Iozoo Web Directory

Iozoo Web Directory Spain

SPAIN

Spain, also known as the Kingdom of Spain, is located on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes a few outlying islands and two cities of North Africa. Its mainland borders are defined by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean on the West, the Bay of Biscany, Andorra, and France on the North, and Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea on the East and the South. Its island territories include the Canary Islands off the African continental coast in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea.

Spain has a long and rich cultural, political, and economic history. The lands which comprise the country of Spain today was once a part of the Roman Empire, after which it was conquered and occupied by the Moors, which are a Muslim people. The Reconquista of 1492 reclaimed the independence of the country, and returned the Christian belief system. The country remained an international superpower until Napoleon’s invasion in the early 1800's. In 1978, Spain’s independence and democracy was restored. Since then, it has experienced a renaissance of cultural and economic growth. Today it is organized as both a parliamentary democracy and as a constitutional monarchy. It gained membership into the European Union in 1986, and membership into NATO in 1982.