User:Alcismo/Spain

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a transcontinental country mostly located in southwestern Europe with parts of its territory in North Africa. The national capital and most populous city is Madrid. It is made up of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. Spain is the fourth-largest country by area in Europe and the second-largest in the European Union. The country's mainland is in the Iberian Peninsula, sharing land borders with France and Andorra to the north, Portugal to the west, and the disputed territory of Gibraltar to the south. It also shares a land border with Morocco in Ceuta and Melilla. With a population of more than 47 million people, it is the seventh most-populated country in Europe.

Humans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula about 42,000 years ago. Pre-Roman peoples such as the Iberians, Celts, and Vascones were the first cultures and peoples that developed in present-day Spain. The peninsula was settled by many peoples, including the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks. The Romans conquered Hispania in the 2nd century BCE. During this period, Romanization occured, creating the foundation of modern Spanish language and culture. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic Visigoths emerged as the dominant power. In the 8th century, the Visigothic Kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate, ushering in over 700 years of Muslim rule in al-Andalus. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in northern Iberia that gradually expanded southwards in a process later named Reconquista. The Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragón finished the conquest of all Muslim states by 1492 and unified Spain. That same year, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World.

Spain and Portugal led the Age of Discovery, creating two of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire took place Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It is considered to be the first global empire. Between the 15th and the 17th centuries, Spain was the most powerful country in Europe and possibly the world. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Spanish power declined due to inflation, war, and the independence of South American countries. During the 19th century, Spain was torn in internal conflict and political tensions between absoultism and liberalism. In the late 19th century, socialists, anarchists and many liberals began to oppose the monarchy. These tensions culminated in the Spanish Civil War, which overthrew the Second Spanish Republic. The Nationalists of Francisco Franco won the war, who ruled Spain until his death in 1975. In 1978, the current Constitution was adopted, which established a parliamentary democracy. In 1986, Spain joined the European Union.

Spain is a Western developed country, ranking highly in life expectancy, healthcare, quality of life, safety, and education. It is a constitutional monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state. It is a high-income country and an advanced economy, the fourth-largest in the eurozone. It has public social security and a universal healthcare system. Spain has one of the largest life expectancies in the world at 83.5 years in 2019. Spain is a middle power whose art, music, literature and cuisine are well-known and influential worldwide, particularly in Western Europe, the Americas, and the Philippines. As a reflection of its large cultural wealth, Spain has the world's fourth-largest number of World Heritage Sites (49) and is the world's second-most visited country.

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