I.

Introduction

Spain (Spanish España), parliamentary monarchy occupying 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula in the southwestern corner of Europe. Portugal and the British territory of Gibraltar occupy the remainder of the peninsula. Spain’s territory also includes islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and two small enclaves on the coast of Morocco. Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain.

A large plateau rises in the heartland of Spain and makes up much of the mainland. Mountains surround and crisscross the plateau, and the city of Madrid stands at its center. The climate of the plateau is harsh and arid, and most of Spain’s people live near the coasts or in a few major river valleys.

Spain is cut off by the Pyrenees mountains from all other countries of Europe except Portugal, and thus has had a history notably different from those countries. In the 8th century Arabic-speaking Muslims from North Africa, called Moors, conquered most of the Iberian peninsula. During the Middle Ages Christian kingdoms of northern Spain waged wars to reconquer the peninsula from the Moors.

After the Christian reconquest was completed, Spain’s monarchs sent Christopher Columbus on the voyage in which he reached the Americas in 1492. In the hundred years that followed, treasure from the Americas helped make Spain the strongest power in Europe. Spanish soldiers and priests explored and colonized the Americas from Mexico to Chile, spreading Spanish culture and the Spanish language. Spain’s economy stagnated in the 17th century, however, and its power waned. In the 20th century Spain was scarred by the Spanish Civil War, between 1936 and 1939, and by a dictatorship that lasted from 1939 to 1975. Afterward, Spain underwent a remarkably smooth transition to democratic government.

In economic terms Spain was a late developer. Until the 1960s nearly all of the country’s industry was confined to the northern regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country. Since then Spain’s economy has grown rapidly. The major contributions to this economic turnaround came from light manufacturing industry—such as food products—and from service industries, especially tourism. Millions of tourists visit Spain each year, attracted by its sunny climate, beaches, and historic cities.

Spain also has a strong cultural and artistic tradition. Historically, its main cultural contributions were to painting and literature. More recently, while maintaining its presence in these two areas, Spain has also produced major figures in the fields of filmmaking, architecture, and music.

Spain is bordered on the north by the Bay of Biscay, part of the Atlantic Ocean, and by the Pyrenees, which form its frontier with France and the tiny country of Andorra. It is bounded by on the east by the Mediterranean Sea; on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. The Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean also form part of Spain. In addition, Spain administers two cities in Morocco—Ceuta and Melilla—as well as three island groups near Africa—Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the Alhucemas and Chafarinas islands. The British dependency of Gibraltar is situated at the southern extremity of Spain.

II.

Land and Resources of Spain

Spain occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. Its area, including the African and insular territories, is 505,990 sq km (195,364 sq mi), making Spain the second-largest country in western Europe after France. Water borders about 88 percent of Spain’s periphery. Its Mediterranean coast is 1,660 km (1,030 mi) long, and its Atlantic coast is 710 km (440 mi) long. The long, unbroken mountain chain of the Pyrenees, extending 435 km (270 mi) from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea, forms the border with France on the north. In the extreme south the Strait of Gibraltar, less than 13 km (8 mi) wide at its narrowest extent, separates Spain from Africa.

Spain is a mountainous country. In Europe, only Switzerland has a higher average elevation. Spain’s extensive central plateau, called the Meseta, has an average elevation of about 600 m (2,000 ft) and slopes generally downward from north to south and from east to west. Various mountain ranges, or sierras, cross this tableland. The two largest—the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra de Gredos—divide it into northern and southern sections. Several more mountain ranges border the plateau: the Cantabrian mountains along the northern coast, the Iberian chain to the east, and the Sierra Morena to the south. The country’s two highest peaks, however, lie elsewhere. The Mulhacén (3,477 m/11,407 ft) is in the Sierra Nevada in the extreme south, and the Pico de Aneto (3,404 m/11,168 ft) is in the Pyrenees, which form a continuous barrier along the French border to the north. Spain’s highest mountain of all is the Pico de Teide (3,715 m/12,188 ft), an extinct volcano on Tenerife Island in the Canary Islands. Between many of the mountains are narrow valleys, drained by rapid rivers.

The two most important rivers in Spain are the Ebro and the Guadalquivir. Their broad valleys bound the central plateau, the Ebro to the northeast and the Guadalquivir to the south. The two rivers lie entirely within Spain, and their mouths form the country’s only major deltas, the Ebro on the Mediterranean and the Guadalquivir on the Atlantic. The Ebro and the Guadalquivir are also Spain’s only navigable rivers. The Guadalquivir River, flowing through a fertile plain in the south, is the deepest river in Spain and the only one navigable for any extensive distance. Large ships can travel only a short distance inland on the Ebro.

Other major rivers in Spain are the Duero (Douro), Tajo (Tagus), and Guadiana. All three rivers rise on the plateau and flow through Portugal before reaching the Atlantic. The first two, like most of the country’s smaller streams and rivers, flow rapidly mostly along steep-sided valleys. Spain also has some 2,400 lakes, the majority of them glacial in origin. Almost all the lakes are very small. The largest is the Lago de Sanabria close to the northern Portuguese border.

Spain’s mainland coastline extends for about 3,960 km (2,460 mi). The Balearic Islands have a combined coastline of about 1,060 km (620 mi), and the Canaries of about 1,160 km (720 mi). For most of its length the mainland coast is rugged. The coastal strip adjoining it rarely exceeds 30 km (19 mi) in width, and in many areas the coastal plain is broken up by mountains that descend directly to the sea. More extensive coastal lowlands occur only around the Gulf of Valencia on the central Mediterranean and near the mouth of the Guadalquivir on the southern Atlantic. Galicia, a region of northwestern Spain, is distinctive for the numerous shallow inlets (rías) that indent its coast. Galicia’s coast also offers a number of good harbors, in particular Vigo and La Coruña. Good harbors elsewhere in Spain are rare; the main exceptions are Bilbao, Santander, and Cádiz on the Atlantic, and Barcelona on the Mediterranean.

A.

Climate

The climate of Spain is generally marked by extremes of temperature and low rainfall. The country’s rugged landscape accentuates these features. The main exceptions to this harsh, arid climate occur along the northern and northwestern coasts, which are damp and cool to mild in temperature. The central plateau, by contrast, has summers so arid that nearly all the streams dry up, the earth parches, and drought is common. Around Madrid, at the middle of the plateau, winter cold is sufficient to freeze streams, while summer temperatures in Seville to the south rise as high as 49°C (120°F). The southern coast has a Mediterranean climate, with hot summers and mild winters. For example, Málaga, on the southern coast, has an average winter temperature of 14°C (57°F). The climate of the Canary Islands is subtropical.

Most of Spain receives less than 610 mm (24 in) of precipitation per year, and Almería Province in the southeast boasts Europe’s only genuine desert. The northern mountains get considerably more moisture.

B.

Natural Resources

Spain has a number of mineral resources. The largest known deposits are of iron ore, zinc, and lead. Spain also produces significant quantities of copper and mercury. These deposits are mined mainly in Huelva province in southwestern Spain, around Cartagena on the Mediterranean, and at various points along the Bay of Biscay in the north. Additionally, uranium is mined in the region of Extremadura, near the Portuguese frontier, where pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, tungsten, and potash also occur.

Spain has only minor energy reserves. There are small fields of petroleum and natural gas off the Biscay coast, with additional offshore deposits of gas in the Cádiz area and of oil in Catalonia. Coal mining takes place in the northwestern regions of Asturias and León, in the Basque Country and around Teruel in Aragón. However, the poor quality of the coal makes it economically worthless, and the industry is being shut down. Much more important are the water resources of the Pyrenees, where a number of rivers have been harnessed to provide hydroelectric power.

C.

Plants and Animals

Only a small part of Spain is forested, and forests are located mainly on mountain slopes, particularly in the northwest. A common Spanish tree is the evergreen oak. Cork oak, from which the bark may be stripped every ten years, is abundant, growing chiefly as second growth on timbered land. Poplar trees are grown throughout the country, and the cultivation of olive trees is a major agricultural activity. Other Spanish trees include the elm, beech, and chestnut. Shrubs and herbs are the common natural vegetation on the central plateau. Grapevines flourish in the arid soil. Esparto grass, used for making paper and various fiber products, grows abundantly in both the wild and cultivated state. On the Mediterranean coast sugarcane, oranges, lemons, figs, almonds, and chestnuts are grown.

The Spanish fauna includes the wolf, lynx, wildcat, fox, wild boar, wild goat, deer, and hare. Among the more famous domesticated animals are the bulls bred near Seville and Salamanca for bullfighting, the Spanish national sport. Birdlife is abundant, with varieties of birds of prey. Insect life abounds. Mountain streams and lakes teem with fish such as barbel, tench, and trout.

D.

Soils

Although Spanish soils need careful irrigation and cultivation, they are a rich and valuable resource. Semiarid chestnut-brown soils cover the central plateau, and red Mediterranean soils cover the southern area and the northeastern coastal region. A gray desert soil, often containing salt, is found in the southeast. The forest of northern Spain has gray-brown forest soils, and the forest in the Cantabrian Mountains has leached, infertile soils.

E.

Environmental Issues

Spain faces numerous environmental threats. Deforestation and the erosion and river pollution that accompany it are major concerns. Other problems include the encroachment of agriculture onto land designated as protected, desertification in badly managed agricultural zones, and soil salinization (contamination with salt) in irrigated regions. Increased use of nitrogen fertilizers has added to the problem of nitrates in rivers.

In April 1998 a serious toxic waste spill occurred as the result of a burst reservoir at an iron ore mine in southern Spain. Attempts were made to divert the spillage from an important wetland area toward the Guadalquivir River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was estimated that the toxic mud from the spill threatened millions of birds and other wildlife. The black toxic mud covered farms, fields, and orchards, causing farmers to suffer enormous economic losses.

