Spain: Country in Southwestern Europe

Geography and Territory

• Spain is located in Southwestern Europe, with territories in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Africa.
• It is the largest country in Southern Europe and the fourth-most populous European Union member state.
• Spain's territory includes the Iberian Peninsula, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, and autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in Africa.

Borders and Cities

• Peninsular Spain is bordered by France, Andorra, Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar, Portugal, and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Capital and largest city is Madrid, with other major urban areas including Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Bilbao.

History

• The Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by Celtic and Iberian tribes, along with other local pre-Roman peoples, in early antiquity.
• The Roman conquest established the province of Hispania, followed by Romanization and Christianization.
• The Visigoths formed the Visigothic Kingdom centred on Toledo after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
• The Umayyad Caliphate invaded the peninsula in the early eighth century and established Al-Andalus, a dominant peninsular power centred on Córdoba.
• Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, including Asturias, León, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal, and made an intermittent southward military expansion and repopulation known as the Reconquista.
• The dynastic union of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1479 under the Catholic Monarchs unified Spain as a nation-state.

Empire and Colonization

• Spain pioneered the exploration of the New World during the Age of Discovery.
• The Spanish empire reached a global scale and spread across all continents, underpinning the rise of a global trading system fueled primarily by precious metals.

Modern Era

• The 18th century saw extensive reforms, including the Bourbon reforms that centralized mainland Spain.
• The 19th century was marked by political divisions and the breakaway of most of the American colonies.
• The 20th century saw the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship, and the restoration of democracy and entry into the European Union.
• Spain experienced an economic boom that transformed it socially and politically, becoming a major advanced capitalist economy with the world's fifteenth-largest economy by nominal GDP.

Culture and Influence

• Spanish art, architecture, music, poetry, painting, literature, and cuisine have been influential worldwide since the Siglo de Oro.
• Spain is the world's second-most visited country, has one of the world's largest numbers of World Heritage Sites, and is the most popular destination for European students.
• Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language and the world's most widely spoken Romance language, with over 600 million Hispanophones.

Learn about Spain, its location, and geography. Discover its position in Southwestern Europe, its parts in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Africa.