Reino de Espaa (es)
Spain km 2 1.04%
Population - Total ( 2009 ) - Density	Ranked 29 th 46,661,950 Hab. 92.46 inhabitants / km 2
Training Union of the kingdoms of Castile , Aragon	1479
Demonym	Spanish Spanish
GDP (PPP) ( 2008 )	1 397 milliards ( 12 )
GDP (nominal) ( 2008 )	1 611 milliards ( 9th )
HDI ( 2007 )	0.863 (high) ( 20th )
Currency	Euro ( EUR )
Time Zone	UTC +1 ( CET ); Summer time: UTC +2: ( EST )
National anthem	Marcha Real
Internet domain	. Es
Indicative Telephone	+34
In addition to Castilian, some languages are co-official in their autonomous region , namely: Catalan / Valencian in Catalonia , the Balearic Islands and the Valencia , the Basque the Basque Autonomous Community and in the northern quarter of the Navarre , Galician in Galicia .). The Aranese (dialect of Occitan spoken in the Val d'Aran ) is co-official in Catalonia with the Catalan and Spanish. For details, see the section of Spanish language Before 2002 : ESP

Spain, in long form the Kingdom of Spain, Spanish and Reino de Espaa, is a country of Southern Europe and the West which occupies the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula. The country has 46 million inhabitants, making it the ^29th country in the world in terms of population. Second oldest European colonial power after Portugal , the country was a major world power in the ^fifteenth to the ^sixteenth century, but began to lose influence thereafter, especially throughout the ^nineteenth century with the loss of his colonies.

Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and east, with the exception of the territory the British in Gibraltar and the Strait of the same name which separates the continent of Africa. In the north, the Pyrenees form a natural border with France , the Andorra and the Bay of Biscay. The Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean bordering the west and northwest. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa , Ceuta and Melilla , bordering Morocco. With an area of 504,030 km , Spain is the largest country of Western Europe and the European Union after France.

Because of its location, Spain has been the subject of many external influences, often simultaneously, since prehistoric times until the birth of Spain as a country. Conversely, the country itself has been an important source of inspiration for other regions, primarily during the modern era , when it became a colonial empire that has left a legacy of more than 400 million Hispanics in date.

Spain is a constitutional monarchy regime democratic parliamentary. It is a developed country with the ninth largest world economy by GDP nominal ( twelfth to purchasing power parity ), and a standard of living high (15 ^th to the HDI ranking in 2007). It is a member of the United Nations , the European Union , the Latin Union , the NATO , the OECD and the WTO.

The territorial government of Spain

Spain has a central government and three levels of local government:

• 17 Autonomous Communities (Comunidades Autnomas);
• 50 provinces (provincia);
• 8112 municipalities (municipio).

Major cities

Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid.

The largest cities are (in 2007 ):

1. Madrid 5,900,000
2. Barcelona 4,856,579
3. Valencia 1,764,970
4. Seville 1,417,098
5. Mlaga 1,104,074
6. Bilbao 946 000
7. Asturias ( Gijn , Oviedo , Avils , Mieres and Langreo ) 910 199
8. Alicante - Elche 741 215
9. Bay of Cadiz ( Cadiz - Jerez ) 688 076
10. Zaragoza 683 763
11. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 656 903
12. Murcia 633 272

Economy

Long remained a country farm , Spain has experienced significant socio-economic changes in the last quarter of the ^twentieth century. She now has a diversified economy, thanks to the rapid growth of the industry since the fifties and the growth of tourism. Between 1995 and 2001 , industrial employment increased by 38%. From 1964 , a series of development plans has contributed to the country's economic expansion. The development of metallurgical industries and textiles, shipbuilding and mining was privileged. Spain became in less than twenty years a major industrial power and agriculture. Tourism is also very important, representing 5% of gross domestic product. The country remains dependent on housing construction.

Spain is experiencing a serious crisis. It first began with the construction of a crisis due to falling prices and the global economic crisis of 2008 aggravated the situation. This crisis is characterized by a sharp rise in unemployment , which now affects nearly 18% of the workforce in March 2009 , cons about 8% a year ago. The Spanish unemployment rate is now the highest in the EU after that of Latvia.

Culture

Cabo Menor, bathed by the waters of the Cantabrian Sea , and, basically, the city of Santander , capital of Cantabria.

The Kursaal Bridge in San Sebastian , the capital of the province Basque of Guipuzcoa and great tourist town.

The palm grove of Elche , World Heritage by UNESCO.

According to a recent survey by the Public Centre for Sociological Research , 82.4% of Spaniards say they are Catholic and 47.7% of these practitioners.

Among the most famous elements of Spanish folk culture, we can cite the flamenco , and a cultural event sometimes controversial, bullfighting.

The welfare state is less developed in Spain : the country has a tax burden low (37% of GDP) and social spending among the lowest in the euro area (20.3% of GDP) .

The official language of Spain is the Spanish ( Castilian ). However, this is not the only language that is spoken, some autonomous communities have their own official language alongside Spanish, here's their list:

• Catalonia: Catalan and Aranese
• Valencia: Valencia
• Balearic Islands: Catalan
• Galicia: Galician
• Basque Country and parts of Navarre: Basque

Sports

Codes

Spain has the code:

• E , according to the list of international codes of plates ,
• CBS , according to the list of prefixes ICAO aircraft registration ,
• ES , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-2
• . Es , according to the list of Internet TLDs ( top level domain )
• ESP , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , code alpha-3,
• ESP , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-3,
• ESP under the list of country codes IOC ,
• GC , GE & LE , according to the list of prefixes ICAO airport codes ,
• MS , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-2 code,

Notes and references

See also

Bibliography

• Guy Hermet, Spain in the twentieth ^century, Presses Universitaires de France, ( ISBN 2130450911 )
• Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, July 1936 - March 1939 collection "Mouthpieces" Robert Laffont, ( ISBN 222104844X )

Related Articles

• List of Spanish newspapers
• Radio stations in Spain
• List of titles of nobility Spanish

External Links

• Category Spain directory dmoz
• (S) Spanish Government
• (Es) of the Spanish Administration Portal
• (En) Spain's official tourism website

• Spain portal
• Portal European Union

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