon of drought: during the period 1880–2000, more than half of the years have been classified as dry or very dry. In the 1980s, seven years were considered dry or very dry, and five in the 1990s. Climate change portends very serious environmental problems for Spain, aggravating the most extreme climatic features. According to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore, Spain is the European country most vulnerable to climate change. Furthermore, Ban Ki-moon has asked Spain for "even more active leadership" in the fight against climate change.

Time zone

Spain is geographically located in the UTC±0:00 time zone, since the Greenwich meridian crosses its territory. However, since 1940 it has used the UTC+1:00 zone—known as Central European Time—except in the Canary Islands, which because of their location are one hour behind (UTC±0:00). Likewise, in summer clocks are moved forward one hour (UTC+2:00).

The use of a time that does not correspond to the geographical zone dates from the Dictatorship of Francisco Franco. By an order published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, it was decided that on March 16, 1940, the legal time would be moved forward by sixty minutes, "considering the advisability of the national time keeping in step with those of other European countries", which meant placing Spain in the orbit of its Axis allies, Germany and Italy.

Demographics

Population density in Spain (2008).

The National Statistics Institute estimated the population at 47,007,367 inhabitants as of January 1, 2019. Of the total estimated population, 41,982,103 were of Spanish nationality and 5,025,264 were foreigners, representing 10.70%. The population density, 93.14 inhab./km², is lower than that of most other countries of Western Europe, and its distribution across the territory is very irregular: the most densely populated areas are concentrated on the coast, in the Guadalquivir valley (and to a lesser extent the Ebro valley) and in the Madrid metropolitan area, while the rest of the interior is very sparsely occupied.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1900	18,616,630	—
1910	19,990,669	+7.4%
1920	21,388,551	+7.0%
1930	23,677,095	+10.7%
1940	26,014,278	+9.9%
1950	28,117,873	+8.1%
1960	30,582,936	+8.8%
1970	34,008,759	+11.2%
1981	37,742,561	+11.0%
1991	39,433,942	+4.5%
2001	41,116,842	+4.3%
2010	47,021,031	+14.4%
2019	47,007,637	−0.0%
Population according to data from the National Statistics Institute.

Metropolitan areas

Main article: Metropolitan areas of Spain

The creation of administrative entities grouping the municipalities that make up a metropolitan area is in the hands of the autonomous communities. According to data from the Registry of Local Entities, as of October 2012 there were three constituted metropolitan areas, one in the province of Barcelona (Barcelona Metropolitan Area) and two in that of Valencia (Metropolitan Entity of Hydraulic Services and Metropolitan Entity for Waste Treatment). The Barcelona Metropolitan Area had been abolished in 1987 by the Generalitat of Catalonia. According to the Ministry of Public Works, the metropolitan areas in the demographic sense that exceeded 700,000 inhabitants in 2013 are the following:

Main metropolitan areas.

• Madrid metropolitan area (6,052,247 inhabitants)
• Barcelona metropolitan area (5,030,679)
• Valencia metropolitan area (1,551,585)
• Seville metropolitan area (1,294,867)
• Málaga metropolitan area (953,251)
• Bilbao metropolitan area (910,578)
• Central Asturias metropolitan area (835,053)
• Zaragoza metropolitan area (746,152)

Population distribution by island

Spanish islands by population, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (2018):

1. Tenerife (904,713 inhab.).
2. Mallorca (880,113 inhab.).
3. Gran Canaria (846,717 inhab.).
4. Lanzarote (149,183 inhab.).
5. Ibiza (144,659 inhab.).
6. Fuerteventura (113,275 inhab.).
7. Menorca (91,920 inhab.).
8. La Palma (81,863 inhab.).
9. La Gomera (21,136 inhab.).
10. Formentera (12,216 inhab.).
11. El Hierro (10,798 inhab.).

Immigration in Spain

Main article: Immigration to Spain

In recent years Spain has shown a considerable decrease in its net immigration rate, no longer having one of the highest immigration rates in Europe (in 2005, 1.5% per year, surpassed in the EU only by Cyprus). At present its net immigration rate is 0.99%, ranking 15th in the European Union. It is also the 9th country with the highest percentage of immigrants within the EU, below countries such as Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria or Germany. In 2005 it received 38.6% of non-EU immigration into the EU, mainly from citizens of Ibero-American origin, from other countries of Western Europe, from Eastern Europe and from the Maghreb. In 2009, 12% of the resident population was of foreign origin, with the largest numbers being Romanians (796,576 people), Moroccans (710,401) and Ecuadorians (413,715). Citizens of the European Union represent 40.5% of all foreign citizens.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Spain

Distribution of the languages of Spain.
     Spanish, spoken throughout the national territory.
     Catalan or Valencian.
     Galician.
     Basque.
     Astur-Leonese.
     Aragonese.
     Aranese.

