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Spain， officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España， short form: España[1])， is a country located in Southern Europe， with two small exclaves in North Africa (both bordering Morocco) Spain is a democracy which is organized as a parliamentary It is a developed country with the ninth-largest economy in the [2] It is the largest of the three sovereign nations that make up the Iberian Peninsula—the others are Portugal and the microstate of A To the west and to the south of Galicia， Spain borders P To the south， it borders Gibraltar (belonging to the UK) and， through its cities in North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla)， M To the northeast， along the Pyrenees mountain range， it borders France and the tiny principality of A It also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea， the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar， known as Plazas de soberanía， such as the Chafarine islands， the isle of Alborán， the "rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas， and the tiny Isla P In the northeast along the Pyrenees， a small exclave town called Llívia in Catalonia is surrounded by French The term Spain (España in Spanish) comes from the name as the Romans knew it in Latin: H 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 Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35，000 years The more conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the northern Spanish Altamira (cave)， which were done 15，000 BCE and are regarded， along with those in Lascaux， France， as paramount instances of cave The earliest urban culture documented is that of the semi-mythical southern city of Tartessos， pre- 1100 BCE The seafaring Phoenicians， Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean coast and founded trading colonies there over a period of several Around 1100 BCE， Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day Cádiz) near T In the 9th century BCE the first Greek colonies， such as Emporion (modern Empúries)， were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the East， leaving the south coast to the P The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia， apparently after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish) In the 6th century BCE the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia while struggling first with the Greeks and shortly after with the Romans for control of the Western M Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena) 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 P In the inner part of the peninsula， where both groups were in contact， a mixed， distinctive， culture was present， the one known as C [edit] Roman Empire and Germanic Invasions Main article: Hispania Roman bridge in CordobaThe 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) These， along with the Phoenician， Greek and Carthaginian coastal colonies， became the province of H It was divided into Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and， during the Roman Empire， Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast， Hispania Baetica in the south and Lusitania (province with capital in the city of Emerita Augusta) in the Hispania supplied Rome with food， olive oil， wine and The emperors Trajan， Hadrian， Marcus Aurelius and Theodosius I， the philosopher Seneca and the poets Martial， Quintilian and Lucan were born in S The Spanish Bishops held the Council at Elvira in The collapse of the Western Roman empire did not lead to the same wholesale destruction of Western classical society as happened in areas like Britain， Gaul and Germania Inferior during the Dark Ages， even if the institutions， infrastructure and economy did suffer considerable Spain's present languages， its religion， and the basis of its laws originate from this The centuries of uninterrupted Roman rule and settlement left a deep and enduring imprint upon the culture of S The first hordes of Barbarians to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th century， as the Roman empire The tribes of Goths， Visigoths， Swebians (Suebi)， Alans， Asdings and Vandals， arrived to Spain by crossing the Pyrenees mountain They were all of Germanic This led to the establishment of the Swebian Kingdom in Gallaecia， in the northwest， and the Visigothic Kingdom (For a while， the Germans lived under their law while the much more numerous Spaniards continued more or less to live under Roman ) The Visigothic Kingdom eventually encompassed the entire Iberian Peninsula with the Roman Catholic conversion of the Goth The famous horseshoe arch， which was adapted and perfected by the later Muslim era builders was in fact originally an example of Visigothic [edit] Muslim Iberia Main article: Al-Andalus 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 Z Visigothic Spain was the last of a series of lands conquered in a great westward charge by the Islamically inspired armies of the Umayyad Indeed they continued northwards until they were defeated in central France at the Battle of Tours in Astonishingly the invasion started off as an invitation from a Visigoth faction within Spain for But instead the Moorish army， having defeated King Roderic proceeded to conquer the peninsula for The Roman Catholic populace， unimpressed with the constant internal feuding of the Visigothic leaders， often stood apart from the fighting， often welcoming the new rulers， thereby forging the basis of the distinctly Spanish-Muslim culture of Al-A Only three small counties in the mountains of the north of Spain managed to cling to their independence: Asturias， Navarra and Aragon， which eventually became The Age of the Islamic EmpireThe Muslim emirate proved strong in its first three centuries; stopping Charlemagne's massive forces at Saragossa and， after a serious Viking attack， established effective Indeed it became a terror in its own right to Christian neighbours， with its "al-jihad fil-bahr" (holy war at sea) 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 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 The Moorish capital was Córdoba， in southern S During this time large populations of Jews， Christians and Muslims lived in close quarters， and at its peak some non-Muslims were appointed to high offices under the some of the more lenient Muslim At its best it produced exquisite architecture and art， and Muslim and Jewish scholars played a major part in reviving the tradition of classical Greek philosophy， mathematics and science in western Europe， whilst making their own contributions to However， there were restrictions on non-Muslims that grew after the death of Al-Hakam II in Later invasions of stricter Muslim groups led to persecutions of non-Muslims， forcing some (including Muslim scholars) to seek safety in the then still relatively tolerant city of Toledo after its Christian reconquest in Interior of the Mezquita in Córdoba， a Muslim 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 I At the same time， Christians and Jews were recognized under Islam as "peoples of the book"， and so given dhimmi Most importantly， the Islamic Berber and Arab invaders were a small minority， ruling over several million C Thus， Christians and Jews were free to practise their religion， but faced certain restrictions and financial Conversion to Islam proceeded at a steadily increasing pace， as it offered social and economic and political Merchants， nobles， large landowners， and other local elites were usually among the first to By the 11th century Muslims are believed to have outnumbered Christians in Al-A The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social From the beginning， the Berber people of North Africa had provided