pain (Listeni/'spe?n/; Spanish: Espaa [es'pa?

a] ( listen)), officially the Kingdo

m of Spain (Spanish: Reino de Espaa),[a][b] is a sovereign state located on the I
berian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its mainland is bordered to the south a
nd east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar
; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to t
he west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Along with France and
Morocco, it is one of only three countries to have both Atlantic and Mediterrane
an coastlines. Spain's 1,214 km (754 mi) border with Portugal is the longest uni
nterrupted border within the European Union.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the C
anary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, three exclaves in Nor
th Africa, Ceuta, Melilla, and Pen de Vlez de la Gomera that border Morocco, and th
e islands and peones (rocks) of Alborn, Chafarinas, Alhucemas, and Perejil. (The S
panish Empire with its peak in the 1600s had included much more territory - see
world map.) With an area of 505,992 km2 (195,365 sq mi), Spain is the second lar
gest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the fifth largest cou
ntry in Europe.
Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. It
came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania
. In the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the
Moors. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the ma
rriage of the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the centuries-long reconqu
est, or Reconquista, of the peninsula from the Moors in 1492. In the early moder
n period, Spain became one of history's first global colonial empires, leaving a
vast cultural and linguistic legacy that includes over 500 million Spanish spea
kers, making Spanish the world's second most spoken first language.
Modern Spain is a democracy organized in the form of a parliamentary government
under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the 14th largest
economy in the world. It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, OECD, WTO and
many other international organizations.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Prehistory and pre-Roman peoples
2.2 Roman Empire and the Gothic Kingdom
2.3 Middle Ages
2.4 Imperial Spain
2.5 Liberalism and nation state
2.6 Spanish Civil War and dictatorship
2.7 Democratic restoration
3 Geography
3.1 Islands
3.2 Mountains and rivers
3.3 Climate
4 Governance
4.1 Branches of government
4.2 Human Rights
4.3 Administrative divisions
4.3.1 Autonomous communities and autonomous cities
4.3.2 Provinces and municipalities
4.4 Foreign relations
4.4.1 Territorial disputes
4.5 Military
5 Economy
5.1 Recent background
5.2 Property boom and bust

5.3 Quality of life

5.4 Agriculture
5.5 Tourism
5.6 Energy
5.7 Transport
6 Demographics
6.1 Urbanization
6.1.1 Metropolitan areas
6.2 Peoples
6.3 Minority groups
6.4 Immigration
6.5 Languages
6.6 Education
6.7 Religion
7 Culture
7.1 Monuments and World Heritage Sites
7.2 Literature
7.3 Art
7.4 Cinema
7.5 Architecture
7.6 Music and dance
7.7 Cuisine
7.8 Science and technology
7.9 Sport
7.10 Public holidays and festivals
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
Etymology
Treasure of Villena, a Bronze Age treasure hoard.
The origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name Espaa was deri
ved, are uncertain and are possibly unknown due to inadequate evidence. Down the
centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses:
The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolv
ed from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world".
Jess Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenecian word
spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore i-spn-ya would mean "the land where m
etals are forged".[9] It may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meanin
g "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's locat
ion at the end of the Mediterranean; Roman coins struck in the region from the r
eign of Hadrian show a female figure with a coney at her feet,[10] and Strabo ca
lled it the "land of the rabbits".[11]
Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Gre
ek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperi
a, ?spe??a in Greek) and Spain, being still further west, as Hesperia ultima.[12
]
There is the claim that "Hispania" derives from the Basque word Ezpanna meaning
"edge" or "border", another reference to the fact that the Iberian Peninsula con
stitutes the southwest corner of the European continent.[12]
Two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abrabanel and Solomon ibn Ve
rga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two differe
nt published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Ph
iros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusale

m. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had been given a kingdom in Spain. H
e became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, who also rul
ed over a kingdom in Spain. Heracles later renounced his throne in preference fo
r his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the cou
ntry of Espaa (Spain) took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym wo
uld have already been in use in Spain by c. 350 BCE.[13]
History
Main article: History of Spain
Altamira Cave paintings,[14] in Cantabria.
Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basqu
es and Celts. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came under the rule of th
e Roman Empire. During the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but lat
er, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process
that took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regain
ed control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Colu
mbus reached the Americas. A global empire began which saw Spain become the stro
ngest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and t
he largest overseas empire for three centuries.
Continued wars and other problems eventually led to a diminished status. The Nap
oleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that
tore apart most of the empire and left the country politically unstable. Prior t
o the Second World War, Spain suffered a devastating civil war and came under th
e rule of an authoritarian government, whose rule oversaw a period of stagnation
but that finished with a powerful economic surge. Eventually democracy was peac
efully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain jo
ined the European Union, experiencing a cultural renaissance and steady economic
growth.
Prehistory and pre-Roman peoples
Main article: Prehistoric Iberia
Celtic castro in A Guarda, Galicia.
Archaeological research at Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populat
ed by hominids 1.2 million years ago.[15] In Atapuerca there have been found fos
sils of the earliest known hominins in Europe, the Homo antecessor. Modern human
s first arrived in Iberia, from the north on foot, about 35,000 years ago.[16] T
he best known artifacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the famous pa
intings in the Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Iberia, which were created
from 35,600 to 13,500 BCE by Cro-Magnon.[14][17] Archaeological and genetic evi
dence suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of several major refugia
from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the last ice age
.
The largest groups inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman conquest we
re the Iberians and the Celts. The Iberians inhabited the Mediterranean side of
the peninsula, from the northeast to the southeast. The Celts inhabited much of
the inner and Atlantic sides of the peninsula, from the northwest to the southwe
st. Basques occupied the western area of the Pyrenees mountain range and adjacen
t areas, the Tartessians were in the southwest and the Lusitanians and Vettones
occupied areas in the central west. A number of trading settlements of Phoenicia
ns, Greeks and Carthaginians developed on the Mediterranean coast.
Roman Empire and the Gothic Kingdom
Main articles: Hispania and Visigothic Kingdom
Roman Theatre, Mrida
During the Second Punic War, an expanding Roman Republic captured Carthaginian t

