Native name
Conventional long name	Kingdom of Spain
Common name	Spain
Image coat	Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
Map caption
National motto	(Latin) "Further Beyond"
National anthem	(Spanish)"Royal March"
Official languages	Spanish
Regional languages	Basque, Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Occitan
Officially recognised languages	Aragonese, Asturian and Leonese
Demonym	Spanish, Spaniard
Capital	Madrid
Largest city	capital
Government type	Unitary parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy
Leader title1	King
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader title3	''Prime Minister-designate''
Leader name1	Juan Carlos I
Leader name2	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Leader name3	''Mariano Rajoy''
Legislature	Cortes Generales
Upper house	Senate
Lower house	Congress of Deputies
Sovereignty type	Formation
Sovereignty note	16th century
Sovereignty note	15th century
Established event1	Traditional date
Established date1	569 (ascension to the throne of Liuvigild)
Established event2	Dynastic
Established date2	1479
Established event3	''De facto''
Established date3	1516
Established event4	''De jure''
Established date4	1715
Established event5	''Nation state''
Established date5	1812
Established event6	Constitutional democracy
Established date6	1978
Accessioneudate	1 January 1986|EUseats 54
Area km2	504,030
Area sq mi	195,364
Area rank	51st
Area magnitude	1 E11
Percent water	1.04
Population estimate	46,030,109
Population estimate year	2010
Population estimate rank	27th
Population density km2	93
Population density sq mi	231
Population density rank	106th
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp	$1.413 trillion
Gdp ppp rank	13th
Gdp ppp per capita	$30,639
Gdp ppp per capita rank	29th
Gdp nominal	$1.536 trillion
Gdp nominal rank	12th
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$29,830
Gdp nominal per capita rank	27th
Hdi year	2011
Hdi	0.878
Hdi rank	23rd
Hdi category	very high
Gini	32
Gini year	2005
Currency	Euro (€)
Currency code	EUR
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy (Spanish; CE)
Drives on	right
Cctld	.es
Calling code	34 }}

Spain ( ; , ), officially the Kingdom of Spain (), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.

Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of , it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.

Because of its location, the territory of Spain was subject to many external influences since prehistoric times and through to its dawn as a country. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the reconquest, or ''Reconquista'', of the Iberian peninsula in 1492. Conversely, it has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the modern era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 500 million Spanish speakers today, making it the world's second most spoken first language.

Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and very high living standards, including the tenth-highest quality of life index rating in the world, as of 2005. It is a member of the United Nations, European Union, NATO, OECD, and WTO.

== Etymology == The true origins of the name ''España'' and its cognates "Spain" and "Spanish" are disputed. The ancient Roman name for Iberia, ''Hispania'', may derive from poetic use of the term ''Hesperia'' to refer to Spain, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (''Hesperia'', ''Εσπερία'' in Greek) and Spain, being still further west, as ''Hesperia ultima''.

It may also be a derivation of the Punic ''Ispanihad'', meaning "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean; Roman coins struck in the region from the reign of Hadrian show a female figure with a coney at her feet. There are also claims that ''España'' derives from the Basque word ''Ezpanna'' meaning "edge" or "border", another reference to the fact that the Iberian peninsula constitutes the southwest of the European continent.

The humanist Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word ''Hispania'' evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term ''span'' is the Phoenecian word ''spy'', meaning "to forge metals". Therefore ''i-spn-ya'' would mean "the land where metals are forged".

History

The Iberian peninsula enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came under the rule of Rome. During the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process that took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas. A global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe and the leading world power for a century and a half.

Continued wars and other problems eventually led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire and left the country politically unstable. Prior to the Second World War, Spain suffered a devastating civil war and came under the rule of an authoritarian government, whose rule oversaw a period of stagnation but that finished with a powerful economic surge. Eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. In 1986, Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a cultural renaissance and steady economic growth.

Prehistory and pre-Roman peoples

Archaeological research at Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populated by hominids 1.2 million years ago. Modern humans first arrived in Iberia, from the north on foot, about 32,000 years ago. The best known artifacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Iberia, which were created about 15,000 BCE by cro-magnons.

Archaeological and genetic evidence strongly suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of several major refugia from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the last ice age.

The two main historical peoples of the peninsula were the Iberians and the Celts. The Iberians inhabited the Mediterranean side from the northeast to the southeast. The Celts inhabited the Atlantic side, in the north, center (Celtiberian), northwest and southwest part of the peninsula. Basques occupied the western area of the Pyrenees mountain range and adjacent areas.

In the south of the peninsula appeared the semi-mythical city of Tartessos (c.1100 BC), whose flourishing trade in items made of gold and silver with the Phoenicians and Greeks is documented by Strabo and the Book of Solomon. Between about 500 BC and 300 BC, the seafaring Phoenicians and Greeks founded trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast. The Carthaginians briefly exerted control over much of the Mediterranean side of the peninsula, until defeated in the Punic Wars by the Romans.

Roman Empire and the Gothic Kingdom

During the Second Punic War, an expanding Roman Empire captured Carthaginian trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast from roughly 210 BC to 205 BC. It took the Romans nearly two centuries to complete the conquest of the Iberian peninsula, though they had control of much of it for over six centuries. Roman rule was bound together by law, language, and the Roman road.

The cultures of the Celt and Iberian populations were gradually romanized (Latinized) at differing rates in different parts of Hispania. Local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class. Hispania served as a granary for the Roman market, and its harbors exported gold, wool, olive oil, and wine. Agricultural production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, some of which remain in use. Emperors Trajan, Theodosius I, and the philosopher Seneca were born in Hispania. Christianity was introduced into Hispania in the 1st century CE and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century CE. Most of Spain's present languages and religion, and the basis of its laws, originate from this period.

The weakening of the Western Roman Empire's jurisdiction in Hispania began in 409, when the Germanic Suevi and Vandals, together with the Sarmatian Alans crossed the Rhine and ravaged Gaul until the Visigoths drove them into Iberia that same year. The Suevi established a kingdom in what is today modern Galicia and northern Portugal. As the western empire disintegrated, the social and economic base became greatly simplified: but even in modified form, the successor regimes maintained many of the institutions and laws of the late empire, including Christianity.

The Alans' allies, the Hasdingi Vandals, established a kingdom in Gallaecia, too, occupying largely the same region but extending farther south to the Duero river. The Silingi Vandals occupied the region that still bears a form of their name –''Vandalusia'', modern Andalusia, in Spain. The Byzantines established an enclave, Spania, in the south, with the intention of reviving the Roman empire throughout Iberia. Eventually, however, Hispania was reunited under Visigothic rule.

Muslim Iberia

In the 8th century, nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered (711–718) by largely Moorish Muslim armies from North Africa. These conquests were part of the expansion of the Umayyad Islamic Empire. Only a small area in the mountainous north-west of the peninsula managed to resist the initial invasion.

Under Islamic law, Christians and Jews were given the subordinate status of dhimmi. This status permitted Christians and Jews to practice their religions as ''people of the book'' but they were required to pay a special tax and to be subject to certain discriminations.

Conversion to Islam proceeded at a steadily increasing pace. The ''muladies'' (Muslims of ethnic Iberian origin) are believed to have comprised the majority of the population of Al-Andalus by the end of the 10th century.

The Muslim community in the Iberian peninsula was itself diverse and beset by social tensions. The Berber people of North Africa, who had provided the bulk of the invading armies, clashed with the Arab leadership from the Middle East. Over time, large Moorish populations became established, especially in the Guadalquivir River valley, the coastal plain of Valencia, the Ebro River valley and (towards the end of this period) in the mountainous region of Granada.

Córdoba, the capital of the caliphate, was the largest, richest and most sophisticated city in western Europe. Mediterranean trade and cultural exchange flourished. Muslims imported a rich intellectual tradition from the Middle East and North Africa. Muslim and Jewish scholars played an important part in reviving and expanding classical Greek learning in Western Europe. The Romanized cultures of the Iberian peninsula interacted with Muslim and Jewish cultures in complex ways, thus giving the region a distinctive culture. Outside the cities, where the vast majority lived, the land ownership system from Roman times remained largely intact as Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners, and the introduction of new crops and techniques led to a remarkable expansion of agriculture.

In the 11th century, the Muslim holdings fractured into rival Taifa kingdoms, allowing the small Christian states the opportunity to greatly enlarge their territories. The arrival from North Africa of the Islamic ruling sects of the Almoravids and the Almohads restored unity upon the Muslim holdings, with a stricter, less tolerant application of Islam, and saw a revival in Muslim fortunes. This re-united Islamic state, experienced more than a century of successes that partially reversed Christian gains.

Fall of Muslim rule and unification

The ''Reconquista'' ("Reconquest") is the centuries-long period of expansion of Iberia's Christian kingdoms. The Reconquista is viewed as beginning with the Battle of Covadonga in 722, and was concurrent with the period of Muslim rule on the Iberian peninsula. The Christian army's victory over Muslim forces led to the creation of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias along the northwestern coastal mountains. Shortly after, in 739, Muslim forces were driven from Galicia, which was to eventually host one of medieval Europe's holiest sites, Santiago de Compostela and was incorporated into the new Christian kingdom. Muslim armies had also moved north of the Pyrenees, but they were defeated by Frankish forces at the Battle of Poitiers, Frankia. Later, Frankish forces established Christian counties on the southern side of the Pyrenees. These areas were to grow into the kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia. For several centuries, the fluctuating frontier between the Muslim and Christian controlled areas of Iberia was along the Ebro and Duero valleys.

The breakup of Al-Andalus into the competing taifa kingdoms helped the long embattled Iberian Christian kingdoms gain the initiative. The capture of the strategically central city of Toledo in 1085 marked a significant shift in the balance of power in favour of the Christian kingdoms. Following a great Muslim resurgence in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds in the south fell to Christian Spain in the 13th century—Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Marinids Muslim sect based in North Africa invaded and established some enclaves on the southern coast but failed in their attempt to re-establish Muslim rule in Iberia and were soon driven out. The 13th century also witnessed the Crown of Aragon, centred in Spain's north east, expand its reach across islands in the Mediterranean, to Sicily and even Athens. Around this time the universities of Palencia (1212/1263) and Salamanca (1218/1254) were established. The Black Death of 1348 and 1349 devastated Spain.

In 1469, the crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. 1478 commenced the completion of the conquest of the Canary Islands and in 1492, the combined forces of Castile and Aragon captured the Emirate of Granada, ending the last remnant of a 781-year presence of Islamic rule in Iberia. The Treaty of Granada guaranteed religious tolerance toward Muslims. The year 1492 also marked the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus, during a voyage funded by Isabella. That same year, Spain's Jews were ordered to convert to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spanish territories during the Spanish Inquisition. A few years later, following social disturbances, Muslims were also expelled under the same conditions.

As Renaissance New Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand centralized royal power at the expense of local nobility, and the word ''España'', whose root is the ancient name ''Hispania'', began to be commonly used to designate the whole of the two kingdoms. With their wide-ranging political, legal, religious and military reforms, Spain emerged as the first world power.

Imperial Spain

The unification of the crowns of Aragon and Castile laid the basis for modern Spain and the Spanish Empire. Spain was Europe's leading power throughout the 16th century and most of the 17th century, a position reinforced by trade and wealth from colonial possessions. It reached its apogee during the reigns of the first two Spanish Habsburgs – Charles I (1516–1556) and Philip II (1556–1598). This period saw the Italian Wars, the revolt of the comuneros, the Dutch revolt, the Morisco revolt, clashes with the Ottomans, the Anglo-Spanish war and wars with France.

The Spanish Empire expanded to include great parts of the Americas, islands in the Asia-Pacific area, areas of Italy, cities in Northern Africa, as well as parts of what are now France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. It was the first empire of which it was said that the sun never set.

This was an age of discovery, with daring explorations by sea and by land, the opening-up of new trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginnings of European colonialism. Along with the arrival of precious metals, spices, luxuries, and new agricultural plants, Spanish explorers brought back knowledge from the New World, and played a leading part in transforming the European understanding of the globe. The cultural efflorescence witnessed is now referred to as the Spanish Golden Age. The rise of humanism, the Protestant Reformation and new geographical discoveries raised issues addressed by the influential intellectual movement now known as the School of Salamanca.

In the late 16th century and first half of the 17th century, Spain was confronted by unrelenting challenges from all sides. Barbary pirates under the aegis of the rapidly growing Ottoman empire, disrupted life in many coastal areas through their slave raids and renewed the threat of an Islamic invasion. This at a time when Spain was often at war with France.

The Protestant Reformation schism from the Catholic Church dragged the kingdom ever more deeply into the mire of religiously charged wars. The result was a country forced into ever expanding military efforts across Europe and in the Mediterranean.

By the middle decades of a war- and plague-ridden 17th century Europe the Spanish Habsburgs had enmeshed the country in the continent-wide religious-political conflicts. These conflicts drained it of resources and undermined the European economy generally. Spain managed to hold on to most of the scattered Habsburg empire, and help the imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire reverse a large part of the advances made by Protestant forces, but it was finally forced to recognise the separation of Portugal (with whom it had been united in a personal union of the crowns from 1580 to 1640) and the Netherlands, and eventually suffered some serious military reverses to France in the latter stages of the immensely destructive, Europe-wide Thirty Years War.

In the latter half of the 17th century, Spain went into a gradual relative decline, during which it surrendered a number of small territories to France. However it maintained and enlarged its vast overseas empire, which remained intact until the beginning of the 19th century.

