Spain - History, Politics, Geography, Economy, Demographics, Identities, Religion, Most important media, International rankings, References and notes

Official name Kingdom of Spain, Span Reino de España

Local name España (Spanish) Timezone GMT +1 Area 504 750 km²/194 833 sq mi population total (2002e) 40 998 000 Status Kingdom Capital Madrid Languages Spanish (official) with Catalan, Galician, and Basque also spoken in their respective regions Ethnic groups Spanish (Castilian, Valencian, Andalusian, Asturian) (73%), Catalan (16%), Galician (8%), Basque (2%) Religions Roman Catholic (99%), other Christian (including Anglican, Baptist, Evangelical, Mormon, Jehovah's Witnesses) and Muslim minorities Physical features Located in SW Europe, occupying four-fifths of the Iberian peninsula; includes the Canary Is, Balearic Is, several islands off the coast of N Africa, as well as the Presidios of Ceuta and Melilla in N Morocco; mostly a furrowed C plateau (the Meseta, average height 700 m/2300 ft) crossed by mountains; Andalusian or Baetic Mts (SE) rise to 3478 m/11 411 ft at Mulhacén; Pyrénées (N) rise to 3404 m/11 168 ft at Pico de Aneto; rivers run E-W, notably the Tagus, Ebro, Guadiana, Miñho, Duero, Guadalquivir, Segura, Júcar. Climate Continental climate in the Meseta and Ebro Basin, with hot summers, cold winters, low rainfall; highest rainfall in the mountains; S Mediterranean coast has warmest winter temperatures on European mainland; average annual temperatures 5°C (Jan), 25°C (Jul) in Madrid; average annual rainfall 419 mm/16·5 in. Currency 1 euro (EUR) = 100 cents (previous to February 2002, 1 Peseta (ESP) = 100 céntimos). Economy Traditional agricultural economy gradually being supplemented by varied industries; textiles, iron, steel, shipbuilding, electrical appliances, cars, wine; forestry; fishing; tourism; zinc and other mineral ores; cereals, olives, almonds, pomegranates. GDP (2002e) $850·7 bn, per capita $21 200 Human Development Index (2002) 0·913 History Early inhabitants included Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans; Muslim domination from the 8th-c; Christian reconquest completed by 1492; a monarchy since the unification of the Kingdoms of Castile, León, Aragón, and Navarre, largely achieved by 1572; 16th-c exploration of the New World, and the growth of the Spanish Empire; period of decline after the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1581, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588; War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–14; Peninsular War against Napoleon, 1808–14; war with the USA in 1898 led to the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and remaining Pacific possessions; dictatorship under Primo de Rivera (1923–30), followed by exile of the King and establishment of the Second Republic, 1931; military revolt headed by Franco in 1936 led to civil war and a Fascist dictatorship; Prince Juan Carlos of Bourbon nominated to succeed Franco in 1969; acceded, 1975; joined European Union (formerly EC), 1986; terrorist bombings at railway stations in Madrid killed at least 200 people and injured more than 1400 (Mar 2004); under 1978 constitution, the Kingdom of Spain is a constitutional monarchy; Monarch appoints the Prime Minister; governed by a bicameral Parliament (Cortes Generales) comprising a Congress of Deputies and a Senate; there has been a move towards local government autonomy with the creation of 17 self-governing regions. For other uses, see Spain (disambiguation).

Reino de España Kingdom of Spain
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Plus Ultra (Latin: "Further Beyond")
Anthem: Marcha Real 1 (Spanish: "Royal March")
Capital (largest city)	Madrid 40°26′N 3°42′W
Official language	Spanish.
Government	Constitutional monarchy
- King	Juan Carlos I
- Prime Minister	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Formation	15th century
- Dynastic union	1516
- Unification
-   De facto	1716
-   De jure	1812
Accession to EU	January 1, 1986
Area
- Total	505,992 km² (51st) 195,364 sq mi
- Water (%)	1.04
Population
- 1 January 2006 estimate	44,395,286 (29th)
- 2005 census	44,108,530
- Density	87,8/km² (106th) 220/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$1.029 trillion (9th)
- Per capita	$26,320 (25th)
HDI  (2004)	0.938 (high) (19th)
Currency	Euro (€)2 (EUR)
Time zone	CET3 (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD	.es4
Calling code	+34
1 Also serves as the Royal anthem. 2 Prior to 1999: Spanish Peseta. 3 Except in the Canary Islands, which are in the GMT time zone (UTC, UTC+1 in summer). 4 The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España, short form: España), is a country located in Southern Europe, with two small exclaves in North Africa (both bordering Morocco).