The official language and the most widely spoken in Spain as a whole, by 99% of the population, is Spanish, the mother tongue of 89% of Spaniards, which may also be called by the alternative name of Castilian.Cortes Generales (1978), art. 3 Estimates of the number of speakers worldwide range from 450 to 500 million people, making it the second most widely spoken mother tongue after Mandarin Chinese, and the third if those who speak it as a second language are counted. It is expected to consolidate itself as the second language of international communication after English in the future, and it is the second most studied language after English.

In addition, the following languages are spoken, which, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, may be official in their regions if their Statutes of Autonomy so establish:

• Catalan co-official in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
• Galician co-official in Galicia.
• Basque co-official in the Basque Country and in the Basque-speaking zone of Navarre, where its statutory name is vascuence.
• Occitan, co-official in Catalonia.
• Valencian, co-official in the Valencian Community.

A number of Romance languages or dialects are also spoken that do not have the status of official language, although, depending on the case, they do have varying degrees of legal recognition:

• Astur-Leonese, spoken in Asturias—where it is called Asturian or Bable and is recognized by Article 4 of the Statute of Autonomy, which promotes its use and protection. It is also spoken in the north and west of the Castilian-Leonese provinces of León and Zamora, where it is known by the name of Leonese, a glottonym referring to this same language—recognized as an "object of specific protection" in Article 5 of the Statute of Autonomy—and it is also spoken in the Portuguese municipality of Miranda do Douro, where it is called Mirandese and does have recognized status as a co-official language. In addition, there are several transitional varieties between Castilian and the Astur-Leonese linguistic diasystem. Among these transitional varieties are the so-called Montañés speech, found in parts of Cantabria, and, in certain areas of Extremadura and in the comarca of El Rebollar, in the south of Salamanca, the so-called Alto-Extremaduran, also called El Rebollar speech. At the beginning of the 20th century, several authors included these transitional varieties within the same linguistic domain; however, today they are no longer included within the core Astur-Leonese linguistic domain.
• Aragonese is spoken throughout the north of Aragon. The 2009 Languages Law and the 2013 Languages Law regulate the use, protection and promotion of Aragonese, granting the language rights such as its use in education and its use in dealings with the Aragonese administrations. It is defined as the "own, original and historical language" of the autonomous community, although without granting it co-official status.
• Fala, a set of three varieties of a Romance language of the Galician-Portuguese subgroup spoken in the municipalities of San Martín de Trevejo, Eljas and Valverde del Fresno, all of them in the Jálama Valley, in the northwest of the province of Cáceres (on the Portuguese border). Other names by which it is known are Xalimés, Mañegu (or Manhegu), A fala de Xálima, A fala d'acá, A nossa fala and chapurráu (in Valverde) or, among supporters of the theory of a relationship between Fala and the Galician language, "Galician of Extremadura" or "Galician-Extremaduran".

On the other hand, Portuguese has practically disappeared in some Extremaduran border localities.

On April 9, 2001, Spain ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Spain

Religion in Spain (2017)

Religion	%
Catholics	68.4%
Agnostics and non-believers	16.8%
Atheists	9.6%
Other religions	2.3%
Don't know/No answer	3.0%

Article 16.3 of the Constitution defines the State as non-denominational: "No confession shall have a state character." However, it guarantees the religious freedom and freedom of worship of individuals and ensures relations of cooperation between the public authorities and the religious confessions.

Facade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Catholicism is the predominant religion in the country. The Catholic Church is the only one expressly mentioned in the Constitution, in the same Article 16.3—"[…] and shall maintain the consequent relations of cooperation with the Catholic Church and the other confessions". According to the opinion barometer of the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) conducted in May 2016, 69.9% of Spaniards consider themselves Catholic, non-believers account for 15.5%, atheists for 10.4% and adherents of another religion for 2.4%. Nevertheless, the percentage of practicing believers is much lower. According to the same study, Catholics or believers of another religion who say they almost never go to Mass or other religious services make up 56.9%, 15.6% say they go several times a year, while 14.6% say they attend religious services almost every Sunday and public holiday, 8.8% do so a few times a month, and 2.5% say they attend several times a week. On the other hand, according to a study of April 19, 2005, by the New York Times, only 18% of Spaniards attend Mass regularly, and among those under 30, that percentage falls to 14%. The CIS study also shows the constant process of secularization of Spanish society. According to the opinion barometer conducted in October 2014, young people between 18 and 24 years old who say they are non-believers or atheists (50%) outnumber those who state they are Catholic (46%). There are 32,556,922 Catholics in Spain.

