SPAIN (ESPAA)

WHAT IS SPAIN?
Officially the Kingdom of Spain Member of the European Union Located in South-Western Europe Area: 504,403 sq.kms Population: approximately 47 million Capital: Madrid

GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHY
Located in the Iberian Peninsula(occupies about 85% of it) Borders Portugal on the West, Gibraltar and Morocco on the South and France and Andorra on the North-east Spain includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

MOUNTAINS AND
Spain is a mountainous country Mountain ranges include the Pyrenees, Cordillera Cantbrica, Sistema Ibrico, Sistema Central, Montes de Toledo, etc. Highest point in Spain: Teide, a 3,718m high active volcano in the Canary Islands (3rd biggest volcano in the world) Several major rivers in Spain: the Tagus, the Ebro, the Duero, the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir

RIVERS

CLIMATE
Three main climatic zones: The Mediterranean climate:
dry and warm summers dominant in the peninsula

The Semiarid climate: The Oceanic climate:

south-eastern quarter of the country dry season extends beyond the summer

Other sub-types can be found: the alpine climate in the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, and a typical subtropical climate in the Canary Islands.

northern quarter of the country winter and summer temperatures are influenced by the ocean, and it has no seasonal drought

TOURISM
Spain is a popular destination for vacation Tourism is one of the major sources of income for the people of Spain Employs about 10% of the work force Picturesque landscape with sandy beaches and awe inspiring urban attractions Spain attracts about 48 million tourists every year

PRADO MUSEUM

Located in Madrid Designed by architect Juan de Villanueva One of the greatest museums in Europe Houses a rich collection of more than 4000 paintings dating back to the period between the 15th and the 19th century

PARK GUELL

Located in Barcelona Spread over an area of 20 hectares Constructed between 1910 and 1914 A perfect combination of urban and natural landscapes

DONANA NATIONAL PARK

Located in Andalusia Spread over an area of 543 sq.kms The most popular wetlands in Europe Features the Earths fractal brain

 La Rambla , Sagrada Familia, Picasso Museum, FC Barcelona Museum and Montserrat in Barcelona The Pyrenees range in North Spain La Pedrera, Toledo, Pamplona, Zoo de Madrid, Costa Blanca Beach, The Balearic Islands, Parque del Buen Retiro and Sierra Nevada Mountains

OTHER TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

GOVERNMENT
Spain has a Socialist Government Because it is a socialist government, all medical treatment is free in Spain Most medicines are also free. Medicines that do cost money are very inexpensive The doctors in Spain dont make as much money as the doctors in other countries

MONEY

The currency used in Spain is Euro 1 Euro is equal to 1.3259 US$

PEOPLE
The people in Spain are referred to as Spaniards Approximately 87.8% of the people are natives and the rest are immigrants Part of the Spanish population is the Spanish Roma (formerly-nomadic community that holds importance in Spanish culture and folklore) Religion:
Catholics: 76% Other religions: 5% Atheists: 19%

Literacy rate: 97.9%

FAMOUS PERSONALITIES
JAVIER BARDEM

PENELOPE CRUZ

FAMOUS PERSONALITIES
RAFAEL NADAL

IKER CASILLAS

FAMOUS PERSONALITIES
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS

FERNANDO ALONSO

CONFORMITIES
Greetings consist of a handshake and a kiss on both cheeks Spanish men maintain longer eye contact with females Life is slow paced Life begins when the sun goes down

CLOTHING

Modern, conservative and stylish Girls wear trousers Boys are into designer wear Denim is in Short skirts and swim-wear are frowned upon

FAMILY

Spain is very family oriented Sunday is considered Family Day and all of the malls and stores are closed so no one in the family has to work and everybody can spend time with their loved ones Spaniards eat lunch together almost everyday The grandparents usually live with the families Families usually live near each other