rading colonies along the Mediterranean coast from roughly 210 to 205 BCE. It to
ok the Romans nearly two centuries to complete the conquest of the Iberian Penin
sula, though they had control of it for over six centuries. Roman rule was bound
together by law, language, and the Roman road.[18]
The cultures of the Celtic and Iberian populations were gradually Romanized (Lat
inized) at differing rates in different parts of Hispania. Local leaders were ad
mitted into the Roman aristocratic class[e][19] Hispania served as a granary for
the Roman market, and its harbours exported gold, wool, olive oil, and wine. Ag
ricultural production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, so
me of which remain in use. Emperors Hadrian, Trajan, Theodosius I, and the philo
sopher Seneca were born in Hispania.[f] Christianity was introduced into Hispani
a in the 1st century CE and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century C
E.[19] Most of Spain's present languages and religion, and the basis of its laws
, originate from this period.[18]
Toledo, capital of the Visigothic Kingdom.
The weakening of the Western Roman Empire's jurisdiction in Hispania began in 40
9, when the Germanic Suebi and Vandals, together with the Sarmatian Alans crosse
d the Rhine and ravaged Gaul until the Visigoths drove them into Iberia that sam
e year. The Suebi established a kingdom in what is today modern Galicia and nort
hern Portugal. As the western empire disintegrated, the social and economic base
became greatly simplified: but even in modified form, the successor regimes mai
ntained many of the institutions and laws of the late empire, including Christia
nity.
The Alans' allies, the Hasdingi Vandals, established a kingdom in Gallaecia, too
, occupying largely the same region but extending farther south to the Duero riv
er. The Silingi Vandals occupied the region that still bears a form of their nam
e Vandalusia, modern Andalusia, in Spain. The Byzantines established an enclave,
Spania, in the south, with the intention of reviving the Roman empire throughout
Iberia. Eventually, however, Hispania was reunited under Visigothic rule.
Isidore of Seville, archbishop of Seville, was an influential philosopher and ve
ry studied in the Middle Ages in Europe. Also his theories were vital to the con
version of the Visigothic Kingdom to a catholic one, in the Councils of Toledo.
This gothic kingdom was the first Christian kingdom ruling in the Iberian Penins
ula, and in the Reconquista it was the referent for the different kingdoms fight
ing against the Muslim rule.
Middle Ages
Main articles: Al-Andalus and Reconquista
The death of the Frankish leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778)
In the 8th century, nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered (711 718) by
largely Moorish Muslim armies from North Africa. These conquests were part of t
he expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate. Only a small area in the mountainous nort
h-west of the peninsula managed to resist the initial invasion.
Under Islamic law, Christians and Jews were given the subordinate status of dhim
mi. This status permitted Christians and Jews to practice their religions as Peo
ple of the Book but they were required to pay a special tax and had legal and so
cial rights inferior to those of Muslims.[20][21]
Conversion to Islam proceeded at an increasing pace. The mulades (Muslims of ethn
ic Iberian origin) are believed to have comprized the majority of the population
of Al-Andalus by the end of the 10th century.[22][23]
The Muslim community in the Iberian Peninsula was itself diverse and beset by so

