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Spanish speaking
country |
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Spain
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Languages
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Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% |
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Capital |
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Madrid |
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Other main cities |
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Barcelona, Valencia, Seville |
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Area (km2) |
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504,750 |
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Population |
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39,996,671 |
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Currency |
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Euro |
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| History of Spain |
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Spain occupies 85 per cent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal, in southwestern Europe. Off Spain's east coast in the Mediterranean are the Balearic Islands whilst 97 km west of Africa are the Canary Islands.
Spain, originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a part of the Roman Empire in 206 B.C. Invaded by Visigoths in A.D. 412 and Muslims in 711, a steady Christian conquest began in the middle 8th Century.
The last Muslim stronghold, Granada, fell in 1492 and Roman Catholicism was established as the official state religion. Spain amassed tremendous wealth and a vast colonial empire through the conquest of Peru and Mexico in the 16th Century, but after the destruction of the Armada sent against England, Spain's status sank rapidly.
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) resulted in the loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan, Sardinia, and Naples and its colonies in the Americas and the Philippines vanished in wars and revolutions during the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Neutral in World War I, General Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator in 1923. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII revoked the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist and republican movement led to his leaving Spain in 1931.
The new constitution declared Spain a workers' republic, broke up the large estates, separated church and state, and secularized the schools. The elections held in 1936 returned a strong Popular Front majority, with Manuel Azaña as president.
On July 18, 1936, Francisco Franco Bahamonde led a mutiny against the government. The civil war that followed lasted 3 years and cost the lives of nearly a million people. Franco took Madrid on March 28, 1939 and became head of state. A referendum in 1947 approved a Franco-drafted succession law declaring Spain a monarchy again, but Franco continued as chief of state.
In 1969, Franco and the Cortes designated Prince Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor María de Borbón heir to the kingdom of Spain when Franco's government came to an end. Franco died in 1975 and Juan Carlos was proclaimed king 7 days later.
The Catalonia and Basque regions were granted home rule in 1979.
With the overwhelming election of Prime Minister Felipe González Márquez and his Spanish Socialist Workers Party in the 1982 parliamentary elections, the Franco past was finally buried.
Spain entered NATO in 1982 and a treaty admitting Spain, along with Portugal, to the EEC, now the EU, took effect on January 1, 1986.
In March 2000, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and the center-right People's Party won easily in the general election.
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| Did you know? |
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There are no "primitive" languages. All languages have a system of sounds, words and sentences that can adequately communicate the content of culture. |
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