To the west and to the south of Galicia, Spain borders Portugal.

The term Spain (España in Spanish) is derived from the Roman name for the region: Hispania.

History

Prehistory and Pre-Roman peoples in the Iberian Peninsula

The earliest records of hominids living in Europe to date has been found in the Spanish cave of Atapuerca which has become a key site for world Paleontology due to the importance of the fossils found there, dated roughly 1,000,000 years ago.

Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago.

The native peoples which the Romans met at the time of their invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting from the Southwest part of the Peninsula through the Northeast part of it, and then the Celts, mostly inhabiting the north and northwest part of the Peninsula.

Roman Empire and Germanic Invasions

The Romans arrived in the Iberian peninsula during the Second Punic war in the 2nd century BCE, and annexed it under Augustus after two centuries of war with the tenacious Celtic and Iberian tribes (from whom they copied the short sword known as falcata). The centuries of uninterrupted Roman rule and settlement left a deep and enduring imprint upon the culture of Spain.

The first hordes of Barbarians to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th century, as the Roman empire decayed.

Muslim Iberia

In the 8th century, nearly all the Iberian peninsula, which had been under Visigothic rule, was quickly conquered (711–718), by mainly Berber Muslims (see Moors), who had crossed over from North Africa, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad.

The Muslim emirate proved strong in its first three centuries; Christian Spain struck back from its mountain redoubts by seizing the lands north of the Duero river, and the Franks were able to seize Barcelona (801) and the Spanish Marches), but save for these and some other small incursions in the north, the Christians were unable to make headway against the superior forces of Al-Andalus for several centuries. It was only in the 11th century that the break up of Al-Andalus led to the creation of the Taifa kingdoms, who attempted to outshine each other in art and culture and were often at war, became vulnerable to the consolidating power of Spain's Christian kingdoms.

The Moorish capital was Córdoba, in southern Spain.

Spanish society under Muslim rule became increasingly complex, partly because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of the much larger conquered population to Islam.

The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social tensions.

Muslim Spain was wealthy and sophisticated at the height of the Islamic rule. It was not until the 12th century that western medieval Christendom began to reach comparable levels of sophistication, and this was due in part to the stimulus coming from Muslim Spain.

The relative social peace and splendour, which was already deteriorating ever since the late 10th century, broke down with the later, stricter, Muslim ruling sects of Almoravids and Almohads.

Roman, Jewish, and Muslim culture interacted in complex ways.

Fall of Muslim rule and Unification

The long period of expansion of the Christian kingdoms, beginning in 722 with the Muslim defeat in the battle of Covadonga and the creation of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, only eleven years after the Moorish invasion, is called the Reconquista.

In 1086 the Almoravids, an ascetic Islamic sect from North Africa, conquered the divided small Moorish states in the south and launched an invasion in which they captured the east coast as far north as Saragossa. The Treaty of Granada guaranteed religious tolerance toward Muslims while Spain's Jewish population of over 200,000 people was expelled that year.

The reconquest from the Muslims is one of the most significant events in Spanish history since the fall of the Roman Empire.

With the union of Castile and Aragón in 1479 and the subsequent conquest of Granada in 1492 and Navarre in 1512, the word Spain (España, in Spanish) began being used only to refer to the new unified kingdom and not to the whole of Hispania (the term Hispania (from which España was originally derived) is Latin and the term Iberia Greek).

From the Renaissance to the nineteenth century

Until the late fifteenth century, Castile and León, Aragón and Navarre were independent states, with independent languages, monarchs, armies and, in the case of Aragon and Castile, two empires: the former with one in the Mediterranean and the latter with a new, rapidly growing, one in the Americas.