In November 2002 a single-hulled oil tanker, the Prestige, ruptured and sank in a storm off the coast of Galicia in northwestern Spain. The ship lost much of its cargo of 77.5 million liters (20.5 million gallons) of fuel oil, spilling nearly twice the amount of oil that was lost in the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989—the worst oil spill in United States history. The oil coated the beaches of Galicia and spread south to Portugal and north to the beaches of southwestern France. The spill devastated fish stocks and destroyed hundreds of thousands of seabirds. Estimates put the cost of cleanup and fishing sector losses at more than $9 billion over a decade.

Spain participates in an international convention on wetlands, with 17 sites designated. Fourteen biosphere reserves have been set aside under the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program. Spain has ratified international environmental agreements concerning air pollution, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, environmental modification, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, marine life, the ozone layer, ship pollution, tropical timber, and whaling. Regionally, Spain has designated several protected areas for wild birds as part of the European Wild Bird Directive and six protected marine sites under the Mediterranean Action Plan.

III.

People and Society of Spain

The Spanish population is relatively homogeneous in its racial and ethnic composition. Apart from the Basques, a small but ancient group whose origin remains a mystery, the basic stock seems to have consisted of Celtiberians. As their name suggests the Celtiberians were a mixture of Celts and early inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula. They later intermingled with successive waves of conquerors. First came the Romans, then various Germanic tribes of whom the most important were the Visigoths, and finally the Moors, themselves a mixture of North African and Arab elements.

However, Spain has experienced little immigration since it became a nation within its current boundaries, around 1500. Indeed, for much of this period, Spain had limited contact with the rest of the world. Even though marked regional differences form a distinctive feature of the country, they mainly reflect economic and political factors rather than ethnic differences. The country’s gypsy community (gitanos) forms a notable exception.

The estimated population of Spain for 2008 is 40,491,051, giving the country an overall density of 81 persons per sq km (210 per sq mi). Spain is increasingly urban, with 77 percent of the population in towns and cities.

Spain’s population trends have been somewhat unusual as a result of the country’s late economic development. As late as 1960 infant mortality stood at 43 deaths per 1,000 births, a relatively high level usually associated with the developing world. Thereafter, the rate declined rapidly and is now lower than the infant mortality rate in the United States. The reduction in infant mortality brought a dramatic increase in life expectancy, which is now among the highest in the world for both males and females. It also resulted in very rapid population growth during the 20 years after 1955.

Another abrupt demographic change occurred more recently, halting the rapid growth rate. Although Spain’s birth rate remained extremely high into the 1970s, it subsequently decreased. In 2008 it stood at 1.30 children per female, one of the lowest birth rates in the world. As population growth slowed, the average age of Spain’s population increased. By the early 2000s annual population growth had slowed to less than 1 percent, and in 2008 it stood at 0.10 percent. If this trend continues, the number of Spaniards was expected to start falling by 2020.

By European standards Spain has a low population density. The great bulk of the population is concentrated in just a few areas: along the coasts, in the Ebro and Guadalquivir valleys, and around Madrid. Far fewer people live in the rest of the plateau that covers most of the country. In addition, a large migration from rural areas to towns and cities took place between 1960 and 1980. Today, large tracts of the country lie more or less deserted. A small drift back to the land among better-off Spaniards, reacting to overcrowding in the cities, has had no noticeable impact on the overall picture.

A.

Principal Cities

Spain’s capital and largest city is Madrid (population, 2007, 3,132,463); it is also the capital of the autonomous (self-governing) region comprising the city and its surroundings. Situated at the country’s geographical heart, Madrid was long a purely administrative center, but since the 1960s it has developed thriving industrial and service sectors. The second largest city is Barcelona (1,595,110), Spain’s largest port and capital of the Catalonia region. A traditional commercial center, Barcelona also has the country’s oldest textile industry. In recent decades the city’s industrial and service base has been greatly extended and diversified.

Valencia (797,654), capital of the Valencia region, is a commercial center with a relatively diverse economy. Seville (699,145) is a major tourist center and, as capital of the country’s most populous region, Andalucía, is a major administrative center. Zaragoza (654,390), capital of Aragón, grew rapidly in the late 20th century, thanks to its strategic location in the Ebro Valley. Málaga (561,250) is the chief center of the country’s major tourist area, the Costa del Sol. Bilbao (353,168) is both a busy port and the Basque Country’s commercial and industrial capital.

B.

Religion

Spain has long been associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Following the country’s unification around 1500, Spain’s sizable Jewish and Muslim communities were forced to choose between expulsion and forcible conversion. Later, Protestantism had only a minimal impact in Spain. Until 1978 Catholicism was Spain’s official religion, and it is still the country’s dominant faith. Spanish monasteries and convents account for almost two-thirds of the world’s closed Catholic communities, and Catholic references abound in popular speech.

Although more than 90 percent of the population identifies itself as Roman Catholic, only about 35 percent of Spaniards attend church regularly. This percentage is falling, as many of the regular churchgoers are old. At the same time, the Church retains a strong presence in society. This is apparent in festivals (fiestas) that take place in nearly every city, town, and village, and have a strongly religious flavor. The Easter Week processions of Andalusia are especially notable. In addition, the Church continues to be an important provider of social services; in particular, it runs a considerable number of schools and hospitals.

The influence exercised by the Catholic lay organization Opus Dei is another aspect of the church presence. The Opus, as it is commonly known, was established in 1928 by Spanish priest José María Escrivá de Balaguer, who was canonized (declared a saint) by Pope John Paul II in 2002 only 27 years after his death, an unusually short period. During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Opus Dei acquired immense influence, not only in politics but also in the business world. Rumors of its close connections with the ruling, conservative People’s Party persist today.

C.

Language

Spain’s official language is Spanish (español). It is spoken by the vast majority of its people. Spanish has two major dialects—Andalusian and Castilian—which differ in their pronunciation of certain sounds. In a number of regions of Spain other languages are also important. Catalan, a relative of Spanish and French, shares official status with Spanish in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Since 1980 the regional government of Catalonia has promoted the use of Catalan in public life and in education. Such efforts have led to tensions with the sizable minority of Catalonia’s residents who speak only Spanish.

Similar developments have occurred in Galicia, where the Galician language is widely spoken. Since achieving recognition as an official language in 1980, Galician has begun to blossom as a literary language, as well. Galician is a member of the same language subfamily as Spanish, but it is more closely related to Portuguese. Language controversies have also arisen in Valencia, where many of the inhabitants speak what most experts regard as a dialect of Catalan. For political reasons Valencian has been designated a language in its own right, with official status.

The Basque language, by contrast, is not a member of the Indo-European language family, to which the other languages of Spain belong, and it appears to be unrelated to any known language. By the 1950s Basque seemed close to extinction; it was used only in rural areas near the border between France and Spain. Since that time, however, Basque has experienced a considerable revival, thanks to the active support of Basque nationalists. Their control over the Basque Country’s government assured that Basque received equal official status with Spanish in that region.

D.

Education

The golden age of Spanish education occurred during the Middle Ages, when the Moors, Christians, and Jews established strong interreligious centers of higher education in Córdoba, Granada, and Toledo. The University of Salamanca (1218) served as a model for the universities of Latin America from the 16th century on, thereby extending the international influence of Spanish education. Thereafter, stagnation set in, however. In 1867 Spain became one of the first countries to pass compulsory education legislation, but the law was never enforced. Education remained the preserve of a small elite into the second half of the 20th century, while Catholic belief in its most conservative form heavily influenced teaching content and methods. The dictatorship of Francisco Franco, from 1939 to 1975, reinforced these characteristics. The government was forced to attempt some reforms in 1970, but the effort proved largely unsuccessful because few funds were made available.

Only after Franco’s death in 1975, and the election of a Socialist government seven years later, did real change come in education. The last two decades of the 20th century saw a massive expansion of educational facilities at all levels. Illiteracy, previously a significant problem, was reduced to around 3.5 percent, while universal schooling from ages 6 to 16 finally became a reality. At the same time new issues emerged, in many cases similar to those in other European countries. These issues include how to cope with severe overcrowding of the universities, and how to design a secondary school curriculum that is both attractive to, and relevant for, today’s teenagers. Another important development was devolution (delegation of power) to Spain’s newly autonomous (self-governing) regions. These autonomous regions enjoy wide powers to regulate their own education systems, with the result that significant differences in approach have emerged.

D.1.

Preprimary, Primary, and Secondary Schools

Spain’s school system was restructured in three levels by a law passed in 1990 and implemented over the next 12 years. Preprimary education is for children under the age of 6, primary education for those ages 6 to 11, and secondary education for those ages 12 to 16. At age 16 students may choose either a vocational training course for one or two years, or a two-year baccalaureate-style (bachillerato) course designed to prepare them for higher education. Preprimary education was a major innovation under the 1990 law. Previously, kindergarten or nursery facilities provided little more than supervision. Preprimary education is voluntary and not necessarily free. Primary and secondary education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 16. Prior to 1990 compulsory education extended only to age 14, when many children from poorer families left school.

Today, education free of charge applies not only to public schools but also to private schools that receive government funding. Self-funding schools, most of which are run by the Catholic church, may charge tuition. About one-third of Spain’s pupils at the primary and secondary levels attend private schools. In the 2000 school year, Spain’s primary schools were attended by 2.5 million pupils, and secondary schools (including bachillerato and vocational courses) by 3.2 million.

D.2.

Higher Education

Spanish institutions of higher education enrolled 1.8 million students in 2001–2002. The main providers of higher education are Spain’s 60-some universities. In addition, many students attend schools offering shorter university-level curricula in business and vocational subjects. Others attend technical institutes, especially specialist engineering colleges. The number of students enrolled in higher education in Spain has increased enormously since 1980, and overcrowding has become a serious problem.

