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Key information

Official name: Spain
Alpha-2 code: ES
Alpha-3 code: ESP
Region summary: Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Europe and the fourth-most populous European Union member state. Spanning across the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, its territory also includes the Canary Islands, in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Balearic Islands, in the Western Mediterranean Sea, and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, in mainland Africa. Peninsular Spain is bordered to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar; and to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid, and other major urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Málaga, Murcia, and Palma de Mallorca. In early antiquity, the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and other pre-Roman peoples. With the Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula, the province of Hispania was established. Following the Romanisation and Christianisation of Hispania, the fall of the Western Roman Empire ushered in the inward migration of tribes from Central Europe, including the Visigoths, who formed the Visigothic Kingdom centred on Toledo. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centred on Córdoba. The several Christian kingdoms that emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them Asturias, León, Castile, Aragon and Navarre, made an intermittent southward military expansion and repopulation, known as the Reconquista, repelling Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in 1492. The dynastic union of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1479 under the Catholic Monarchs is often considered the de facto unification of Spain as a nation state. During the Age of Discovery, Spain pioneered the exploration and conquest of the New World, made the first circumnavigation of the globe and formed one of the largest empires in history. 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. In the 18th century, the Bourbon Reforms, particularly the Nueva Planta decrees, centralized mainland Spain, strengthening royal authority and modernizing administrative structures. In the 19th century, after the victorious Peninsular War against Napoleonic occupation forces, the following political divisions between liberals and absolutists led to the breakaway of most of the American colonies. These political divisions finally converged in the 20th century with the Spanish Civil War, giving rise to the Francoist dictatorship that lasted until 1975. With the restoration of democracy and its entry into the European Union, the country experienced an economic boom that profoundly transformed it socially and politically. Since the Spanish Golden Age, Spanish art, architecture, music, painting, literature, and cuisine have been influential worldwide, particularly in Western Europe and the Americas. Spain is the world's second-most visited country, has one of the largest numbers of World Heritage Sites, and is the most popular destination for European students. Its cultural influence extends to over 600 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state. A developed country, Spain has a high nominal per capita income globally, and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world. It is also the fourth-largest economy in the European Union. Spain is considered a regional power with a cultural influence that extends beyond its borders, and continues to promote its cultural value through participation in multiple international organizations and forums. Leer más