The territory of Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Basques and other peoples was conquered by the Romans around 200 AD and baptized Hispania. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Great Migration, this area was conquered by the Visigoths before the Muslim Moors invaded the Visigothic Empire in the 8th century. Their rule, which extended over almost all of Spain, only came to an end with the completion of the Reconquista in 1492. Subsequently, a vast world empire arose at a hasty pace and in imitation of Portugal. Despite great wealth, mainly from Latin America, Spain fell further and further back from the 17th century due to many European wars. The 19th century was marked by internal conflicts that ravaged Spain, and after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the country became a fascist dictatorship under Francisco Franco. After Franco's death in 1975, constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy were restored. Spain joined NATO in 1982 and has been a member of the European Union since 1986.

Spain is a diverse country with different cultures, languages, eating habits and climates. The country ranges from the rainy fishing villages of Galicia to the nightlife of Madrid, from the touristic coasts of the Mediterranean to the flamenco dancing of Andalusia and from the bullfighting in many parts of the country to modern Barcelona in Catalonia. Besides Spanish (Castillian), Catalan, Basque and Galician are so-called 'co-official' languages ​​of the country. The euro has been the Spanish currency since 2002, succeeding the peseta.

Spain has been inhabited since the early Paleolithic, as evidenced by finds of remains of Neanderthals. The first civilization of which data is known is the legendary city-state of Tartessos, located in present-day Andalusia, known in the Bible as Tarshish. The Phoenicians from Lebanon founded, among other things, the city-state of Gades (now Cádiz) and were later replaced by the Carthaginians. Then the Romans took Spain and stayed for almost 600 years.

 

Before the Moors occupied the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, Spain was in the hands of the Visigoths who had occupied Spain during the Great Migration that proved fatal to the Western Roman Empire. The occupation by the Moors lasted almost 7 centuries. They introduced Islam and a high-level Moorish-Spanish culture developed. The reconquest (Spanish: Reconquista) by the Christians was a long process that ended with the fall of Granada in 1492. This date is considered the actual unification of Spain.

 

Spain then became a world power under the Habsburgs (1504-1700). The Spanish Empire stretched all over the world. With the Peace of Münster (1648) and the recognition of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands it definitively lost the northern part of the Habsburg Netherlands, during the Peace of Nijmegen (1678) Spain lost the Free County of Burgundy to the Kingdom of France and in 1686, with the Treaty of Lisbon, the Kingdom of Portugal seceded.

The arrival of the French royal house of Bourbon (1700-1868) led to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) to prevent a personal union between France and Spain. This resulted with the Treaty of Utrecht in a centralized state headed by the House of Bourbon, the loss of the Habsburg Netherlands (Southern Netherlands), Duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia to the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg and the loss of the Kingdom of Sicily to the Duchy of Savoy.

During the Napoleonic Wars, around 1800, Spain was also occupied by Napoleon. During this period in the Americas, the Spanish colony of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru rebelled and declared their independence from the mother country and the Spanish crown. With that, Spain lost by far the largest part of its colonial empire in one fell swoop.

 

The Spanish-American War in the second half of the 19th century led to the loss of the last remnants of the Spanish colonies in 1898: Cuba and Puerto Rico in the western hemisphere and the Philippines (Spanish East Indies) in Asia.

 

In 1931, Spain became a republic (Spanish Republic), after King Alfonso XIII was forced to abdicate. Continued political instability eventually led to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). It started as a nationalist uprising against the legitimate republican government, but with all the foreign interference, it was actually a conflict between communism and fascism. General Franco, leader of the Nationalists, received support from Nazi Germany and Italy, while the government was aided by the then Soviet Union. The Nationalists were victorious and General Franco remained in power until his death in 1975.

 

After Franco's death, the monarchy was restored. Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII, became the new king. In 1978 a democratic constitution was adopted that changed the highly centralized form of government under Franco to a decentralized structure with autonomous regions or communities. On June 19, 2014, Juan Carlos was succeeded by his son Felipe.

Landscape features

The landscape of Spain consists mainly of plateaus, such as the Spanish Plateau, and mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada. The longest rivers in the country are the Tagus, the Ebro, the Duero, the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. Spain is bordered to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the north by the Cantabrian Sea (the southern part of the Bay of Biscay) and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The five major mountain ranges of Spain are the Pyrenees, the Betic Cordillera with the Sierra Nevada, the Castilian Separation Mountains, the Cantabrian Mountains and the Iberian Rim Mountains. The Pyrenees, which extend west into Galicia, were created as a result of the Iberian subcontinent colliding with the European continent.

 

The highest mountain peaks on the Spanish mainland are the 3482 meter high Mulhacén in the Sierra Nevada, the 3404 meter high Pico de Aneto in the Pyrenees and the 2648 meter high Picos de Europa in the west. The highest mountain in all of Spain is the 3718 meter high Pico del Teide on the Canary Island of Tenerife. Other prominent mountains in Spain are Bola del Mundo, Circo de la Safor, El Yelmo, Monte Hacho, Montserrat, Monte Perdido, Pica d'Estats, Pozo de las Nieves, Turbón and the Pillars of Hercules.

 

Climate

The geographical location of Spain means that the northwest (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country) is under the influence of the so-called jet streams. Spain also has a very irregular landscape and is the most mountainous country on the European continent after Switzerland. All this means that very different climates (and microclimates) can be distinguished. Roughly speaking, the country can be divided into the following climatic zones:

 

• Northeast, Mediterranean coast (Catalan coast, Balearic Islands and the northern half of the Valencian country): Mediterranean climate. Warm and sometimes hot summers and mild winters, about 600 millimeters of precipitation per year in a small number of concentrated days, so-called Mediterranean showers.
  
  
• Southeast, Mediterranean coast (Alicante, Murcia and Almería): Mediterranean climate. Hot summers and mild winters. Very dry, and almost desert-like, in some places only 150 millimeters of precipitation per year, or the driest place in Europe.
  
  
• South, Mediterranean coast (Málaga and the coasts of Granada): subtropical climate. Warm and sometimes hot summers, extremely mild and mild winters. An average annual temperature of almost 20 degrees Celsius, unprecedentedly high by European standards.
  
  
• Valley of Guadalquivir (Seville and Córdoba): long summers with extreme heat and dryness, mild winters, almost no precipitation. Almost a desert climate.
  
  
• Southwest, Atlantic coast (Cádiz and Huelva): warm, but not extremely hot summers, very mild winters, relatively (for this part of Europe) a lot of precipitation.
  
  
• Spanish Plateau (Madrid, Castile-La Mancha and Castile and León): Mediterranean climate with strong influences of a continental climate. Long and hot summers and cold winters, little precipitation.
  
  
• Valley of the Ebro (Zaragoza and inland Catalonia): very hot summers, cold winters, little precipitation. Almost a continental climate
  
  
• North, Atlantic coast (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country): maritime climate with mild summers and mild winters, very high rainfall (1000-1200 millimeters per year)
  
  
• Pyrenees: cool summers and cold winters, temperate wet climate, in some areas a so-called high mountain climate.
  
  
• Canary Islands: subtropical climate with few seasonal changes. The same summer temperatures all year round, desert-like on the eastern islands, slightly more humid on the western islands. According to Syracuse University, the city of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria has the best climate in the world.