Most universities in Spain are public institutions. Despite efforts to increase their independence, they are still controlled to a large degree by government authorities. Today, these authorities are primarily part of the regional governments. The oldest and most famous Spanish university is the University of Salamanca, founded in 1218. Other well-known universities of Spain include those of Madrid (1836), Barcelona (1450), Granada (1526), Seville (1502), and Valencia (1510); the autonomous universities of Madrid and Barcelona (both founded in 1968), which despite their name are public institutions; and the technology-oriented polytechnic universities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia (all founded in 1971). Until the 1980s the only nonstate universities were run by the Catholic Church. Since then a number of other private institutions have been established, but the number of students enrolled in these institutions remains small.

E.

Social Structure

Up to the 1960s Spain had a highly traditional class structure that was dominated by agricultural workers: generally peasant farmers in the north and landless farm laborers in the south. Both the industrial working class and the middle class, which was employed mainly in public service or commerce, were much smaller than those of other western European countries. A tiny, often aristocratic, elite made up of large landowners and a few industrialists held most of the wealth. Upward social mobility was minimal and depended primarily on the acquisition of land.

Since the 1960s major change has occurred in Spain’s social structure. The rapid decline in the importance of agriculture decimated the rural workforce and destroyed the social significance of landowning. Meanwhile, the industrial working class has grown. As elsewhere, it has begun to merge with the lower reaches of the middle class, a greatly expanded group employed in a vast array of semiskilled, nonmanual occupations. Like industrial workers, this labor force is employed mostly by small firms or government bodies. Only in Madrid, Barcelona, and a few other cities do significant numbers work for large companies.

The upper levels of the middle class also have grown considerably, with the increasing importance of managerial and professional occupations. The most successful members of this group have become part of an upper class now defined purely in money terms. This class is composed of leading figures from the worlds of business and finance, as well as a few sports stars, popular singers, and media celebrities, and the remnants of the landed aristocracy.

F.

Way of Life

Although the way of life in Spain has undergone considerable change since the 1960s, it retains a number of traditional and distinctive features. Perhaps the most dramatic change has occurred in the status of women. Into the 1970s women remained legally tied to the home. Now most younger Spanish women take up a career of some sort, and the number of women in responsible positions is rising, though slowly. Relatively few young women are willing, or able, to devote the long hours their mothers did to household tasks. Yet despite the increase in working women and a rapid decline in family size, the family has retained its central position in Spanish life. According to polls, Spaniards regard the welfare of their family as by far their highest priority, and they spend the greatest portion of their leisure time within it.

Spaniards also have much more contact with their neighbors than is usual in developed societies. This gregariousness is encouraged by the fact that the great majority of Spaniards live in apartments, usually as owner-occupiers. Around a fifth of families have a second home, typically in the town or village of their origin, or at the coast. Car ownership is rising toward the level common in western European countries. By contemporary standards, however, Spaniards in general seem rather unconcerned with material possessions, preferring to spend their money on social activities such as eating out.

Food and drink play an important part in Spanish life. Regional dishes remain a source of pride, and typically use local ingredients, often vegetables, strongly flavored sausages of various types, or fish. Spaniards in general eat an uncommonly large amount of seafood. In the form of tapas (appetizers served with a premeal drink), regional dishes are an essential element in informal socializing. At the same time, fast food has made inroads into Spanish eating habits, meat consumption has grown markedly, and beer has replaced wine as the country’s most popular alcoholic drink. Little change, however, is apparent in the most distinctive feature of Spanish meals: their timing. The preferred hour for lunch remains 3 pm, while evening meals rarely begin before 9 and may go on past midnight.

Although socializing in its various forms dominates Spaniards’ list of preferred leisure activities, sport is increasingly popular among the young. The most popular spectator sport is soccer, followed at some distance by basketball. Cycling, track-and-field events, and tennis also attract considerable interest. Bullfighting is enjoying renewed popularity, but only a minority of Spaniards follows it seriously and more than a few actively oppose it. A more genuinely national Spanish field sport is hunting, mainly the shooting of rabbits and game birds.

G.

Social Issues

At the root of most major social issues in Spain is the country’s unemployment problem, which since the 1970s has been the worst in the developed world. Especially hard hit are women and, above all, young people. Moreover, benefits for the unemployed are meager by European standards. As a result unemployment is closely associated with poverty, which remains relatively common in Spain. The lowest average income levels are found in the rural western part of the country. But most of Spain’s poor live in cities, where poverty is often related to other social problems including homelessness and drug addiction (see Drug Dependence).

Social welfare experts believe that the use of illegal drugs is widespread in Spain, especially among the unemployed. Drug use, in turn, is linked to the country’s rate of HIV infection, the highest rate in Europe, as well as to crime. Assaults, burglaries, and other offenses often connected with drug abuse have become a major concern, although Spain’s crime rate is low by international standards. However, crime in Spain has risen in recent years and also changed in nature: Organized crime is now a significant problem in Madrid and along the Mediterranean coast.

Severe understaffing of Spain’s police forces and social services makes it hard to respond to these issues, although awareness campaigns have helped slow down the spread of AIDS. Some regional governments have attempted to reduce poverty by providing income support for the most destitute. But the central government policy has primarily sought to attack the problems indirectly, by continuing to reduce unemployment, an approach that has had only limited success.

A new issue came to prominence in Spain in the late 1990s and early 2000s: racism. Until then there was little evidence of hostility toward foreigners in Spain, which has traditionally been a country of emigrants rather than immigrants. Apart from the gypsy (see Roma) community, which continues to encounter considerable prejudice, Spain’s population was remarkably homogeneous (uniform) in its ethnic makeup. That situation began to change with the arrival of considerable numbers of immigrants, mainly from Morocco and other parts of North Africa, and from Latin America. These immigrants suffer both at the hands of unscrupulous employers and as the target of resentment from poor native Spaniards. In 2001 the government introduced a restrictive and discriminatory Aliens Act, but that policy was reversed when a Socialist government came to power in 2004 and granted legal status to immigrants who were working.

IV.

Culture of Spain

The first great flowering of literature and the arts in Spain coincided with the country’s brief dominance of Europe—and much of the world—a period that lasted approximately from 1550 to 1650. In painting this so-called Golden Age (Siglo de Oro) witnessed not only the genius of El Greco and Diego Velázquez but also a string of lesser masters. In literature its major figures included Miguel de Cervantes as well as a host of other writers, several of whom were inspired by Catholic mysticism. In architecture and philosophy the country also produced major works during the Golden Age.

After the Golden Age a decline took place in Spanish power and in its cultural life. A long period of stagnation was broken only by a few individuals, notably the painter Francisco Goya, who worked in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Reaction to Spain’s stagnation came primarily in the form of cultural expression, namely by the Generation of 1898 (see Spanish Literature). This literary movement represented the most significant response to Spain’s disastrous loss in the Spanish-American War of 1898 and to what the writers viewed as Spain’s general backwardness. Among its best-known members was the philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. At around the same time, modernismo—a style similar to art nouveau—flourished in Catalonia. Its leading advocate was the architect Antoni Gaudí. Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados also achieved international recognition.

The first decades of the 20th century are considered Spain’s Silver Age. In addition to the Generation of 1898 and Gaudí, its representatives included Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century; surrealist painter Salvador Dalí; and surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Among the greatest literary figures of the 1920s and 1930s were the poets Federico García Lorca and Vicente Aleixandre. Aleixandre was later awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

This fertile cultural period abruptly ended with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Censorship and a prevailing atmosphere of conservatism stifled the arts for four decades. With the reestablishment of democracy after 1975 came an upsurge of creativity that continues to the present day. Varied in its influences and styles, it encompasses fields in which Spain has traditionally been prolific, such as literature and painting, as well as other fields such as sculpture, film, music, and dance. Emblematic figures include film director Pedro Almodóvar, sculptor Eduardo Chillida, architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, and operatic tenor Plácido Domingo.

A.

Literature

During the Golden Age of Spanish literature, from about 1550 to 1650, Spain produced novels, plays, and poetry of outstanding quality and lasting influence. Cervantes wrote Don Quixote (1605), one of the earliest and greatest novels, which changed the face of fiction. Dramatists of the Golden Age included Lope de Vega, Pedro Calderón, and Tirso de Molina. Spain experienced a renewed period of literary vitality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For more information, See Spanish Literature.

B.

Art and Architecture

Through the centuries some of the world’s greatest painters have lived and worked in Spain. The first was Domenikos Theotokopoulos, who was born on Crete and is better known as El Greco. His portraits, most notably of saints, are characterized by eerily elongated features and a dramatic use of light that also lends great power to his landscapes. Among his best-known works are View of Toledo (about 1610, Metropolitan Museum, New York) and The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586; Church of Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain).

The 17th-century painter Diego Velázquez was another master in the use of light. His technical virtuosity places him among the most influential painters of all time. Velázquez is best-known for the works he painted at the Spanish royal court, such as Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor, 1656, Prado, Madrid, Spain). However, he also produced many memorable paintings of more humble subjects, such as The Waterseller of Seville (Wellington Museum, London, England).

The painter Francisco Goya was best-known for his realism and his portraiture, evident in his sometimes scathing portraits of the Spanish royal family. Goya’s realism is most evident, however, in his depictions of violence, such as The Third of May, 1808 (1814, Prado Museum, Madrid), which shows Spanish civilians being shot by soldiers from the armies of Napoleon I. As Goya became increasingly bitter and disillusioned later in life, his themes became more grotesque, as in his etchings of war scenes and paintings of mythological subjects such as Saturn Devouring One of His Sons (1821-1823, Prado).

Pablo Picasso was probably the greatest figure of modern art. His 1907 work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Museum of Modern Art, New York) is considered to mark the birth of cubism. Although Picasso spent most of his creative life outside Spain, he remained intensely Spanish. His masterwork Guernica (1937), a massive canvas depicting the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, was bequeathed to his homeland on his death and now hangs in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. The two other leading Spanish painters of the 20th century were Salvador Dalí, whose surrealist images are widely reproduced, and Joan Miró, whose style developed from surrealism into a uniquely playful form of abstraction.

