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CONTINGENT: Unity College of the U.S. Inc.
"Casa Galicia" COORDINATED BY: Ms. Maria Roel Zuniga, President Spain, Europe's third largest nation, occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula at the western edge of the continent. Mainland Spain shares borders with Portugal on the west, France and Andorra on the north, and GIBRALTAR, held by the British since 1704, on the south. Spain was united under the Catholic monarchs FERDINAND II of Aragon and ISABELLA I of Castile in the 15th century and reached a golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries based on gold and silver derived from colonies in the New World. Briefly a republic in 1873-74, Spain became one again in 1931. The leftist republican regime was overthrown in the SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936-39), however, and for 36 years Spain was ruled by the right-wing dictator Generalissimo Francisco FRANCO. Following Franco's death in 1975, Spain began the transition to a constitutional monarchy under JUAN CARLOS I. A new constitution was adopted in 1978. In 1980 regional autonomy was granted to the BASQUES and to CATALONIA. Spain's name is derived from its Latin name, Hispania, used by the Romans, and may have come from the Phoenician i-sch-phannim, meaning "rabbits' coast. |
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SPAIN