SIESTA

Short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in Spain The real siesta takes place in the bed and in pyjamas, but a suitable sofa is also fine if a bed is not available Timing is very important. A siesta should last between 15-30 minutes, not more than that

NIGHTLIFE

Evenings start with el paseo(a stroll along the street) Spanish life is lived in the streets Street cafes and bars are open till late night Nightclubs are the main attraction for teenagers

EDUCATION

Education in Spain is free and it lasts from 6 to 16 years of age. Children from the ages of 3-5 have the opportunity of attending pre-school, which is free for all students The child can get a job when he or she is 16 years old The current education in Spain is known as the Fundamental Law of Education

LANGUAGE
Spanish (Espaol) is the official language of Spain Second most spoken first language in the world Examples:
Hi : Hola - Bye : Adios Good Morning : Buenos das Good Afternoon : Buenas tardes Good Night : Buenas noches Thank You : Gracias Welcome : De nada Sorry : Lo siento Excuse me : perdn

MUS C
Music in Spain is traditionally very upbeat and fast Over time, the music types of pop, rock, hip-hop and heavy metal have become popular, especially in Madrid and Barcelona Spain has over 40,000 professional orchestras The most popular traditional musical instrument, the guitar, originated in Spain

DANCE
Complicated dance movement that originates from the native country of Spain and is not predominately influenced by other communities or cultures It is mainly performed by talented professionals Traditional Spanish dances are:
Flamenco Jota Aragonesa Sardana Mueira Zambra Bolero Fandango Paso doble Sevillana

FLAMENCO

A passionate dance hailing from gypsies, flamenco is internationally famous It is a great Spanish Tradition Cante: the song Baile: the dance Guitarra: guitar playing

JOTA ARAGONESA

This typical dance hails from the north of Spain, namely Aragn Features a fast tempo as couples dance with their hands raised high above their heads playing castanets

SARDANA

Several couples join hands and dance in a closed circle in this traditional dance from Catalonia

MUEIRA

Danced in twos or alone along the music of bagpipes Typical throughout Galicia and Asturias

BOLERO

One of the oldest and most traditional dances in the history of Spanish dance Quick Spanish dance boasting sudden pauses and sharp turns

PASO DOBLE

A quick one-step Spanish dance

SEVILLANA

Lively and joyous dance typical of Seville and reminiscent of flamenco that features four distinct parts

FIESTAS(FESTIVALS) AND TRADITIONS

Each town has its own celebration Spain celebrates national holidays such as Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day, etc. Majority of festivals are religion based

PATRON SAINTS DAY

Celebrated in a high-spirited way Street parties, processions, travelling fairs, bullfighting, fireworks, cockfights, horse races, etc. take place Indigenous people dress in native costumes and show traditional dances and music

CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS
December 23:
Sing, pray, and eat together at every house Sing villancicos (carols) together Asaltos surprise visits by groups of friends going from one house to another Children ask for aguinaldo (or small gift)

December 24 La noche buena:

Everyone attends midnight mass Drink, dance, open presents, eat foods such as tamales and turkey

DA DE LOS TRES REYES (THREE KINGS DAY)

Children fill small boxes with grass for the Kings horses and parents replace the grass with gifts Christmas decorations are taken down Boys play the part of the three kings and wear fake beards, crowns, and long robes and sit in the plazas of towns where children go to have their pictures taken

CARNIVAL

CARNIVAL
Originated in medieval Europe as the final celebration of feasting and merrymaking Spanish and West African traditions merged West African slaves took advantage of the 4-day Spanish holiday to revel in their freedom and turned it into an elaborate celebration A time to drink, eat, and party in excess Men wear a papier-mache mask of several colors, an orange or red sash draped across the torso Women wear pollera de gala or deluxe pollera, complete with elaborate headpieces and jewelry made of gold and pearls