The decline culminated in a controversy over succession to the throne which consumed the first years of the 18th century. The War of Spanish Succession was a wide ranging international conflict combined with a civil war, and was to cost the kingdom its European possessions and its position as one of the leading powers on the Continent.

During this war, a new dynasty originating in France, the Bourbons, was installed. Long united only by the Crown, a true Spanish state was established when the first Bourbon king, Philip V, united the crowns of Castile and Aragon into a single state, abolishing many of the old regional privileges and laws.

The 18th century saw a gradual recovery and an increase in prosperity through much of the empire. The new Bourbon monarchy drew on the French system of modernising the administration and the economy. Enlightenment ideas began to gain ground among some of the kingdom's elite and monarchy. Military assistance for the rebellious British colonies in the American War of Independence improved the kingdom's international standing.

Napoleonic rule and its consequences

In 1793, Spain went to war against the new French Republic, which had overthrown and executed its Bourbon king, Louis XVI. The war polarised the country in an apparent reaction against the gallicised elites. Defeated in the field, peace was made with France in 1795 and it effectively became a client state of that country; In 1807, the secret treaty of Fontainebleau between Napoleon and the deeply unpopular Godoy led to a declaration of war against Britain and Portugal. French troops entered the kingdom unopposed, supposedly to invade Portugal, but instead they occupied Spanish fortresses. This invasion by trickery led to the abdication of the ridiculed Spanish king in favour of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte.

This foreign puppet monarch was widely regarded with scorn. The 2 May 1808 revolt was one of many nationalist uprisings against the Bonapartist regime across the country. These revolts marked the beginning of what is known to the Spanish as the War of Independence, and to the British as the Peninsular War. Napoleon was forced to intervene personally, defeating several badly coordinated Spanish armies and forcing a British army to retreat. However, further military action by Spanish guerrillas and armies, and Wellington's British-Portuguese forces, combined with Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, led to the ousting of the French imperial armies from the Spain in 1814, and the return of King Ferdinand VII.

The French invasions devastated the economy, and left Spain a deeply divided country prone to political instability. The power struggles of the early 19th century led to the loss of all of its colonies in the Americas (which stretched from Las Californias to Patagonia), with the sole exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Spanish–American War

Amid the instability and economic crisis that afflicted Spain in the 19th century there arose nationalist movements in the Philippines and Cuba. Wars of independence ensued in those colonies and eventually the United States became involved. Despite the commitment and ability shown by some military units, they were so mismanaged by the highest levels of command that the Spanish–American War, fought in the Spring of 1898, did not last long. "El Desastre" (The Disaster), as the war became known, helped give impetus to the Generation of 98 who were already conducting much critical analysis concerning the country. It also weakened the stability that had been established during Alfonso XII's reign.

Spanish Civil War

The 20th century brought little peace; Spain played a minor part in the scramble for Africa, with the colonisation of Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. The heavy losses suffered during the Rif war in Morocco helped to undermine the monarchy. A period of authoritarian rule under General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1931) ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republic offered political autonomy to the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia and gave voting rights to women. The Spanish Civil War (1936–39) ensued. Three years later the Nationalist forces, led by General Francisco Franco, emerged victorious with the support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Popular Front government side was supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico and International Brigades, including the American Abraham Lincoln Brigade, but it was not supported officially by the Western powers due to the British-led policy of Non-Intervention.

The Civil War claimed the lives of over 500,000 people and caused the flight of up to a half-million citizens. Most of their descendants now live in Latin American countries, with some 300,000 in Argentina alone. The Spanish Civil War has been called the first battle of the Second World War.

Spain under Franco

The Spanish State established by Franco was nominally neutral in the Second World War, although sympathetic to the Axis. The only legal party under Franco's post civil war regime was the ''Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS'', formed in 1937; the party emphasised anti-Communism, Catholicism and nationalism. Given Franco's opposition to competing political parties, the party was renamed the National Movement (''Movimiento Nacional'') in 1949.

After World War II Spain was politically and economically isolated, and was kept out of the United Nations. This changed in 1955, during the Cold War period, when it became strategically important for the U.S. to establish a military presence on the Iberian peninsula as a counter to any possible move by the U.S.S.R into the Mediterranean basin. In the 1960s, Spain registered an unprecedented rate of economic growth in what became known as the Spanish miracle, which resumed the much interrupted transition towards a modern economy.

With Franco's death in November 1975, Juan Carlos succeeded to the position of King of Spain and head of state in accordance with the law. With the approval of the new Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the arrival of democracy, the State devolved much authority to the regions and created an internal organization based on autonomous communities.

In the Basque Country, moderate Basque nationalism has coexisted with a radical nationalist movement led by the armed organisation ETA. The group was formed in 1959 during Franco's rule but has continued to wage its violent campaign even after the restoration of democracy and the return of a large measure of regional autonomy.

On 23 February 1981, rebel elements among the security forces seized the Cortes in an attempt to impose a military backed government. King Juan Carlos took personal command of the military and successfully ordered the coup plotters, via national television, to surrender.

On 30 May 1982 Spain joined NATO, following a referendum. That year the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) came to power, the first left-wing government in 43 years. In 1986 Spain joined the European Community; what became the European Union. The PSOE was replaced in government by the Partido Popular (PP) after the latter won the 1996 General Elections; at that point the PSOE had served almost 14 consecutive years in office.

21st century

On 1 January 2002, Spain ceased to use the peseta as currency replacing it with the euro, which it shares with 15 other countries in the Eurozone. Spain has also seen strong economic growth, well above the EU average, but well publicised concerns issued by many economic commentators at the height of the boom that the extraordinary property prices and high foreign trade deficits of the boom were likely to lead to a painful economic collapse were confirmed by a severe property led recession that struck the country in 2008/9.

A series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid, Spain on 11 March 2004. After a five month trial in 2007 it was concluded the bombings were perpetrated by a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda. The bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1800, and the intention of the perpetrators may have been to influence the outcome of the Spanish general election, held three days later.

Though initial suspicions focused on the Basque group ETA, evidence soon emerged indicating possible Islamist involvement. Because of the proximity of the election, the issue of responsibility quickly became a political controversy, with the main competing parties PP and PSOE exchanging accusations over the handling of the aftermath. At 14 March elections, PSOE, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, obtained a plurality, enough to form a new cabinet with Rodríguez Zapatero as the new ''Presidente del Gobierno'' or Prime Minister of Spain, thus succeeding the former PP administration.

Geography

At , Spain is the world's 51st-largest country. It is some smaller than France and larger than the U.S. state of California. Mt. Teide (Tenerife, Canary Islands is the highest peak of Spain and the third largest volcano in the world from its base.

Spain lies between latitudes 26° and 44° N, and longitudes 19° W and 5° E.

On the west, Spain borders Portugal; on the south, it borders Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and Morocco, through its exclaves in North Africa (Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera). On the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. Along the Pyrenees in Catalonia, a small exclave town called Llívia is surrounded by France.

Islands

Spain also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the Strait of Gibraltar, known as , such as the Chafarine islands, the isle of Alborán, Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil. The little Pheasant Island in the River Bidasoa is a Spanish-French condominium.

Islander population: {| |- style="vertical-align: top;" |

1. Tenerife 899,833

2. Mallorca 862,397

3. Gran Canaria 838,397

4. Lanzarote 141,938

5. Ibiza 125,053

6. Fuerteventura 103,107

7. Menorca 92,434

8. La Palma 85,933

9. La Gomera 22,259

10. El Hierro 10,558

11. Formentera 7,957

12. Arosa 4,889

13. La Graciosa 658

14. Tabarca 105

15. Ons 61

|}

Mountains and rivers

Mainland Spain is a mountainous country, dominated by high plateaus and mountain chains. After the Pyrenees, the main mountain ranges are the Cordillera Cantábrica, Sistema Ibérico, Sistema Central, Montes de Toledo, Sierra Morena and the Sistema Penibético whose highest peak, the 3,478 m high Mulhacén, located in Sierra Nevada, is the highest elevation in the Iberian peninsula, while the highest point in Spain is the Teide, a 3,718 m high active volcano in the Canary Islands. The Meseta Central is a vast plateau in the heart of peninsular Spain.

There are several major rivers in Spain such as the Tagus, the Ebro, the Duero, the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. Alluvial plains are found along the coast, the largest of which is that of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia.

Climate

Three main climatic zones can be separated, according to geographical situation and orographic conditions:

The Mediterranean climate, characterized by dry and warm summers. According to the Köppen climate classification, it is dominant in the peninsula, with two varieties: ''Csa'' and ''Csb''.

The semiarid climate (''Bsh'', ''Bsk''), located in the southeastern quarter of the country, especially in the region of Murcia and in the Ebro valley. In contrast with the Mediterranean climate, the dry season extends beyond the summer.

The oceanic climate (''Cfb''), located in north quarter of the country, especially in the region of Basque Country, Asturias, Cantabria and partly Galicia. In contrary to the Mediterranean climate, winter and summer temperatures are influenced by the ocean, and have no seasonal drought.

Apart from these main types, other sub-types can be found, like the alpine climate in the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, and a typical subtropical climate in the Canary Islands.

Politics

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 is the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The constitutional history of Spain dates back to the constitution of 1812. Impatient with the pace of democratic political reforms in 1976 and 1977, Spain's new King Juan Carlos, known for his formidable personality, dismissed Carlos Arias Navarro and appointed the reformer Adolfo Suárez as Prime Minister. The resulting general election in 1977 convened the ''Constituent Cortes'' (the Spanish Parliament, in its capacity as a constitutional assembly) for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution of 1978. After a national referendum on 6 December 1978, 88% of voters approved of the new constitution.

As a result, Spain is now composed of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy thanks to its Constitution, which nevertheless explicitly states the indivisible unity of the Spanish nation as well as that Spain has today no official religion but all are free to practice and believe as they wish.

As of November 2009, the government of Spain keeps a balanced gender equality ratio. Nine out of the 18 members of the government are women. Under the administration of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain has been described as being "at the vanguard" in gender equality issues and also that "[n]o other modern, democratic, administration outside Scandinavia has taken more steps to place gender issues at the centre of government". The Spanish administration has also promoted gender-based positive discrimination by approving gender equality legislation in 2007 aimed at providing equality between genders in Spanish political and economic life (Gender Equality Act). However, in the legislative branch, as of July 2010 only 128 of the 350 members of the Congress are women (36.3%). It places Spain 13th on a list of countries ranked by proportion of women in the lower house. In the Senate, the ratio is even lower, since there are only 79 women out of 263 (30.0%). The Gender Empowerment Measure of Spain in the United Nations Human Development Report is 0.794, 12th in the world.

Branches of government

Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a bicameral parliament, the ''Cortes Generales''. The executive branch consists of a Council of Ministers of Spain presided over by the Prime Minister, nominated and appointed by the monarch and confirmed by the Congress of Deputies following legislative elections. By political custom established by King Juan Carlos since the ratification of the 1978 Constitution, the king's nominees have all been from parties who maintain a plurality of seats in the Congress.

The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies (''Congreso de los Diputados'') with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a Senate (''Senado'') with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to also serve four-year terms.

Head of State

* King Juan Carlos I, since 22 November 1975

Head of Government

* Prime Minister of Spain (Spanish ''Presidente del Gobierno'' literally ''President of the Government''): José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, elected 14 March 2004.

** First Vice President and Minister of Interior: Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba.

** Second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance: Elena Salgado.

** Third Vice President and Minister of Territorial Policy: Manuel Chaves.

Cabinet

* Council of Ministers (Spanish ''Consejo de Ministros'') designated by the Prime Minister.

The Spanish nation is organizationally composed in the form of called ''Estado de las Autonomías'' ("State of Autonomies"); it is one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, along with Switzerland, Germany and Belgium; for example, all Autonomous Communities have their own elected parliaments, governments, public administrations, budgets, and resources; therefore, health and education systems among others are managed regionally, besides, the Basque Country and Navarre also manage their own public finances based on foral provisions. In Catalonia and the Basque Country, a full fledged autonomous police corps replaces some of the State police functions (see Mossos d'Esquadra, Ertzaintza, Policía Foral and Policía Canaria).

Administrative divisions

Autonomous communities and autonomous cities

Autonomous communities are the first level administrative division in the country. These were created after the 1979 and current constitution came into effect in recognition of the right to self-government to the "nationalities and regions of Spain". Autonomous communities were to be integrated by adjacent provinces with common historial, cultural, and economical traits. This territorial organization, based on devolution, is known in Spain as the "State of Autonomies".

The basic institutional law of each autonomous community is the Statute of Autonomy. The Statutes of Autonomy establish the name of the community according to its historical identity, the limits of their territories, the name and organization of the institutions of government and the rights they enjoy according the constitution.

The government of all autonomous communities must be based on a division of powers comprising:

a Legislative Assembly whose members must be elected by universal suffrage according to the system of proportional representation and in which all areas that integrate the territory are fairly represented;

a Government Council, with executive and administrative functions headed by a president, elected by the Legislative Assembly and nominated by the King of Spain;

a Supreme Court of Justice, under the Supreme Court of the State, which head the judicial organization within the autonomous community.

Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, which identified themselves as "nationalities" were granted self-government through a rapid process. Andalusia also took that denomination in its first Statute of Autonomy, even though it followed the longer process stipulated in the constitution for the rest of the country. Progressively, other communities in revisions to their Statutes of Autonomy have also taken that denomination in accordance to their historical regional identity, such as the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and Aragon.