the bulk of the armies， clashed with the Arab leadership from the Middle E The Berbers， who were comparatively recent converts to Islam， resented the aristocratic pretensions of the Arab They soon gave up attempting to settle the harsh lands of the north of the Meseta Central handed to them by the Arab rulers， and many returned to Africa during a Berber uprising against Arab However， the Berbers later took over power and Muslim Spain fell under the rule of the Almoravid and then the Almohad dynasties， amongst Over time the relatively tiny number of Moors gradually increased with immigration and cross Large Moorish populations grew， most notably in the south in the Guadalquivir river valley， and in the east， along the fertile Mediterranean coastal plain and in the Ebro river Muslim Spain was wealthy and sophisticated under Islamic Cordoba was the richest and most sophisticated city in all of western E It was not until the 12th century that western medieval Christiandom began to reach comparable levels of sophistication， and this was due in part to the stimulus coming from Muslim S Mediterranean trade and cultural exchange Muslims imported a rich intellectual tradition from the Middle East and North Africa， including knowledge of mathematics and science， that they helped Crops and farming techniques introduced by the Arabs， led to a remarkable expansion of agriculture， which had been in decline since Roman In towns and cities magnificent mosques， palaces， and other monuments were Outside the cities， the mixture of large estates and small farms that existed in Roman times remained largely intact because Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed The Muslim conquerors were relatively few in number and so they tried to maintain good relations with their This relative social peace， which was already deteriorating from the late 10th century， broke down with the later， stricter， Muslim Roman， Jewish， and Muslim culture interacted in complex A large part of the population gradually adopted A Arabic was the official language of Even Jews and Christians often spoke Arabic， while Hebrew and Latin were frequently written in Arabic These diverse traditions interchanged in ways that gave Spanish culture — religion， literature， music， art and architecture， and writing systems - a rich and distinctive However， as the 11th century drew to a close most of the north and centre of Spain was back under Christian [edit] Fall of Muslim rule and Unification Main article: Reconquista Equal partners: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of CastileThe 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 R As early as 739 Muslim forces were driven out of Galicia， which came to host one of Christianity's holiest sites， Santiago de C Areas in the northern mountains and around Barcelona were soon captured by Frankish and local forces， providing a base for Spain's C The 1085 conquest of the central city of Toledo largely completed the reconquest of the northern half of S 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 S By the middle of the 12th century the Almoravid empire had The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 heralded the collapse of the great Moorish strongholds in the south， most notably Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in Within a few years of this nearly the whole of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered， leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a small tributary state in the Surrounded by Christian Castile but afraid of another invasion from Muslim northern Africa， it clung tenaciously to its isolated mountain splendour for two and half It came to an end in 1492 when Isabella and Ferdinand captured the southern city of Granada， the last Moorish city in S The Treaty of Granada[3] guaranteed religious tolerance toward Muslims while Spain's Jewish population of over 200，000 people was expelled that At Ferdinand's urging the Spanish Inquisition had been established in With a history of being invaded by three Islamic empires (Ummayad， Almoravid and Almohad)， there was a fear that Muslims might assist yet another Also， Aragonese labourers were angered by landlords' use of Moorish workers to undercut A 1499 Muslim uprising， triggered by forced conversions， was crushed and was followed by the first of the expulsions of Muslims， in The year 1492 was also marked by the discovery of the New W Isabella I funded the voyages of Christopher C Ferdinand and Isabella， as exemplars of the Renaissance New Monarchs， consolidated the modernization of their respective economies that had been pursued by their predecessors and enforced reforms that weakened the position of the great magnates against the new centralized In their contests with the French army in the Italian Wars， Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba eventually achieved success， against the French knights， thereby revolutionizing The combined Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon， long vibrant and expansive， emerged as a European great The reconquest from the Muslims is one of the most significant events in Spanish history since the fall of the Roman E Arabic quickly lost its place in southern Spain's life， and was replaced by C The process of religious conversion which started with the arrival of the moors was reversed from the mid 13th century as the Reconquista was advancing south: as this happened the Muslim population either fled or forcefully converted into Catholicism， mosques and synagogues were converted into 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) [edit] From the Renaissance to the nineteenth century Main article: Habsburg Spain Main article: Enlightenment Spain 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 A The process of political unification continued into the early 16th It was the unification of these separate Iberian empires that became the base of what is now referred to as the Spanish E
Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwest Europe， and its territory includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands in the A Much of the mainland is high plateau， with mountain ranges， including the Pyrenees， in the The plateau experiences hot summers and cold winters—it is cooler and wetter to the About 200 BC the Romans occupied this crossroads between Europe and A Moors invaded in AD 711， ruling for almost 800 years before Christian armies routed Enriched by its New World empire， Spain dominated Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries; today it rules only the North African territories of Ceuta and MG Francisco Franco wielded power from 1936 until his death in 1975， when Juan Carlos became Three years later a new constitution confirmed Spain as a parliamentary After 1986， when the Socialist Party under Felipe González Márquez led Spain into the European Union， the economy grew faster than any other member nation' Yet the government's pro-business policies in the 1990s were blamed for widening the gap between rich and poor and for the bankruptcy of noncompetitive industries—all contributing to high Separatist agitation born of historical regional differences， most pronounced in the Basque country and in Catalonia， still challenges national unity， but a strong national peace movement has developed to counteract terrorist Unemployment continues to be a problem， but recent economic growth makes the country's future outlook more Spain is one of the European Union nations participating in the euro Industry: textiles and apparel， food and beverages， metals and metal manufactures， Agriculture: grain， vegetables， olives， wine grapes; beef; Exports: machinery， motor vehicles， foodstuffs， other consumer goods
