Interesting Facts about Spain

A matador stands with cape at the ready in a bullfighting ring in Spain. The ancient sport draws crowds across the country, and bullfighters attain celebrity status.

The official nomenclature of Spain is the Kingdom of Spain. Spain is located in Southern Europe and has two enclaves, territories surrounded by other countries in North Africa. The origin of the names Espania and Spain is said to be rooted in the Roman name 'Hispania'. Here are some interesting facts about Spain. 

Capital: Madrid

Area: 505,988 square kilometers (195,363 square miles)

Language: Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque

Religion: Roman Catholic

Currency: Euro

Life Expectancy: 79

GDP per Capita: U.S. $21,200

Literacy Percent: 98

Spain is bound by the Meditarranean Sea on the south and the east. It shares it borders with the Bay of Biscay on the north and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It's terrestrial borders are shared with Morocco, Gibraltar, Andorra, Portugal and France. Spain is the largest of all the sovereign states making up the Iberian Peninsula.

The Iberians, Basques and the Celts were the original inhabitants of Spain. It became a part of the Roman Empire in 206 B.C. It was later ruled by Visigothic rulers, Muslims, the Franks and the Christians.



In the 1600s, SPain ruled the entire Iberian Peninsula, a number of Carribean Islands, most of central America, South America and parts of North America. The Spanish Empire, as it was known then, also included Austria, parts of France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Spain is the country nearest to Africa. Spain has contributed a lot to world history and culture. In ancient times, the Pheonicans traded with spain for minerals. When Spain was ruled by Islam, it was famous for its learning. Cordoba in Spain became the global center for studying literature, philosophy, medicine and science. Eusaska, the language spoken by the Basque population, is one of the oldest living languages in the world. The Basque people live in the Pyrenees in North Central Spain.

Spain has been instrumental also in the discovering of places and other important landmarks in the extension of the globe. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer was the first to complete a circumnavigation of the globe. He was financed by Spain.

Christopher Columbus was financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who then ruled Castille and Aragon in Spain for his journey to America. Spanish Explorers also have claimed a number of countries in the early sixteenth century. Francisco Pizarro invaded Peru, while Pedro de Mendonza colonized Argentina and Hernan Cortes annexed Mexico.

The Spanish have contributed a lot towards literature as we know it today. Ernest Hemingway wrote the famous novel 'For Whom The Bells Toll' about the Spanish Civil War. 'Don Quixote', which is considered by some to be the first modern novel, was written by the Spanish Miguel de Cervantes. The oldest known Spanish poem is about the Eil Cid, an eleventh century hero from Castille. 

Today, Spain is an constitutional monarchy consisting of a parliament with two legislative chambers and a hereditary monarch. A council of Ministers is presided by the President of Government for the executive branch, whereas the legislative branch consists of a Congress of Deputies. The President of Government post is equivalent to the post of a Prime Minister in other countries.

The Congress of Deputies consists of three hundred and fifty members, all of them elected by popular voting. They serve a four year term. The Senate in the legislative branch is consists of two hundred and fifty seats. Two hundred and eight seats are elected by popular voite, whereas the other fifty one are elected by the regional legislatures. They serve a four year term.

Spain is the eighth largest economy in the world. The purchasing power parity as of 2006 is estimated to be more than one thousand billion dollars. The real growth rate as of 2005 is estimated to be about three percent. The purchasing power parity per capita is about twenty six thousand dollars.

Interesting Facts about Spain: Culture

• Spanish is the only official language of Spain, though some of the 'autonomous communities' have other official languages. 
• The majority of Spaniards are Catholic, though Spain is a secular state. For over 300 years, most of Spain was Muslim. Parts of Spain were under Muslim rule until 1492 when the last Moorish king fell (in Granada). 
• In theory, nudity is legal anywhere in Spain.
• Despite the beret being associated with France, the Basques in north-east Spain invented the beret. The Spanish also eat a lot of snails. Only the French eat frogs' legs, though!
• The Catalonian regional parliament has passed a motion showing its desire to ban bullfighting in the region. Bullfighting support in Spain in general is falling. Read more onBullfighting in Spain
• Flamenco is not just a dance, but an art form that includes guitar, singing, dancing and 'palmas' (handclaps). 
• Spain are the current Basketball World Champions, European soccer champs and have won the Tour de France for three years in a row. Fernando Alonso, winner of the 2005 and 2006 Formula One World Championships, is Spanish too.
• Same-sex marriage is legal in Spain.