The autonomous communities have wide legislative and executive autonomy, with their own parliaments and regional governments. The distribution of powers may be different for every community, as laid out in their Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical. Only two communities—the Basque Country and Navarre—have full fiscal autonomy. Aside of fiscal autonomy, the "historical" nationalities—Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia—were devolved more powers than the rest of the communities, amongst them the ability of the regional president to dissolve the parliament and call for elections at any time. In addition, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Navarre have police corps of their own: Ertzaintza, Mossos d'Esquadra and the Policía Foral respectively. Other communities have more limited forces or none at all (like the ''Policía Autónoma Andaluza'' in Andalusia or the BESCAM in Madrid.

Nonetheless, recent amendments to existing Statutes of Autonomy or the promulgation of new Statutes altogether, have reduced the asymmetry between the powers originally granted to the "historical nationalities" and the rest of the regions.

Finally, along with the 17 autonomous communities, two autonomous cities are also part of the State of Autonomies and are first-order territorial divisions: Ceuta and Melilla. These are two exclaves located in the northern African coast.

Provinces and municipalities

Autonomous communities are subdivided into provinces (''provincias''), which served as their territorial building blocks. In turn, provinces are integrated by municipalities (''municipios''). The existence of both the provinces and the municipalities is guaranteed and protected by the constitution, not necessarily by the Statutes of Autonomy themselves. Municipalities are granted autonomy to manage their internal affairs, and provinces are the territorial divisions designed to carry out the activities of the State.

The current provincial division structure is based—with minor changes—on the one created in 1833 by Javier de Burgos, and in all, the Spanish territory is divided into 50 provinces. The communities of Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Murcia and Navarre are the only communities that are integrated by a single province, which is coextensive with the community itself. In this cases, the administrative institutions of the province are replaced by the governmental institutions of the community.

Foreign relations

After the return of democracy following the death of Franco in 1975, Spain's foreign policy priorities were to break out of the diplomatic isolation of the Franco years and expand diplomatic relations, enter the European Community, and define security relations with the West.

As a member of NATO since 1982, Spain has established itself as a major participant in multilateral international security activities. Spain's EU membership represents an important part of its foreign policy. Even on many international issues beyond western Europe, Spain prefers to coordinate its efforts with its EU partners through the European political cooperation mechanisms.

With the normalization of diplomatic relations with North Korea in 2001, Spain completed the process of universalizing its diplomatic relations.

Spain has maintained its special identification with Latin America. Its policy emphasizes the concept of an Iberoamerican community, essentially the renewal of the historically liberal concept of ''hispanoamericanismo'', or Hispanism as it is often referred to in English, which has sought to link the Iberian peninsula with Latin America through language, commerce, history and culture. Spain has been an effective example of transition from dictatorship to democracy for formerly non-democratic Latin American states, as shown in the many trips that Spain's King and Prime Ministers have made to the region.

Territorial disputes

Spain claims Gibraltar, a six square km Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom in the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula. Then a Spanish town, it was conquered by an Anglo-Dutch force in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of Archduke Charles, pretender to the Spanish throne.

The legal situation concerning Gibraltar was settled in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, in which Spain ceded the territory in perpetuity to the British Crown stating that, should the British abandon this post, it would be offered to Spain first. Since the 1940s Spain has called for the return of Gibraltar. The overwhelming majority of Gibraltarians strongly oppose this, along with any proposal of shared sovereignty. UN resolutions call on the United Kingdom and Spain, both EU members, to reach an agreement over the status of Gibraltar.

However, the Spanish claim makes a distinction between the isthmus that connects the Rock to the Spanish mainland on the one hand, and the Rock and city of Gibraltar on the other. While the Rock and city were ceded by the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain asserts that the "occupation of the isthmus is illegal and against the principles of International Law". The United Kingdom relies on ''de facto'' arguments of possession by prescription in relation to the isthmus, as there has been "continuous possession [of the isthmus] over a long period".

Another claim by Spain is about the Savage Islands, not recognized by Portugal.

Spain claims the sovereignty over the Perejil Island, a small, uninhabited rocky islet located in the South shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The island lies 250 meters just off the coast of Morocco, 8 km from Ceuta and 13.5 km from mainland Spain. Its sovereignty is disputed between Spain and Morocco. It was the subject of an armed incident between the two countries in 2002. The incident ended when both countries agreed to return to the status quo ante which existed prior to the Moroccan occupation of the island. The islet is now deserted and without any sign of sovereignty.

Besides the Perejil Island, the Spanish-held territories claimed by other countries are two: Morocco claims the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the ''plazas de soberanía'' islets off the northern coast of Africa; and Portugal does not recognise Spain's sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza.

Military

The armed forces of Spain are known as the Spanish Armed Forces (). Their Commander-in-chief is the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I.

The Spanish Armed Forces are divided into three branches:

Army (''Ejército de Tierra'')

Navy (''Armada'')

Air Force (''Ejército del Aire'')

Economy

Spain's capitalist mixed economy is the twelfth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in the European Union, as well as the Eurozone's fourth largest.

The centre-right government of former prime minister José María Aznar worked successfully to gain admission to the group of countries launching the euro in 1999. Unemployment stood at 7.6% in October 2006, a rate that compared favorably to many other European countries, and especially with the early 1990s when it stood at over 20%. Perennial weak points of Spain's economy include high inflation, a large underground economy, and an education system which OECD reports place among the poorest for developed countries, together with the United States and UK.

However, the property bubble that begun building from 1997, fed by historically low interest rates and an immense surge in immigration, imploded in 2008, leading to a rapidly weakening economy and soaring unemployment. By the end of May 2009, unemployment reached 18.7% (37% for youths).

Before the current crisis, the Spanish economy was credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU. In fact, the country's economy created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union over the five years ending 2005, a process that is rapidly being reversed. The Spanish economy has been until recently regarded as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment.

The most recent economic growth benefited greatly from the global real estate boom, with construction representing an astonishing 16% of GDP and 12% of employment in its final year.

According to calculations by the German newspaper ''Die Welt'' in 2007, Spain was on course to overtake Germany in per capita income by 2011. But the collapse of the housing boom in 2008 brought this to an end. According to the IMF, the PPP GDP per capita of Spain had, by 2010, slipped to USD 29,830; this compared to Germany at 36,081, UK 35,059, France 33,910, Italy 29,480, Greece 28,496, and Portugal 23,262.

Before the collapse of the real estate boom there had been a corresponding rise in the levels of personal debt as prospective home owners struggled to meet asking prices. The average level of household debt tripled in less than a decade. This placed great pressure upon lower to middle income groups; by 2005 the median ratio of indebtedness to income had grown to 125%, due primarily to expensive boom time mortgages.

The 2008/2009 credit crunch and world recession manifested itself in Spain through a massive downturn in the property sector. Fortunately, Spain's banks and financial services avoided the more severe problems of their counterparts in the USA and UK, due mainly to a stringently enforced conservative financial regulatory regime. The Spanish financial authorities had not forgotten the country's own banking crisis of 1979 and an earlier real-estate-precipitated banking crisis of 1993. Indeed, Spain's largest bank, Banco Santander, participated in the UK government's bail-out of part of the UK banking sector.

A European Commission forecast predicted Spain would enter a recession by the end of 2008. According to Spain’s Finance Minister, “Spain faces its deepest recession in half a century”. Spain's government forecast the unemployment rate would rise to 16% in 2009. The ESADE business school predicted 20%.

Tourism

During the last four decades the Spanish tourism industry has grown to become the second biggest in the world, worth approximately 40 billion Euros, about 5% of GDP, in 2006. Today, the climate of Spain, historical and cultural monuments and its geographic position together with its facilities make tourism one of Spain's main national industries and a large source of stable employment and development. The Spanish hotel star rating system has requirements much more demanding than other European countries, so at a given rating Spanish accommodations worth higher.

Energy

Spain is one of the world's leading countries in the development and production of renewable energy. In 2010 Spain became the solar power world leader when it overtook the United States with a massive power station plant called La Florida, near Alvarado, Badajoz. Spain is also Europe's main producer of wind energy. In 2010 its wind turbines generated 42,976 GWh, which accounted for 16.4% of all the energy produced in Spain. On November 9, 2010, wind energy reached an instantaneous historic peak covering 53% of mainland electricity demand and generating an amount of energy that is equivalent to that of 14 nuclear reactors. Other renewable energies used in Spain are hydroelectric, biomass and marine (2 power plants under construction).

Non-renewable energy sources used in Spain are nuclear (8 operative reactors), gas, coal, and oil.

Transport

The Spanish road system is mainly centralized, with 6 highways connecting Madrid to the Basque Country, Catalonia, Valencia, West Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia. Additionally, there are highways along the Atlantic (Ferrol to Vigo), Cantabrian (Oviedo to San Sebastián) and Mediterranean (Girona to Cádiz) coasts.

Spain has the most extensive high-speed rail network in Europe, and the second most extensive in the world after China. As of October 2010 Spain has a total of of high speed tracks linking Málaga, Seville, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Valladolid, with the trains reaching speeds up to 300 km/h (187 mph). On average, the Spanish high-speed train is the fastest one in the world followed by the Japanese bullet train and the French TGV. Regarding punctuality, it is the second one in the world (98.54% on-time arrival) after the Japanese Shinkansen (99%). Should the aims of the ambitious AVE program (Spanish high speed trains) be met, by 2020 Spain will have 7000 km (4300 mi) of high-speed trains linking almost all provincial cities to Madrid in less than 3 hours and Barcelona within 4 hours.

There are 47 public airports in Spain. The busiest one is the airport of Madrid (Barajas), with 50.8 million passengers in 2008, being the world's 11th busiest airport, as well as the European Union's fourth busiest. The airport of Barcelona (El Prat) is also important, with 30 million passengers in 2008. Other main airports are located in Gran Canaria, Málaga, Valencia, Seville, Mallorca, Alicante and Bilbao.

Spain aims to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2014 as part of the government's plan to save energy and boost energy efficiency. The Minister of Industry Miguel Sebastian said that "the electric vehicle is the future and the engine of an industrial revolution."

Demographics

In 2008 the population of Spain officially reached 46 million people, as recorded by the ''Padrón municipal''. Spain's population density, at 91/km² (235/sq mi), is lower than that of most Western European countries and its distribution across the country is very unequal. With the exception of the region surrounding the capital, Madrid, the most populated areas lie around the coast. The population of Spain more than doubled since 1900, when it stood at 18.6 million, principally due to the spectacular demographic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Native Spaniards make up 88% of the total population of Spain. After the birth rate plunged in the 1980s and Spain's population growth rate dropped, the population again trended upward, based initially on the return of many Spaniards who had emigrated to other European countries during the 1970s, and more recently, fuelled by large numbers of immigrants who make up 12% of the population. The immigrants originate mainly in Latin America (39%), North Africa (16%), Eastern Europe (15%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (4%). In 2005, Spain instituted a three-month amnesty program through which certain hitherto undocumented aliens were granted legal residency.

In 2008, Spain granted citizenship to 84,170 persons, mostly to people from Ecuador, Colombia and Morocco. A sizeable portion of foreign residents in Spain also comes from other Western and Central European countries. These are mostly British, French, German, Dutch, and Norwegian. They reside primarily on the Mediterranean ''costas'' and Balearic islands, where many are choosing to live their retirement or telework.

Substantial populations descended from Spanish colonists and immigrants exist in other parts of the world, most notably in Latin America. Beginning in the late 15th century, large numbers of Iberian colonists settled in what became Latin America and at present most white Latin Americans (who make up about one-third of Latin America's population) are of Spanish or Portuguese origin. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Spaniards emigrated, mostly to Peru and Mexico. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century. Between 1846 and 1932 it is estimated that nearly 5 million Spaniards emigrated to the Americas, especially to Argentina and Brazil. Approximately two million Spaniards migrated to other Western European countries between 1960 to 1975. During the same period perhaps 300,000 went to Latin America.

Urbanization

Source: ESPON, 2007 !Pos.MadridBarcelonaValencia, SpainSevilleBilbaoMálagaOviedo–GijónAlicante–ElcheLas Palmas de Gran CanariaZaragoza

|	City	Region	Prov.	population
1	|	Community of Madrid>Madrid	Madrid	6,103,000
2	|	Catalonia	Barcelona	4,851,000
3	Valencia ||	Valencian Community	Valencia	1,499,000
4	|	Andalusia	Seville	1,262,000
5	|	Basque Country (autonomous community)>Basque Country	Biscay	1,000,000
6	|	Andalusia	Málaga	900,000
7	|	Asturias	Asturias	844,000
8	|	Valencian Community	Alicante	793,000
9	Las Palmas de G.C. ||	Canary Islands>Canarias	Las Palmas	750,000
10	|	Aragon	Zaragoza	730,000

!Pos.MadridBarcelonaValencia, SpainSevilleZaragozaMálagaMurciaPalma de MallorcaLas Palmas de Gran CanariaBilbao

|	City	Region	Prov.	population
1	|	Community of Madrid>Madrid	Madrid	3,213,271
2	|	Catalonia	Barcelona	1,615,908
3	Valencia ||	Valencian Community	Valencia	810,064
4	|	Andalusia	Seville	703.206
5	|	Aragon	Zaragoza	699.240
6	|	Andalusia	Málaga	566,447
7	|	Región of Murcia>Murcia	Murcia	430,571
8	|	Balearic Islands	Balearic Islands	401,570
9	Las Palmas de G.C. ||	Canary Islands	Las Palmas	381,723
10	|	Basque Country (autonomous community)>Basque Country	Biscay	353,340

Peoples

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognises historic entities ("nationalities", a carefully chosen word in order to avoid the more politically charged "nations") and regions, within the context of the Spanish nation. For some people, Spain's identity consists more of an overlap of different regional identities than of a sole Spanish identity. Indeed, some of the regional identities may even conflict with the Spanish one. Distinct traditional regional identities within Spain include the Basques, Catalans, Galicians and Castilians, among others.