In terms of membership, the second most important religion is Protestantism, with nearly 1,500,000 members. It is followed by the Muslim religion, with an estimated 1,919,141 faithful, mainly from the recent waves of immigration from North Africa. Also notable are the Jehovah's Witnesses, with more than 191,000 faithful, and the Mormons, who number around 20,000; for its part, the Jewish community in Spain does not exceed 45,000 faithful. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in Spain in the 1960s and currently has some 53,000 followers.

In Spain there is the concept of a religion of well-established roots (notorio arraigo), a status granted by the Ministry of Justice through the Directorate General for Religious Affairs following the corresponding report of the Advisory Commission on Religious Freedom. In addition to Catholicism, the following have the status of religions of well-established roots (in order of agreement): Protestantism, Judaism, Islam (all since 1992), Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Buddhism (with 85,000 faithful), the last of these accepted in 2007.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Spain

Urban panorama of Madrid, capital and main economic center of the country.

Panoramic view of Barcelona taken from Mount Tibidabo.

Spain is currently the thirteenth-largest economic power in the world, but it has been as high as eighth, and even seventh by nominal GDP. The Spanish economy is one of the most open in the eurozone and one of the economies with the greatest internationalization of its financial products, services, etc. Spain has traditionally been an agricultural country and is still one of the largest producers in Western Europe, but from the mid-1950s industrial growth was rapid and soon came to carry more weight than agriculture in the country's economy.

A series of development plans, begun in 1964, helped expand the economy, but at the end of the 1970s a period of economic recession began owing to the rise in oil prices and an increase in imports with the arrival of democracy and the opening of borders. Subsequently, the development of the steel, shipyard, textile and mining industries increased. At present, the tertiarization of the Spanish economy and society is clear both in the gross domestic product (contribution in 2005: 67%) and in the employment rate by sector (65%). Revenue from tourism makes it possible to balance the balance of payments. Since Spain joined the European Union as a full member, economic policies have evolved in line with this great supranational organization (CAP, FIFG, ...).

Spain is one of the industrialized countries with one of the highest rates of child poverty, according to a study carried out by UNICEF. In 2017, at least 1,400,000 children in Spain remained in a situation of severe poverty.

Agriculture

Main article: Agriculture in Spain

Olive groves in Baños de la Encina, Jaén. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil.

Until the 1960s, agriculture was the main pillar of the Spanish economy, but it currently employs only about 5% of the active population. The main crops are wheat, barley, sugar beet, maize, potatoes, rye, oats, rice, tomatoes and onions. The country also has extensive vineyards and citrus and olive groves. In 2005, annual cereal production (expressed in t) was 14 million, of which 3.8 were wheat, 8.3 barley, 4 maize and 126,100 t rye. Annual production of other important products was: 6.7 million tonnes of sugar beet, 2.6 million of potatoes, 5.9 million of grapes, 3.9 million of tomatoes, almost 3 million of oranges, and somewhat less than 1 million of onions.

Climatic and topographical conditions make dryland farming obligatory in a large part of Spain. The provinces of the Mediterranean coast have long had irrigation systems, and this formerly arid coastal belt has become one of the most productive areas of Spain, where crops under plastic are common. In the Ebro valley, combined irrigation and hydroelectric projects can be found. Large areas of Extremadura are irrigated with water from the Guadiana by means of irrigation systems installed thanks to government projects (the Badajoz Plan and the Coria irrigation schemes, among others). Small irrigated holdings are more widespread in areas with a humid climate and in the huerta of Murcia and the huerta of Valencia.

Livestock farming

Main article: Livestock farming in Spain

Livestock farming, especially sheep and pig farming, is of great economic importance. In 2005, the livestock population consisted of 22.7 million head of sheep, 25.1 million pigs, 6.5 million cattle, 3 million goats, 240,000 head of horses and 131 million poultry. Nearly 32 million kilograms of honey were produced in Spain in 2001.

Forestry and fishing

Main article: Fishing in Spain

Cork is Spain's main forest resource, and in 2001 production was 57,581 tonnes. The production of paper pulp and timber from Spanish forests is insufficient to meet the country's needs.

Swordfish at the fish market of Vigo

The fishing industry is less important to the Spanish economy today than in times past, even though Spain ranks among the leading European countries both in the size of its fleet and in the volume of its catches. The annual catch amounted to 1.2 million tonnes in 2004 and consisted mainly of tuna (26% from almadraba trap fishing; Spain catches 60% of the EU's total catch, almost 230,000 t, being the world's second-largest producer), squid, hake, sardines (Vigo and Isla Cristina), anchovies (ports of the Cantabrian coast), mackerel, whiting and mussels. For several decades, aquaculture (marine and inland) has undergone great development, notably the farming of gilthead bream, sea bass, mussels, trout, turbot and salmon; total production in 2003 was 311,287 tonnes.