Historically, the most distinctively Spanish style of architecture was the 16th-century plateresque. It is characterized by delicate and elegant ornamentation on the exterior of buildings that echoed the work of silversmiths. Modernism, which emerged around 1900, was essentially a Catalan movement. Its emphasis on organic shapes and intricate patterns combined features of art nouveau, a movement of that time, and Moorish architecture from southern Spain that dated back to the Middle Ages. Modernism’s greatest exponent in Spain was Antoni Gaudí, whose unfinished masterwork, Church of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) in Barcelona, was finally nearing completion in the early 2000s. Spanish architects who have more recently acquired international standing include Ricardo Bofill and Santiago Calatrava.

C.

Theater and Film

The classics of Spanish theater are products of the Golden Age, between about 1550 and 1650, and are associated above all with the dramatists Lope de Vega, Pedro Calderón, and Tirso de Molina. Not until the 1920s did Spain produce another playwright of similar stature: García Lorca. His works, such as The House of Bernarda Alba and Yerma, combine lyricism with the stark portrayal of personal tragedy. Lorca was also prominent in efforts to bring theater to the rural masses.

Under the Franco dictatorship, censorship imposed strict limits on theatrical creativity. Nonetheless, dramatists such as Antonio Buero Vallejo were able to produce reflections on Spanish society and the Franco regime. The removal of censorship after Franco’s death in 1975, along with the creation of new regional governments, produced a surge in independent and alternative theater, especially in Catalonia.

Motion pictures have enjoyed great popularity in Spain since their beginning. One of Spain’s greatest film directors, Luis Buñuel, made his greatest films outside Spain, which he left after the Spanish Civil War. They include The Exterminating Angel (1962); Belle de jour (1967); and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). A number of talented Spanish directors emerged in the late 20th century. Chief among them was Pedro Almodóvar, whose dark take on the screwball comedy in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and Kika (1994) has brought him international popularity.

D.

Music and Dance

Spanish music has a long tradition as well as a vitality and distinctiveness that reflect a blend of European and Arabic influences. Yet Spain produced no major composers until the 20th century, perhaps because the country’s most typical instrument remained the guitar. The first Spanish composers to achieve international acclaim were Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz, both of whom used popular and regional themes as the basis of much of their music. They were followed by Manuel de Falla, whose work, while also distinctively Spanish and relatively limited in quantity, displays a capacity for successful innovation that marks him as Spain’s finest composer. Similarly influenced by Spanish traditional music was Joaquín Rodrigo, who composed a wide repertoire of ballet and orchestral works. His Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) for guitar is one of the most widely played modern classics. The two outstanding Spanish classical performers of the 20th century were guitarist Andrés Segovia and cellist Pablo Casals.

Spain’s contribution to opera has been almost exclusively on the performing side, but there it has been considerable. In particular, soprano Montserrat Caballé and tenor Plácido Domingo have stood at the very top of their profession for many years, while tenor José Carreras ranks close behind. The country boasts its own form of light opera, known as zarzuela, as well as a unique combination of guitar music, song, and dance known as flamenco. Flamenco has a distinctive, half-broken rhythm, which in traditional forms sticks to a limited number of patterns. In recent years, however, “new flamenco” has been influenced by other styles such as jazz, blues, and salsa. Guitarist Paco de Lucía, already a virtuoso in the traditional style, has been at the forefront of these developments. At the same time, flamenco is a major influence on contemporary Spanish popular music. See also Spanish Dance.

E.

Libraries and Museums

The National Library in Madrid, founded in 1712 as the Royal Library, is the largest in Spain. Rare books, maps, prints, and the magnificent Sala de Cervantes, devoted to the writings of the great Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, are among the special collections of the library. The Library of the Royal Palace (1760) in Madrid has many rare editions from the 16th century as well as fine collections of manuscripts, engravings, and music. One of the most complete libraries in Spain is the Complutense University of Madrid Library, which was founded in 1341. The Escorial Library near Madrid is known for its collection of rare books. The Archives and Library of the Cathedral Chapter in Toledo is famous for its collection of manuscripts from the 8th and 9th centuries and documents of the 11th century.

One of the world’s greatest art collections is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The collection is particularly rich in works by El Greco; by Spanish painters Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and Goya; by Italian painters Sandro Botticelli and Titian; by Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens and Hieronymus Bosch; and by Dutch painter Rembrandt. The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid is Spain’s national museum of modern art, which opened in 1990. Its collection focuses on works by the leading figures of 20th-century Spanish art, above all the painters Dalí, Miró, and Picasso, whose masterwork Guernica is its greatest single attraction. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which opened in 1992, contains one of the world’s foremost private collections. It complements the collections of the Prado and Reina Sofía and is especially strong in the areas of impressionism and German expressionism. The best-known Spanish museum outside Madrid is the Guggenheim in Bilbao, famous above all for its titanium-clad design by American architect Frank Gehry. Another modern art museum, the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, is located in Valencia. Dalí’s former home is now a popular museum in the Catalan town of Figueres.

Spanish pottery, brocades, tapestries, and ivory carvings are in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, which houses also the most notable library on archaeology in the country. The National Ethnological Museum in Madrid contains objects from former Spanish possessions, including Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines, and Bolivia. Other museums in Madrid include the Natural Science Museum and the National Museum of Reproductions of Works of Art. Situated in Barcelona are the Maritime Museum and the Archaeological Museum, which has a large collection of prehistoric, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Visigothic art.

V.

Economy of Spain

The Spanish economy has changed dramatically since the 1950s. By the year 2000 Spain had the world’s seventh largest gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of all the goods and services a country produces. However, as late as the 1950s the United Nations classified Spain as a developing country. Spain industrialized late, and only partially, so that until the 1960s the country’s industry was confined almost entirely to the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Bilbao. With the exception of Madrid, which remained primarily an administrative center, virtually all the rest of the country lived from primary economic activities—mainly agriculture but also fishing and mining.

When wider industrialization finally took place in Spain, it did so under an authoritarian regime—an occurrence unique in the Western world. As a result industrialization was based on special circumstances, in particular the existence of a cowed labor force and massive government protection against competition from imports. Many of Spain’s industries belonged to the public sector. This approach produced a considerable boom in the decade from 1962 to 1972. But it came to an abrupt halt with a jump in petroleum prices in 1973 and the end of the Franco dictatorship two years later. One consequence was that industry never came to dominate the Spanish economy. No sooner had manufacturing overtaken agriculture in the early 1970s than it, in turn, was surpassed by services.

Spain’s next major advance came in the 1980s. Entry to the European Community in 1986, preceded by a program of industrial restructuring (reconversión), led to a second period of rapid growth at the end of the 1980s. This growth was fueled largely by public spending on infrastructure and services, and by internal investment. Thereafter, Spain was particularly hard hit by an economic slump in the early 1990s, but it also recovered particularly strongly. In 1997, against most expectations, it qualified for entry to European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the single currency and single monetary authority in the European Union (EU). Subsequently, Spain experienced a third boom, with economic growth rates among the world’s highest. It weathered the economic downturn of the early 2000s rather better than most European economies.

After 20 years of EU membership, Spain’s per capita GDP reached nearly 90 percent of the European Union average. The gross domestic product in 2006 was $1,224.7 billion. The national budget in 2006 included revenues of $332.5 billion and expenditures of $308.3 billion. The economy today has become fairly typical of a developed country, dominated by the service sector and with well under 10 percent of the workers employed in agriculture. Spain’s participation in the global economy has also grown and by the early 2000s came to include significant investment abroad, principally in Latin America. Spain continues to depend on imported energy, and it has a rather strictly regulated labor market with an accompanying high level of unemployment.

A.

Labor

In 2006 the Spanish labor force included 21.1 million people. The largest share of the workforce—65 percent—was employed in service industries. Some 30 percent were employed in manufacturing, mining, and construction; and 5 percent in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Since 1980 the labor force has grown rapidly, mainly due to an increase in the numbers of economically active women, who make up 41 percent of the labor market.

Women, like young people, are disproportionately affected by unemployment, which has been a constant problem for Spain ever since the 1970s. The rate peaked at 24 percent in 1994 and, despite falling steadily since then, is among the highest in the EU, at 11 percent (2004). It should be noted, however, that a significant proportion of those officially recorded as jobless actually have employment of some sort in the so-called shadow economy. Both the considerable size of the shadow economy and the persistence and severity of unemployment are usually attributed to the inflexible nature of Spain’s labor market. This inflexibility, in turn, is due partly to the continuing existence of government regulations on hiring and dismissals, and partly to the reluctance of most Spaniards to move to another part of the country in search of jobs.

Compared to other European countries, Spain has relatively few workers who belong to labor unions—about 10 percent. Yet labor unions play a surprisingly prominent role in the country’s public life for reasons that are partly historical. The unions acquired considerable moral authority through their leading role in opposition to the Franco regime (1939-1975). Subsequent democratic governments have sought their cooperation by involving them in discussions and agreements on various aspects of economic policy (concertación social).

B.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Although agriculture, forestry, and fishing contributed almost 20 percent of Spain’s total GDP in 1960, they made up a mere 3.1 percent in 2006. Yet agriculture retains considerable significance for Spain’s economy, as a major employer over large areas of the country, as the basis for a range of food processing industries, and as an important contributor to exports.

Spain’s leading crops are cereal grains, such as barley and wheat; alfalfa; corn; sugar beets; olives; grapes; and tomatoes. In addition, a range of other fruits and vegetables are grown in large quantities, including potatoes, oranges, peaches, melons, apples, peppers, and onions. Grapes are used to make wine, and olives, to make olive oil. Much of the cereal and grass production is used as fodder for the country’s livestock. Approximately one-fifth of agricultural production, by value, is exported.