LA TOMATINA TOMATO FIGHT

LA TOMATINA TOMATO FIGHT

Worlds' biggest food-fight Every year around 30,000 people descend on to the Spanish town of Buol (in the Valencia region of Spain) to throw more than 240,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other The festival is started with a ham-on-a-stick contest where competitors race up a pole to retrieve a smoked leg of ham When the ham is cut down, people put on eye protection and cry for tomatoes as trucks dump the squishy produce onto the village streets They then proceed to pelt each other with tomatoes until all have been used up

LA TOMATINA TOMATO FIGHT

The festival on the last Wednesday of August is called La Tomatina' and is basically a townwide tomato fight It is thought that the tradition began in 1945 when a fight erupted among two young members of a carnival crowd. A vegetable stall was nearby in the town square and everyone started throwing tomatoes at each other Exactly one year later, young people met at the square, but this time with their own tomatoes In the following years this practice was banned by the authorities, but due to popular demand, it was given official recognition in 1959

CORRIDA DE TOROS (BULL FIGHTING)

CORRIDA DE TOROS (BULL FIGHTING)

National sport of Spain Bull fighting is very closely associated with Spain and can trace its origins back to 711 A.D This is when the first bullfight took place in celebration for the crowning of King Alfonso VIII It is very popular in Spain with several thousand Spaniards flocking to their local bull-ring each week It is said that the total number of people watching bullfights in Spain reaches one million every year The top bullfighter, called the Matador, performs the faena, which is a dance with death to demonstrate his superiority over the bull One wrong move and the Matador could be impaled on the horns of the bull

CUISINE

CUISINE
Is influenced by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Moors and Muslim Andulicians Their traditional pattern is composed of four meals a day plus some snacks: A light breakfast (desayuno): coffee or chocolate, bread, or churros Midmorning breakfast: grilled sausages, fried squid, bread with tomato or an omelet Light snack: tapas Lunch (comida): soup or salad, fish or meat, and dessert Tea and pastries (merienda) Supper: soup or omelets and fruit

TAPAS

Finger food, or (tapas) can be anything that is served as a finger food usually in a small bowl This finger food can be anything from cheese & ham to olives and is usually eaten at the same time as drinking at a tapas bar The finger food is usually left out on bars and people will nibble away while drinking and socializing at the bar

PAELLA

Valencian rice dish Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish There are three widely known types of paella:
Valencian paella Seafood paella Mixed paella

Rice pudding (Arroz con leche )

Fixuelos

CATALAN CREAM Most famous dish in Catalonia Served on Saint Joseph's Day, March 19 and is flavored with lemon or orange zest, and cinnamon.
GAZPACHO

Raw vegetable soup made of hard bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, olive oil, vinegar of wine, and salt

PATATAS BRAVAS

GAMBAS AJILLO (GARLIC PRAWNS)

PESCADO FRITO (FRIED FISH)

TORTILLA ESPAOLA (SPANISH OMELET)

SPANISH ARMED FORCES (FUERZAS ARMADAS ESPAOLAS)

SPANISH ARMED FORCES (FUERZAS ARMADAS ESPAOLAS)

Supreme Chief Of Armed Forces (jefe supremo de las fuerzas armadas) : the current Chief of the Defence Staff is General Admiral Fernando Garcia Sanchez Active Members of NATO, the Eurocorps, and the European Union Battlegroups Three Main Branches: - Spanish Army - Spanish Navy - Spanish Air force

SPANISH ARMY

Oldest and the largest of the three services Consists of 6 commands:

- Central Command - Southern Command - Levante Command - Eastern Pyrenees Command - Northwestern Command - Western Pyrenees Command

HISTORY OF SPANISH ARMY

Earlier, the Army was grouped into two basic categories:
- The Immediate Intervention Forces
-consisted of 3 divisions and 10 brigades -had the missions of defending the Pyrenean and the Gibraltar frontiers and of fulfilling Spain's security commitments abroad

- The Territorial Operational Defence Forces

-consisted of 2 divisions and 14 brigades -maintaining security in the regional commands and reinforcing the Civil Guard and the police against subversion and terrorism

SPANISH LEGION

The Spanish Legion, founded in Spanish Morocco in 1920, has always been under the direct command of the chief of the army staff It has had a reputation as the toughest combat unit in the service. It had a higher number of career soldiers than other units.

