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Parliamentary democracy was restored following the death of General Franco in 1975, who had ruled since the end of the civil war in 1939. The 1978 constitution established Spain as a parliamentary monarchy, with the prime minister responsible to the bicameral Cortes (Congress of Deputies and Senate) elected every 4 years. On February 23, 1981, rebel...
Spain's accession to the European Community--now European Union (EU)--in January 1986 required the country to open its economy, modernize its industrial base, improve infrastructure, and revise economic legislation to conform to EU guidelines. In doing so, Spain increased gross domestic product (GDP) growth, reduced the public debt to GDP ratio, reduced...
The most important differences stem from the fact that Arabic-speaking Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa invaded Spain in AD 711 and dominated much of the country during almost 800 years. The Muslim cultural influence was very strong, especially in the area of language; the Spanish language has taken more words from Arabic than from any...
Spain's Iberian Peninsula has been settled for millennia. In fact, some of Europe's most impressive Paleolithic cultural sites are located in Spain, including the famous caves at Altamira that contain spectacular paintings dating from about 15,000 to 25,000 years ago. The Basques, Europe's oldest surviving group, are also the first identifiable people...
Location: Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France Geographic coordinates: 40 00 N, 4 00 W Map references: Europe Area: total: 504,750 sq km land: 499,400 sq km water: 5,350 sq km note: includes Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, and five places of sovereignty...
Spain's population density, lower than that of most European countries, is roughly equivalent to New England's. In recent years, following a longstanding pattern in the rest of Europe, rural populations are moving to cities. Spain has no official religion. The constitution of 1978 disestablished the Roman Catholic Church as the official state religion,...
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