SPAIN

A village in Andalusia, Spain, showing housing typical of the region. officially Kingdom of Spain, Spanish Espaa or Reino de Espaa country located in the extreme southwest of the European continent. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour, Portugal. Spain is bordered on the west by Portugal; in the northeast it borders France, from which it is separated by the tiny principality of Andorra and by the great wall of the Pyrenees Mountains. Spain's only other land border is in the far south with Gibraltar, an enclave that belonged to Spain until 1713, when it was ceded to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Elsewhere the country is bounded by water: by the Mediterranean Sea to the east and southeast, by the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest and southwest, and by the Bay of Biscay (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean) to the northwest. The Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern African mainland, and the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean, also form parts of Spain, as do Ceuta and Melilla, two small enclaves in North Africa (northern Morocco) that Spain has ruled for centuries. The total area of the national territory is 194,898 square miles (504,784 square kilometres). The capital is Madrid. Spain's location at the crossroads of Europe and Africa and at the junction of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic has given its long history a richness and complexity not shared by that of other European countries. In particular, the existence of a number of Islamic states on much of its territory for close to 800 years makes Spain distinctive among the countries of western Europe. Spaniards were the first Europeans to establish a permanent presence in the Americas. Spain was also the first European country in modern times to possess a large overseas empire, which it ruled from the end of the 15th to the end of the 19th century. Spain's period of imperial power left a major legacy: a Hispanic world made up of 18 Latin American states, Puerto Rico, and the large and growing Spanish-speaking minority in the United States. Spain was the most powerful country in Europe in the 16th century and the first part of the 17th century, but its power declined quickly, and by the 19th century Spain had become marginal to international politics. This marginality reached its peak in the 1940s and '50s, when the European democracies shunned Spain and its military dictatorship headed by Francisco Franco. In other spheres, however, Spain has shared fully in broader European patterns of development in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as industrialization, population growth, urbanization, migration and emigration, and the introduction of constitutional, representative political systems. Since the late 1970s Spain has become fully integrated into the western European world. It is a member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies as well as of the Council of Europe and most of the international technical organizations of western Europe. It joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1982 and the Western European Union in 1988, and it became a full member of the European Community (EC) in 1986. Spain also retains close diplomatic, commercial, and economic links with many Latin American countries, and since joining the EC it has sought to serve as a bridge between that organization and Latin America. For a discussion of the major cities of Spain, see the articles Madrid and Barcelona. officially Kingdom of Spain, Spanish Espaa, or Reino de Espna one of Europe's largest countries, located on the Iberian Peninsula at the southwestern corner of Europe. The country extends for about 540 miles (870 km) from north to south and for about 650 miles (1,050 km) from east to west. It is bordered on the northeast by France (and Andorra), on the east and southeast by the Mediterranean Sea (and Gibraltar), on the west by Portugal, and by the Atlantic Ocean (southwest as the Gulf of Cdiz, northwest and north as the Bay of Biscay). The Balearic Islands off Spain's eastern coast and the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa are also part of Spain, and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco have belonged to Spain for several centuries. The capital of Spain is Madrid. Area 194,898 square miles (504,783 square km). Pop. (1992 est., including Balearic and Canary islands and Moroccan enclaves) 40,092,000. Additional reading Geography General works Eric Solsten and Sandra W. Meditz, Spain: A Country Study, 2nd ed. (1990); Stephen Clissold, Spain (1969); and Matilde Moliner Ruiz, Espaa y los espaoles (1968), are informative books about the country, its regions, and its history. Richard Carrington, The Mediterranean: Cradle of Western Culture (1971), includes accounts of the evolution of the area's geologic structures, flora, and fauna, as well as a broad survey of its history. The land General information about Iberian geography may be found in books about the physical geography of the Mediterranean area and of Europe, especially Catherine Delano Smith, Western Mediterranean Europe: A Historical Geography of Italy, Spain, and Southern France Since the Neolithic (1979), a systematic approach