The nature of agriculture varies across Spain. Widespread farming, mainly of cereals and livestock, on unirrigated land dominates much of the center of the country. Dairy farming is concentrated along the northern coast, and olive plantations cover much of the south, although they have diminished in importance since Spain joined the EU. Commercial fruit and vegetable farming, on the other hand, has increased in importance, especially along the Ebro valley in the north and, above all, on heavily irrigated land along the southeastern and southern coasts, from Valencia round to Cadiz. These crops now account for the bulk of agricultural exports.

Spain’s principal forestry resource is the cork oak, and the country is one of the world’s largest cork producers. However, Spain’s overall wood production is insufficient to cover the country’s lumber and wood-pulp needs.

Spain has Europe’s largest fishing industry. Its main centers are the Basque Country in the north and Galicia in the northwest. Its total annual catch amounted to 1.1 million metric tons in 2005. Almost half of the catch is exported. Distant fishing grounds now provide most of the catch, those closer to home having been severely overfished. The principal species landed are sardines, tuna, hake, mackerel, and anchovies, as well as numerous varieties of shellfish, notably squid and mussels.

C.

Mining

The mineral wealth of Spain is considerable. The principal coal mines are in the northwest, near Oviedo; the chief iron-ore deposits are in the same area, around Santander and Bilbao; large mercury reserves are located in Almadén, in southwestern Spain; and copper and lead are mined in Andalucía. In 2003 the production of the mining sector, in metric tons, included hard and brown coal, 20.6 million; iron ore, 265,000; zinc, 70,000; copper, 5,000; and lead, 2,000. Spain also produced 5,600 kg (12,300 lb) of gold and 2 metric tons of silver. In addition, 2.4 million barrels of petroleum were extracted.

D.

Manufacturing

Spain’s manufacturing sector developed late and along traditional lines. Until the 1980s heavy industries such as iron and steel dominated manufacturing. Many of these industries were located in the northern regions of Asturias and the Basque Country, both of which were badly hit when these industries contracted. Since the 1980s lighter industries have grown up, especially in and around Madrid and along the eastern coast. Today the largest industrial sectors are those of food, drink, and tobacco; transportation equipment; and chemicals and oil refining. Spain ranks among the world’s leading producers of wine, olive oil, and automobiles, while other important products are chemicals, refined petroleum, textiles, and clothing and footwear. Catalonia, in the northeast, remains the country’s manufacturing heartland.

E.

Service Industries

Spain’s economy, like other Western economies today, is dominated by the service sector, which accounts for 67 percent of GDP. From 1980 to 2000 Spain’s service sector grew by more than 80 percent. Its most important components are wholesale and retail trade, public administration (government), and tourism. Business services, including banking and financial services, is the fastest-growing subsector of the service economy.

Wholesale and retail trade remains the largest single service activity, and its nature is changing rapidly. The number of smaller outlets is declining fast, while shopping malls and large self-service stores proliferate.

F.

Energy

Spain is poor in energy resources. It has little oil or gas, and its coal reserves are of low quality. As a result it imports over three-quarters of its energy requirements. Oil is by far the largest source of energy. Fossil fuels generated 53 percent of Spain’s electricity in 2003 and nuclear installations, 24 percent.

Environmental considerations have prompted efforts to develop hydroelectric energy and other renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and wave power. Hydroelectric facilities produced 16 percent of Spain’s electricity in 2003. Spain is potentially rich in renewable sources and already has the largest wind farm in Europe. Spain’s total output of electricity in 2003 was 247 billion kilowatt-hours.

G.

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Spain is the single currency of the European Union (EU), the euro (0.80 euros equal U.S. $1; 2006 average). On January 1, 2002, euro-denominated coins and bills went into circulation, and the peseta ceased to be legal tender. The European Central Bank issues the currency.

The commercial banking system experienced considerable consolidation and today is dominated by two of Europe’s largest banks, the Santander Central Hispano (BSCH) and the Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). Their nearest rivals are La Caixa and Cajamadrid. Despite many closures, the number of bank branches per head of population remains high by international standards. Spain has four stock exchanges, located in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia. The Madrid exchange accounts for over 90 percent of trading. Even it is relatively small, however, and plays only a secondary role in the financing of Spanish business.

H.

Foreign Trade

In 2003, Spain imported goods valued at $210.9 billion and exported goods valued at $158.2 billion. With imports outpacing exports, the country has a significant trade deficit. Revenues from tourism help offset the balance of payments deficit. Spanish exports are dominated by motor vehicles, with other important contributions coming from machinery, basic metals, fruit and vegetables, food products, textiles, plastic goods, and animal produce. The largest customer by far for Spanish imports is France. Spain’s other principal buyers are Germany, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Spain’s imports are heavily weighted towards capital goods—machinery of various sorts and vehicles—and fuel, especially oil. Other significant categories are plastic and metal products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, textiles, and food. The leading sources for imports are France and Germany, followed at some distance by Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, and China.

I.

Tourism

Spain was the world’s second most popular tourist destination in the early 2000s, following France. It received 58.2 million visitors in 2006. In addition, the majority of Spaniards take their vacations in Spain. The climate, beaches, and historic cities of Spain are an attraction for tourists, and tourism makes a significant contribution to the country’s economy. Hotels, restaurants, and other tourist facilities also provide employment for many people, at least in the tourist season. The $16.7 billion tourists spent in 2006 helped make up for Spain’s considerable trade deficit.

Most foreign tourists come from within the EU, above all from the United Kingdom and Germany. The main destinations continue to be the long sandy beaches of the mainland Mediterranean coast—notably the Costa del Sol in the south, the Costa Blanca in the southeast, and the Costa Brava in the northeast—and the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands. However, Spain’s historic cities also attract significant numbers of visitors, especially the southern cities with a strong Moorish heritage, such as Granada and Córdoba. The inland rural areas, many of which are remote and rugged by European standards, have also begun to draw visitors.

J.

Transportation

Of all the changes Spain has undergone since the 1960s, the change in its road system may be the most sweeping of all. The difference is not so much in the road network’s size—666,292 km (414,014 mi)—as in its quality. As late as 1960 the quality of Spain’s roads was exceptionally poor. By 2000 the country had about 11,000 km (6,900 mi) of expressways and divided highways, while other main and secondary roads had also been greatly improved. More three-quarters of all passenger journeys are made in cars; Spain now has 455 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.

By contrast, Spain’s railways account for less than 6 percent of passenger journeys. This figure reflects the unattractiveness of the country’s rail network, after decades of underinvestment. Of its 14,484 km (9,000 mi) of track, almost all publicly owned and operated, little over a quarter is double track. This is a significant factor in pushing up journey times, because trains going in opposite directions cannot pass each other. In addition, connections between the Spanish network and those in the rest of Europe remain difficult, because Spanish tracks are of different width. One positive point is the high-speed service between Madrid and Seville. Introduced in 1992, this line was extended to Tarragona in 2006 and to Barcelona in 2008.

Spain’s leading ports are Barcelona and Bilbao. Its main airports are at Madrid and Barcelona. Smaller airports at Malaga, Alicante, and Palma de Mallorca cater to large numbers of holiday charter flights. The national airline, Iberia, formerly government-owned, was privatized in 2001. Buses are the most widely used form of public transport, outstripping rail by some distance, for both long-distance and local urban services. Madrid and Barcelona have extensive subway networks, and Bilbao has a smaller network.

K.

Communications

Spain has 151 (2004) daily newspapers, although circulation is only 100 newspapers per 1,000 people. The largest-selling papers are the three nationwide dailies, all published in Madrid: El País, generally regarded as Spain’s newspaper of record; ABC; and El Mundo. Even these sell poorly outside the capital, with most readers choosing regional, provincial, or even local dailies. The three largest of these are the Barcelona-based El Periódico and La Vanguardia, and El Correo, published in Bilbao. Virtually all papers appear in Spanish. The only exception of any significance is the Catalan daily Avui. The government exercises no direct control over the press, but it does own the national press agency Efe, on which many daily newspapers rely heavily.

Until the 1980s Spain’s television channels were run by the national broadcasting corporation RTVE, which is controlled by the central government. During that decade, however, a number of stations run by regional authorities began operation. Stations in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, and Valencia all delivered part of their programming in their respective regional languages. In 1990 privately owned cable channels began operation. Virtually all homes in Spain have radio and television sets, and Spaniards are enthusiastic listeners and viewers.

VI.

Government of Spain

Spain is a relatively recent recruit to the ranks of Western democracies. Until the 1930s the country remained under the control of a small and mainly conservative upper class. The Second Republic, installed in 1931, was genuinely democratic, but fell victim to the excesses of its own supporters, the unfavorable international situation before World War II (1939-1945), and the reactionary forces within Spain. In 1936 these right-wing forces backed a military uprising that triggered a three-year civil war (see Spanish Civil War). The conflict ended in 1939 with a victory for the right-wing Nationalists (Nacionales) led by General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain as dictator up to his death in 1975.

After Franco’s death, political change came surprisingly fast and smoothly. Spain held a general election in June 1977 and adopted a new, unambiguously democratic constitution in December 1978. On February 23, 1981, the threat of a return to military rule was finally dispelled by the resounding failure of an attempted coup. In October 1982 the Socialist Workers Party won a landslide election victory. The peaceful acceptance of the Socialist victory by all significant sectors of opinion confirmed that Spain’s transition to democracy was a political reality. Today, Spain is a limited monarchy with an influential parliament.

A.

Executive

Spain’s head of state is a hereditary monarch whose powers are purely symbolic. Real executive power lies with the head of government, or prime minister (presidente del gobierno). Under the constitution the prime minister is chosen by majority vote of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house of parliament), and Congress’s decision is then formally approved by the monarch. Once in office the prime minister appoints the ministers who make up the cabinet. The prime minister can also dismiss the cabinet ministers. Although the parliament can remove the prime minister only if it agrees on a successor, the prime minister has the power to dissolve parliament at any time during its four-year term.

B.