By 1512, most of the kingdoms of present-day Spain were politically unified by the crown, although not as a modern, centralized state.

During the 16th century, early Habsburg Spain (i.e. The Spanish Empire covered most territories of South and Central America, Mexico, the south of North America, some of Eastern Asia (including the Philippines), the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire invaded by the Kingdom of Spain and the Duke of Alba in 1580), southern Italy, Sicily, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

In 1640, under Philip IV, the centralist policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked wars in Portugal and Catalonia.

A series of long and costly wars and revolts followed in the early 17th century, and began a gradual decline of Spanish power in Europe from the 1640s.

Of note during the 16th and 17th centuries was the cultural efflorescence now known as the Spanish Golden Age.

Spain had vast colonies in America (the continent), stretching from Chile and Argentina to Central America and Mexico, to some states in the present-day United States.

The middle and latter 17th century saw a grim decline and stagnation under the drifting leadership of the last Spanish Habsburgs. The lingering, "decline of Spain" after a long period of considerable growth since the Black Death in the 14th century, was partly due to its successes in the 15th and 16th centuries that gave rise to the treasure fleets across the Atlantic and the Manila galleons across the Pacific, which, combined with the earlier political, social and military adaptations, made Spain the most powerful nation in Europe from the beginning of the 16th century until the middle of the 17th century.

The rapid growth of these silver shipments in the second half of the 16th century, after the opening of the American mines, engendered inflation that undermined Spanish trades and commerce (never very large in the Iberian Peninsula, which wasn't highly populated, thus much of the manufactures and finance were diverted to peripheral parts of the Empire - when related to the Peninsula, that is to say - like Flanders or third countries like The Netherlands, northern Italy and other nearby countries like England or the German speaking States).

Worsening matters were the wars defending the global empire against envious European rivals, internal successions and the European wars (Eighty Years' War and Thirty Years' War) in fighting for the Habsburg's dynastic and religious interests (Counter Reformation).

Particularly the Thirty Years' War must be accounted as an on and off but almost continuous conflict which drained Spanish resources into war in Central Europe thus heavily burdening the Empire's economy.

Reasons for this war were both dynastic and religious.

Controversy over succession to the throne consumed what had become an essentially leaderless country with a vast empire, and much of Europe, during the first years of the 18th century.

It was only after this war ended and a new dynasty—the French Bourbons—was installed that a true Spanish state was established when the absolutist first Bourbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 (declared in 1714) dissolved the pro-parliamentary Aragon court and unified the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon into a single, unified Kingdom of Spain, abolishing many of the regional privileges and autonomies (fueros) that had hampered Habsburg rule.

Following the wars at its commencement the 18th century saw a long, slow recovery, with an expansion of the iron and steel industries in the Basque Country, a growth in ship building, some increase in trade and a recovery in food production and a gradual recovery of population in Castile.

The early nineteenth century

The reformatory efforts of Charles III and his ministers Ensenada and Floridablanca led to a profound gap between partisans of the Enlightenment (Afrancesados) and the partisans of the Old Spain. Since this was the first and sole time in Modern Spain's history that the country was in foreign hands, it can be regarded as Spain's first nationalistic rebellion.

Consequences of the Napoleonic rule in Spain

The French invasion had numerous consequences for Spain. The war proved disastrous for Spain's economy, reversing the improvements of the late 18th century.

Spanish-American War

At the end of the 19th century, Spain lost all of its remaining old colonies in the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific regions, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam to the United States after unwittingly and unwillingly being thrust into the Spanish-American War of 1898.

"The Disaster" of 1898, as the Spanish-American War was called, gave increased impetus to Spain's cultural revival (Generation of '98) in which there was much critical self examination, and relieved it from the burden of its last major colonies.

The 20th century

The 20th century initially brought little peace; Spain played a minor part in the scramble for Africa, with the colonization of Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.