It is this last feature of "shared identity" between the more local level or Autonomous Community and the Spanish level which makes the identity question in Spain complex and far from univocal.

Minority groups

Spain has a number of descendants of populations from former colonies (especially Equatorial Guinea) and immigrants from several Sub-Saharan and Caribbean countries have been recently settling in Spain. There are also sizeable numbers of Asian immigrants, most of whom are of Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Middle Eastern and South Asian origins; the population of Latin Americans is sizable as well and a fast growing segment. Other growing groups are Britons, 760,000 in 2006, Germans and other immigrants from the rest of Europe.

The arrival of the ''Gitanos'', a Romani people, began in the 16th century; estimates of the Spanish Gitano population fluctuate around 700,000. The ''Mercheros'' (also Quinquis) are a minority group, formerly nomadic, that share a lot of the way of life of Gitanos. Their origin is unclear.

Immigration

According to the Spanish government there were 4.5 million foreign residents in Spain in 2007; independent estimates put the figure at 4.8 million people, or 11% of the total population. According to residence permit data for 2011, more than 860,000 were Romanian, about 770,000 were Moroccan, approximately 360,000 were Ecuadorian, and 270,000 were Colombian. Other sizeable foreign communities are British, Bolivian, German, Italian, Bulgarian, and Chinese. There are more than 200,000 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa living in Spain. Since 2000, Spain has experienced high population growth as a result of immigration flows, despite a birth rate that is only half the replacement level. This sudden and ongoing inflow of immigrants, particularly those arriving clandestinely by sea, has caused noticeable social tension.

Within the EU, Spain had the second highest immigration rate in percentage terms after Cyprus, but by a great margin, the highest in absolute numbers, up to 2008. The number of immigrants in Spain had grown up from 500,000 people in 1996 to 5.2 million in 2008 out of a total population of 46 million. In 2005 alone, a regularisation programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people. There are a number of reasons for the high level of immigration, including Spain's cultural ties with Latin America, its geographical position, the porosity of its borders, the large size of its underground economy and the strength of the agricultural and construction sectors, which demand more low cost labour than can be offered by the national workforce.

Another statistically significant factor is the large number of residents of EU origin typically retiring to Spain's Mediterranean coast. In fact, Spain was Europe's largest absorber of migrants from 2002 to 2007, with its immigrant population more than doubling as 2.5 million people arrived. According to the Financial Times, Spain is the most favoured destination for West Europeans considering a move from their own country and seeking jobs elsewhere in the EU.

In 2008, the government instituted a ''Plan of Voluntary Return'' which encouraged unemployed immigrants from outside the EU to return to their home countries and receive several incentives, including the right to keep their unemployment benefits and transfer whatever they contributed to the Spanish Social Security. The program had little effect; during its first two months, just 1,400 immigrants took up the offer. What the program failed to do, the sharp and prolonged economic crisis has done from 2010 to 2011 in that tens of thousands of immigrants have left the country due to lack of jobs. In 2011 alone, more than half a million people have left Spain. For the first time in decades the net migration rate is expected to be negative, and 9 out 10 emigrants are foreigners.

Languages

[[File:Languages of Spain.svg|thumb|right|250px|The languages of Spain (simplified) {| style="width:100%; background:none;" | align=top | | align=top | |}]] Spanish ( or , ''Castilian'') is spoken all over the country and so is the only language with official status nationwide. But a number of regional languages have been declared co-official, along with Spanish, in the constituent communities where they are spoken: Basque () (2%) in the Basque Country and Navarre; Catalan () (17%) in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands; Valencian (''valencià''), a distinct variant of Catalan, is official in the Valencian Community; Galician () (7%) in Galicia.

There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages such as the Astur-Leonese group, which includes two languages in Spain: Asturian (officially called "Bable") which has protected status in Asturias, and Leonese, which is protected in Castile and León. Aragonese is vaguely recognized in Aragon. Unlike Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, these languages do not have any official status. This might be due to their very small number of speakers, a less significant written tradition in comparison to Catalan or Galician, and lower self-awareness of their speakers which traditionally meant lack of strong popular demand for their recognition in the regions in which they are spoken.

In the North African Spanish city of Melilla, Riff Berber is spoken by a significant part of the population. In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast and the islands, English and German are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents, and tourism workers.

Education

State education in Spain is free and compulsory from the age of 6 to 16. The current education system was established by an educational law of 2006, Ley Orgánica de Educación, or Fundamental Law of Education.

Religion

{{bar box |title=Religions in Spain |titlebar=#ddd |float=right |bars= |caption=Numbers from the following source: }} Roman Catholicism has long been the main religion of Spain, and although it no longer has official status by law, in all public schools in Spain students have to choose either religion or ethics and Catholic is the only religion officially taught although in some schools there are large numbers of Muslim students together. According to a July 2009 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 73% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2.1% other faith, and about 22% identify with no religion among which 7.3% are atheists. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 58% hardly ever or never go to church, 17% go to church some times a year, 9% some time per month and 15% every Sunday or multiple times per week.

But according to a December 2006 study, 48% of the population declared a belief in a supreme being, while 41% described themselves as atheist or agnostic. Altogether, about 22% of the entire Spanish population attends religious services at least once per month. Though Spanish society has become considerably more secular in recent decades, the influx of Latin American immigrants, who tend to be strong Catholic practitioners, has helped the Catholic Church to recover.

Protestant churches have about 1,200,000 members. There are about 105,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has approximately 46,000 adherents in 133 congregations in all regions of the country and has a temple in the Moratalaz District of Madrid.

The recent waves of immigration have also led to an increasing number of Muslims, who number approximately one million in Spain. Presently, Islam is the second largest religion in Spain, accounting for approximately 2.3% of the total population. After their expulsion in 1492, Muslims did not live in Spain for centuries. Late 19th-century colonial expansion in northwestern Africa gave a number of residents in Spanish Morocco and Western Sahara full citizenship. Their ranks have since been bolstered by recent immigration, especially from Morocco and Algeria.

Judaism was practically non-existent in Spain from the 1492 expulsion until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to enter the country. Currently there are around 62,000 Jews in Spain, or 0.14% of the total population. Most are arrivals in the past century, while some are descendants of earlier Spanish Jews. Approximately 80,000 Jews are thought to have lived in Spain on the eve of the Spanish Inquisition. Currently, Jews of Sephardic origin are given preferential status in the acquisition of Spanish citizenship.

Culture

Culturally, Spain is a Western country. Because of the great strength of its Roman heritage in almost every aspect of Spanish life, Spain is often described as a Latin country. Nevertheless, there have been many influences on many aspects of Spanish life, from art and architecture to cuisine and music, from many countries across Europe and from around the Mediterranean, through its long history.

The number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain, 40, is exceeded only by the number in Italy.

Literature

[[File:Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.jpg|thumb|upright|Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel ''Don Quixote

]]''.The term Spanish literature refers to literature written in the Spanish language, including literature composed in Spanish by writers not necessarily from Spain. For literature from Spain in languages other than the Spanish, see Catalan literature, Basque literature and Galician literature. Equally, for Spanish-American literature specifically, see Latin American literature. Due to historic, geographic and generational diversity, Spanish literature has known a great number of influences and it is very diverse. Some major literary movements can be identified within it.

Miguel de Cervantes is probably Spain's most famous author and his Don Quixote is considered the most emblematic work in the canon of Spanish literature and a founding classic of Western literature.

Language institutions

The Royal Spanish Academy (''Real Academia Española'' or ''RAE'', in Spanish) is the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, but is affiliated with national language academies in 21 Spanish-speaking nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies. Its emblem is a fiery crucible, and its motto is ''Limpia, fija y da esplendor'' ("It cleans, sets, and gives splendor").

With the same policy, the Royal Galician Academy (''Real Academia Galega'' or ''RAG'', in Galician) was created in 1906 in A Coruña with the help of Havana emigrated Galicians. Its work is based in a Lexicography (the main results are the official and standard ''Dicionario da Real Academia'' and the ''Vocabulario ortográfico da lingua galega''), Terminology (through Termigal since 1997), Sociolinguistics, Onomastics and Grammar approaches from the Linguistics point of view, and another two sections for History and Literature. The Academy works closely with the government as an advice institution, and its resolutions are almost binding about language standard. It had though recently demonstrated criticism about the developement of the Galician language policy by the Government.

The Institute of Catalan Studies (''Institut d'Estudis Catalans'' or ''IEC'', in Catalan) is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". The IEC is known principally for its work in standardizing the Catalan language. The IEC is based in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia. Officially the IEC provides standards for Catalonia proper, Northern Catalonia (located in France), the Balearic Islands, and the Principality of Andorra (the only country where Catalan is the sole official language). The Valencian Community has its own language academy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. In an area known as the Franja de Ponent, the eastern edge of Aragon adjacent to Catalonia where Catalan is spoken, the rules are used de facto although Catalan is not an official language.

Art

Artists from Spain have been highly influential in the development of various European artistic movements. Due to historical, geographical and generational diversity, Spanish art has known a great number of influences. The Moorish heritage in Spain, especially in Andalusia, is still evident today in cities like Córdoba, Seville, and Granada. European influences include Italy, Germany and France, especially during the Baroque and Neoclassical periods.

Cinema

Spanish cinema has achieved major international success including Oscars for recent films such as ''Pan's Labyrinth'' and ''Volver''. In the long history of Spanish cinema, the great filmmaker Luis Buñuel was the first to achieve world recognition, followed by Pedro Almodóvar in the 1980s. Spanish cinema has also seen international success over the years with films by directors like Segundo de Chomón, Florián Rey, Luis García Berlanga, Carlos Saura, Julio Medem and Alejandro Amenábar.

Architecture

Spanish architecture refers to architecture carried out during any era in what is now modern-day Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide. The term includes buildings within the current geographical limits of Spain before this name was given to those territories, whether they were called Hispania, Al-Andalus, or were formed of several Christian kingdoms.

Due to its historical and geographical diversity, Spanish architecture has drawn from a host of influences. An important provincial city founded by the Romans and with an extensive Roman era infrastructure, Córdoba became the cultural capital, including fine Arabic style architecture, during the time of the Islamic Umayyad dynasty. Later Arab style architecture continued to be developed under successive Islamic dynasties, ending with the Nasrid, which built its famed palace complex in Granada.

Simultaneously, the Christian kingdoms gradually emerged and developed their own styles; developing a pre-Romanesque style when for a while isolated from contemporary mainstream European architectural influences during the earlier Middle Ages, they later integrated the Romanesque and Gothic streams. There was then an extraordinary flowering of the gothic style that resulted in numerous instances being built throughout the entire territory. The Mudéjar style, from the 12th to 17th centuries, was developed by introducing Arab style motifs, patterns and elements into European architecture.

The arrival of Modernism in the academic arena produced much of the architecture of the 20th century. An influential style centered in Barcelona, known as modernisme, produced a number of important architects, of which Gaudí is one. The International style was led by groups like GATEPAC. Spain is currently experiencing a revolution in contemporary architecture and Spanish architects like Rafael Moneo, Santiago Calatrava, Ricardo Bofill as well as many others have gained worldwide renown.

Music

Spanish music is often considered abroad to be synonymous with flamenco, an Andalusian musical genre, which, contrary to popular belief, is not widespread outside that region. Various regional styles of folk music abound in Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile, the Basque Country, Galicia and Asturias. Pop, rock, hip hop and heavy metal are also popular.

In the field of classical music, Spain has produced a number of noted composers such as Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla and Enrique Granados and singers and performers such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Alicia de Larrocha, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Casals, Ricardo Viñes, José Iturbi, Pablo de Sarasate, Jordi Savall and Teresa Berganza. In Spain there are over forty professional orchestras, including the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Orquesta Nacional de España and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Major opera houses include the Teatro Real,the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Arriaga and the El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía.

Thousands of music fans also travel to Spain each year for internationally recognised summer music festivals Sonar which often features the top up and coming pop and techno acts, and Benicàssim which tends to feature alternative rock and dance acts . Both festivals mark Spain as an international music presence and reflect the tastes of young people in the country.

The most popular traditional musical instrument is the guitar, which originated in Spain. Also typically traditional is the bagpipe (gaita) in the northern regions, especially in Asturias and Galicia.

Cuisine

thumb|Paella, a traditional [[Valencian Community|Valencian dish]] Spanish cuisine consists of a great variety of dishes which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep Mediterranean roots. Spain's extensive history with many cultural influences has led to a unique cuisine. In particular, three main divisions are easily identified: ''Mediterranean'' Spain – all such coastal regions, from Catalonia to Andalusia: heavy use of seafood, such as ''pescaíto frito''; several cold soups like gazpacho; and many rice-based dishes like paella from Valencia and arroz negro from Catalonia.

''Inner'' Spain – Castile: hot, thick soups such as the bread and garlic-based ''Castilian soup'', along with substantious stews such as cocido madrileño. Food is traditionally conserved by salting, like Spanish ham, or immersed in olive oil, like Manchego cheese.