Legislature

The Spanish parliament (Cortes) consists of two houses: the Senate (upper house) and the Congress of Deputies (lower house). The Congress of Deputies is the more powerful body and the scene of almost all high-profile debates. There are 256 senators and 350 Congress deputies, all of whom serve a four-year term, subject to the prime minister’s power to dismiss them and call an early election. Forty-eight of the senators are chosen by Spain’s regional parliaments, in rough proportion to regional size. The remaining members of both houses are elected by direct vote. All Spaniards aged 18 and over are eligible to vote.

The main tasks of Spain’s parliament are to scrutinize and approve legislation, and to control the executive, that is, call it to account for its actions. However, most control mechanisms at its disposal (for example, establishing committees of investigation) require a vote of the parliamentary house concerned. Thus, if the party in power has a majority, it can block an investigation. Parliament’s legislative role similarly has been largely reduced to rubber-stamping executive proposals. As a result parliament has suffered something of an identity crisis, especially severe in the case of the Senate. The Senate can delay legislation but not block it.

C.

Political Parties

Spanish politics is dominated by two parties: the Popular Party (Partido Popular, or PP) and the Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español, or PSOE). The conservative Popular Party absorbed the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party and has existed in its present form since 1989. It enjoys strong support from the business community and the younger urban population. The Socialist Workers Party, Spain’s oldest party, provides the main opposition to the PP. The only other nationwide party of significance is United Left (Izquierda Unida, or IU), which was set up in 1986 as a broad alliance dominated by the Spanish Communist Party. IU later suffered a series of crises and remains a minor player in the Spanish party system.

Many small parties blossomed following Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s, but they have since faded away. The exceptions are regional parties, which have grown in number and importance. The largest of the regional parties are the Catalan Convergence and Union and the Basque Nationalist Party. These two parties were set up in 1980 and remain the chief representatives of long-established movements for regional self-rule. Both are significant players at the national level, too. Nearly all of the country’s 17 regions have at least one party dedicated to advancing the region’s interests.

D.

Regional and Local Government

Spain comprises 50 provinces in 17 autonomous regions: Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Basque Country (País Vasco), Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, and Valencia. The regions have a degree of autonomy (self government) and control over half of public spending in Spain. Each region has the right to legislate in certain important fields such as education, health, and economic development, although within a framework set by the national government. Under the 1978 constitution all the regions did not enjoy the same powers. This inequality was later largely leveled off.

The 17 regions have nearly identical government structures. Each has an executive branch, headed by a prime minister chosen by the regional parliament. The members of regional parliaments are directly elected by a partially proportional system similar to that used at the national level. Similar arrangements exist in Spain’s two territories on the Moroccan coast, Ceuta and Melilla, which have the status of autonomous cities.

Since 1979 Spain’s 50 provinces have had their own executive councils. Members of these councils are elected indirectly by the municipal (city or town) councils within the province. They are mainly responsible for providing services in municipalities that are too small to take on such functions.

The most genuinely local tier of government is made up of the municipalities. There are more than 8,000 municipalities in Spain, ranging from Madrid down to villages. Their governments are headed by a mayor. The mayor is chosen by a directly elected council in all but the very smallest municipalities. The functions of a municipality depend on its population, with the largest cities having fairly widespread administrative responsibilities in such areas as school provision, urban planning, and housing.

E.

Judiciary

Spain’s judicial system is organized as a hierarchy (in order of rank). The country’s Supreme Court stands at the top of the hierarchy and acts as the final court of appeal. These appeals come in particular from the high court (Audiencia Nacional), which was established in 1977. It, too, is also essentially an appeals court, although it also hears certain types of high-profile criminal cases—for example, cases involving drug-trafficking. The next level down consists of the 17 regional high courts. Lower courts are at the provincial and district level.

At all levels the judicial system is divided into six different types of court. Two types concerned with civil cases (non-criminal cases between individuals) and criminal cases, respectively. The others are responsible for labor issues, disputes involving the administration of government agencies, cases involving juveniles, and prison supervision. The ministry of justice administers the court system.

A constitutional court stands apart from the judiciary as a whole. Its task is to interpret the constitution. It does this in three main ways: by resolving disputes between the central government and the regions over the extent of their respective power; by checking new legislation for compatibility with the constitution; and by responding to complaints of unconstitutional treatment from individual citizens.

F.

Health and Welfare

Spain has a health and welfare system comparable to those in other western European countries. The basis for it is a social security act passed in 1990. This law defines the circumstances entitling citizens to benefits, such as old age, illness, widowhood, unemployment, and disability. It also establishes a distinction between contributory and non-contributory benefits. People with no other means of support receive non-contributory benefits funded through taxation. Contributions from employers and employees finance contributory benefits, and entitlement to these benefits depends upon sufficient contributions having been made. The most important contributory benefits are unemployment benefits and pensions paid to older people, widows, and the disabled.

Healthcare is by far the most important non-contributory benefit. It is delivered free of charge, with the exception of medications, dental care, and psychiatric care. The Spanish National Health Service was established by the 1986 General Health Act. Overall coordination is the function of the National Health Service Agency, but the government has transferred wide-ranging management responsibility to regional health services run by the 17 regional governments. Spain’s health system has been criticized, especially for long waiting lists at hospitals. However, it is a great deal better than the system that existed in 1980.

Social services, such as nonmedical care of the elderly and disabled, have been neglected. In the absence of programs from the national government, the services are provided largely by regional and local governments.

G.

Defense

Spain maintains armed services equipped with modern weapons. It has a professional army made up of volunteers. The system of compulsory military service was abolished by a law passed in 1999. This law also removed the last restrictions on women serving in the armed forces. In 2004 the country had an army of 95,600, a navy of 19,455, and an air force of 22,750. Under an agreement reached in 1953, the Spanish government has had close defense ties with the United States, which maintains naval and air bases in Spain. The country became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1982, and reaffirmed that alliance in a public referendum in 1986.

VII.

History of Spain

A.

Overview

Spain began the 21st century as a wealthy, urbanized, industrial, and democratic European country. Spain’s path to modernity differed in many ways from other parts of Europe. Located at the far southwestern corner of Europe and geographically isolated by steep mountains and seas, Spain has often appeared distant from European cultural developments. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain during the late 18th century, spread slowly to Spain. In the 20th century the brutal Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the ensuing dictatorship of Francisco Franco seemed to set Spain apart from a prosperous, democratic, and modern Europe.

For much of its history, however, Spain has been a historical crossroads. The Strait of Gibraltar, at the tip of Spain, permits easy travel between Spain and Africa. Since prehistory peoples have entered Spain from other parts of Europe and Africa. The Iberian Peninsula, with its many seaports, made it easy for seafaring Mediterranean peoples to land in search of natural resources. Spain’s earliest written history tells of a long sequence of migrations and cultural mingling. Home to Iberians in prehistory, Spain was colonized by Celtic and Phoenician settlers by the 8th century bc. The name Spain (Hispania) owes its origins to the Phoenicians, who called the Iberian Peninsula “Span,” which meant hidden or remote land. Celtic and Phoenician settlers were followed by Greeks and Carthaginians and then by Romans. It took Roman soldiers 200 years to conquer all of Spain, a process completed in the 1st century bc.

As a part of the Roman Empire, most of Spain’s population became Christian and began to speak languages based on Latin. Romans were followed by Germanic peoples who came overland from Europe and entered Spain in the 5th century ad. These ancient tribes included Vandals, who passed through and settled in Africa, and Visigoths, who settled in Spain to build a kingdom. Persistent conflict among Visigothic nobles weakened the monarchy, and in 711 Spain was invaded again, this time by Muslims from Africa. For centuries the Muslim conquerors would control much of the Iberian Peninsula. The high point of Islamic culture in Spain occurred in the 10th century. Muslim rulers introduced new crops and efficient irrigation systems, trading and commerce thrived, and mathematics, medicine, and philosophy flourished.

Muslim power declined after 1000 as Christian kingdoms in northern Spain, supplemented by migrants from Europe, gradually moved southward to take control of the peninsula. That process was completed in 1492 with the Christian conquest of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain. The most important Christian kingdoms were Castile, Aragón, and Portugal. Castile emerged as the largest and strongest of these monarchies, and it was central to the construction of the Catholic, Castilian-speaking society of medieval Spain.

By 1500 the migrations were over, but Spain remained an important crossroads. Spain was well located for seaborne trade between the Mediterranean and northern Europe. In the late 15th century navigators in the service of Spain began to explore the Americas, and they discovered great quantities of silver. American silver made Spain central to Europe’s expanding world trade. At the same time, dynastic marriages and diplomacy gave Spain control of a huge European empire. Spain’s American and European empires lasted in various forms until the early 19th century, when they largely disappeared in the wake of the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815).

Throughout the 19th century Spaniards fought and argued about their government and the appropriate amount of popular participation in politics. During this time, Spain gradually entered the Industrial Revolution, and the expanding economy created new political forces. Still, no single faction succeeded in commanding a political majority. Many Spaniards looked to the army to bring order out of chaos, and it became another powerful faction.

By the early 20th century Spain’s government was democratic on paper but it was controlled by an oligarchy that refused to share power. Political groups increasingly resorted to anarchy and violence, and in 1923 General Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator. Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship was followed by a remarkable experiment with democracy in the 1930s that was suppressed by the Spanish Civil War. The war cost Spain more than 500,000 lives and resulted in the long dictatorship of Francisco Franco. After Franco’s death in 1975, Spain began the rapid transition to the dynamic, modern, and democratic European nation it is today.

B.

Spain in Antiquity

B.1.

Early Peoples

People have occupied the Iberian Peninsula for hundreds of thousands of years. Fossils of primitive humans unearthed in northern Spain’s Atapuerca hills are at least 780,000 years old—some of the oldest human remains ever discovered in Europe. Anatomically modern humans probably appeared in Spain 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. A remarkable series of paintings of bison, deer, and other animals, some dated at approximately 14,000 years old, adorn the deep cave at Altamira, in northern Spain. These graceful depictions provide evidence of a sophisticated Paleolithic hunting culture.

