Spain

Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/; Spanish: España [esˈpaɲa] ( )), officially theKingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España),^[a][b] is a sovereign statelocated on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its mainlandis bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast byFrance, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Along with France and Morocco, it is one of only three countries to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. Spain's 1,214 km (754 mi) border with Portugal is thelongest uninterrupted border within the European Union.

Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, three exclaves in North Africa, Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera that border Morocco, and the islands andpeñones (rocks) of Alborán, Chafarinas, Alhucemas, and Perejil. (TheSpanish Empire with its peak in the 1600s had included much more territory - see world map.) With an area of 505,992 km²(195,365 sq mi), Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the fifth largest country in Europe.

Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. It came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania. In the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the marriage of theCatholic Monarchs and the completion of the centuries-long reconquest, or Reconquista, of the peninsula from the Moors in 1492. In the early modern period, Spain became one of history's first global colonial empires, leaving a vast cultural and linguistic legacy that includes over 500 million Spanish speakers, making Spanish the world's second most spoken first language.

Modern Spain is a democracy organized in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is adeveloped country with the 14th largest economy in the world. It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, OECD, WTO and many other international organizations.