''Atlantic'' Spain – the whole Northern coast, including Asturian, Basque, Cantabrian and Galician cuisine: vegetable and fish-based stews like ''pote gallego'' and marmitako. Also, the lightly cured lacón ham. The most known North countries cuisine often rely on the captures from close or distant seas, like the Basque-style cod, albacore or anchovy or the Galician octopus-based polbo á feira and shellfish dishes.

Science and Technology

In the 19th and 20th centuries science in Spain was held back by severe political instability and consequent economic underdevelopment. Despite the conditions, some noted scientists and engineers emerged. Among the most notable were Miguel Servet, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, Celedonio Calatayud, Juan de la Cierva and Severo Ochoa.

Sport

Sport in Spain has been dominated by football since the early 20th century. Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful football clubs in the world. The country's national football team won the UEFA European Football Championship in 1964 and 2008 and the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

Basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, motorcycling and, lately, Formula One are also important due to the presence of Spanish champions in all these disciplines. Today, Spain is a major world sports powerhouse, especially since the 1992 Summer Olympics that were hosted in Barcelona, which stimulated a great deal of interest in sports in the country. The tourism industry has led to an improvement in sports infrastructure, especially for water sports, golf and skiing.

Rafael Nadal is the leading Spanish tennis player and has won several Grand Slam titles including the Wimbledon 2010 men's singles. In north Spain, the game of pelota is very popular. Alberto Contador is the leading Spanish cyclist and has won several Grand Tour titles including three Tour de France titles.

Public holidays

Public holidays celebrated in Spain include a mix of religious (Roman Catholic), national and regional observances. Each municipality is allowed to declare a maximum of 14 public holidays per year; up to nine of these are chosen by the national government and at least two are chosen locally. Spain's National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España) is 12 October, the anniversary of the Discovery of America and commemorate Our Lady of the Pillar feast, patroness of Aragón and throughout Spain.

See also

References

;Notes

;References

;Literature

External links

e-government Portal

Category:African countries Category:Bicontinental countries Category:Constitutional monarchies Category:Countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean Category:Countries of the Mediterranean Sea Category:European countries Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of NATO Category:Member states of the European Union Category:Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean Category:Member states of the United Nations Category:Spanish-speaking countries Category:Western Europe

ace:Seupanyo kbd:Эспаниэ af:Spanje als:Spanien am:እስፓንያ ang:Spēonland ar:إسبانيا an:Espanya arc:ܐܣܦܢܝܐ roa-rup:Ispania frp:Èspagne ast:España gn:España ay:Ispaña az:İspaniya bn:স্পেন zh-min-nan:Se-pan-gâ be:Іспанія be-x-old:Гішпанія bcl:Espanya bi:Spain bg:Испания bar:Spanien bo:ཞི་པན་ཡ། bs:Španija br:Spagn ca:Espanya cv:Испани ceb:Espanya cs:Španělsko ch:España cbk-zam:España co:Spagna cy:Sbaen da:Spanien pdc:Schpaani de:Spanien dv:އިސްޕެއިން nv:Dibé Diníí Bikéyah dsb:Špańska dz:སིཔཱེན་ et:Hispaania el:Ισπανία eml:Spaggna es:España eo:Hispanio ext:España eu:Espainia ee:Spain fa:اسپانیا hif:Spain fo:Spania fr:Espagne fy:Spanje fur:Spagne ga:An Spáinn gv:Yn Spaainey gag:İspaniya gd:An Spàinn gl:España gan:西班牙 glk:ائسپانيا gu:સ્પેઇન got:𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌽𐌾𐌰 hak:Sî-pân-ngà xal:Эспанмудин Нутг ko:스페인 haw:Sepania hy:Իսպանիա hi:स्पेन hsb:Španiska hr:Španjolska io:Hispania ig:Spain ilo:España bpy:স্পেন id:Spanyol ia:Espania ie:Hispania iu:ᓯᐸᐃᓐ ik:Spaña os:Испани zu:ISpeyini is:Spánn it:Spagna he:ספרד jv:Spanyol kl:Spania kn:ಸ್ಪೇನ್ pam:Espanya krc:Испания ka:ესპანეთი csb:Szpańskô kk:Испания kw:Spayn rw:Esipanye rn:Esipanye sw:Hispania kv:Испания kg:Espania ht:Espay ku:Spanya ky:Испания lad:Espanya ltg:Spaneja la:Hispania lv:Spānija lb:Spuenien lt:Ispanija lij:Spagna li:Spanje ln:Espania jbo:sangu'e lmo:Spagna hu:Spanyolország mk:Шпанија mg:Espaina ml:സ്പെയിൻ mt:Spanja mi:Pāniora mr:स्पेन xmf:ესპანეთი arz:اسبانيا mzn:ایسپانیا ms:Sepanyol mwl:Spanha mn:Испани my:စပိန်နိုင်ငံ nah:Caxtillān na:Pain nl:Spanje nds-nl:Spanje ne:स्पेन new:स्पेन ja:スペイン nap:Spagna ce:Испани frr:Spaanien pih:Spain no:Spania nn:Spania nrm:Espangne nov:Spania oc:Espanha mhr:Испаний uz:Ispaniya pnb:سپین pap:Spaña ps:اسپانیا koi:Эспання km:អេស្ប៉ាញ pcd:Éspaingne pms:Spagna tpi:Spen nds:Spanien pl:Hiszpania pnt:Ισπανία pt:Espanha kaa:İspaniya crh:İspaniya ty:Paniora ro:Spania rmy:Spaniya rm:Spagna qu:Ispaña rue:Іспанія ru:Испания sah:Испания se:Spánia sm:Spania sa:स्पेन् sc:Ispagna sco:Spain stq:Spanien st:Spain sq:Spanja scn:Spagna simple:Spain ss:Sipeyini sk:Španielsko sl:Španija cu:Їспанїꙗ szl:Szpańijo so:Isbania ckb:ئیسپانیا srn:Spanyorokondre sr:Шпанија sh:Španija su:Spanyol fi:Espanja sv:Spanien tl:Espanya ta:எசுப்பானியா kab:Spanya roa-tara:Spagne tt:Испания te:స్పెయిన్ tet:España th:ประเทศสเปน tg:Испониё to:Sepeni chr:ᏍᏆᏂ tr:İspanya tk:Ispaniýa udm:Испания bug:Spanyol uk:Іспанія ur:ہسپانیہ ug:Ispaniye za:Sihbanhyaz vec:Spagna vi:Tây Ban Nha vo:Spanyän fiu-vro:Hispaania wa:Espagne zh-classical:西班牙 vls:Spanje war:Espanya wo:Ispaañ wuu:西班牙 ts:Spaniya yi:שפאניע yo:Spéìn zh-yue:西班牙 diq:İspanya zea:Spanje bat-smg:Ėspanėjė zh:西班牙

Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1585) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a ''rodelero'' under Cortés.

Early life

Bernal Díaz del Castillo was born 1492 in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a poor family and received little education. He sailed to Tierra Firme with the expedition led by Pedrarias Davila in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Many of the settlers had been sickened or killed by an epidemic, and there was political unrest.

Expedition to Yucatán

He later sailed to Cuba, where he was promised a grant of Indian slaves (as a part of the Encomienda system). That promise was never fulfilled, leading Díaz, in 1517, to join an expedition being organized by a group of about 110 fellow settlers, and similarly disaffected Spaniards, from Tierra Firme. They chose Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a wealthy Cuban landowner, to lead the expedition. It was a difficult venture and although they discovered the Yucatán coast, they later returned to Cuba in ruins.

Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán the following year, in an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés.

Conquest of Mexico

In this third effort, Díaz took part in the campaigns against the Aztec. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his fellow soldiers about their experiences, collecting them into a narrative. The book that resulted from this was ''Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España'' (). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he participated, culminating in the defeat of the Aztecs in 1521. In the book, Castillo describes the Conquest of the Aztecs, in which he describes the Indoamerican cultures predominant in Mexico at that time. He also gives accounts of the human sacrifices, cannibalism and idolatry that he witnessed first hand.

Governor of Antigua Guatemala and later life and death

As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He finished writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, a work he had begun (probably in the mid-1550s) in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the ''Historia Verdadera'' ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.

Díaz died in 1585, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, told from the perspective of a common soldier.

Notes

References

: |year=1963 |origyear=1632 |title=The Conquest of New Spain |edition=6th printing (1973)|others=J. M. Cohen (trans.) |series=Penguin Classics|publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, England|isbn=0-14-044123-9 |oclc=162351797}}

: |year=2005 |origyear=1632 |title=Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España |others=Felipe Castro Gutiérrez (Introduction) |publisher=Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A. |location=Mexico |isbn=968-15-0863-7 |oclc=34997012}}

: |year=2005 |title=Reseñas: Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (Manuscrito Guatemala) |url=http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/historia_novo/ehn33/EHNO3304.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Estudios de Historia Novohispana |volume=33 |pages=pp.175–183 |issn=0425-3574}}

: |authorlink=William H. Prescott |year=1843 |title=History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html |format=online reproduction, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |oclc=2458166}}

: |authorlink=Robert Anderson Wilson|year=1859 |title=A New History of the Conquest of Mexico: In which Las Casas' denunciations of the popular historians of that war are fully vindicated |location=Philadelphia, PA |publisher=James Challen & Son |oclc=9642461}}

External links

''La Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España''

Category:Spanish conquistadors Category:Spanish historians Category:People of New Spain Category:Colonial Mexico Category:Encomenderos Category:Aztec history Category:History of the Yucatán Peninsula Category:16th-century Spanish people Category:16th-century writers Category:1496 births Category:1584 deaths

ca:Bernal Díaz del Castillo cs:Bernal Díaz del Castillo de:Bernal Díaz del Castillo es:Bernal Díaz del Castillo eo:Bernal Díaz Del Castillo fr:Bernal Díaz del Castillo id:Bernal Díaz del Castillo it:Bernal Díaz del Castillo lt:Bernal Díaz del Castillo nl:Bernal Díaz ja:ベルナル・ディアス・デル・カスティリョ pl:Bernal Díaz del Castillo pt:Bernal Díaz del Castillo ro:Bernal Díaz del Castillo ru:Диас дель Кастильо, Берналь fi:Bernal Díaz del Castillo sv:Bernal Díaz del Castillo uk:Берналь Діас дель Кастільо zh:貝爾納爾·迪亞斯·德爾·卡斯蒂略

name	Enrique Iglesias
background	solo_singer
birth name	Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler
born	May 08, 1975Madrid, Spain
origin	Madrid, Spain
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	Pop, Latin pop, R&B;, Dance-pop, soft rock, alternative rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor, Producer, Model
associated acts	Wisin y Yandel, Pitbull, Ludacris
years active	1995-present| label Fonovisa, Interscope, Universal Music Latino, Universal Republic, Polydor
website	}}

Enrique Iglesias (born Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler; May 8, 1975) is a Spanish pop music singer. Iglesias started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa. This helped turn him into one of the most popular artists in Latin America and in the Hispanic American market in the United States, and the biggest seller of Spanish language albums of the 1990s. Before the turn of the millennium, he made a crossover into the mainstream English language market, signing a unique multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for an unprecedented US$48,000,000, with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope to release English albums. In 2010, he parted with Interscope and signed with another Universal Music Group label, Universal Republic.

Iglesias has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling Latin artists of all time.

Iglesias has had five ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top five singles, including two #1s, and holds the record for producing 22 number 1 Spanish-language singles on the ''Billboard''s Hot Latin Tracks. He has also had nine #1 songs on Billboard's Dance charts, more than any other single male artist. Altogether, Iglesias has amassed 53 #1 hits on the various Billboard charts. He has honorably been named as ''The King of Latin Pop'' and ''The King of Dance'' according to Billboard.

Early life

Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, and is the third and youngest child of singer Julio Iglesias and socialite and magazine journalist Isabel Preysler. His mother is a Filipina (of mainly Spanish ancestry) and his father is of Spanish ancestry from Galicia. His parents' marriage was annulled in 1979.

In 1985, Iglesias' grandfather, Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by the terrorist group ETA. For their safety, Enrique and his brother, Julio Iglesias, Jr., were sent to live with their father in Miami. He also lived in Belgrade, Serbia, for one year with his mother. As his father's career kept him on the road, the young Iglesias was raised by the family nanny. He attended Gulliver Preparatory School and went on to study business at the University of Miami.

Iglesias did not want his father to know about his plans for a musical career and did not want his famous surname to help advance his career. He borrowed money from his family nanny and he recorded a demo cassette tape which consisted of a Spanish song and two English songs. Approaching his father's former publicist, Fernan Martinez, the two promoted the songs under the stage name 'Enrique Martinez' with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala. Iglesias was signed by a record label called Fonovisa. After dropping out of college, he went to Toronto to record his first album.

Music career

1995–96: ''Enrique Iglesias''

On July 12,1995 , Iglesias released his first album titled ''Enrique Iglesias'', a collection of light rock ballads, including such mega-hits as "Si Tú Te Vas", "Experiencia Religiosa", and others. The record sold half a million copies in its first week, a rare accomplishment then for an album recorded in a language other than English.

His song " Por Amarte" was included in Televisa's telenovela ''Marisol'', but with a twist: instead of ''Por amarte daría mi vida'' (To love you, I'd give my life), the words were ''Por amarte Marisol, moriría'' (To love you, Marisol, I'd die). The CD also yielded Italian and Portuguese editions of the album, with most of the songs translated into those languages.

Five singles released from this album, such as "Por Amarte", "No Llores Por Mí", and "Trapecista" topped the Latin charts. The album went on to win Iglesias a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance.

