Spain

A country made by conquest, unmade by empire, and reassembled around the question of who it belongs to. Muslim rule covered most of the peninsula from 711 and lasted in Granada until 1492, producing al-Andalus, whose scholarship transmitted Greek philosophy back to Latin Europe. The Christian kingdoms' reconquest concluded in the same year that Columbus sailed and that Jews were expelled; Muslims were expelled a century later. American silver made the Habsburg monarchy the greatest power in Europe and simultaneously wrecked its economy through inflation and permanent war. The empire was lost in stages, the mainland colonies by 1826 and the remainder to the United States in 1898, a defeat that triggered a national reckoning. The Second Republic of 1931 was destroyed by the civil war of 1936 to 1939, in which some half a million died and which served as a rehearsal for the larger war; Franco then ruled until 1975. Democracy returned with a constitution in 1978 that devolved substantial power to seventeen autonomous communities without settling Catalan and Basque questions. Spain has more languages with official status than most European states. Madrid is the capital. The country has about forty-eight million people. Castilian Spanish is official nationwide, with Catalan, Galician and Basque co-official in their regions - Basque is unrelated to any known language. Spain has fifty World Heritage sites, second only to Italy and China. The Camino de Santiago has drawn pilgrims for over a thousand years. It produces more olive oil than any other country.

• Existed: 1479 CE – present
• Government: Constitutional Monarchy
• Capital: Madrid