In the elections in February 1936, the left-wing coalition Popular Front won a narrow victory over the right-wing National Front coalition, but tension continued to mount with the destruction of Church property and an increasing number of politically-motivated murders, including that of prominent right-wing leader José Calvo Sotelo.

Over a hundred thousand highly motivated Spanish Civil War veterans were to give both sides the benefit of their experience throughout the Second World War in Europe, the Eastern Front and North Africa.

After World War II, being one of few surviving authoritarian regimes in Western Europe, Spain was politically and economically isolated and was kept out of the United Nations until 1955, when it became strategically important for US president Eisenhower to establish a military presence in the Iberian peninsula. In the 1960s, Spain began to enjoy economic growth (Spanish miracle) which gradually transformed it into a modern industrial economy with a thriving tourism sector.

Upon the death of General Franco in November 1975, his personally designated heir Prince Juan Carlos assumed the position of king and head of state. With the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the arrival of democracy, some regions — Basque Country, Navarra— were given complete financial autonomy, and many — Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia— were given some political autonomy, which was then soon extended to all Spanish regions, resulting in what is regarded as the most decentralized territorial organization in Western Europe.

On January 1, 1999 Spain adopted the Euro as its national currency.

Ever since the current Constitution was passed in 1978, Spain has had 5 Presidentes del Gobierno (Prime Ministers) as of September 2006: Adolfo Suárez González (1977-1981) who won the election for the Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD, now extinct), Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Bustelo (1981-1982) also for the UCD (under his presidency there was an attempted coup d'état on 23 February 1981), Felipe González Márquez (1982-1996) who won four consecutive elections heading the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ticket (PSOE), during his administrations Spain joined NATO and European Union) and then José María Aznar López (1996-2004) who won two consecutive elections for the Partido Popular (PP).

21st Century

In November 2002, the oil tanker Prestige sank near to the Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill.

On March 11 2004, a series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid, Spain.

March 14 2004 saw the PSOE party elected into government, with Zapatero becoming the new PM of Spain. Spain currently experiences one of the highest rates of immigration in Europe, with many immigrants proceeding to other European countries, or remaining in Spain.

Politics

Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a bicameral parliament, the Cortes Generales.

The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a Senate or Senado with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to also serve four-year terms.

Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally unitary but, in fact, functioning as a highly decentralized Federation of Autonomous Communities, each one with slightly different levels of self-government. The little differences within this system are due to the fact that the devolution process from the centre to the periphery was a process initially thought to be asymmetrical, granting a higher degree of self government only to those autonomous governments ruled by nationalist parties (namely Catalonia and the Basque Country) who were much more vocal in the matter and seeking a more federalist kind of relationship with the rest of Spain.

However, as years passed, the Autonomous Communities which in the beginning were thought to have a lower profile have caught up in terms of self-government with the nationalist ruled Autonomous communities and the gap in terms of self-government is not that wide anymore.

In the end, Spain is regarded as probably the most decentralized State in Europe at the present moment, with all of its different territories managing locally their Health and Education systems (just to mention some aspects of the public budget) and with some other territories (the Basque Country and Navarre) even managing their own public finances without hardly any presence of the Spanish central government in this regard or, in the case of Catalonia and the Basque Country, equipped with their own, fully operative and completely autonomous, police corps which widely replaces the State police functions in these territories (see Mossos d'Esquadra and Ertzaintza).

The Government of Spain has been involved in a long-running campaign against Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), a terrorist organization founded in 1959 in opposition to Franco and dedicated to promoting Basque independence through violent means.

Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military personnel and Spanish Government officials.

On 17 May 2005, all the parties in the Congress of Deputies, except the PP, passed the Central Government's motion giving approval to the beginning of peace talks with ETA, without making political concessions and with the requirement that it give up its weapons.

On February 20 2005, Spain became the first country to allow its people to vote on the European Union constitution that was signed in October 2004. Despite a very low participation (42%), the final result was very strongly in affirmation of the constitution, making Spain the first country to approve the constitution via referendum (Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia approved it before Spain, but they did not hold referenda).

