Spagna

Spagna, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a sovereign state in southwestern Europe occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. It includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the northeast, Portugal to the west, and the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas to its south and north. The capital is Madrid; major cities include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, and Málaga. The country features varied climates, from Mediterranean along the coasts to oceanic in the north and semi-arid in the southeast.

Spain is a constitutional monarchy. The king serves as head of state; the prime minister leads the government. The Cortes Generales, Spain’s bicameral legislature, comprises the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, each with its own degree of self-government.

Historically, the region was inhabited by Iberian peoples, later ruled by the Romans and Visigoths, and then by Muslim rulers before the Christian reconquest. The modern Spanish state emerged through the dynastic unification of Castile and Aragon and expanded into a global empire in the early modern period. After a dictatorship, it established a democratic constitution in 1978. It joined the European Union in 1986 and adopted the euro in 1999.

Economically, Spain is a large EU and euro-area economy, with services, manufacturing, and tourism as key sectors. Population is about 47–48 million. The official language is Spanish (Castilian), with regional languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque co-official in certain areas.