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Spain is where the heart is
By Mark on June 21, 2008
The Kingdom of Spain is the second largest country in western Europe, after France the country occupies the larger part of the Iberian peninsula in the southwest part of Europe, which it shares with her neighbour Portugal. With the coastlines of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea. This also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediteranean and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, and two enclaves in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla. Most of Spain is built up by a high plateau drained by three rivers which are the Douro, Guadiana and Tagus. The plateau of Spain is actually interrupted by a low mountainous range and is also bounded to the North and East by mountains which include the Pyrenees where the borders between Andorra, France and Spain have be created. The main lowland areas are in the eastern the coastal plaines, the Guadalquivir basin in the southwest of the country and in the Northeast Ebro basin. Spain also contains fertile coastal plaines. But the Mulhacen is the highest peak in the Spainish mainland, it is in the Sierra Nevada in the South-east of the Country. With a estimated population of around 43 million plus the population of Spain mainly live in the Urban parts, but a few live else where. The climate of Spain is Mediterranean with hot summers and cold winters, where the tempretures do drop below freezing point and snow will fall in the Pyrenees and other mountainous areas.. But the coasts of Spain have very hot, dry summers and mild winters.
This is a picture taken from Google Earth of the Country of Spain in the southeast Europe.
A brief look back at Spains history, back in the start of the 16th century Spain was a force to be recongised, being in control of central and southern Americas, parts of Africa and the Phillippines in Asia. Unfortunately by the late part of the 16th century Spains empire started to decline and as the years moved on the country started to struggle. By 1805, it’s sea power was destroyed by the British fleet in the battle of Trafalgar, and by the 20th century the country became poor. In 1931 Spain became a republic, but that did not last very long and the republicans were defeated in the Spanish civil war (1936-1939). When General Francisco Franco, became the countries dictator, but technically it was a monarchy, and when General Franco died, Prince Juan Carlos became King around 1975. After the civil war the countries economy was struggling, but by the 1950′s and 1960′s the economy started to rebuild thanks to tourism and manufacturing. The country has now gone from a poor dependant on agriculture country to a fairly properous industrial nation.
This is a picture of the Museo del Prado, in Madrid taken from me on Google Earth.
This is a picture taken from Panoramio of Malaga beach in the winter, from Google Earth.
- Find Spain on Google Maps
- Learn about Spain on Wikipedia
- Learn about Madrid on Wikipedia
- Learn about Malaga on Wikipedia
- Find Madrid on Google Earth
- Find Malaga on Google Earth
Posted in Europe | 4 Comments
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4 Responses to “Spain is where the heart is”
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Nick Ramsay, exploring the world from a zabuton in Japan.
12:51 pm on June 21st, 2008
An interesting summary of Spain, Mark. I7ve been there once and enjoyed it very much!
5:26 am on June 22nd, 2008
Thanks Nick, It is a lovely country I have been told, but I have been to Spain only the the Balearic Islands but never to the mainland, maybe one day I will who knows.
12:12 pm on June 29th, 2008
I have been to spain many times and it is an amazing country to visit. Fascinating history, would have liked to have read about what makes spain popular with the tourists.
12:18 pm on June 29th, 2008
I am sorry about that I have never actually been to Spain, you are right in saying that people will not be attracted to the country today as alot of this work is historic. They do flamenco dancing, Bull fighting,they have beautiful beaches and catherdrals. and lots of football and pubbing and clubbing.