See also: List of Spanish monarchs and Kings of Spain family tree

Geography

Mainland Spain is dominated by high plateaus and mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees or the Sierra Nevada. Spain is bound to the south and east by Mediterranean Sea (containing the Balearic Islands), to the north by the Cantabrian Sea and to its west by the Atlantic Ocean, where the Canary Islands off the African coast are found.

Due to Spain's own geographical situation which allows only its northern part to be in the way of the Jet Stream's typical path and due to its own orographic conditions, its climate is extremely diverse.

At 194,884 mi² (504,782 km²), Spain is the world's 51st-largest country (after Thailand).

Location	Record highs		Record lows
	(°C)	(°F)	(°C)	(°F)
Mediterranean
Murcia	47.2°C	117.0°F		21.2°F
Malaga	44.2°C	111.6°F	−3.8°C	25.1°F
Valencia	42.5°C	108.5°F	−7.2°C	19°F
Alicante	41.4°C	106.5°F	−4.6°C	23.7°F
Palma of Mallorca	40.6°C	105.1°F	-	-
Barcelona	39.8°C	103.6°F	−10.0°C	14°F
Girona	41.7	107°F		8.6°F
The inner land
Sevilla	47.0°C	116.6°F		22.1°F
Cordoba	46.6°C	115.9°F		-
Badajoz	45.0°C	113°F		-
Albacete	42.6°C	108.7°F		−11.2°F
Zaragoza	42.6°C	108.7°F		-
Madrid	42.2°C	108.0°F		5.4°F
Burgos	41.8°C	107.2°F		−7.6°F
Valladolid	40.2°C	104.4°F		-
Salamanca	-	-		−4.0°F
Teruel	-	-		−2.2°F
Northern Atlantic coast	(°C)	(°F)	(°C)	(°F)
Ourense	45°C	113°F		58.2°F
Bilbao	42.0°C	107.6°F		16.5°F
La Coruña	37.6°C	99.7°F		23.4°F
Gijón	36.4°C	97.5°F		23.4°F
The Canary Islands
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	38.6°C	102°F		48.6°F

Territorial disputes

Territories claimed by Spain

Spain has called for the return of Gibraltar, a small but strategic British overseas territory which lies near the Peninsula's southernmost tip, in the Eastern side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The UN resolutions (2231 (XXI) and 2353 (XXII)) call on the UK and Spain to reach an agreement to resolve their differences over Gibraltar, while Spain does not recognize this border and so it is ordinarily kept under strict traffic scrutiny (in the recent past it was often closed as a means to put pressure to Gibraltar, since its economy is partially dependent on Spanish goods and workers which arrive there from the Spanish side).

Moreover, the exact tracing of the demarcation line established by the Treaty of Utrecht is disputed between both sides (Spain claims that the UK is also occupying a tract of land around the airport which was not originally included in the Treaty provisions).

Gibraltar is officially a non-self governing territory or colony according to the UN original definition; To this, the Spanish position objects that it would overrule the only legal document available on the matter, the Treaty of Utrecht, which states that the area must return to Spain should the UK renounce to it.

Spanish territories claimed by other countries

Morocco claims the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Vélez, Alhucemas, Chafarinas, and Perejil islands, all on the Northern coast of Africa. Spain claims that these territories are integral parts of Spain and have been Spanish or linked to Spain since before the Islamic invasion of Spain in 711;

Portugal does not recognize Spain's sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza.

Economy

Spain's mixed economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 87% of that of the four leading West European economies. Adjusting to the monetary and other economic policies of an integrated Europe — and reducing unemployment — will pose challenges to Spain over the next few years. According to World Bank GDP figures from 2005, Spain has the ninth largest economy in the world, after Canada, and the fifth largest in Europe, after Italy.

There is general concern that Spain's model of economic growth (based largely on mass tourism, the construction industry, and manufacturing sectors) is faltering and may prove unsustainable over the long term. The first report of the Observatory on Sustainability (Observatorio de Sostenibilidad) — published in 2005 and funded by Spain's Ministry of the Environment and Alcalá University — reveals that the country's per capita GDP grew by 25% over the last ten years, while greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 45% since 1990. Recent developments include the construction of reverse osmosis plants along the Spanish Costas, to probably meet over 1% of Spain's total water needs.