About 1500 bc a North African people called Iberians began to move northward, across the Strait of Gibraltar. By 1000 bc the Iberians were well established on the peninsula. The Iberians developed a system of writing and built many towns. Another ancient people, the Basques, inhabited the western Pyrenees and probably predated the arrival of the Iberians. About 700 bc a people known as Celts migrated from France into northern Spain and imposed their Indo-European language and culture on indigenous peoples. Iberians and Celts met in central Spain and gradually merged into a people called the Celtiberians. These Celtiberians first dominated the central plateau and the west, and then occupied the peninsula’s eastern coast.

Regional differences among these sophisticated prehistoric cultures foreshadowed distinctions that are still evident today. The northern, central, and western areas were thinly populated, reliant on grazing and livestock, and dominated by Celtic culture. The south was mostly Iberian and dotted with towns. The Iberians and Celtiberians were expert metalworkers. Many southern towns were mining centers that produced finely crafted metal weapons and tools. Over time the metalworkers shifted from copper to bronze and then to iron, all of which were mined in southern Spain.

Spain’s mineral riches drew Mediterranean trade from the earliest times, and many Mediterranean peoples established colonies in the southern and eastern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. According to legend, the Phoenicians, a people from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, sailed to Spain as early as 1100 bc (see Phoenicia). However, archaeological evidence suggests that Cádiz (ancient Gadir; later Gades), Spain’s oldest Phoenician city, was founded in the 8th century bc. Seafaring Greeks established several colonies on the east coast by the 600s bc, including Ampurias (ancient Emporion) and Sagunto (ancient Saguntum). The Greeks traded with the Celtiberians and the Phoenicians. In the 500s bc inhabitants of the powerful North African city of Carthage, originally a Phoenician colony in modern Tunisia, entered southern Spain. The Carthaginians supplanted their Phoenician predecessors and built several more colonies. In 228 bc Cartagena (ancient Carthago Novo) was founded in southeastern Spain to serve as the capital of Carthage’s Iberian domains. Archaeological evidence, including artifacts reflecting a mixture of Carthaginian and Iberian culture, suggest that these trading centers coexisted peacefully.

As Carthage’s influence in Mediterranean trade grew, a rivalry developed between Carthage and Rome, another rising Mediterranean power. In the First Punic War (264-241 bc) Rome defeated Carthage and forced it to surrender Carthaginian possessions in Sicily and to pay a large indemnity (see Punic Wars). After this costly defeat, Carthage looked to the Iberian Peninsula to rebuild its trading empire. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca conquered southern and eastern Spain from 237 to 228 bc and founded a colony at Barcelona. In 219 bc Barca’s son, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, seized the Greek colony of Saguntum, violating an agreement with Rome regarding the limits of Carthage’s expansion on the Iberian Peninsula. This precipitated the Second Punic War (218-201 bc), during which Hannibal used Spain as the base for an invasion of modern Italy. By 206 bc the Romans had forced Carthage out of Spain.

B.2.

Roman Conquest

It took the Romans two centuries to gain complete control of Spain. Rome fought several extended wars against the Celtiberians, and its armies had to fight even longer to subdue the Celts and Basques in the north. The Celtiberian capital of Numantia was not captured until 133 bc, after years of fierce resistance against Roman assaults. When the Romans finally entered Numantia, the city’s surviving citizens set fire to it and committed mass suicide. The northern tribes did not submit to Rome until 19 bc.

Spain, like Rome’s other provinces, was governed ineffectively in the early years of Roman rule. Provincial governors appointed by Rome often used their positions for personal enrichment, glory, and to advance their political careers. Corruption was rampant, and provincial governors imposed arbitrary taxes and freely conscripted men for their armies.

The administration of Spain improved after the Roman Republic gave way to the Roman Empire in 27 bc. Rome divided Spain into three separately governed provinces: Lusitania (most of modern Portugal) in the west, Baetica in the south, and Hispania Tarraconensis, in the center, north, northwest, and eastern coast above Cartagena.

B.2.a.

Romanization

The Romanization of Spain proceeded rapidly under the Roman Empire. A code of law was established, and commerce flourished. Roads, bridges, and aqueducts were constructed that still stand today. Port cities carried on active trade in minerals, oil, wine, wheat, and other products. The Romans improved the towns and built large villas (estates) in the countryside that controlled significant numbers of peasant laborers and slaves. The estates relied on agricultural and livestock production, a pattern that persists to this day. The large villas existed alongside smaller farms, some of which preceded Roman occupation. Other small holdings were granted to Roman army veterans—a practice used by Rome to help colonize new lands. Latin became the official language and many Spaniards became full Roman citizens. Indigenous leaders achieved positions of influence and power in Roman Spain and they helped govern the peninsula.

By the 1st century ad the region of Andalucía in southern Spain was heavily Romanized and native languages had largely disappeared. Romanization did not reach all parts of Spain, however, especially in the north. In the Basque provinces, Latin never replaced the ancient Basque language, which is still spoken.

B.2.b.

Christianity

The Roman Empire officially legalized Christianity under Emperor Constantine the Great in the early 4th century. Persecution of Christians ended and the church won legal rights and financial support from Rome. Although Christianity had first entered Spain in the 2nd century, conversion proceeded slowly in some regions. Christian churches and monasteries gradually appeared, but pagan religions continued for a long time, particularly in northern areas defended by Roman army garrisons. Many soldiers belonged to pagan cults, making it politically risky for Rome to push conversion too hard.

Christianity was well established in Spain by the 5th century, but by then the Roman Empire was changing. Epidemics, crop failures, and civil wars had divided the Roman Empire into two parts, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. In the Western Roman Empire, which controlled much of Spain, a power vacuum ensued. Civil administration in Spain fell largely to Roman Catholic bishops, and they helped maintain order and continuity with Roman traditions as Roman political authority broke down. About the same time, nomadic peoples spread out across Europe in a series of mass migrations. These migrations would eventually contribute to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476.

B.3.

Visigothic Spain

In 409 Germanic tribes migrating south crossed the Pyrenees and swept into the Iberian Peninsula. The most important of these, the Vandals, settled in central and southern Spain. Another group, the Suevi, established a kingdom in northwestern Spain. Roman rule in Spain disintegrated as Roman authority gave way to a mosaic of barbarian settlements. In an attempt to stem the havoc brought by the invasions, Rome appealed to the Visigoths, who had settled in parts of modern France (see Goths). Partly Romanized by their contact with the Roman Empire during previous conquests, the Visigoths brought their armies into Spain and soon became the dominant power. In 429 the Visigoths forced the Vandals from the peninsula into North Africa. By 500 Visigoths controlled all of Spain except a strip in the south occupied by the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire.

As the Visigoths advanced into Spain, they established a kingdom in southern France, with its capital at Toulouse. The Visigothic kings ruled Spain from France, treating it as an occupied province and sending royal counts and garrisons to the main towns. However, in 507 another Germanic group, the Franks, routed Visigothic forces in the decisive Battle of Vouillé and drove the Visigoths from most of France. The Visigoths then migrated deep into the Iberian Peninsula. They eventually established a new capital at Toledo in central Spain.

The Visigoths were far outnumbered by their subjects, and they ruled mainly through military occupation. The Visigoths never developed a strong central bureaucracy to enforce royal authority. Instead, they relied largely on the Roman Catholic Church, which had preserved many of the old Roman administrative arrangements and retained significant control over local government. Visigothic kings continued to depend on the Church and the indigenous Hispano-Roman nobility to collect taxes, educate the population, and administer justice.

The Visigothic monarchy was generally unstable and weak. The monarchy adopted royal symbols and titles that imitated the Byzantine court, but it lacked a stable system of succession. Because Visigothic nobles traditionally elected their king from among their own ranks, dynastic struggles for power frequently broke the peace. The high point of the Visigothic monarchy came under King Leovigild (569-586) and his son Recared (586-601). They expelled Byzantines from the south and pacified the peninsula. In the early 7th century the Visigoths conquered the last remaining Byzantine strongholds in the peninsula and established the first kingdom that included all of modern Spain and Portugal.

At first the Visigoths were not well integrated into the native Hispano-Roman population. Most of Spain was Roman Catholic. The Visigoths followed Arianism, a form of Christianity that Catholics considered heretical, and they had a different legal system. This led to strife between Catholic and Arian religious leaders. However, the two societies gradually came together. In 589 King Recared converted to Catholicism, which he adopted as the monarchy’s official religion. The reign of King Recceswinth (649-672) saw the completion of a single legal code for the entire kingdom, the Liber Iudiciorum, published in 654. One of the Visigoths’ greatest achievements, the code fused principles of Roman law with elements of Germanic customary law.

By 700 Visigothic Spain was a complex medieval society that held an important place in Mediterranean learning and commerce. While the achievements of the Visigothic monarchy never matched those of Rome, it did succeed in unifying an area similar to that of modern Spain—a considerable feat. Visigothic Spain was the largest unified region in the Europe of its time, with a developed legal code, a church hierarchy, and a rudimentary bureaucracy. Despite these accomplishments, the Visigoths were too embroiled in internal struggles to mount an effective defense of the realm.

Muslim armies in North Africa posed the most serious threat to Visigothic Spain. In the early 8th century Muslim forces began conducting raids on Spain’s southern coast. North African Muslims included Arabs, who had swept across the region from the Middle East in the 7th century, and Berbers, the indigenous North African peoples conquered by the Arabs (see Spread of Islam).

In 710 a battle for succession to the Visigothic throne erupted following the death of King Witiza. Dynastic conflict prevented the succession of Witiza’s son, and Roderick, duke of Baetica, claimed the throne. In an effort to oust Roderick, Witiza’s family appealed to Muslims in North Africa for help. The Muslims quickly agreed. In 711 a Muslim army under the command of Berber general Tariq ibn-Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. After defeating Roderick’s army at the Battle of Guadalete in southern Spain, Muslim forces advanced swiftly into the rest of Spain.