1997–99: ''Vivir'' and ''Cosas Del Amor''

In 1997, Iglesias' star continued to rise with the release of ''Vivir'' (''To Live''), which put him up with other English language music superstars in sales for that year. The album also included a cover version of the Yazoo song "Only You", translated into Spanish as "Solo en Tí".

Insisting on stadiums, that summer, Enrique, backed by sidemen for Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, played to sold-out audiences in sixteen countries. Beginning the tour in Odessa, Texas the tour went on to three consecutive nights in Mexico's Plaza de Toros, two consecutive nights at Monterrey's Auditorio Coca Cola and two at the Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina to over 130,000 people as well as 19 arenas in the U.S.

Three singles released from ''Vivir'' ("Enamorado Por Primera Vez", "Sólo en Ti" and "Miente") topped the Latin singles chart as well as those in several Spanish-speaking countries. Along with his father and Luis Miguel, Iglesias was nominated for an American Music Award in the first-ever awarded category of Favorite Latin Artist. It was said beforehand that the elder Iglesias would walk out if he did not win the award. Iglesias lost out to his father, but did perform the song "Lluvia Cae" at the event.

In 1998, Iglesias released his third album, ''Cosas del Amor'' (''Things of Love''). Taking a more mature musical direction, the album, aided by the popular singles "Esperanza" and "Nunca Te Olvidaré", both of which topped the Latin singles chart, helped cement his status in the Latin music scene.

Iglesias did a short tour of smaller venues to accompany the release of the album, with one show being televised from Acapulco, Mexico. This was followed by a larger world tour of over eighty shows in even bigger venues. The ''Cosas del Amor'' Tour was the first ever concert tour sponsored by McDonald's.

He won an American Music Award in the category of Favorite Latin Artist against Ricky Martin and Los Tigres del Norte. The song "Nunca te Olvidaré" was also used as the theme music for a Spanish soap opera of the same name and he sang the song himself on the last episode of the series.

1999–2000: ''Enrique''

By 1999, Iglesias had begun a successful crossover career into the English language music market. Thanks to other successful crossover acts, most notably that of Ricky Martin and Selena, Latino artists and music had a great surge in popularity in mainstream music. Iglesias' contribution to the soundtrack of Will Smith's movie ''Wild Wild West'', "Bailamos" became a number one hit in the US.

After the success of "Bailamos", several mainstream record labels were eager to sign Enrique. Signing a multi-album deal after weeks of negotiations with Interscope, Iglesias recorded and released his first full CD in English, ''Enrique''. The pop album, with some Latin influences, took two months to complete and contained a duet with Whitney Houston called "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" and a cover of the Bruce Springsteen song "Sad Eyes". The album's third single, "Be With You", became his second number one.

The final single from the album was the song "You're My #1", re-recorded and released in selected territories as a duet with local acts – Alsou in Russia, Sandy & Junior in Brazil and Valen Hsu in Asia.

2001–02: ''Escape''

In 2001 Iglesias released the album ''Escape''. Where most of the Latin crossover acts of the previous year experienced some difficulty matching the record sales of their first English language albums, Iglesias actually went on to sell even more. The album's first single, "Hero", became a number one hit in the United Kingdom, and in many other countries. The entire album was co-written by Iglesias.

''Escape'' is his biggest commercial success to date. The singles "Escape" and "Don't Turn Off The Lights" became radio staples, fairing well and placing highly or topping various charts both in North America and elsewhere. A second edition of the album was released internationally and contained a new version of one of Enrique's favorite tracks, "Maybe", as well as a duet with Lionel Richie called "To Love a Woman".

Iglesias capitalized on the album's success with his "One-Night Stand World Tour" consisting of 50 sold-out shows in 16 countries. Including Radio City Music Hall and three consecutive nights in London's Royal Albert Hall, the tour ended with a big show at Stadium National Lia Manoliu in Bucharest, Romania. The concert launched MTV Romania, with the video for "Love to See You Cry" being the first to be shown on the channel.

The second leg of the tour, "Don't Turn Off The Lights", was completed in the summer of 2002, with two sold-out nights in Madison Square Garden and another two in Mexico's National Auditorium. The tour finished with a single show in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

2002–04: ''Quizás'' & ''7''

In 2002, Iglesias chose to release a fourth Spanish-language album titled ''Quizás'' (''Perhaps''). A more polished musical production than his previous Spanish albums and containing more introspective songs, the album's title track is a song about the strained relationship Iglesias has with his famous father.

The album debuted at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, the highest placement of a Spanish language album on the chart at the time. ''Quizás'' sold a million copies in a week, making it the fastest-selling album in Spanish in 5 years. The three singles released from the album all ended up topping the Latin chart, giving Iglesias a total of 16 number ones on the chart. He currently holds the record for the most number one singles on ''Billboard'''s Latin Chart. His last single from the album, "Para Que la Vida", reached a million spins on U.S. radio, the only Spanish language song to do so.

The video to the song "Quizás" was the first Spanish language music video to be added to the selection on MTV's popular show ''Total Request Live''. Iglesias performed the song on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', becoming the first to sing a Spanish song on the show, and opening doors for other artists such as Ricky Martin, Juanes and Jorge Drexler to perform their Spanish material. Iglesias included songs from ''Quizás'' in his "Don't Turn Off the Lights Tour", and the album went on to win a Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.

By 2003 Iglesias released his seventh album, which he called ''7'', the second to be co-written by Iglesias. Among its more 1980s-inspired material, it features the song "Roamer", which he wrote with his friend and longtime guitarist, Tony Bruno. The CD also contained the song "Be Yourself", a song about independence (the chorus talks about how Iglesias' own parents did not believe he'd ever succeed in his singing career). The first single was the song "Addicted", and was followed closely by a remix of the song "Not in Love", featuring Kelis.

With this album, Iglesias went on his biggest world tour to date. The highly publicised tour started with twelve shows in the United States ending with Iglesias playing at Houston Rodeo and continued on to several countries, most of which he'd never previously visited playing to sold-out arenas and stadiums in Australia, India, Egypt and Singapore before ending his tour in South Africa.

2007–08: ''Insomniac''

Iglesias released his new album ''Insomniac'' on June 12, 2007. The album was so named due to it being recorded mainly at night. The album contained a more contemporary pop style than that of previous albums. The album's highlights include "Push", with rapper Lil' Wayne, as well as "Ring My Bells", and a cover of Ringside's "Tired of Being Sorry".

The first single "Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" was released on April 10, 2007. It was the Iglesias's highest charting song on the Hot 100 since "Escape" it was also a hit throughout Europe peaking in the top 10 in many countries and the Spanish version entitled "Dímelo" was #1 on Hot Latin Tracks for 12 weeks becoming his second best performing song on that chart.

Iglesias followed up with the ballad "Somebody's Me", which was released as a single in the American continent. The song was played extensively on AC radio and peaked high on Billboard's Hot AC, where the Spanish version also performed well. In Europe, the second single was "Tired of Being Sorry", which performed well in many countries; he recorded a version of the song with French singer Nâdiya which was #1 in France for eleven weeks.

On July 4, Enrique Iglesias became the first Western artist to play a concert in Syria in three decades when he performed for a sold-out crowd of 10,000 in the capital city of Damascus and in the same week performed on Live Earth.

The Insomniac World Tour was launched at the Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa, the same venue he ended his last world Tour and took him to sold out arenas throughout Europe. It was his first arena tour of the UK with him playing venues such as Manchester's MEN Arena and Wembley Arena. The tour ended with Iglesias performing at newly opened L.A. Live. A second leg of the tour has taken him throughout Latin America from Mexico to Argentina.

A solo version of "Push" was added to the soundtrack of the movie ''Step Up 2 the Streets''. The song was regarded as the third single from the album. A music video was shot which features the film's lead actors. Despite never being officially added to radio the song has charted in several countries and is one of his most highly rated songs amongst fans.

Enrique's song "Can You Hear Me" has been chosen as the official song of the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament. He performed the song live at the June 29, 2008 final in Vienna, Austria. The song featured on a re-issue of the Insomniac album being released in certain countries.

2008–09: ''Greatest Hits Albums''

Enrique released a Spanish Greatest Hits album on March 25, 2008 which included his seventeen #1 songs on Hot Latin Tracks chart, plus two new songs. The first single was the song "Dónde Están Corazón", which is written by Argentine star Coti and became Iglesias's 18th #1 single on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard's Latin Album Charts and #18 on Billboards top 200 Album chart. It was Enrique's second Spanish Album to debut in the top 20 Billboards Top 200 Albums (''Quizás'' debuted at 12 in 2002). The album has been recently certified double platinum in the U.S.and in some Latin American countries.

The album's second single Lloro Por Ti had an official remix featuring Wisin y Yandel which also reached #1. Iglesias did a tour of the US. Beginning in Laredo, Texas and ending at the Izod Center in New Jersey he was accompanied though most of the tour with Bachata band Aventura who also performed "Lloro Por Ti" with him at the Premios Juventud.

Iglesias was a surprise performer at the Lo Nuestro Awards, opening the show with a medley of "Dónde Están Corazón" and "Dimelo". He also performed at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, where he received a special award.

After the success of his Spanish Greatest Hits compilation, Iglesias released a compilation of his English language hits on November 11. The album includes "Can You Hear Me" as well two new songs. The first single is entitled "Away" ft Sean Garrett and was followed by "Takin' Back My Love" ft Ciara.

The compilation includes English hit songs such as "Bailamos", "Hero", "Be With You", "Not In Love" and "Escape" which have topped the various Billboard Charts (two of which on Hot 100) as well as songs such as Rhythm Divine, Tired Of Being Sorry and Do You Know (The ping pong song) which have also topped charts in Europe.

After the successful collaboration with Nadiya Iglesias has recorded a second duet with her called "Miss You" which featured on a delux edition of the album.

The album debuted at #3 on The Official Uk Album Chart and sold over 80,000 copies in its first 2 weeks alone.

Enrique was the winner for two World Music Awards in the categories of "World's Best Selling Latin Performer" and "World's Best Selling Spanish Artist", in the ceremony held in Monaco on November 9, 2008.

2010–present: ''Euphoria''

On July 5, 2010, Iglesias released his ninth studio album, ''Euphoria'', his first work to be released under his new label, Universal Republic. The album is Iglesias's first bilingual album with seven original English songs and six original Spanish songs.

Iglesias worked with three producers whom he has worked with before; RedOne, Mark Taylor and Carlos Paucer. The album features collaborations with Akon, Usher, Nicole Scherzinger, Ludacris, Pitbull, Juan Luis Guerra and his third duet with Wisin y Yandel. In a joint venture with Universal Latino Iglesias will release different singles in both languages simultaneously to different formats.

The first English single from the album, "I Like It", which features the rapper Pitbull, was released on May 3, 2010 in the U.S. and became a success, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. After weeks on the chart, it reached to #1 on the Billboard Hot/Dance Club Play, making it Enrique's 7th number one song on that chart and also making him the male singer with most number-ones tying with Prince & Michael Jackson.

"Cuando Me Enamoro" was released as the lead Spanish single from the album. The song debuted at number 8 and number 25 on U.S Latin Pop Songs and U.S. Hot Latin Songs, respectively. The song became his 25th top 10 single on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs & after 4 weeks of its release date it became his 21st No.1 song on this chart. The song won and nominated for many Latin Song Of The Year category.

As of January 2011 "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" broke into the top 10 on the Billboard charts becoming no 4. The song was released only for digital download in the U.S., at first it was included on the French Limited Edition of ''Euphoria'' in late 2010, then was included on the New Edition of "Euphoria" in Europe and some Asian areas in 2011. The song peaked to #1 on the Billboard Hot/Dance Club Play chart, which became his 8th number one song on the chart, making him the only male single artist to have 8 number one songs on the chart, passing Prince and Michael Jackson. As of March 3, 2011 the song has peaked to #1 on the US Pop Songs Chart, marking it his first score on the chart. The song has also peaked to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay (Radio Songs). A remix version of "Dirty Dancer" was released as the sixth single, and "Ayer" serves as the seventh single.

On May 24, 2011, Iglesias revealed on Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he would be touring Australia as part of his “Euphoria” tour alongside Pitbull.

Songwriting, producing, and acting

Iglesias has collaborated with songwriter Guy Chambers to write "Un Nuovo Giorno", the lead single from Andrea Bocelli's first pop album. The song was later translated into English as "First Day of My Life" and recorded by Spice Girl Melanie C. The song has since gone to become a huge hit throughout Europe, and peaked in the number one spot in numerous countries. Iglesias also wrote the single "The Way" for American Idol runner up Clay Aiken. Four songs co-written by Iglesias appear on the UK band The Hollies' current album. Many times Iglesias has said that should he ever retire, he wants to write and produce songs for other artists. In 2010 Idol Allstars 2010 (Swedish Idol Series) released a song "All I Need Is You" co-written by Iglesias with Andreas Carlsson, Kalle Engström and Kristian Lundin. It went straight to I-Tunes #1.

In 2000, Iglesias co-produced an off Broadway musical called ''Four Guys Named Jose and Una Mujer Named Maria''. In the musical, four Americans of Latin heritage possess a common interest in music and meet and decide to put on a show. The show contained many references and allusions to many classic and contemporary Latin and pop songs by the likes of Carmen Miranda, Selena, Richie Valens, Santana, Ricky Martin and Iglesias himself.