On the brighter side, the Spanish economy is credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU (namely France and Germany) by the late 90's and beginning of the 21st century in a process which started with former Prime Minister Aznar's liberalization and deregulation reforms aiming to reduce the State's role in the market place.

This has narrowed steadily the economic gap between Spain and its leading partners in the EU over this period.

Demographics

Spain's population density, at 87.8/km² (220/sq.

The population of Spain doubled during the twentieth century, due to the spectacular demographic boom by the 60's and early 70's. Then, after the birth rate plunged in the 80's and Spain's population became stalled, a new population increase started based initially in the return of many Spanish who emigrated to other European countries during the 70's and, more recently, it has been boosted by the large figures of foreign immigrants, mostly from Latin America (38.75% of them), Eastern Europe (16.33%), Maghreb (14.99%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (4.08%).

Immigration in Spain

According to the Spanish government there were 3.7 million foreign residents in Spain in 2005;

Spain currently is thought to have one of the highest immigration rates within the EU.

On the other hand mass immigration has put downward pressure on the wages of Spanish born workers in construction and agriculture and in a number of service sector jobs at a time of soaring house and rental costs.

Most populous metropolitan regions

Madrid 5,646,572 Barcelona 3,135,758 Valencia 1,623,724 Sevilla 1,317,098 Málaga 1,074,074 Bilbao 946,829 See also: List of cities in Spain and List of cities in Spain over 20,000 population (2001 census)

Identities

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognizes historic entities ("nationalities“, a carefully chosen word in order to avoid the more politically loaded "nations") and regions, inside the unity of the Spanish nation.

But Spain's identity is for some people more an overlap of different regional identities than a sole Spanish identity, some of the regional identities may be even in conflict with the Spanish one.

Especially in the case of a large part of Catalans, Basques and Galicians, who quite frequently identify, respectively, primarily with Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia first, with Spain only second. 40% of Catalans do so with Catalonia (20% identify firstly with Spain), and 32% Galicians with Galicia (9% with Spain).

Almost all communities have a majority of people identifying as much with Spain as with the Autonomous Community (except Madrid, where Spain is the primary identity, and Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia, and the Balearics, where people tend to identify more with their Autonomous Community). It is this last feature of "shared identity" between the more local level or Autonomous Community and the Spanish level which makes the identity question in Spain complex and far from univocal.

Languages

The Spanish Constitution, although affirming the sovereignty of the Spanish Nation, recognizes historical nationalities.

Castilian (called both español and castellano in the language itself) is an official language throughout Spain, but other regional languages are also spoken, and are the primary languages in some of their respective geographies.

There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages: Asturian / Leonese, in Asturias and parts of Leon, Zamora and Salamanca, and the Extremaduran in Caceres and Salamanca, both descendants of the historical Astur-Leonese dialect;

In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean costas and the islands, German and English are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents and tourism workers. On the other side, recent African immigrants and large minority of their descendants speaks the official European languages of their homelands (whether standard Portuguese, English, French, or its Creoles.)

Minority groups

Since the 16th century, the most famous minority group in the country have been the Gitanos, a Roma group.

Spain harbours a number of black African-blooded people — who are descendants of populations from former colonies (especially Equatorial Guinea) who chose to be in Spanish guidance but, much more important than those in numbers, immigrants from several Sub-Saharan and Caribbean countries who have been recently settling in Spain.

The important Jewish population of Spain was either expelled or forced to convert in 1492, with the dawn of the Spanish Inquisition. After the 19th century, some Jews have established themselves in Spain as a result of migration from former Spanish Morocco (actually Melilla enjoys the highest ratio of Jews in Spain), escape from Nazi repression and immigration from Argentina.

A sizeable and increasing number of Spanish citizens also descend from these communities, as Spain applies jus soli and provides special measures for immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries to obtain Spanish citizenship.

Religion

Roman Catholicism is the most popular religion in the country.