Mining

Corta Atalaya in the Riotinto mines, Huelva.

Since 1996, Spanish mining has been marked by the progressive and enforced reduction in coal extraction, a certain stagnation in metal mining and the constant growth of industrial minerals and rocks (celestine, sodium sulfate, sepiolite, fluorite, gypsum, feldspar, slate, marble, granite…), which carry ever greater weight in the mining sector. In 2003, annual mining production (in tonnes) included some 20.6 million of coal and lignite, 265,000 of iron ore, 70,000 of zinc concentrates, 2,000 of lead, 6.5 million of gypsum, and 2,409,554 barrels of crude oil per year.

In 2001 the main energy mining products were lignite and hard coal; among metallic minerals zinc stood out, and among industrial rocks and minerals, common salt and special clays. The main coal mines are in the province of Asturias, in the north of the province of León and in the province of Teruel; the main iron ore deposits are found around Santander and Bilbao; Almadén, in the province of Ciudad Real, was very productive in the extraction of mercury; and Andalusia stands out for metal mining, with more than half of the country's production.

Industry

Main article: Industry in Spain

Oil refinery in Pobla de Mafumet (Tarragona).

Spain produces, among other things, textiles, iron and steel, motor vehicles, chemicals, clothing, footwear, ships, refined petroleum and cement, with the food, beverage and transport equipment industrial sectors standing out for their value, among which the automobile sector and the aeronautical industrial sector deserve special mention. Spain recorded a production figure of 2,733,201 million vehicles in 2015, 80% of which were destined for foreign markets. The sector accounts for 7.6% of GDP, employing 9% of the active population, between direct and indirect jobs. Spain is the world's leading producer of wine, cava and olive oil.

Together with the United States, it is a pioneer in the incipient sector of gamification, which is the art of turning problems, whether of business or education, into games. It has a combative video game industry, with several companies that have had successful titles and collaborations with major studios.

Spain has played an important role in the modernization of the railway and, above all, of modern trains, with Talgo as its main player, having created its articulated train, the forerunner of the entire later industry, which bases its development on its original solution. Today it continues to produce in Spain, focused on high speed and accompanied by other companies in the sector of railcars, metros and trams, such as CAF.

The steel industry, before its restructuring in the 1990s, was concentrated in Bilbao, Santander, Avilés and part of Zaragoza, carrying great weight for the country. The restructuring in the Basque Country was carried out intelligently, by investing a large part of the funds received in R&D. In Zaragoza, its metallurgical specialization, in addition to its geographical position, favored the arrival of OPEL. There was not as much success with the automobile manufacturer Santana Motor, originally Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, which, located in Linares, was dissolved in 2011. Worth highlighting is the Escombreras Valley, in Cartagena, one of the most important energy hubs in the country, which has received the largest industrial investment in the history of Spain.

In the fashion industrial sector, which encompasses textiles and footwear, mention must be made of the industries of the INDITEX group, world textile leader and creator of accessible, seasonal fashion; Camper and its shoes, which has managed to weather the crisis in the sector that has wreaked havoc in Aranda, Elche, Mallorca and other producing areas; as well as Castañer, which has managed to find a niche for its espadrilles in modern fashion. Special mention is deserved by the late master designers Balenciaga and Manuel Pertegaz.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Spain

Marbella.

Tourism is one of the pillars of the Spanish economy. In 2017, Spain was the second country in the world in the influx of foreign tourists, according to data from the World Tourism Organization, behind France and overtaking the United States, marking the fifth consecutive year of record tourist numbers. In total it received 82 million tourists, almost 9% more than in 2016. Since 2012, Spain has achieved an increase of 30 million tourists.

Among the autonomous communities, Catalonia was the community that received the most tourists, with 18.2 million. It was followed by the Balearic Islands with 13.7 million, the Canary Islands with almost 13 million and Andalusia with 11 million. Valencia and Madrid received 8.5 and 6.2 million tourists respectively, while the autonomous communities of the Basque Country, Castile and León and Galicia approached 1.5 million.

The least touristic regions were the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and La Rioja, which were also the only ones that lost tourists compared with the previous year.

The World Tourism Organization has its headquarters in Madrid.

Currency and banking

Main article: Banking in Spain

Madrid Stock Exchange.

The monetary unit is the euro, issued by the Bank of Spain in coordination with the European Central Bank. From January 1, 1999, the euro was pegged to the value of the peseta, at a fixed rate of 166.386 pesetas per euro. On January 1, 2002, euro banknotes and euro coins were introduced, and on February 28 of the same year the peseta ceased to circulate, with citizens able to exchange their currency for euros at the Bank of Spain until December 31, 2020, the deadline set by the institution.