Iglesias also developed an interest in acting, starring alongside Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp in the Robert Rodriguez film ''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'', in which he played the foul-mouthed gun-wielding Lorenzo. In 2007, he had guest starred in the TV comedy ''Two and a Half Men'' as a carpenter/handyman. He says that he would act again if given small roles that he could fit in between his musical commitments.

He also guest starred as Gael, an Argentinean guitar playing/surfer/massage therapist love interest on the CBS hit TV show ''How I Met Your Mother''.

Iglesias also played the part of an evil Roman emperor in an ambitious TV commercial for Pepsi, which sponsored his last world tour. He starred alongside Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Pink, who turn the tables on him in the commercial. He's also starred in commercials for Doritos and for Viceroy watches.

Personal life

Iglesias started dating Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova in late 2001 (she appeared in his video, "Escape"), and rumors that the couple had secretly married circulated in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny the status of her personal relationships. But in May 2007, Iglesias was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the ''New York Sun'' that he had no intention of marrying Kournikova and settling down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the ''Daily Star'' that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. In an interview with Graham Norton in 2010, Kournikova confirmed that she and Iglesias have been together for over eight years but have no plans to marry in the near future.

Discography

Studio albums

''Enrique Iglesias'' (1995)

''Vivir'' (1997)

''Cosas del Amor'' (1998)

''Enrique'' (1999)

''Escape'' (2001)

''Quizás'' (2002)

''7'' (2003)

''Insomniac'' (2007)

''Euphoria'' (2010)

Filmography

! Year	Film	Role	! Notes
1997		"Si Tu Te Vas"	soundtrack
1999	''Wild Wild West''	"Bailamos"	soundtrackNominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Song from a Movie.
	''I Love the New Millennium''		soundtrack
	"Hero"	soundtrack
	''Once Upon a Time in Mexico''	Lorenzo
	"Hero"	soundtrack
2005		Himself	Host
2006		"Hero"	soundtrack
	''America's Next Top Model, Cycle 9''	Himself	Special Guest
''Two and a Half Men''	Carpenter/Handyman	TV Guest
	Himself	Co-host
	Himself	Musical Guest
	''Step Up 2: The Streets''		soundtrack
		soundtrack
''Beverly Hills Chihuahua''	"Hero"	soundtrack
''Lady Godiva''	"Hero"	soundtrack
2009	''How I Met Your Mother''	"Gael"	TV Guest
2010	''Hot Tub Time Machine''	"Hero"	soundtrack

Awards and nominations

Enrique Iglesias is one of the most celebrated Latin Artists Of all time. He has won 16 Billboard Music Awards and 23 Billboard Latin Music Awards .He has won 5 American Music Awards ,1 Grammy and 1 Latin Grammy and 7 World Music Awards. He has also won an award for Best International Pop Act in MTV India Awards. He was also name "King Of Latin Pop". He has won 12 Premios Lo Nuestro Awards. In 2001, He was also awarded as Most Fashionable Artist in VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. He has also won an award for Most Successful Spanish Artist Of The Decade (Spanish Artist Of The Decade) at Premios Ondas in 2002.

Enrique and Blackouts Evan Fitzpatrick will be performing in Toronto September,29th. 2011 at the Air Canada Centre.

See also

list of Best Selling Latin Artist

List of best-selling music artists

List of best-selling singles worldwide

References

External links

Enrique Iglesias Official website

Interscope Records Official Site

Enrique Iglesias profile at NNDB

Category:1975 births Category:English-language singers * Category:Expatriates in Serbia Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Madrid Category:People from Miami, Florida Category:Spanish expatriates Category:Spanish emigrants to the United States Category:Spanish-language singers Category:Spanish male singers Category:Spanish people of Filipino descent Category:University of Miami alumni Category:Children of Entertainers

ar:إنريكي إغليسياس az:Enrike İqlesias bs:Enrique Iglesias bg:Енрике Иглесиас cs:Enrique Iglesias cy:Enrique Iglesias da:Enrique Iglesias de:Enrique Iglesias (Sänger) et:Enrique Iglesias el:Ενρίκε Ιγκλέσιας es:Enrique Iglesias eo:Enrique Iglesias fa:انریکه ایگلسیاس fr:Enrique Iglesias gl:Enrique Iglesias ko:엔리케 이글레시아스 hi:एनरिक इग्लेसियस hr:Enrique Iglesias id:Enrique Iglesias it:Enrique Iglesias he:אנריקה איגלסיאס kn:ಎನ್ರಿಕೆ ಇಗ್ಲೇಷಿಯಸ್ ka:ენრიკე იგლესიასი sw:Enrique Iglesias lv:Enrike Iglesiass lt:Enrique Iglesias hu:Enrique Iglesias mk:Енрике Иглесијас ml:എൻ‌റികെ ഇഗ്ലേസിയാസ് ms:Enrique Iglesias mrj:Иглесиас, Энрике nl:Enrique Iglesias ja:エンリケ・イグレシアス no:Enrique Iglesias uz:Enrique Iglesias pl:Enrique Iglesias pt:Enrique Iglesias ro:Enrique Iglesias ru:Иглесиас, Энрике sq:Enrique Iglesias simple:Enrique Iglesias sl:Enrique Iglesias sr:Енрике Иглесијас fi:Enrique Iglesias sv:Enrique Iglesias ta:என்றீக் இக்லெசியாசு th:เอนรีเก อีเกลเซียส tr:Enrique Iglesias uk:Енріке Іглесіас vi:Enrique Iglesias yi:ענריקע איגלעסיאס zh:安立奎·伊格萊西亞斯

name	Kid Cudi
background	solo_singer
birth name	Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi
birth date	January 30, 1984
birth place	Cleveland, Ohio, United States
genre	Hip hop, Alternative Hip Hop alternative rock, neo-psychedelia
occupation	Rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
years active	2006–present
label	GOOD Music, Universal Motown, Wicked Awesome
Associated acts	2 Be Continuum, Dot da Genius, Kanye West, Chip tha Ripper, Ratatat
website	kidcudi.com }}

Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape ''A Kid Named Cudi''. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs charts. "Day 'n' Nite" is part of Cudi's debut album ''Man on the Moon: The End of Day''. Kid Cudi has sold over 4.6 million digital singles and has worked with Kanye West, Common, David Guetta and other artists signed to the GOOD Music label.

Early life

Kid Cudi was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Shaker Heights and Solon. His father, a house painter, substitute teacher and World War II Air Force veteran was Mexican-Native American, while his mother, a middle-school choir teacher at Roxboro Middle School, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is African-American. When he was eleven years old, Mescudi's father died of cancer; his passing would have a significant effect on Mescudi's personality and subsequently his music. Mescudi attended Shaker Heights High School for two years, then transferred to Solon High School, and later earned his GED. Eventually, Mescudi studied film at the University of Toledo then dropped out after a year.

Music career

It was towards the end of high school that Mescudi first began rapping, inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He moved to Brooklyn in New York City to pursue a music career. In July 2008, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape, ''A Kid Named Cudi'', in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download. The mixtape quickly caught the attention of Kanye West, which in turn spawned his signing to GOOD Music later that year.

Kid Cudi was featured on Kanye West's 2008 album, ''808s & Heartbreak'', singing with West on the track "Welcome to Heartbreak", and helping with songwriting on "Heartless" and "Paranoid". "Welcome to Heartbreak" peaked at #87 on the Pop 100, and music videos for both songs have been released. Cudi was then tipped as an artist to watch for in medias such as ''Rolling Stone'', ''Vibe'', ''The Source'', ''XXL'' and BBC News's Sound of 2009 poll of up-and-coming acts. MTV News also reported on Cudi on a series of reports ''MCs To Watch In 2009''.

His first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg's MTV talk show ''Dogg After Dark'' performing "Day 'n' Nite" at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET's ''106 & Park'' with Kanye West to debut the video of "Day 'n' Nite". On March 16, 2009 Kid Cudi performed on mtvU's Spring Break special, and the next day he performed three songs on NBC's ''Last Call with Carson Daly''. He has also appeared as a musical guest on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' and ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!''.

Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for the song "T.O.N.Y." in February 2009, and later in The Black Eyed Peas' video for "I Gotta Feeling", with David Guetta. He has also been on two magazine covers, ''Complex'' (August/September 2009) and ''URB'' (August 2009). Bape awarded Cudi his own t-shirt in September 2009, in reward for his music and past employment there when living in New York City.

2009–present: ''Man on the Moon'' series

Cudi's debut album ''Man on the Moon: The End of Day'' was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album's first single was Day 'N' Nite, and is Kid Cudi's greatest commercial success thus far, the song charting well both in the U.S. and in Europe. The next single was "Make Her Say" (originally titled "I Poke Her Face"), which features a sample from Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face" and performances by Kanye West and Common.

On February 25, 2009, Cudi self-leaked a "teaser trailer" for the upcoming ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' film using his song "Sky Might Fall" in the background, later he posted that he made the trailer himself and now was in talks to possibly make it official.

With Emile Haynie, Cudi produced an exclusive single called "Switchin Lanes" for the video game ''Midnight Club: Los Angeles'', part of its "South Central Premium Upgrade" downloadable content (DLC) which came out March 19, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and March 27, 2009 for the Xbox 360.

He revealed information about his future plans via his blog, saying that a possible collaboration with Chip Tha Ripper could be followed with a collaboration project with electrorock duo Ratatat. During the summer of 2009, Cudi joined rapper Asher Roth for the Great Hangover concert tour. Kid Cudi featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album ''The Blueprint 3'', on the song "Already Home". In a recent interview, Cudi announced that the follow-up to his debut album will be a collaboration album called ''Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution''. He stated he has already recorded songs with Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker, Clipse, Cage and Pharrell and would also like to work with Drake, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Robin Thicke, The Killers and The Postal Service on the album. Also it's rumored that "Man On The Moon: The End Of Day" will be followed up by a sequel titled "Man On The Moon: The Ghost in the Machine" and that the ''Man on the Moon'' will be a trilogy, but has not been confirmed. Kid Cudi was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards for his singles, "Day 'n' Nite" and "Make Her Say". Kid Cudi was recently featured on Snoop Dogg's ''More Malice'' deluxe album, in the song "That Tree". Kid Cudi also teamed up with Johnny Polygon to remix Johnny's "Riot Song" which appears on Johnny's album, ''Rebel Without Applause'' On April 20, 2010, Kid Cudi announced that the name of his second album has been changed from ''Cudder and the Revolution of Evolution'' to ''Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager''. On June 11, 2010, Kid Cudi was arrested in the Chelsea neighborhood of the Manhattan borough New York City and charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance. Despite his arrest, he was released and made it to Manchester, Tennessee in time to play at Bonnaroo.

On June 30, "Erase me" featuring Kanye West was released through the radio. The song was produced by Jim Jonsin.

In October 2010, Cudi announced that he would be forming a rock band with Dot da Genius called Wizard. However, in early 2011, he announced that he would be making a new mixtape followed by a rock album.

In March 2011, Cudi announced that a music video for "Marijuana" will be released in the spring, followed by a music video of "Mr. Rager" in the summer of 2011. Also, the short film for "Maniac" directed by Shia LaBeouf will be released in October 2011.

In April 2011, while performing at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom Kid Cudi announced the new name for his label. The new label, which he will be releasing his third studio album on is called “Wicked Awesome Records”. He also announced the name of his new band, “2 Be Continuum” renaming it from the original Wizard. Kid Cudi explained the reason he changed the name of the band saying, “I needed something more original, something different, but it’s still wizardry at its finest”.

On August 12, 2011, Kid Cudi released the music video for "No One Believes Me", directed by Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. Although the song was recorded as a 2 Be Continuum song, the single was released under Kid Cudi's name. On August 21, Cudi announced that he is no longer releasing the mixtape ''A Man Named Scott'' so that he can focus on the 2 Be Continuum project ''Wizard'' and his third solo album ''Man on the Moon III''.

Acting career

Kid Cudi is currently starring in the new HBO comedy series ''How to Make it in America'', produced by Mark Wahlberg.

Discography

;Studio albums

''Man on the Moon: The End of Day'' (2009)

''Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager'' (2010)

''Man on the Moon III'' (Fall 2012)

;Collaboration albums ''WiZaRd'' (2011) – with 2 Be Continuum

;Mixtapes

''A Kid Named Cudi'' (2008)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:African American singers Category:American rappers of Mexican descent Category:Electro-hop musicians Category:American people of Native American descent Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:People from Solon, Ohio Category:Rappers from New York City Category:Rappers from Ohio Category:University of Toledo alumni Category:Wonky Pop acts Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio

cs:Kid Cudi da:Kid Cudi de:Kid Cudi es:Kid Cudi fa:کید کادی fr:Kid Cudi gl:Kid Cudi ko:키드 커디 hr:Kid Cudi it:Kid Cudi he:קיד קאדי lv:Kid Cudi hu:Kid Cudi nl:Kid Cudi ja:キッド・カディ pl:Kid Cudi pt:Kid Cudi ro:Kid Cudi ru:Кид Кади simple:Kid Cudi fi:Kid Cudi sv:Kid Cudi th:คิด คัดดี้ tr:Kid Cudi

name	Chick Corea
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Armando Anthony Corea
birth date	June 12, 1941
origin	Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.
instrument	Piano, keyboards, synthesizers, organ, vibraphone, drums
genre	Jazz, jazz fusion, post bop, Latin jazz, classical music, avant-garde jazz
occupation	Pianist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader
years active	1962–present
label	ECM, Polydor, Stretch, Warner Bros.
associated acts	Return to Forever, Five Peace Band, Chaka Khan
website
notable instruments	}}

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (born June 12, 1941) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.

Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. He, along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett, have been described as some of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post-John Coltrane era.

His career has been driven by his will to operate as a free agent and compulsively explore different avenues of music making. This hunger has positioned him as an important catalyst in the world of serious, mainstream acoustic jazz, and he is one of the most influential and widely studied figures in the last 40 years.

Corea continued to pursue other collaborations and to explore various musical styles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He is also known for promoting and fundraising for a number of social issues, such as eradicating social illiteracy, and is a Scientologist.

Life and career

Youth

Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He is of Sicilian and Spanish descent. Armando's father, a jazz trumpet player who had led a Dixieland band in the Boston area in the 1930s and 1940s, introduced him to the piano at the age of four. Growing up surrounded by jazz music, he was influenced at an early age by bebop stars such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, and Lester Young. At eight Corea also took up drums, which would later influence his use of the piano as a percussion instrument.

Corea developed his piano skills by exploring music on his own. A notable influence was concert pianist Salvatore Sullo from whom Corea started taking lessons at age eight and who introduced him to classical music, helping spark his interest in musical composition. He also spent several years as a performer and soloist for The Knights of St. Rose, a Drum & Bugle Corp based in Chelsea.

Given a black tuxedo by his father, he started doing gigs when in high school. He enjoyed listening to Herb Pomeroy's band at the time, and had a trio which would play Horace Silver's music at a local jazz club.

He eventually decided to move to New York where he studied musical education for one month at Columbia University and six months at The Juilliard School. He quit after finding both disappointing, but liked the atmosphere of New York where the musical scene became the starting point for his professional career.

Early career

Corea's first major professional gig was with Cab Calloway. Corea started his professional career in the 1960s playing with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and Latin greats such as Herbie Mann, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaría. One of the earliest recordings of his playing is with Blue Mitchell's quintet on ''The Thing To Do''. This album features his composition "Chick's Tune", a clever retooling of "You Stepped Out of a Dream" that demonstrates the angular melodies and Latin-and-swing rhythms that characterize, in part, Corea's personal style. (Incidentally, the same tune features a drum solo by a very young Al Foster.)

His first album as a leader was ''Tones for Joan's Bones'' in 1966, two years before the release of his album ''Now He Sings, Now He Sobs'', with Roy Haynes on drums and Miroslav Vitouš on bass.

He made another sideman appearance with Stan Getz on 1967's ''Sweet Rain'' (Verve Records).

Avant garde period

From 1968 to 1971 Chick Corea had associations with avant garde players and his solo style revealed a dissonant, avant garde orientation. His avant garde playing can be heard on his solo works of the period, his solos in live recordings under the leadership of Miles Davis, his recordings with Circle, and his playing on Joe Farrell's ''Song of the Wind'' album on CTI Records.

In September 1968 Corea replaced Herbie Hancock in the piano chair in Davis' band and appeared on landmark albums such as ''Filles de Kilimanjaro'', ''In a Silent Way'', and ''Bitches Brew''. In concert, Davis' rhythm section of Corea, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette combined elements of free jazz improvisation and rock music. Corea experimented using electric instruments with the Davis band, mainly the Fender Rhodes electric piano.

In live performance he frequently processed the output of his electric piano with a device called a ring modulator, producing sounds reminiscent of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Using this style, he appeared on multiple Davis albums, including ''Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West'' and ''Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East.'' His live performances with the Miles Davis band continued into 1970, with a great touring band of Steven Grossman, tenor sax, Keith Jarrett, additional electric piano and organ, Jack DeJohnette, drums, Dave Holland, bass, Airto Moreira, percussion, and Miles on trumpet.

Holland and Corea left to form their own group, Circle, active between 1970 and 1971. This free jazz group featured multi-reed player Anthony Braxton and drummer Barry Altschul. This band was documented on Blue Note and ECM. Aside from soloing in an atonal style, Corea sometimes reached in the body of the piano and plucked the strings. In 1971 or 1972 Corea struck out on his own.

The concept of communication with an audience became a big thing for me at the time. The reason I was using that concept so much at that point in my life – in 1968, 1969 or so – was because it was a discovery for me. I grew up kind of only thinking how much fun it was to tinkle on the piano and not noticing that what I did had an effect on others. I did not even think about a relationship to an audience, really, until way later.

Jazz fusion

In the early 1970s Corea took a profound stylistic turn from avant garde playing to a crossover jazz fusion style that incorporated Latin jazz elements. He founded Return to Forever in 1971. This band had a fusion sound and even though it relied on electronic instrumentation it drew more on Brazilian and Spanish-American musical styles than on rock music. On its first two records, Return to Forever featured Flora Purim's vocals, the Fender Rhodes electric piano, and Joe Farrell's flute and soprano saxophone. Airto Moreira played drums. Corea's compositions for this group often had a Brazilian tinge. In 1972 Corea played many of the early ''Return to Forever'' songs in a group he put together for Stan Getz. This group, with Stanley Clarke on bass and Tony Williams on drums, recorded the Columbia label album ''Captain Marvel'' under Getz's name.

Only Clarke remained from the group's first lineup; Bill Connors played electric guitar and Lenny White played drums. No one replaced vocalist Purim. (Briefly, in 1977, Corea's wife, Gayle Moran, served as vocalist in the band.) In 1974 Al Di Meola joined the band, replacing Connors. In this second version of Return to Forever, Corea extended the use of synthesizers, particularly Moogs. The group released its final studio record in 1977. Thereafter, Corea focused on solo projects.

Corea's composition "Spain" first appeared on the 1972 Return to Forever album ''Light as a Feather''. This is probably his most popular piece, and it has been recorded by a variety of artists. There are also a variety of subsequent recordings by Corea himself in various contexts, including an arrangement for piano and symphony orchestra that appeared in 1999, and a collaborative piano and voice-as-instrument arrangement with Bobby McFerrin on the 1992 album ''Play''. Corea usually performs "Spain" with a prelude based on Joaquín Rodrigo's ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (1940), which earlier received a jazz orchestration on Miles Davis' and Gil Evans' "Sketches of Spain".

In 1976 he issued ''My Spanish Heart'', influenced by Latin American music and featuring vocalist Moran and electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.

The late Ana Mazzotti, a Brazilian jazz pianist and vocalist, dedicated what is perhaps her last ever recorded track, "Grand Chick", to Chick Corea. The song may be found on her "Ao Vivo Guaruja 1982" album. As Ana Mazzotti worked with Brazilian jazz fusion masters Azymuth in her first album, it was further testament to Chick Corea's influence in the genre.

Duet projects

In the 1970s Corea started working occasionally with vibraphonist Gary Burton, with whom he recorded several duet albums on ECM, including 1972's ''Crystal Silence''. They reunited in 2006 for a concert tour. A new record called ''The New Crystal Silence'' (which has received 3 nominations for the 51st Grammy Awards) was issued shortly into 2008. The package includes a disc of duets and another disc featuring the Sydney Symphony.

Later, toward the end of the 1970s, Corea embarked on a series of concerts and two albums with Herbie Hancock. These concerts were presented in elegant settings with both pianists formally dressed, and performing on Yamaha concert grand pianos. The two jazz greats traded playing each other's compositions, as well as pieces by other composers such as Béla Bartók.

In December 2007 Corea recorded a duet album, ''The Enchantment'', with banjoist Bela Fleck. Fleck and Corea toured extensively behind the album in 2007. Fleck was nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category at the 49th Grammy Awards for the track "Spectacle."

In 2008 Corea collaborated with Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara on the live album ''Duet (Chick Corea and Hiromi)''. The duo played a concert at Tokyo's Budokan arena on April 30.

Later work

Corea's other bands include the Elektric Band, the Akoustic Band, and Origin.

The Akoustic Band released a self-titled album in 1989, and featured John Patitucci on bass and Dave Weckl on drums. It marked a turn back toward traditional jazz in Corea's career, and the bulk of his subsequent recordings have been acoustic ones. The Akoustic Band also provided the music for the 1986 Pixar short Luxo Jr. with their song ''The Game Maker''.

In 1992 Corea started his own record label, Stretch Records.

In 2001 the Chick Corea New Trio, with Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard on bass and drums, respectively, released the album ''Past, Present & Futures''. The 11-song album includes only one standard composition (Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"). The rest of the tunes are Corea originals.

He also participated in 1998's ''Like Minds'', which features Gary Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums.

Recent years have also seen Corea's rising interest in contemporary classical music. He composed his first piano concerto – and an adaptation of his signature piece, ''Spain'' for a full symphony orchestra – and performed it in 1999 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Five years later he composed his first work not to feature any keyboards: His ''String Quartet No. 1'', specifically written for and performed by the highly acclaimed Orion String Quartet on 2004's Summerfest.

Corea has continued releasing jazz fusion concept albums such as ''To the Stars'' (2004) and ''Ultimate Adventure'' (2006). The latter album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

In 2008 the second version of Return to Forever (Corea, keyboards; Stanley Clarke, bass; Lenny White, drums; Al Di Meola, guitar) reunited for a worldwide tour. The reunion received positive reviews from most jazz and mainstream publications. Most of the group's studio recordings were re-released on the compilation ''Return to Forever: The Anthology'' to coincide with the tour. A concert DVD recorded during their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released in May 2009. He is recently working on a collaboration CD with the Grammy Award winning jazz vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, due to be released in August 2009.

A new group, the 5 Peace Band, which features Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin began a world tour in October 2008. Corea previously worked with McLaughlin in Miles Davis' late-1960s bands, including the group that recorded Davis' album ''Bitches Brew''. Joining Corea and McLaughlin in the 5 Peace Band are saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and bassist Christian McBride. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta played with the band in Europe and on select North American dates; Brian Blade played all dates in Asia and Australia, and most dates in North America.

Scientology

Corea claims that Scientology has helped deepen his relationships with others, and helped him find a renewed path. Under the "special thanks" notes, found in all of his later albums, Corea mentions that L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, has been a continual source of inspiration. In 1968 Corea discovered ''Dianetics'', Hubbard's principal work, and in the early 1970s developed an interest in Hubbard's science fiction novels. The two exchanged letters until Hubbard's death in 1986, and Corea even had three guest appearances on Hubbard's 1982 album ''Space Jazz: The Soundtrack of the Book Battlefield Earth'', noting, "[Hubbard] was a great composer and keyboard player as well. He did many, many things. He was a true Renaissance Man."

Corea claimed that Scientology became a profound influence on his musical direction in the early 1970s:

:''I no longer wanted to satisfy myself. I really want to connect with the world and make my music mean something to people.''

Due to Corea’s religious affiliation, he was banned from performing in a concert to be held in Stuttgart, Germany, on Aug 15, 1993. Members of U.S. Congress sent letters to the German government concerning a violation of basic human rights that are upheld by the German Constitution. The ban was not upheld and in later years Corea performed in festivals in Germany, including several times at the government-supported International Jazz Festival in Burghausen where was awarded with a plaque in Burghausen's "Street of Fame" in 2011.

In 1998 Chick Corea and fellow entertainers Anne Archer, Isaac Hayes, and Haywood Nelson attended the 30th anniversary of ''Freedom Magazine'', the Church of Scientology's investigative news journal, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to honor 11 human rights activists.

Discography

Awards

Over the years, he has been nominated for 51 Grammy Awards out of which he has won 15: !Year

|	Award	Album/song
Grammy Awards of 1976	1976		''No Mystery'' (with Return to Forever)
		''In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979'' (with Gary Burton)
		''Akoustic Band'' (with Akoustic Band)
		"Rhumbata", ''Native Sense'' (with Gary Burton)
		Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group>Best jazz instrumental performance
		"Spain for Sextet & Orchestra", ''Corea.Concerto''
		"Matrix"
		"The Ultimate Adventure"
		''The New Crystal Silence'' (with Gary Burton)

His 1968 album ''Now He Sings, Now He Sobs'' was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 2010, he was named ''doctor honoris causa'' at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

See also

Jazz fusion

Miles Davis

''Bitches Brew''

Analog synthesizer

Chelsea, Massachusetts

References

External links

Official site

Official discography

Jazzreview.com biography

An Interview with Chick Corea by Bob Rosenbaum, July 1974 (PDF file) 'You put these notes together and you come out with that sound, and isn’t it beautiful. So what? What does it do to another person? What does it do to your neighborhood?'

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Post-bop pianists Category:Jazz fusion pianists Category:American jazz pianists Category:American Scientologists Category:Crossover (music) Category:American jazz composers Category:Miles Davis Category:People from Suffolk County, Massachusetts Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:Return to Forever members Category:Keytarists Category:GRP Records artists Category:ECM artists Category:American jazz musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Sicilian descent

bg:Чък Кърия ca:Chick Corea cs:Chick Corea da:Chick Corea de:Chick Corea es:Chick Corea eo:Chick Corea fa:چیک کوریا fr:Chick Corea gl:Chick Corea io:Chick Corea id:Chick Corea it:Chick Corea he:צ'יק קוריאה ka:ჩიკ კორია sw:Chick Corea hu:Chick Corea nl:Chick Corea ja:チック・コリア no:Chick Corea nn:Chick Corea oc:Chick Corea pl:Chick Corea pt:Chick Corea ro:Chick Corea ru:Кориа, Чик simple:Chick Corea sk:Chick Corea sr:Чик Корија fi:Chick Corea sv:Chick Corea th:ชิค คอเรีย tr:Chick Corea uk:Чік Коріа