Portal:Spain
THE SPAIN PORTAL
EL PORTAL DE ESPAÑA
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Spain (Spanish: España), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España), is a country in southern Europe. It is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. The country consists of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, two archipelagos, one in each sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa. The mainland area of Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the southern and eastern areas, the Cantabric Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Spain is organised as a parliamentary democracy and is a constitutional monarchy. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and is a developed country, with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).
Spain flourished under the Roman empire Hispania, thus becoming one of the Empire's most important regions at the time. During the times of the Middle Ages, Spain was under Germanic rule, only later to come under the rule of the Islamic caliphate. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the completion of the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula in 1492. It has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the Modern Era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 500 million Spanish speakers today, making it the world's second most spoken first language.
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Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the Mediterranean, on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates it from the Spanish mainland. Ceuta, together with the other plazas de soberanía including the African autonomous city of Melilla and a number of Mediterranean islets, is claimed by Morocco. The area of Ceuta is approximately 28 km². Ceuta is dominated by a hill called Monte Hacho, on which there is a fort occupied by the Spanish army. Monte Hacho is one of the possible locations for the southern Pillars of Hercules of Greek Legend, the other possibility being Jebel Musa.
Ceuta's strategic location has made it the crucial waypoint of many cultures' trade and military ventures — beginning with the Carthaginians in the 5th century BC, who called the city Abyla. It was not until the Romans took control in about A.D. 42 that the port city (then named Septem) assumed an almost exclusive military purpose. Approximately 400 years later, the Vandals ousted the Romans for control, and later it fell to the Visigoths of Hispania and the Byzantines. In 710, as Muslim armies approached the city, its Byzantine governor Julian (also described as "king of the Ghomara") changed sides and urged them to invade the Iberian Peninsula. Under the leadership of Berber general Tariq ibn Ziyad, Ceuta was used as a prime staging ground for an assault on Visigothic Hispania soon after.
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The harbor entrance to Cala Figuera, a district of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. The town is located approximately 60 kilometers north of Palma de Mallorca. The earliest records of the town date back to 1306, although houses were not built on the land until the early 19th century.
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Selected biography
Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro (born April 23, 1963 in Brenes, Seville, Spain) was the first lady of Honduras. Aguas Santas, her double given name means "holy waters" in Spanish. Navarro was the wife of former President Ricardo Maduro, marrying him when he was already President in October 2002 after meeting him during a 2 year stint working in the Spanish embassy in Tegucigalpa. She received dual Spanish-Honduran citizenship in 2004.
She and her husband legally adopted five children, two of whom had their families murdered but she now has 13 children in her care, all of whom accompanied her to Nicaragua on January 27, 2006, the day she ceased being first lady. She will work there with Nicaraguan children in need, and will help the wife of Nicaragua's President Enrique Bolaños. The five children legally adopted are called Leidy Jackeline, Kevin Josué, Francis, Joan and Jackie. During 2003, Ocaña Navarro returned to live in Spain for a short period of time, sparking rumours that she and her husband were about to divorce. The separation was allegedly provoked because Ricardo Maduro named a former girlfriend, Mireya Batres, to be Honduras' Minister of Culture. Batres was sacked and she returned.
Did you know?
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- ...that Spanish politician Javier Solana (pictured) serves as the current European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy?
- ...that Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita is higher than that of Italy or Greece according to lists by international organizations?
- ...that Spanish sculptor Francisco Salzillo (1707 - 1783) was the most representative Spanish image-maker of the 18th century?
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| “ | There are so many beautiful parts of the world... Thailand, Italy, the south of France. There are places in Spain that are astonishing. But here . . . 25 miles and you go up on Mount Tam to see the fog come in; 25 miles the other direction and you're somewhere else that takes your breath away. There's no question this is where I want to live. Never has been. | ” |
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Battle of Bicocca • Battle of Ceresole • El Greco • Italian War of 1521–1526 • Lince (tank) • Salvador Dalí • Same-sex marriage in Spain • T-26 • War of the League of Cambrai • Verdeja (tank) • War of the Spanish Succession
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| Miscellaneous | Time in Spain |
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