The country has a powerful banking system, with a large number of commercial banks and savings banks, which together reach a capitalization of 183,740,000,000 euros. Two Spanish banks rank among the top forty in the world by market capitalization: Grupo Santander (12th) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (34th). In addition, these two banks are among the top fifty in the world by assets, 22nd and 46th, respectively. The main stock exchanges are in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia. Smaller exchanges (bolsines) operate in other cities.

Foreign trade

Main sectors

In 2013, Spain imported products worth 250,195.2 million euros and exports amounted to 234,239.8 million euros, with a trade balance of −15,955.4 million of the same currency, which represents practically half that of the previous year. The main imports included: industrial technology; the chemical industry (chemical products); environment and energy production; fashion. As for the main exports: industrial technology; the chemical industry (chemical products); fashion; raw materials, semi-manufactures and intermediate products.

Goods exported by sector				Goods imported by sector
Sector	Amount (millions of €)	Sector	Amount (millions of €)	Sector	Amount (millions of €)	Sector	Amount (millions of €)
Industrial technology	66,524.2	Auxiliary mechanical and construction industry	15,160.0	Industrial technology	58,827.7	Auxiliary mechanical and construction industry	13,603.6
Chemical industry	26,591.7	Fruit and vegetable products	13,781.0	Chemical industry	33,692.6	Information and telecommunications technology	12,422.2
Fashion	18,580.8	Environment and energy production	12,478.5	Environment and energy production	33,356.2	Raw materials, semi-manufactures and intermediate products	12,405.1
Raw materials, semi-manufactures and intermediate products	17,760.3	Habitat	10,103.1	Fashion	21,228.0	Habitat	11,469.7
Source: ICEX (2013)

Largest trading partners

Spain's main trade exchanges take place with the other countries of the European Union (notably France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Benelux countries), the United States in America, Algeria in Africa and China in Asia.

Eurozone.

Tourism and trade balance

Benidorm, on the Costa Blanca, one of the centers of both domestic and international tourism

Tourism is one of the pillars of the Spanish economy, being the economic sector that contributes the most wealth to the national economy as a whole and the largest source of foreign currency inflows. Its geographical location, its coasts washed by different seas and oceans, its diverse climates and landscapes and its cultural heritage have made the country one of the world's leading international destinations. The extraordinary variety of services and infrastructure of its tourism industry has on several occasions placed Spain as the most competitive country in the world in this sector. The World Tourism Organization has its headquarters in Madrid.

Tourism revenue came close to 77,625 million euros in 2016 and the number of people who visited the country that same year was some 75.6 million, which allowed the country to remain the third world power in international visitors; meanwhile, Spaniards spent some 18,248 million euros on their trips abroad, leaving a favorable difference of some 59,400 million of the same currency that helped offset the deficit of the Spanish trade balance.

Economic crisis (2008–14)

Main article: Spanish economic crisis of 2008–2014

Cumulative evolution of Spain's gross domestic product from 2000 to 2010. Level 100 represents the GDP level in 2008.

Together with the economic crisis of 1981, which led to industrial restructuring and the dismantling of a large part of heavy industry in Spain, with the services sector becoming a more important part of the economy, the global economic crisis that began in 2008 had especially serious consequences in Spain. One of the reasons is that between 1997 and 2008 the country's economy had experienced a very significant real estate bubble, so that a large part of employment depended on the construction sector and related sectors.

Initially there was a surge in unemployment, followed by stagnation and a new decline from the last quarter of 2012. As a consequence of this process, historic unemployment rates were reached. The difficult economic situation led to a fall in tax revenue and an increase in certain financial expenses, which led first the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and then that of Mariano Rajoy to apply the most drastic budget cuts since the restoration of democracy in the country in 1978. This was accompanied by a social, institutional, territorial and political crisis, great social unrest, and an increase in poverty and inequality in the country.

In 2017, Spain had more than twice as many "super-rich" as before the crisis. 0.4% of the population concentrates almost half of the country's GDP.

Infrastructure

Energy

Main article: Energy in Spain

Spain is a world leader in wind power because of its penetration rate in the electricity market, the second highest in the world, which in 2013 stood at 21.1%. This made it the technology with the largest contribution to meeting demand, ahead even of nuclear power.

The energy sector in Spain accounts for approximately five percent of the country's gross domestic product. Its importance goes beyond its share of total output, since it is a strategic sector on which every branch of economic activity depends, energy being considered necessary for any kind of production of goods and services. One of the most notable features of the energy sector in Spain over the last two centuries has been the scarcity and poverty of the energy resources available within the national territory. This scarcity has traditionally condemned the national energy system to a situation of deficit and dependence on other countries. The degree of self-sufficiency was estimated at 25% in 2008, derived from a primary energy consumption in 2008 of 142,070 ktoe, a decrease of 3.1% compared with 2007, against a production of only 30,348 ktoe.

