Portal:Spain/Intro
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Spain (Spanish: España, IPA: [es'paɲa]) is a country in southern Europe, with a native language of Spanish. The country consists of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, two archipelagos, one in each sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa. The mainland area of Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the southern and eastern areas, the Cantabric Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Spain is organised as a parliamentary democracy and is a constitutional monarchy. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and is a developed country, with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU. Spain is the largest of three sovereign states that make up the Iberian Peninsula – the others being Portugal and Andorra; with an area of 504,030 km², it is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).
Spain flourished under the Roman empire Hispania, thus becoming one of the Empire's most important regions at the time. During the times of the Middle Ages, Spain was under Germanic rule, only later to become under ruling of the Islamic caliphate. Spain went to war against the French Republic in 1793 after they had killed their king, Louis XVI, and, although defeated in the end, Spain made peace with France in 1795.
