Spanish art, architecture, cuisine, and music have been shaped by successive waves of foreign invaders, as well as by the country's Mediterranean climate and geography. Therefore, Catalonia held an unofficial vote on Nov. 9 for their independence. Areas relying on non-irrigated cultivation (secano), which made up 85% of the entire crop area, depended solely on rainfall as a source of water. [169] In 2013 the same survey (now called the "Where-to-be-born index"), ranked Spain 28th in the world. Beyond fiscal autonomy, the nationalities—Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia—were devolved more powers than the rest of the communities, among them the ability of the regional president to dissolve the parliament and call for elections at any time. Jesús Luis Cunchillos [es] argued that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been unable to forge a multiparty alliance in the fragmented Parliament, and the country faces the prospect of fresh elections. [60] As many as 200,000 Jews were expelled from Spain. Smaller numbers of immigrants from several Sub-Saharan countries have recently been settling in Spain. [174], By 2016, the automotive industry was generating 8.7 percent of Spain's gross domestic product, employing about nine percent of the manufacturing industry. After the Pyrenees, the main mountain ranges are the Cordillera Cantábrica (Cantabrian Range), Sistema Ibérico (Iberian System), Sistema Central (Central System), Montes de Toledo, Sierra Morena and the Sistema Bético (Baetic System) whose highest peak, the 3,478-metre-high (11,411-foot) Mulhacén, located in Sierra Nevada, is the highest elevation in the Iberian Peninsula. The Berber people of North Africa, who had provided the bulk of the invading armies, clashed with the Arab leadership from the Middle East. The monarch is King Felipe VI, and the Head of Government is the Prime Minister. [108], A Catalan independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 and then, on 27 October, the Catalan parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence from Spain to form a Catalan Republic[109][110] on the day the Spanish Senate was discussing approving direct rule over Catalonia as called for by the Spanish Prime Minister. In fact, Spain usually invites all its friends to spend the summer holidays o… The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936: on 17 and 18 July, part of the military carried out a coup d'état that triumphed in only part of the country. Some important philosophers at the time were Averroes, Ibn Arabi and Maimonides. In the election held in 1933 the right triumphed and in 1936, the left. This status permitted Christians and Jews to practice their religions as People of the Book but they were required to pay a special tax and had legal and social rights inferior to those of Muslims. [citation needed], Judaism was practically non-existent in Spain from the 1492 expulsion until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to enter the country. Some of the challenges Spain will have to resolve include a high unemployment rate (14.6%), salaries growing faster than productivity and low financing capacity compared to other countries. At 505,992 km2 (195,365 sq mi), Spain is the world's fifty-second largest country and Europe's fourth largest country. These conquests were part of the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate. In 1879, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded. And it is instructive for other countries that may face similar challenges. It is fundamentally "based on shared values and the recovery of democracy."[131]. Recared, son of Liuvigild and brother of St. Hermengild, added religious unity to the political unity achieved by his father, accepting the Catholic faith in the Third Council of Toledo (589). Low-lying areas of the Canary Islands average above 18.0 °C (64.4 °F) during their coldest month, thus having a tropical climate. There aren’t many tax inspectors. [25], There is the claim that "Hispania" derives from the Basque word Ezpanna meaning "edge" or "border", another reference to the fact that the Iberian Peninsula constitutes the southwest corner of the European continent. Depending on the nature of the crop, it was possible to harvest two successive crops in the same year on about 10% of the country's irrigated land. Spain is a member of the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the Eurozone, the Council of Europe (CoE), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many other international organisations. [citation needed]. [239] What the programme failed to do, the sharp and prolonged economic crisis has done from 2010 to 2011 in that tens of thousands of immigrants have left the country due to lack of jobs. With Franco's death in November 1975, Juan Carlos succeeded to the position of King of Spain and head of state in accordance with the franquist law. Catholic church Almudena Cathedral (right) and the Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid), home to the Kings of Spain from Charles III to Alfonso XIII. There are also sizeable numbers of Asian immigrants, most of whom are of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Chinese origin. Spain’s policy towards migrants – long characterized by prevention and containment, especially in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, both enclaves of Spanish territory in North Africa with high walls and barbed wire separating them from the surrounding Moroccan territory – has also hardened in recent years as the number of migrants and asylum seekers entering the country has begun to rise. For other uses, see, Note: most of Spain observes CET/CEST, except the, Roman Hispania and the Visigothic Kingdom, The Spanish Constitution does not establish any official name for Spain, even though the terms, The official language of the State is established in the Section 3 of the. [123][124] The resulting general election in 1977 convened the Constituent