Energy demand in Spain has grown by around 3.5% per year since 2002, with some variations, such as in 2003, when growth was close to 7%. Consumption rose from 211,500 GWh in 2002 to 253,600 in 2006. In 2008, 50% of the energy produced in Spain was of nuclear origin (15,368 ktoe, or thousand tonnes of oil equivalent), 15% came from coal, 6% from hydropower and 29% from other renewable energies.

As for renewable energy, for some years now Spain's theoretical capacity to generate wind power has been greater than its nuclear capacity, with 16,740 MW installed in 2008. In 2003 Spain became the world's largest producer, but the United States, Germany and China were expected to be ahead of it by 2010. In 2005 Spain and Germany also came to produce more electricity from wind farms than from hydroelectric power stations. (For more information, see Wind power in Spain.) Regarding photovoltaic solar power, at the beginning of 2013 installed capacity in Spain amounted to 4,381 MW. Hydropower production in Spain could reach 2,220 MW in 2010. This is the second-largest production in the EU, after Italy. According to an October 2008 report by Ernst & Young, Spain is the fifth most attractive country in the world for investing in renewable energy, after the United States, Germany, India and China.

Housing

Main article: Housing in Spain

Spain had a stock of 26,018,179 dwellings at the end of 2011, according to data from the Ministry of Development of Spain, of which 17,909,691 were primary residences, while the rest, 8,108,488, were secondary residences.

Taking the overall figure, this indicates an average of 1.55 dwellings per Spanish family. According to the Bank of Spain, 86% of dwellings in Spain are owner-occupied and the remaining 14% are rented or held under a loan arrangement.

The average price of new housing is 2,212 €/m², according to data from the Sociedad de Tasación as of December 31, 2012. Housing prices, however, vary considerably between the autonomous communities and the provincial capitals, the highest being in Catalonia (3,146 €/m²) and, by contrast, the lowest in Extremadura and Murcia (1,271 €/m²).

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Spain

Terminal 4 of Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, the most important in Spain.

Spain has 51 airports located in its various regions, 46 of which are operated by AENA. Of these, 33 are international, served by more than 250 airlines, the most important being Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport. Following its expansion, it aims to be one of the most important connecting airports in the world, with a capacity of 70,000,000 passengers (almost 30 million more than in 2005). Barajas plays an important role as a "hub" or connection point between the provincial capitals and abroad, mainly between Europe and Latin America. Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport, after the opening of the new Terminal T1 in 2008, has capacity for 55,000,000 passengers, with which it aims to become the second most important airport in southern Europe.

The tracks and stations of the Iberian gauge network are managed by ADIF. The state railway company Renfe Operadora provides its services on them. In addition, there are several standard-gauge networks (FGC) and some meter-gauge lines (FEVE). The Spanish railway system is fundamentally radial, centered on Madrid. The City of Barcelona connects Spain with Paris, Zurich and Milan, among other European cities.

AVE high-speed train passing through Vinaixa, Lérida.

The Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) services provided by Renfe Operadora cut travel time by car in half and reach more than 250 km/h. The maximum commercial speed of its trains is 300 km/h and their top speed is 356.8 km/h.

Metro networks are available in eight cities: Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Valencia, Málaga, Granada and San Sebastián. Tram networks exist in Zaragoza, Parla, Murcia, Barcelona, Tenerife, Seville, Sóller, Valencia, Barcelona, Bilbao, Vitoria and Madrid, while in Jaén, the Bay of Cádiz, Alcalá de Guadaíra and Baracaldo they are under construction or in a trial period. In Dos Hermanas there is a project to build a tram line. The most extensive metro network, with the largest number of passengers per year, is that of Madrid (320 km of network and 685 million passengers in 2008), followed by that of Barcelona (123 km and 405 million passengers in 2009).

The Spanish road network comprises some 370,000 km. This network includes toll motorways, toll-free motorways, autovías, dual carriageways and conventional roads. This figure does not include roads and streets in urban areas, nor agricultural or forest roads and tracks. Considering motorways and autovías alone, the network reaches almost 13,200 km, which makes Spain the third country in the world in this respect, behind only the United States and China.

Ferry setting sail from the island of Ibiza.

Spain also enjoys numerous maritime connections, with more than 53 international ports on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Notable among them is the port of Algeciras, the only one in Spain considered of the first rank worldwide because of its high volume of passengers and goods, as well as the port of Vigo, which is also one of the most active in terms of freight traffic, live fish catches and frozen goods. The port of Seville is the only purely river port in the country, since although the city lies inland, it has access to the sea through the Guadalquivir River. The neighboring port of Cádiz is a strategic point for shipping goods to the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands. The port of Barcelona stands out as the leader of the Mediterranean in cruise traffic, and the second worldwide.