to the historical aspects of environment, settlement, and economy; J.M. Houston, The Western Mediterranean World (1964); Pierre Birot and Pierre Gabert, La Mditerrane et le Moyen-Orient, vol. 1, Gnralits; Pninsule ibrique; Italie, 2nd rev. ed. (1964); and Clifford Embleton (ed.), Geomorphology of Europe (1984). Manuel de Tran, L. Sol Sabars, and J. Vil Valent (eds.), Geografa regional de Espaa, 5th ed., rev. and updated (1987), is the most complete work on the subject. J. Vil Valent, La Pennsula ibrica (1968, reissued 1983), gives a good, concise description of the country. Hermann Lautensach, Iberische Halbinsel (1964), constitutes a comprehensive geography of the Iberian Peninsula. W.B. Fisher and H. Bowen-Jones, Spain: An Introductory Geography (1966), is a general manual. Adolph Schulten, Iberische Landeskunde: Geographie des antiken Spanien, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1974), is an exhaustive scholarly work on the geography of the Iberian Peninsula in early historic times. Antonio Gilman, John B. Thornes, and Stephen Wise, Land-Use and Prehistory in South-east Spain (1985), focuses on an earlier period. Atlas grfico de Espaa, 3rd ed. (1984), is a regional approach, with clear, large-scale maps accompanied by short texts in Spanish on a variety of aspects. Catherine Delano Smith The people Adrian Shubert, A Social History of Modern Spain (1990) looks at Spanish society in the 19th and 20th centuries. John Hooper, The Spaniards: A Portrait of the New Spain, rev. ed. (1987), is an entertaining look at the people by a British journalist. An interesting and useful survey of attitudes and opinions for the period of the political transition is Francisco Murillo Ferrol et al., Informe sociolgico sobre el cambio social en Espaa, 1975/1983 (1983). Carmen Martn Gaite, Usos amorosos de la postguerra espaola (1987), is a superb essay by a novelist on relations between the sexes in the 1940s and '50s. The economy Joseph Harrison, An Economic History of Modern Spain (1978), is a concise overview. The 19th century is covered by Nicols Snchez-Albornoz, The Economic Modernization of Spain, 18301930 (1987; originally published in Spanish, 1985); and by Jordi Nadal, The Failure of the Industrial Revolution in Spain, 18301914, in Carlo M. Cipolla (ed.), The Fontana Economic History of Europe, vol. 4, The Emergence of Industrial Societies, pt. 2 (1976), pp. 532626. A more detailed look at the recent period is available in Sima Lieberman, The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective (1982). Administration and social conditions A superb description of the institutions of democratic Spain is Peter J. Donaghy and Michael T. Newton, Spain: A Guide to Political and Economic Institutions (1987). Thomas D. Lancaster and Gary Prevost (eds.), Politics and Change in Spain (1985), is a collection of essays on aspects of post-1975 Spain. Religion and church-state relations are addressed in Frances Lannon, Privilege, Persecution, and Prophecy: The Catholic Church in Spain, 18751975 (1987). Changes in the countryside are surveyed in Joseph B. Aceves and William A. Douglass (eds.), The Changing Faces of Rural Spain (1976). Cultural life The entire history of Spanish literature through the 1980s is surveyed in Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, A New History of Spanish Literature, rev. ed. (1991). Bradley Smith, Spain: A History in Art (1966, reissued 1971), covers up to 1930; it may be supplemented by William Dyckes (ed.), Contemporary Spanish Art (1975). Emma Dent Coad, Spanish Design and Architecture (1990), covers fashion, interior and graphic design, and furniture, as well as architecture. Gilbert Chase, The Music of Spain, 2nd rev. ed. (1959), is a survey. J.M. Caparrs-Lera and Rafael de Espaa, The Spanish Cinema: An Historical Approach (1987), is a brief introduction that goes up to 1975. Adrian Shubert History Pre-Roman Spain A general book, richly illustrated, is Richard J. Harrison, Spain at the Dawn of History: Iberians, Phoenicians, and Greeks (1988). Enciclopedia general ilustrada del pas vasco, Book B, Enciclopedia sistemtica: Historia general de Euskalerria, vol. 1, Prehistoria: Paleolitico, by Ignacio Barandiarn Maestu (1988), is designed specifically for a wide readership. The book by Antonio Beltrn (Antonio Beltrn Martnez), Rock Art of the Spanish Levant, trans. from Italian (1982), gives an account of the Mesolithic rock art. Richard J. Harrison, The Beaker Folk (1980), discusses the Copper Age in chapters 1, 6, and 7. For the Protohistoric periods, a good general account of metallurgy centred on the Tinto River is Beno Rothenberg and Antonio Blanco-Freijeiro, Studies in Ancient Mining and Metallurgy in South-west Spain (1981); detailed studies of Phoenician and Iberian jewelry are available in Grard Nicolini, Techniques des ors antiques: la bijouterie Ibrique du VIIe au IVe sicle, 2 vol. (1990); and the remarkably complete and accomplished sculptures from Porcuna are analyzed in Ivan Negueruela Martnez, Los monumentos escultoricos del Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna (Jan) (1990). Richard John Harrison Roman Spain Works on this period include C.H.V. Sutherland, The Romans in Spain, 217 B.C.A.D. 117 (1939, reprinted 1982); S.J. Keay, Roman Spain (1988); and Leonard A. Curchin, Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation (1991). John S. Richardson Visigothic Spain and the Visigothic kingdom E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain (1969); and the collection of essays in Edward James (ed.), Visigothic Spain: New Approaches (1980), are informative studies of the Visigothic period. Christian Spain from the Muslim invasion to 1479 Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (1975, reissued 1983), is the standard survey in English. Roger Collins, Early Medieval Spain: Unity and Diversity, 4001000 (1983); and Angus MacKay, Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 10001500 (1977), cover the medieval period. J.N. Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 12501516, 2 vol. (197678), studies the late Middle Ages in greater detail. Derek W. Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain (1978), focuses primarily on military history. A modern work on the Cid is Richard Fletcher, The Quest for El Cid (1989). Bernard F. Reilly, The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain: 10311157 (1992), The Kingdom of Len-Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 10651109 (1988), and The Kingdom of Len-Castilla Under Queen Urraca, 11091126 (1982), are important studies; also important are James F. Powers, A Society Organized for War: The Iberian Municipal Militias in the Central Middle Ages, 10001284 (1987); and Heath Dillard, Daughters of the Reconquest: Women in Castilian Town Society, 11001300 (1984). Evelyn S. Procter, Curia and Cortes in Len and Castile, 10721295 (1980); and Joseph F. O'Callaghan, The Cortes of Castile-Len, 11881350 (1989), discuss parliamentary history. Peter Linehan, The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century (1971); and James William Brodman, Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier (1986), are both valuable. Robert Ignatius Burns, The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia, 2 vol. (1967), Islam Under the Crusaders: Colonial Survival in the Thirteenth-century Kingdom of Valencia (1973), and Medieval Colonialism: Postcrusade Exploitation of Islamic Valencia (1975), all deal with the settlement of Valencia and the fate of the Mudjares after the Christian reconquest. Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, 2 vol. (196166, reissued 1983; originally published in Hebrew, 2nd ed., 1959), treats one of the principal elements in medieval society. Joseph F. O'Callaghan Muslim Spain The most comprehensive work is Rachel Ari, Espaa musulmana (siglos VIIIXV), vol. 3 of Historia de Espaa, ed. by Manuel Tun de Lara (1982). Other valuable works are Thomas F. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages (1979); Ron Barkai, Cristianos y musulmanes en la Espaa medieval: el enemigo en el espejo, 2nd ed. (1991); and L.P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 12501500 (1990). Juan Vernet Gins Mara J. Viguera United Spain under the Catholic monarchs and Spain under the Habsburgs J.H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 14691716 (1963, reissued 1977), is the best single work covering this period. Henry Kamen, Spain, 14691714: A Society of Conflict, 2nd ed. (1991), is a short, up-to-date introduction. J.M. Batista i Roca, The Hispanic Kingdoms and the Catholic Kings, in G.R. Potter (ed.), The New Cambridge Modern History, vol. 1, The Renaissance, 14931520 (1957), pp. 316342, is an excellent short modern account; Stephen Haliczer, The Comuneros of Castile: The Forging of a Revolution, 14751521 (1981), is an important corrective to the traditional overvaluation of the Catholic Monarchs. A large amount of work has been done in recent years on the Inquisition; see, for example, Angel Alcal (ed.), The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (1987; originally published in Spanish, 1984); and William Monter (E. William Monter), Frontiers of Heresy: The Spanish Inquisition from the Basque Lands to Sicily (1990).John Lynch, Spain Under the Habsburgs, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1981), provides a good overview of early modern Spain. Antonio Domnguez Ortiz, The Golden Age of Spain, 15161659 (1971), is a synthesis by one of the most distinguished contemporary Spanish scholars. H.G. Koenigsberger, The Habsburgs and Europe, 15161660 (1971), attempts to view Spanish history from the perspective of European history. Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vol. (197273; originally published in French, 2nd rev. ed., 1966), is an economic and historical geography of the Mediterranean basin during the 16th century, in which Spain plays a central role; this book has become a classic. Manuel Fernndez Alvarez, Charles V: Elected Emperor and Hereditary Ruler, trans. from Spanish (1975), gives due weight to the emperor's Spanish kingdoms. M.J. Rodrguez-Salgado, The Changing Face of Empire: Charles V, Philip II, and Habsburg Authority, 15511559 (1988), discusses the bases and decision-making processes in Spanish foreign policy. Geoffrey Parker, Philip II (1978), is a balanced study. John Francis Guilmartin, Jr., Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century (1974), studies war in the Mediterranean. Many books were published for the 400th anniversary of the Armada campaign; among these are Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada (1988); and M.J. Rodrguez-Salgado et al., Armada: 15881988 (1988). Geoffrey Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 15671659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries War (1972), is the definitive work on the Spanish army in western Europe; and R.A. Stradling, The Armada of Flanders: Spanish Maritime Policy and European War, 15681668 (1992), is the equivalent for the Spanish navy. I.A.A. Thompson, War and Government in Habsburg Spain, 15601620 (1976), studies the effects of war on government in Spain. Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World, 16061661 (1982), is also useful. J.H. Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 15981640 (1963, reissued 1984), and The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline (1986), are outstanding contributions to Spanish history written in English. A useful introduction to the under-studied second half of the 17th century is Henry Kamen, Spain in the Later Seventeenth Century, 16651700 (1980). J.H. Parry, The Spanish Seaborne Empire (1966, reprinted 1990), is an excellent sketch of this subject. Jonathan Brown and J.H. Elliott, A Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV (1980), successfully attempts to integrate the history of art with political history. Helmut Georg Koenigsberger The 18th century There are two excellent surveys of 18th-century Spain: John Lynch, Bourbon Spain, 17001808 (1989); and Gonzalo Anes (Gonzalo Anes lvarez), El antiguo rgimen: los Borbones, 5th ed. (1981). Economic and social issues are the subject of Antonio Domnguez Ortiz, Sociedad y estado en el siglo XVIII espaol (1976); and Gonzalo Anes (Gonzalo Anes lvarez), Las crisis agrarias en la Espaa moderna (1970), and Economa y Ilustracin en la Espaa del siglo XVII, 3rd ed. (1981). The monumental work by Pierre Vilar, La Catalogne dans l'Espagne moderne: recherches sur les fondements conomiques des structures nationales, 3 vol. (1962), is a masterly treatment of late 18th-century Catalonia. Two specialist studies, using modern techniques, are Richard Herr, Rural Change and Royal Finances in Spain at the End of the Old Regime (1989); and David R. Ringrose, Transportation and Economic Stagnation in Spain, 17501850 (1970). Other specific topics are addressed by William J. Callahan, Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 17501874 (1984); Henry Kamen, The War of Succession in Spain, 170015 (1969), for the early years; and Richard Herr, The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain (1958, reissued 1969), on the reign of Charles III. The 19th and early 20th centuries Gerald Brenan, The Spanish Labyrinth: An Account of the Social and Political Background of the Civil War, 2nd ed. (1950, reprinted 1969), remains a stimulating introduction to the problems of modern Spain. General histories of political, economic, and social developments include Raymond Carr, Spain, 18081975, 2nd ed. (1982); Miguel Artola, La burguesa revolucionaria (18081869) (1973); and Miguel Martnez Cuadrado, La burguesa conservadora (18741931) (1973). The role of the armed forces is dealt with well in Stanley G. Payne, Politics and the Military in Modern Spain (1967); and Carolyn P. Boyd, Praetorian Politics in Liberal Spain (1979).There has been a renewal of interest in economic history. The basic works are Jordi Nadal, El fracaso de la revolucin industrial en Espaa, 18141913, 5th ed. (1982); Josep Fontana Lzaro (Josep Fontana i Lzaro), La quiebra de la monarqua absoluta: 18141820, 3rd ed. rev. (1978); Gabriel Tortella Casares, Los orgenes del capitalismo en Espaa: banca, industria y ferrocarriles en el siglo XIX, 2nd ed. (1982); and Leandro Prados de la Escosura, De imperio a nacin: crecimiento y atraso econmica en Espaa (17801930) (1988).Mid-century politics are discussed in V.G. Kiernan, The Revolution of 1854 in Spanish History (1966); and C.A.M. Hennessy, The Federal Republic in Spain: Pi y Margall and the Federal Republican Movement, 186874 (1962, reprinted 1980). Paul Heywood, Marxism and the Failure of Organised Socialism in Spain, 18791936 (1990), analyzes the socialist party. An important study is Joan Connelly Ullman, The Tragic Week: A Study of Anti-clericalism in Spain, 18751912 (1968). Jess Pabn, Camb, 2 vol. in 3 (195269), is indispensable for understanding the politics of Catalonia. Primo de Rivera (192330) and the Second Republic (193136) The excellent but misleadingly titled work by Shlomo Ben-Ami, Fascism from Above: The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain, 19231930 (1983), deals with the dictatorship, while its collapse is chronicled in his The Origins of the Second Republic in Spain (1978). Gabriel Jackson, The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 19311939 (1965), is a useful introduction; it should be supplemented by Paul Preston, The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction, and Revolution in the Second Republic, 19311936 (1978, reprinted 1983); and Edward E. Malefakis, Agrarian Reform and Peasant Revolution in Spain: Origins of the Civil War (1970). The Civil War (193639) and Franco's Spain (193975) Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, 3rd rev. and enlarged ed. (1986), is a narrative history; Raymond Carr, The Civil War