B.4.

Muslim Rule

By 719 Muslims controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Moors, as the Muslim conquerors came to be known, pushed northward into France, where their advance was repelled near Poitiers by Frankish leader Charles Martel in 732. The Moors then retreated south of the Pyrenees, and for the next several centuries they dominated nearly all of Spain.

At first Islamic Spain, or al-Andalus, as it was known, was ruled as part of the Province of North Africa, a division of the caliphate of Damascus. At that time Damascus, in modern Syria, was the capital of the Islamic world and the residence of the powerful Umayyad caliphs (religious and secular leaders). The power of the caliphate in Spain was weak, however, and governors (emirs) appointed by Damascus had little real authority. In 750 the Abbasids deposed the Umayyad ruling family in Damascus and claimed the caliphate.

Abd-ar-Rahman I, a member of the Umayyad family, fled Syria and in 756 established an independent emirate at Córdoba in southern Spain. His Iberian Umayyad dynasty centralized power and ruled al-Andalus for almost 300 years. Córdoba reached its peak under Abd-ar-Rahman III, who established the caliphate of Córdoba in 929. By then Córdoba was one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the Mediterranean world.

Over time ruling elites across Muslim Spain challenged Córdoba, and other Muslim cities became independent. This trend accelerated in 1036 with the death of the last Umayyad caliph. Spain fragmented into a mosaic of small, independent Muslim kingdoms, known as taifas. The most important of these were Córdoba, Seville, Granada, Toledo, Lisbon, Zaragoza, Murcia, and Valencia.

B.4.a.

Life in Muslim Spain

Spanish society became increasingly complex under Muslim rule. This is partly because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of the conquered population to Islam. Islam restricted the ability of Muslim rulers to tax other Muslims, making it financially advantageous for a ruler to have non-Muslim subjects. At the same time, Christians and Jews were recognized under Islam as “peoples of the book.” Christianity and Judaism shared with Islam the tradition of the Old Testament, and Islam considered Jesus Christ a major prophet. Thus, Christians and Jews were free to practice their religion, but they had to pay a prescribed poll tax. Conversion to Islam therefore proceeded slowly. In many areas Muslim rulers found it easier to rely on the existing Christian network of local authority.

The Roman Catholic Church in Muslim Spain continued to function, although it lost contact with religious reforms in Rome. Muslim Spain came to include a growing number of Mozarabic Christians, people who adopted Arabic language and culture and followed forms of religious service different from those of Rome. In addition, Jews held prominent positions in government, commerce, and the professions under Muslim rule.

The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social tensions. From the beginning the Berber tribespeople of North Africa clashed with the Arabs of Egypt and the Middle East. The Berbers, who were comparatively recent converts to Islam, accounted for the largest share of Moors in Spain and they resented the sophistication and aristocratic pretensions of the Arab elite. Meanwhile, many Christians in Spain, including Visigothic nobles, converted to Islam. Conversion was commonplace among merchants, large landowners, and other local elites. Drawn into the politics of Islamic power, many Christians found that conversion made it easier to maintain their influence. Despite being Muslim, however, former Christians often faced discrimination. These tensions led to struggles between the established Muslim leadership and local lords from once Christian families.

Spain was wealthy and sophisticated under Islamic rule. Mediterranean trade and cultural exchange flourished. Muslims imported a rich intellectual tradition from the Middle East and North Africa, including knowledge about mathematics, science, and philosophy, and they continued to build upon it in Spain. Crops and farming techniques introduced by the Arabs, including new irrigation practices, led to a remarkable expansion of agriculture. In towns and cities the Muslims constructed magnificent mosques, palaces, and other architectural monuments, many of which still stand today. Outside the cities the mixture of large estates and small farms that existed in Roman times remained largely intact, because Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners. The Muslim conquerors were relatively few in number and they generally tried to maintain good relations with their subjects.

Roman, Jewish, and Muslim culture interacted in complex ways. A large part of the population gradually adopted Arabic. Even Jews and Christians often spoke Arabic, while Hebrew and Latin were frequently written in Arabic script. These diverse traditions interchanged in ways that gave Spanish culture—religion, literature, music, art and architecture, and writing systems—a rich and distinctive heritage.

B.4.b.

Christian Reconquest and the Decline of Muslim Power

The Muslim advance never succeeded in conquering the entire Iberian Peninsula. A remnant of Christian rule survived in northern Spain, even as Muslim power reached its zenith. In the early years of Muslim rule the Christian states fought mainly among themselves. Also, as the Muslims prospered, they lost the incentive for further conquest.

In 718 the Visigothic chieftain Pelayo, a survivor of the Muslim victory at the Battle of Guadalete, founded the tiny kingdom of Asturias in the mountains of northwestern Spain. In an encounter that is based in part on legend, Pelayo’s forces defeated a Muslim army at the glen of Covadonga. This small victory came to be seen as the first decisive action of the Christian reconquest (reconquista), the campaign by Christians to retake Spain from the Muslims.

The reconquest has long figured prominently in stories about Spain’s modern national identity. As such, chroniclers have often portrayed it as a heroic Christian crusade to expel the heretical Muslims intruders. But these accounts oversimplify centuries of intermingling between Christians and Muslims. They also exaggerate the coherence of the reconquest. All told, more than 750 years of intermittent fighting and shifting alliances would pass before the reconquest was complete.

By the late 9th century Christian rulers had gained control of about one-third of the peninsula. Under the rule of Alfonso III the kingdom of Asturias expanded greatly, reaching across much of the northwest and as far south as the valley of the Douro (or Duero). The territorial gains of Asturias came at the expense of Christian and Muslim rulers alike. Several new Christian kingdoms began to emerge in the northeast, including Navarre in the Pyrenees and, farther to the east, Aragón. Frankish rule also extended into northern Spain and included several counties in Catalonia.

With the collapse of the caliphate in Córdoba and fragmentation of Muslim Spain into small and independent kingdoms, Muslim regions became increasingly vulnerable to Christian expansion. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Christian forces gradually moved south, bringing central Spain under Christian rule.

The northwestern kingdom of Castile and León, which included the former kingdom of Asturias, gained the greatest share of lands reconquered from the Muslims. Castile and León captured the Muslim kingdom of Toledo in 1085, annexed its lands, and pushed the frontier of Christian Spain south beyond the Tagus River. The Muslim lands annexed by Castile and León became known as New Castile. The capture of Toledo—the ancient capital of Visigothic Spain—marked the first time a major city in Muslim Spain had fallen to Christian forces, and it served to sharpen the religious aspect of the Christian reconquest. In subsequent centuries this dimension of the conflict would grow stronger.

Christian expansion was slowed at first by new Muslim forces entering Spain. In the early 11th century, a large part of northwestern Africa was under the control of the Almoravids, a fundamentalist Muslim movement led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, a Berber chieftain. The fall of Toledo alarmed many Spanish Muslims and prompted several Muslim leaders to invite Yusuf and the Almoravids to Spain. The Almoravids invaded Spain in 1086, conquered numerous Muslim kingdoms, and pushed back the Christians. But the advancing Muslims failed to retain control of the kingdom of Valencia, which was captured by Spanish hero El Cid in 1094. El Cid became legendary as the one Christian leader who defied the Almoravids. After El Cid’s death in 1099, however, Valencia returned to Muslim control.

A second conservative Muslim movement from North Africa, the Almohads, entered Spain and attacked the Almoravids. By the 1140s the Almoravids’ power had disintegrated. Once again Muslim Spain became a mosaic of small taifas. Over the next half century the Almohads established control in Andalucía and recaptured much of New Castile. Christian kingdoms, however, gradually learned to collaborate. In 1212 the Almohads suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Christian forces in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, on the plains of Toledo. Muslim power collapsed, opening the heart of Andalucía to Christian attack.

The Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragón continued to expand into Muslim territories, and by 1230 Christian armies had captured most of Andalucía. Only the wealthy kingdom of Granada remained Muslim. Muslims maintained control of Granada until 1492, when Castile, with the help of Aragón, conquered the kingdom, ending centuries of Muslim rule in Spain.

C.

The Late Medieval Period

After the mid-13th century Muslims no longer posed a serious challenge to the Christian kingdoms, whose rulers began to establish centralized political control. A period of dynastic struggles and civil wars ensued. Castile and León (permanently joined in 1230) and Aragón emerged as the most powerful kingdoms in Spain. By 1400 Castile and León had a large army and navy and it controlled Spain’s Atlantic trade. Aragón, meanwhile, dominated the western Mediterranean. By the 1460s its empire included the region of Aragón, Catalonia, Valencia, Mallorca, Minorca, Sardinia, Sicily, and southern Italy. Aragón’s influence also reached into northern Africa, especially Tunisia. The kingdoms of Castile and Aragón each had its own interests, and each was important in 15th-century Europe.

Medieval Christian Spain was organized around several key institutions. Warfare preoccupied the Christian monarchs, and royal institutions evolved to fight and pay for wars. The medieval monarchies collected few taxes until after 1100. They maintained their authority and ability to wage war through a combination of cash income from tolls and commercial taxes, income from the king’s own estates, and the ability to grant jurisdictional rights to nobles in return for military service. In a predominantly agricultural economy, grants of jurisdictional rights over farming towns or districts provided soldiers with a source of income; peasants working the land paid rent and provided services to their masters.

As the economy became more complex, the crown exacted more revenue in the form of taxes. Kings had little bureaucracy to collect these taxes, so they signed contracts with nobles and town governments to collect the taxes for them. As taxation increased, however, wealthy families and representatives from the towns forced the monarchies to consult with them in parliamentary assemblies known as cortes.

C.1.

Major Institutions

C.1.a.