Telecommunications

Spain has a good telecommunications network; in addition to the extensive conventional fiber-optic cable network, there is one of the largest submarine cable networks and satellite links with all five continents.

The leading operator in telephony and Internet access is the multinational Telefónica, headquartered in Madrid, which operates in both fixed and mobile telephony and originated as the state telephone monopoly. However, the telecommunications market has been open to competition in all its sectors since the break-up of the monopoly: in 1994 for mobile telephony, with the arrival of Airtel, and in 1998 for fixed telephony, with the market entry of Retevisión.

In landline telephony and Internet access, there is currently a cable access market organized by franchise areas, in most of which ONO operates, along with some regional companies in their respective areas. In addition, the dominant operator (Telefónica) is required to allow third-party companies to provide services over its network by renting its copper pairs and space in its exchanges.

In mobile telephony, there are four operators with their own networks—Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and Yoigo—and a considerable number of mobile virtual network operators, sharing a market in which, since 2006, there have officially been more lines than inhabitants. Spain is one of the countries of the European Union with the widest and highest-quality coverage; according to a 2006 study by the Ministry of Industry, 98% of Spanish territory has GSM coverage, ahead of countries such as France, Italy or Germany.

Media

Torrespaña communications tower, in Madrid.

According to the Estudio General de Medios, conducted between April 2015 and March 2016 by the Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación, television is the country's main medium. The country's three main television operators are the state-owned company Radio Televisión Española and the private operators Atresmedia Corporación and Mediaset España. The main general-interest channels in Spain in terms of audience are La 1, Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and La Sexta. Together they account for slightly more than 50% of audience share. The list is completed by the set of digital channels and the regional public channels grouped in FORTA. Since the so-called "analog switch-off" in 2010, the only signal transmission system is digital. In this respect, there are both free-to-air digital channels and pay digital platforms.

The country's main non-sports paid newspapers by readership are El País and El Mundo, followed by La Vanguardia, La Voz de Galicia, El Periódico and ABC, in addition to the free newspaper 20 minutos. In the sports press, Marca, As, El Mundo Deportivo and Sport stand out.

As for radio, the country's main stations are Cadena SER, COPE, Onda Cero and Radio Nacional de España.

As regards the third sector of communication (non-profit media, mainly local, devoted to serving their community), many of them are grouped in the Red de Medios Comunitarios, headquartered at Cuac FM (A Coruña).

Culture

Main article: Culture of Spain

Art

Main article: Art of Spain

Title page of the first edition of Cervantes's Quixote, one of the masterpieces of world literature and the second most published and translated book in history after the Bible.

Picasso's Guernica is exhibited at the Reina Sofía Museum and is a representative painting of Spanish art.

The different peoples who passed through Spain over the course of History, the Iberian Peninsula's frontier position between two continents with diverse cultural traditions, the long period of political influence of the Hispanic Monarchy, and its expansion on the American continent have made Spain's cultural and artistic heritage one of the richest, most varied and most influential in the West. Spain preserves a great wealth of heritage, both in archaeological sites, temples, palaces, fortresses, historic gardens, monumental urban ensembles, ethnographic heritage and museums—including several of the best known and most visited in the world, such as the Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofía Museum—and in a range of other cultural expressions.

Spain has been the birthplace of great figures in practically every artistic discipline. The Spanish contribution to the field of painting is especially significant, with geniuses of universal importance such as Velázquez, Goya, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, as is its contribution to literature, which has given the essential names of Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Quevedo, Galdós and Lorca, among many others.

Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in Spain

Spain is well equipped in terms of a network of Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS), and in recent years technology parks have proliferated in the main industrial areas, as well as around universities and research and development (R&D) centers. There are currently 41 technology parks (12 in operation and 29 planned). These parks house 1,080 companies, 108 R&D centers and 12 incubators. According to data from the National Statistics Institute, research expenditure in 2013 amounted to 13,012 million euros, equivalent to 1.24% of gross domestic product. Public administration reduced its spending by 4.7% compared with 2012, as did higher education (−1.8%) and the business sector (−2.6%).

World Heritage

Court of the Lions of the Alhambra. The Alhambra, together with the Generalife and the Albaicín, in Granada, became the country's first World Heritage property in 1984.

Main article: List of World Heritage Sites in Spain

Spain is the third country in the world, after Italy (54) and the People's Republic of China (53), with the most monuments declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. It currently has 47 inscribed properties, including Monte Perdido and the Côa Valley and Siega Verde, shared with France and Portugal respectively.