in Spain, 193639, new ed. (1986), takes a wider view. Burnett Bolloten, The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution (1991), is an encyclopaedic account. George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (1938, reissued 1986), remains a classic account of Barcelona political feuds. The military history is best treated in the campaign histories by J.M. Martnez Bande, beginning with La marcha sobre Madrid (1968).The standard work on Francoism is Stanley G. Payne, The Franco Regime, 19361975 (1987). Florentino Portero, Franco aislado: la cuestin espaola, 19451950 (1989), is an excellent account of a critical period. Francoist society is addressed in Amando de Miguel, Manual de estructura social de Espaa (1974). Sebastian Balfour, Dictatorship, Workers, and the City: Labour in Greater Barcelona Since 1939 (1979), is an excellent study of the labour movement. Spain since 1975 The period of governmental transition is treated in Jos Maravall, The Transition to Democracy in Spain (1982); Raymond Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi, Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy (1979); and Paul Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (1986). Carlos Huneeus, La Unin de Centro Democrtico y la transicin a la democracia en Espaa (1985), is an important study of party politics; also important is Richard Gunther, Giacomo Sani, and Goldie Shabad, Spain After Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System (1986). Charles T. Powell, El piloto del cambio: el rey, la monarqua y la transicin a la democracia (1991), examines the role of King Juan Carlos. Sir Raymond Carr Cultural life Cultural milieu A bullfight during the Fiesta de San Fermn in Pamplona, Spain. As in much of western Europe, the culture of Spain was marked decisively by the period of Roman rule. In the crucial areas of language and religion the Romans left a lasting inheritance. However, the subsequent course of Spanish history added elements to the country's cultural development that were missing or much weaker in other European countries. 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 other source except Latin. Through contact with the Muslims, Christian Europe was able to recover much of the cultural and intellectual heritage of classical antiquity. It also gained access to many scientific advances made by the Muslims. Spain's cultural mix became even richer during the Middle Ages because of the presence of a large and influential Jewish population. Medieval Spain witnessed one of the periods of greatest cultural achievement in Jewish history. During the early modern and modern periods Spain's culture was fairly homogeneous. The one significant exception was the presence and persistence of languages other than Spanish in some parts of the country. Two of these, Catalan and Gallego, have been vehicles of significant literary traditions during the Middle Ages. From the 16th century on they lost ground to Castilian and increasingly became limited to everyday use, especially among the peasantry. This had always been the case with the third language, Euskera, which never had a literary tradition. Beginning in the 19th century, all three languages enjoyed a revival. In the 20th century the Franco regime prohibited the public use of languages other than Spanish; but this did not lead to their disappearance. Indeed, the use of these languages, both in daily life and in high culture, increased greatly when they became the official languages in the autonomous regions established under the Constitution of 1978. As noted above, they are now taught in the schools as well as used in the press and on television and radio. For much of its history, and especially after the Reconquest was completed in 1492, Spain has been strongly identified with the Roman Catholic church. To a large extent this identification and the virtual religious monopoly that the church has enjoyed since the 16th century have been artificially imposed. Members of the two large religious minorities were forced to convert or leave the country: the Jews in 1492 and the Muslims in 1502. From 1478 until 1834 religious uniformity was enforced by the church court, the Inquisition. In the 19th and 20th centuries the Roman Catholic church sought to have, and for much of that time succeeded in having, the government declare Roman Catholicism the religion of the state, even though a large part of the population was nonpracticing or even anticlerical. The church also encouraged the government to limit, or even prohibit, the practice of other faiths. State support for the Catholic church was strongest during the Franco regime. Since 1978 Spain has had no official religion, and Spaniards have enjoyed complete freedom of religion. At the end of the 20th century the government made the expression of cultural diversity easier than it had been for at least 500 years. Ironically, this came at the same time that Spain became increasingly drawn into a homogeneous international culture. Daily life Daily life in late 20th-century Spain looks little different from that in other industrialized western European countries or in North America. Most people now live in large cities where the pace of life is rapid, cars are everywhere, and air and noise pollution are major problems.