LARGEST CITIES:    The largest is Madrid (capital), with an urban population of about 3,000,000 people and another million or so in the extended suburbs.  About the size of Chicago, IL.  Barcelona is slightly smaller than Madrid. The other major cities are Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia.

AREA:     194,880 square miles.  Larger than California, smaller than Texas.

LANDSCAPE:     Second highest overall altitude in western Europe, due mainly to the high central plain but also to the many mountain chains over 6,000 feet altitude and  many peaks over 9,800 feet altitude. The western European country with the highest overall altitude is Switzerland, a country with no coastline, while Spain has more than 5,000 miles of coastline.   

Spain has a multitude of ecosystems in a surprisingly small space, including just about  everything: mountains with snow year-round, the rather cool and rainy north, dry plains, rainy plains, near desert of the southeast, forests of all kinds.

GOVERNMENT:     Constitutional monarchy, head of state Juan Carlos I de Borbon y Borbon, three children the youngest of whom is Crown Prince Felipe. Prince Felipe married in May 2004, a much awaited event; he and Leticia are parents of two young girls. His two older sisters have several children each but Felipe and his offspring are first in line for the throne under current Spanish law, which may be changed to allow the female line in the next generation.

Head of government: José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero  (often called just "Zapatero") of the center-left  Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE).  The other major party is the center-right Partido Popular (PP), led by Mariano Rajoy. The PSOE won the elections in March  2004, just a few days after the terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid and was considered an electoral upset:  before the attacks the polls forecast a win by PP, though without the absolute majority that party enjoyed during the 2000-2004 legislature. The PSOE won their second term again in March 2008. Both these wins were without an absolute majority, so PSOE aligns with other parties to govern.   Completing the political spectrum are a number of regional parties, an important coalition of leftist parties and a few other minor parties.

Spain is divided into 17 regional “autonomias” (15 mainland and 2 groups of islands) plus two Spanish cities on the northern Moroccan coast. The "autonomias" are further divided into 50 provinces (similiar to states).  Some regions, like Andalucia or Catalonia, have several provinces under their jurisdiction. Other regions, like Madrid or Navarra, have only one province.  Most local legislation takes place on the regional level.  

During Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1939 – 1975), local government was almost nonexistant, as all decisions were made in Madrid under a strong central government.   One of the important tasks of Spain’s transition to democracy has been de-centralizing the decision-making process, a long, complicated process that has only recently been completed - and according to some, still has a long ways to go. 

ORGANIZATIONS:     Among other organizations, Spain is member of the European Union (EU), OECD, UN, NATO, OSCE.

CURRENCY:    Euro, common currency for most of the European Union, in circulation as of January 1, 2002, decimal currency like the US dollar (100 centimes to Euro).  Spaniards have still not made the complete mental switch from the old peseta currency and some prices are still shown in both currencies, and every now and then you may even still hear people talk about "duros", the old five-peseta coin that was often used in slangy speech (ie: "20 duros" instead of 100 pesetas).  The Euro and dollar used to be nearly equal (1$ = 1 euro); currently the dollar quite a bit lower (fluctuates around 1$ = 75 euro-cents).

ECONOMY:    Agricultural products: olives, olive oil, wine, grains, fruits and vegetables.  Manufacturing: shoes, textiles, machinery, metals.   Strong tourist industry, usually around 50 million visitors, mainly during the months of July - September along the eastern and southern coasts.  

EDUCATION:     Spain:  Free and compulsory age 6-16 years. Literacy 97%.