In addition, Spain has 18 intangible cultural elements, which makes it the leading country in Europe by number of elements inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This characteristic of Spanish heritage led the various administrations of the state to draw up a specific law for its protection, Law 16/1985 on Spanish Historical Heritage. This law, still in force, seeks to protect every cultural asset, whether declared or not, that may be of public interest. It therefore calls on all the institutions that form part of the Spanish state, as well as cultural associations, to collaborate in the maintenance or discovery of this cultural heritage, covering both buildings and movable assets, and invites all of society to draw up a census and catalog of all heritage that is protected or worth protecting.

Public holidays

Members of the UME parading on the occasion of the National Day in Madrid (2014).

The calendar of public holidays is set each year, depending on how the days fall in the week. The holidays common to all of Spain are the following:

Date	Name	Notes
January 1	New Year's Day	International holiday.
January 6	Epiphany of the Lord	Catholic holiday. Three Kings' Day.
March or April	Good Friday	Christian holiday.
May 1	Labor Day	International holiday.
August 15	Assumption of the Virgin	Catholic holiday.
October 12	National Day	Commemoration of the discovery of America.
November 1	All Saints' Day	Catholic holiday.
December 6	Constitution Day	Commemoration of the referendum on the ratification of the Spanish Constitution.
December 8	Immaculate Conception	Catholic holiday. Patroness of Spain for the Catholic Church.
December 25	Nativity of the Lord	Christian holiday. Christmas Day, commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Holy Week is a religious festivity of great social weight in Spain. Exaltation of the Cross in the Procession of the Pasos of the Holy Week of León.

Under Royal Legislative Decree 1/1995, on the Workers' Statute Law, four holidays are fixed and national in scope: New Year's Day, Labor Day, National Day and the Nativity of the Lord. They are always non-working days on their respective dates, except when they fall on a Sunday, in which case they are moved to Monday.

In addition to ten national holidays, each autonomous community may set two holidays, apart from the autonomous community's own day, and each municipality another two, so that the maximum number of holidays in any locality does not exceed fourteen.

Public religious festivities

The Catholic religion has been predominant in Spain for the last two millennia. Its festive role in numerous towns and cities is therefore significant.

The most prominent public religious festivities are those related to the Passion of Christ, with twenty Holy Week celebrations declared Festivals of International Tourist Interest, and Easter, especially Pentecost and Corpus Christi.

Bullfighting

Bullfight at Las Ventas in Madrid, the third-largest bullring in the world by capacity.

Spain preserves the tradition of holding various bullfighting events, such as bull runs or bullfights, which are a hallmark of numerous popular festivals.

Bullrings are divided into categories. The ten first-category bullrings are: Las Ventas in Madrid; the Real Maestranza de Sevilla; La Misericordia in Zaragoza; the bullring of Valencia; La Malagueta in Málaga; the Monumental of Barcelona; the Monumental of Pamplona; Vista Alegre in Bilbao; the bullring of Los Califas in Córdoba; and Illumbe in San Sebastián.

Sports

Main article: Sport in Spain

The Camp Nou, the football stadium with the largest capacity in Europe, during a match of Fútbol Club Barcelona. Football is the sport with the most followers in Spain.

Sport in Spain is dominated mainly by football (since the 20th century), basketball, cycling, tennis, futsal, handball and motorsports, while athletics is the most widely practiced. Spain is today a world power in sports, especially since the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which promoted a wide variety of sports in the country. The country is a major tourist attraction because of its sports infrastructure, such as facilities for water sports, golf and skiing.

Spain ranks thirteenth in the world ranking of great sporting nations, an annual study by Havas Sports and Entertainment that establishes a yearly hierarchy of nations according to their results in world competitions in 52 sports.

The country has had world champions in sports such as fencing, padel, futsal, water polo, sailing, boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, athletics, football, basketball and badminton. Spain is also a world power in martial arts, especially karate, taekwondo and judo.

Geographic location

Atlantic Ocean	Cantabrian Sea	France Andorra
Portugal	Spain	Mediterranean Sea
Portugal Atlantic Ocean	Gibraltar Morocco	Mediterranean Sea

See also

• Lists about Spain
• Autonomous communities and cities of Spain
• Hispania
• Hispanic
• Iberism
• Spanish Empire
• Spanish nation
• Spanish nationality
• Iberian Peninsula
• Spanish people
• Foreign relations of Spain
• Symbols of Spain
• European Union

Bibliography

• Cortes Generales (December 27, 1978). "Constitución Española". Boletín Oficial del Estado (in español) (núm. 311, de 29 de diciembre de 1978). ISSN 0212-033X. BOE-A-1978-31229. Consolidated text. Last amended: September 27, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Spain

• "Casa de Su Majestad el Rey" (in español).
• "Presidencia del Gobierno de España" (in español).
• "Congreso de los Diputados" (in español).
• "Senado de España" (in español).
• "Instituto Nacional de Estadística" (in español).
• "Portal oficial de Turismo de España" (in español).