cial tensions. The Berber people of North Africa, who had provided the bulk of t
he invading armies, clashed with the Arab leadership from the Middle East.[g] Ov
er time, large Moorish populations became established, especially in the Guadalq
uivir River valley, the coastal plain of Valencia, the Ebro River valley and (to
wards the end of this period) in the mountainous region of Granada.[23]
Hypostyle hall in the Great Mosque of Crdoba.
Crdoba, the capital of the caliphate since Abd-ar-Rahman III, was the largest, ri
chest and most sophisticated city in western Europe. Mediterranean trade and cul
tural exchange flourished. Muslims imported a rich intellectual tradition from t
he Middle East and North Africa. Muslim and Jewish scholars played an important
part in reviving and expanding classical Greek learning in Western Europe. Some
important philosophers at the time were Averroes, Ibn Arabi and Maimonides. The
Romanized cultures of the Iberian Peninsula interacted with Muslim and Jewish cu
ltures in complex ways, giving the region a distinctive culture.[23] Outside the
cities, where the vast majority lived, the land ownership system from Roman tim
es remained largely intact as Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners and
the introduction of new crops and techniques led to an expansion of agriculture.
Aljafera Royal Palace of the Taifa of Zaragoza and the Aragonese kings after Alfo
nso the Battler.
In the 11th century, the Muslim holdings fractured into rival Taifa kingdoms, al
lowing the small Christian states the opportunity to greatly enlarge their terri
tories.[23] The arrival from North Africa of the Islamic ruling sects of the Alm
oravids and the Almohads restored unity upon the Muslim holdings, with a stricte
r, less tolerant application of Islam, and saw a revival in Muslim fortunes. Thi
s re-united Islamic state experienced more than a century of successes that part
ially reversed Christian gains.
The Reconquista (Reconquest) was the centuries-long period in which Christian ru
le was re-established over the Iberian Peninsula. The Reconquista is viewed as b
eginning with the Battle of Covadonga won by Don Pelayo in 722 and was concurren
t with the period of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula. The Christian army's
victory over Muslim forces led to the creation of the Christian Kingdom of Astur
ias along the northwestern coastal mountains. Shortly after, in 739, Muslim forc
es were driven from Galicia, which was to eventually host one of medieval Europe
's holiest sites, Santiago de Compostela and was incorporated into the new Chris
tian kingdom. The Kingdom of Len was the strongest Christian kingdom for centurie
s. In 1188 the first modern parliamentary season in Europe were hold in Len (Cort
es of Len). The Kingdom of Castile, formed from leonese territory, was its succes
sor as strongest kingdom. The kings and the nobility fought for power and influe
nce in this period. The example of the roman emperors influenced the political o
bjective of the Crown, while the nobles benefited from feudalism.
Basilica of San Isidoro, Len.
Muslim armies had also moved north of the Pyrenees but they were defeated by Fra
nkish forces at the Battle of Poitiers, Frankia. Later, Frankish forces establis
hed Christian counties on the southern side of the Pyrenees. These areas were to
grow into the kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia.[24] For several centur
ies, the fluctuating frontier between the Muslim and Christian controlled areas
of Iberia was along the Ebro and Duero valleys.
The break-up of Al-Andalus into the competing taifa kingdoms helped the long emb
attled Iberian Christian kingdoms gain the initiative. The capture of the strate
gically central city of Toledo in 1085 marked a significant shift in the balance
of power in favour of the Christian kingdoms. Following a great Muslim resurgen
ce in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds in the south fell to Chris

tian Spain in the 13th century Crdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248 leaving only the Mu
slim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south.[25]
Alfonso X, Libro de los juegos.
In this period literature and philosophy started to flourish again in the Christ
ian peninsular kingdoms, based on Roman and gothic traditions. An important phil
osopher from this time is Ramon Llull. Abraham Cresques was a prominent Jewish c
artographer. Roman law and its institutions were the model for the legislators.
The king Alfonso X of Castile focused on strengthening this Roman and Gothic pas
t, and also on linking the Iberian Christian kingdoms with the rest of medieval
European Christendom. He worked for being elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empi
re and published the Siete Partidas code. The Toledo School of Translators is th
e name that commonly describes the group of scholars who worked together in the
city of Toledo during the 12th and 13th centuries, to translate many of the phil
osophical and scientific works from classical Arabic, classical Greek, and ancie
nt Hebrew. The Islamic transmission of the classics is the main Islamic contribu
tions to Medieval Europe. The Spanish language evolved from Latin, as did other
related Romance languages, and the first grammar was published (Cantar de Mio Ci
d and Antonio de Nebrija).
Salamanca is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The School of Salamanca was
the intellectual origin of human rights theories and modern international law.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Marinid Muslim sect based in North Africa in
vaded and established some enclaves on the southern coast but failed in their at
tempt to re-establish Muslim rule in Iberia and were soon driven out. The 13th c
entury also witnessed the Crown of Aragon, centred in Spain's north east, expand
its reach across islands in the Mediterranean, to Sicily and even Athens.[26] A
round this time the universities of Palencia (1212/1263) and Salamanca (1218/125
4) were established. The Black Death of 1348 and 1349 devastated Spain.[27] In 1
469, the crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by t
he marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. 1478 commenced
the completion of the conquest of the Canary Islands and in 1492, the combined f
orces of Castile and Aragon captured the Emirate of Granada, ending the last rem
nant of a 781-year presence of Islamic rule in Iberia. That same year, Spain's J
ews were ordered to convert to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spanish territ
ories during the Spanish Inquisition.[28] The Treaty of Granada guaranteed relig
ious tolerance toward Muslims,[29] and although the toleration was only partial,
it was not until the beginning of the 17th century, following the Revolt of the
Alpujarras, that Muslims were finally expelled.[h][30]
Imperial Spain
Main article: Spanish Empire
Philip II's realms circa 1598.
The year 1492 also marked the arrival in th