Bullfighting Ring, Seville - The well-to-do sit in the sombra (shade) instead of the sol (sun) section at Seville’s much-vaunted Real Maestranza de Caballería bullfighting ring. The two white indented rectangles indicate where bullfighters can take refuge from a charging bull.

Metropolis Building, Madrid - Headlights blur past the Metropolis Building, a Madrid landmark. The Spanish capital is also its banking and business center.

Flamenco Dancing, Barcelona - Children practice the art of flamenco at a fair in Barcelona. Quintessentially Spanish, flamenco echoes the rhythm of medieval ballads sung by Muslim minstrels.

Temple of Debod, Madrid - The ancient Temple of Debod stood in Egypt’s Nile Valley until the building of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s, when the Egyptian government gave it to Spain in gratitude for that country’s help in saving a larger temple. It now stands in a Madrid park, along with a small museum.

La Mancha Windmills - La Mancha’s windmills were famously captured in Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, when the bumbling knight of the title rushes the windmills, thinking they’re giants.

Canary Islands - The Canary Islands lie northwest of Africa and have five distinct environmental zones, ranging from sea level to snowcapped peaks. The name of the archipelago comes from the Latin word canis, meaning “dog,” because early explorers found large dogs roaming the islands. Canary birds were in turn named after the islands.

Sagrada Família Church, Barcelona - Antoni Gaudí’s Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona is still unfinished more than a century after construction began. The Catalan architect's many fantastic works give the city a distinctive look.

Semana Santa, Seville - During Seville’s Semana Santa, members of cofradias, or lay religious brotherhoods, walk through the streets in complete silence, wearing voluminous tunics and tall conical hoods that were originally designed to hide the identity of the penitent. They also carry Seville’s famous pasos, richly ornamented platforms bearing religious iconography and images.

San Sebastián Pintxos - San Sebastián, on the Cantabrian coast in Basque country, is known as a gastronomic hotbed. Especially famous are its all-male cooking clubs, where men cook for themselves and fellow club members. A San Sebastián staple arepintxos, the small bites called tapas elsewhere in Spain.

Toledo - Toledo’s distinctive twisted streets and covered passageways evoke the city’s golden years as part of the Arab Empire. El Greco, the flamboyant Greek painter, spent years capturing the beauty of the city and its occupants.

Running of the Bulls, Pamplona - Pamplona’s festival of San Fermín gained international renown after Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in The Sun Also Rises. The sometimes deadly “running of the bulls” happens each morning of the nine-day festival.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao - Bilbao was just a small industrial town overflowing with immigrants—until it built the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry. Now it’s a bustling tourism center, an inspiration for mayors around the world hoping for a “Gehry effect.”

Rodellar - A small bridge spans a stream near the village of Rodellar in northern Spain, a region renowned for its climbing. And the canyons of the Sierra de Guara offer superb canyoneering.

Valencia Aquarium - Valencia’s arts and science complex is dominated by L'Oceanogràfic, the largest aquarium in Europe, with ten different underwater habitats. The complex also has Europe’s largest planetarium, an IMAX theater, and an opera house.

Mallorca Market - Customers wait in a busy shop in a market in Palma, Mallorca. The island is one of the four major Balearic Islands—the others are Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera—and it was colonized by the Romans in the second century B.C. The Romans also founded Palma, the principal city of the Balearics.

Plaza de Mayor, Salamanca - The city of Salamanca is best known for two things: majestic cathedrals and the many students attending one of three universities. The University of Salamanca was founded in 1218, which makes it the third oldest university in Europe, after Bologna and Oxford.

Costa Brava - Calella de Palafrugell is one of several fishing villages turned resort on Catalonia’s Costa Brava, which means “rugged coast.” Many fishing towns became resorts after Generalissimo Francisco Franco began encouraging tourism in the 1950s.

Source: National Geographic, About & Buzzle