Spain Cities
Autonomous communities are the first-level administrative division in the country. Spain's 17 autonomous communities or regions are divided into 50 provinces. Each of these has its own capital city. Generally, though not always, these capital cities carry the same name as their province.
The capital of Spain, Madrid, is well known all around the globe. With about 5 million people, the city has the largest population in Spain. Other important cities are Barcelona, host of the 1992 summer Olympics, Seville Spain capital in the southern region of Andalucia and Bilbao capital of the Basque Country. The other major regions in Spain are:
- Andalucia
- Aragon
- Asturias
- Balearic Islands
- Basque Country
- Canary Islands
- Cantabria
- Castile-La-Mancha
- Castile and Leon
|
- Catalonia
- Extremadura
- Galicia
- La Rioja
- Madrid
- Murcia
- Navarre
- Valencian Community
|
Spain History
Spain, originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a part of the Roman Empire in 206 B.C., when it was conquered by Scipio Africanus. In 711, the Muslims under Tariq entered Spain from Africa and within a few years conquered the entire country. In 732, the Franks, led by Charles Martel, defeated the Muslims near Poitiers, thus preventing the further expansion of Islam in southern Europe.
The last Muslim stronghold, Granada, was captured in 1492. Roman Catholicism was established as the official state religion and most Jews (1492) and Muslims (1502) were expelled.
The Spanish Hapsburg monarchy, for a time, was the most powerful in the world. In 1588, Philip II sent his invincible Armada to invade England, but its destruction cost Spain its supremacy on the seas and paved the way for England's colonization of America. Spain then sank rapidly to the status of a second-rate power under the rule of weak Hapsburg kings, and it never again played a major role in European politics. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) resulted in Spain's loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan, Sardinia, and Naples. Its colonial empire in the Americas and the Philippines vanished in wars and revolutions during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Spain Economy
Spain's capitalist mixed economy is the twelfth-largest worldwide and the fifth-largest in the European Union. Spain is also the third-largest world investor.
During the last four decades, the Spanish tourism industry has grown to become the second-biggest in the world, worth approximately 40 billion Euros, about 5% of GDP, in 2006.
Spain is one of the world's leading countries in the development and production of renewable energy. In 2010 Spain became the solar power world leader when it overtook the United States with a massive power station plant called La Florida, near Alvarado, Badajoz.
Interesting Facts About Spain
- In Spain, you drive on the right hand side of the road
- Spain won its first World Cup football title in 2010
- Espana is the name that the Spanish call their country
- Spain aims to have over 1 million electric cars on the road by 2014
- Same-sex marriage is legal in Spain
- Spain produces 44% of all the earth's olive oil
- Bullfighting is also considered an art in Spain. It is one of the popular attractions and the biggest and most controversial sports in Spain
- State education in Spain is free and compulsory from the age of 6 to 16
- Don Quixote is considered the most emblematic work in the canon of Spanish literature and a founding classic of Western literature
- Spain has the highest number of bars, restaurants and coffee shops in the European Union, around 350,000
- Spain has been the biggest donor of organs in the world for 15 consecutive years
- Spain ranks the 3rd country in the world, after the US and Brazil, in the prevalence of plastic surgery