SPANISH WARS

Anglo-Spanish War (15851604) : between Spain and UK

Treaty of London: End of English disruption to Spanish shipping and colonial expansion; English Channel opened to Spanish navigation; piracy against the Spanish Atlantic convoys halted. Treaty of Paris: Independence of Cuba

SpanishAmerican War (1898) : between Spain and the UK.

SPANISH NAVY

SPANISH NAVY
One of the oldest active naval forces in the world Responsible for the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path from the Far East to America across the Pacific Ocean Was the most powerful maritime force in the world in the 16th and early 17th centuries After a gradual decline in the second half of the 17th century, it was revived following the Spanish War of Succession and for much of the 18th century, it was the third strongest in the world

SPANISH NAVY

Consists of two units: The Special Operations Unit (Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE)): Trained in maritime counter-terrorism, combat diving and swimming, coastal infiltration, ship boarding, direct action, and special reconnaissance The Combat Diver Unit (Unidad Especial de Buceadores de Combate (UEBC)): Trained in underwater demolitions and hydrographic reconnaissance

SPANISH AIR FORCE

SPANISH AIR FORCE

Hot air balloons had been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896 On 17 December 1913, during the war with Morocco, a Spanish expeditionary squadron became the first organized military air unit to see combat during the first systematic bombing

SPANISH AIR FORCE

The present Spanish Air Force was officially established on 7 October 1939 The Air Regions and their Command centres after the changes became the following:

Combat Air Command (MACOM) located in Madrid Tactical Air Command (MATAC), Sevilla Transport Air Command (MATRA), Zaragoza Canary Islands Air Command (MAQUEN), Las Palmas

SPANISH AIR FORCE

SPORTS
Sport in Spain in the second half of 20th century has always been dominated by football Other popular sport activities include basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, motorcycling, Formula One, water sports, golf, and skiing Spain has also hosted a number of international events such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup

SPORTS
Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon championships in 2008 and 2010 The 2006 World Basketball Championship The 2009 Basketball Eurocup The 2008 Tennis Davis Cup Atltico Madrid UEFA Europa League 2010 FC Barcelona European success in 2006, 2009 and 2011, the football team bringing home the Euro 2008 trophy & the 2010 FIFA World Cup

FOOTBALL
Football is the most popular sport in Spain La Liga or Primera Divisin (The Spanish League) is considered to be one of the world's best competitions Successful teams in recent European competitions are FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia and Atltico Madrid The Spanish national football team has been successful and has qualified for the FIFA World Cup tournament thirteen times since 1930 In 2010, Spain defeated the Netherlands in the final to win the tournament for the first time

BASKETBALL
The Spanish ACB is one of the major European basketball leagues Spanish teams such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Joventut Badalona have won international championships such as the Euro League or the Eurocup The Spanish national basketball team has achieved a high ranked position in the international tournament by winning their first ever gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship

TENNIS
Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament Rafael Nadal is considered the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time He has won the French Open four consecutive times Nadal is the Gold Medalist at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China He currently has ten grand slam titles to his name, six French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, one US Open title and one Australian Open title

MOTORSPORTS

Spain has hosted three Grand Prix motorcycle racing events. They include the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix, and the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix In Formula One, the two world championships of Fernando Alonso have made the sport popular in Spain Due to this popularity it is currently the only country to host two Grands Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and the European Grand Prix on the Valencia Street Circuit

CYCLING AND GOLF

Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s The Vuelta a Espaa ("Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world Golf has become popular among the Spaniards There are a number of golf courses located in different parts of Spain

GRACIAS