Cortes (the Spanish Parliament, in its capacity as a constitutional assembly) for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution of 1978. In 2019, the population of Spain officially reached 47 million people, as recorded by the Padrón municipal (Spain's Municipal Register). For me, there are few things more irritating than people who speak with great conviction about things which they do not understand. The existence of both the provinces and the municipalities is guaranteed and protected by the constitution, not necessarily by the Statutes of Autonomy themselves. [174], German companies poured €4.8 billion into Spain in 2015, making the country the second-largest destination for German foreign direct investment behind only the U.S. Spain's 16th-century maritime supremacy was demonstrated by the victory over the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1571, and then after the setback of the Spanish Armada in 1588, in a series of victories against England in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. I know some Spanish and Italian people here and they always say “I want to go back to Spain/Italy”, and I don’t have that feeling. Two big revolts broke out during the early reign of the Habsburg emperor, Charles V: the Revolt of the Comuneros in the Crown of Castile and Revolt of the Brotherhoods in the Crown of Aragon. The Spanish used the conflict between Pagan and Muslim Philippine kingdoms to pit them against each other thus using the "Divide and Conquer Principle". They reside primarily on the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic islands, where many choose to live their retirement or telecommute. Over the next seven centuries, an intermittent southward expansion of these kingdoms—metahistorically framed as a reconquest, or Reconquista—culminated with the Christian seizure of the last Muslim polity, the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, in 1492. [15][20] There have been a number of accounts and hypotheses of its origin: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Spain's government appeal called for all of Spain, not just one region, to decide on the future of the country. Under Islamic law, Christians and Jews were given the subordinate status of dhimmi. The Celts inhabited much of the inner and Atlantic sides of the peninsula, from the northwest to the southwest. Also in the Baroque period, Diego Velázquez created some of the most famous Spanish portraits, such as Las Meninas and Las Hilanderas. Its policy emphasises the concept of an Ibero-American community, essentially the renewal of the concept of "Hispanidad" or "Hispanismo", as it is often referred to in English, which has sought to link the Iberian Peninsula with Hispanic America through language, commerce, history and culture. The regime remained chiefly "neutral" from a nominal standpoint in the Second World War (it briefly switched its position to "non-belligerent"), although it was sympathetic to the Axis and provided the Nazi Wehrmacht with Spanish volunteers in the Eastern Front. [citation needed], The Plateresque style extended from beginnings of the 16th century until the last third of the century and its stylistic influence pervaded the works of all great Spanish artists of the time. Flamenco music, dance and the controversial bullfights are easily recognizable elements of Spanish heritage, but the fierce national pride shown by the people are at the heart of the country’s identity. Only 37% turned out, but of those, 81% voted for Catalonia's independence. The group that has become known as the Generation of 1898 was marked by the destruction of Spain's fleet in Cuba by US gunboats in 1898, which provoked a cultural crisis in Spain. Spain has some beautiful countryside with idyllic vistas of olive groves and vineyards. During the war, in 1810, a revolutionary body, the Cortes of Cádiz, was assembled to co-ordinate the effort against the Bonapartist regime and to prepare a constitution. [279] Spain's National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España) is celebrated on 12 October, the anniversary of the Discovery of America and commemorate Our Lady of the Pillar feast, patroness of Aragon and throughout Spain. Unemployment stood at 17.1% in June 2017,[160] below Spain's early 1990s unemployment rate of at over 20%. They were created after the current constitution came into effect (in 1978) in recognition of the right to self-government of the "nationalities and regions of Spain". [246], State education in Spain is free and compulsory from the age of six to sixteen. 19/11/2019. The Mediterranean heritage with Greco-Roman and some Moorish and influences in Spain, especially in Andalusia, is still evident today. [105] Catalan independentism also rose. This re-united Islamic state experienced more than a century of successes that partially reversed Christian gains. [24], Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia, Ἑσπερία in Greek) and Spain, being still further west, as Hesperia ultima. The religious unity established by this council was the basis of that fusion of Goths with Hispano-Romans which produced the Spanish nation. Ordoño was at the moment engaged against his constant enemies the Moors; but a count of the province, Don Pedro, attacked the Vikings and defeated them.[43]. Andalusia also took that denomination in its first Statute of Autonomy, even though it followed the longer process stipulated in the constitution for the rest of the country. [citation needed], Simultaneously, the Christian kingdoms gradually emerged and developed their own styles; developing a pre-Romanesque style when for a while isolated from contemporary mainstream European architectural influences during the earlier Middle Ages, they later integrated the Romanesque and Gothic streams. In 2003 José María Aznar supported US president George W. Bush in the Iraq War, and a strong movement against war rose in Spanish society. 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