Evidence of the secular nature of contemporary Spain can be seen in the widespread support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain — over 70% of Spaniards support gay marriage according to a 2004 study by the Centre of Sociological Investigations.

The recent waves of immigration, especially during and after the 90's, have led to an increasing number of Muslims, who have about 1 million members. Muslims had ceased to live in Spain for centuries, ever since the Reconquista, when they were given the ultimatum of either convert to Catholicism or leave the country.

Since the expulsion of the Sephardim in 1492, Judaism was practically nonexistent until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to enter the country. Spain is believed to have been about 8% Jewish on the eve of the Spanish Inquisition.

Over the past thirty years, Spain has become a more secularized society as the number of believers has decreased significantly.

Most important media

See also: List of television stations in Spain and List of newspapers in Spain

National TV channels (analogue)

La Primera (Televisión Española) La 2 (Televisión Española) Antena 3

Cuatro Telecinco LaSexta

Regional TV channels

Aragón Televisión (Aragon) TV Principado de Asturias (Asturias) Canal 4- Castilla y León (Castile and Leon) TV3 (Catalonia)

Euskal Telebista (Basque Country) Canal Sur (Andalusia) Telemadrid (Madrid) 7 (Murcia)

Canal 9 (Valencia) Castilla-La Mancha Televisión (Castile-La Mancha) TV Canaria (Canary Islands) TV Canaria 2 (Canary Islands)

TVG (Galicia) IB3 (Balearic Islands) Canal Extremadura (Extremadura)

DVB-T channels

La Primera (TVE) La 2 (TVE) Antena 3 Cuatro (Sogecable) Telecinco laSexta

Veo TV : general programs Net TV : general programs CNN+ : 24 hour news channel (Sogecable) Canal 24 horas : 24 hour news channel Sony Entertainment Television : joint VEO TV and Sony Pictures channel. 40 latino : 24 hours Spanish music channel (Sogecable)

Fly Music : music channel (Net TV) Teledeporte : Sports (TVE) Telecinco Sport : Sports. Currently it airs also some EurosportNews programs (Telecinco) Telecinco Estrellas : general entertainment, TV series and movies (Telecinco) Antena.nova : lifestyle, TV series and movies (Antena 3)

Antena.neox : children/teen channel (Antena 3) Clan TVE : children/teen channel. Timeshared with TVE 50 años (TVE) TVE 50 años : broadcasting events from the past 50 years of TVE (TVE) Telehit: music and manga (joint Televisa and laSexta channel)

Radio stations

Cadena SER Cadena COPE Radio Nacional de España Onda Cero Punto Radio

Cadena Dial Cadena 100 Los 40 principales Kiss FM m80 radio

Newspapers

El País El Mundo 20 minutos Metro Qué! ADN Diario de Navarra

ABC La Razón La Vanguardia El Periódico de Cataluña La Voz de Galicia El Correo

La Opinión La Verdad Heraldo de Aragón Gara Marca AS

Faro de Vigo La Nueva España El Ideal Gallego El Norte de Castilla La Voz de Almería Canarias7

International rankings

Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2002: Rank 40 out of 139 countries.

Neighbouring countries

References and notes

^ Unofficially in Catalan: Regne d'Espanya; ^ Rank by nominal GDP: 9 (2006) ^ The Treaty of Granada, 1492 ^ World Bank GDP figures ^ OECD figures ^ Official report on Spanish recent Macroeconomics, including tables and graphics ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística ^ Etnologue report of Spain ^ CIS last study on religion, 2005, question no.

Other images

The Sagrada Familia by night, Barcelona	Seville	The Alhambra, Granada	Aqueduct of Segovia
The Sanctuary of Santa María Magdalena in Novelda, Spain	Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao	Rural Basque country	Cabo Trafalgar in Cádiz (Spain)
Port of Cadaqués, Catalonia	Antequera, in Málaga (Spain)	Coast of Cantabria, in the so called Green Spain.	Jávea, Xàbia
Llanes, Asturias	The Maspalomas dunes Gran Canaria,Canary Islands	Aran valley, Catalonia	The Pyrenees