One of the oldest European monarchies, one of the most beautiful countries in modern Europe, Spain can please both a lover of cultural tourism and a student looking for new experiences. She will also delight a fan of outdoor activities and natural attractions. Interesting facts about Spain, whose traditions go back to the time of the Roman Empire, are popular among lovers of antiquity.
One language in twenty-nine countries
Based on the fact that language is one of the most important components of any culture, we can safely say that Spain became the ancestor of national cultures in more than twenty-nine countries where the Spanish language is recognized as official.
The most important interesting fact about Spain is that the national language of the country appeared in the medieval kingdom of Castile, which occupied the central part of the Iberian Peninsula, and quickly spread throughout the world along with the Spanish conquistadors, discovering new lands for their king.
Active Spanish colonization has led to the fact that ninety percent of Hispanic people live today in the Western Hemisphere. For example, in Mexico, where Spanish is the official language, one hundred nine million people live, while in Spain itself there are forty-seven million.
Interesting facts about Spain: briefly
Despite the widespread distribution of the Spanish language throughout the world, Spain itself is not so uniform in linguistic terms. And here, to the interesting facts about Spain, it is worth adding that the state speaks eight languages, which include: Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Aragonese, Aran, Asturian, Basque and Valencia, which some linguists consider only an adverb of the Catalan language.
Today, very few inhabitants of the country speak small national languages, since during the time of Franco a policy of forced assimilation of national minorities was carried out. However, in the late eighties, attempts were made to revive some of the national languages, and newspapers and radio stations broadcasting in Catalan and Aragonese began to be created for this.
Basque Country
Telling interesting and unusual facts about Spain, one cannot fail to mention the fact that separatist tendencies are extremely strong in the country. For example, in the Basque country there is a nationalist party whose main task is to separate the region from the rest of the kingdom.
Basque nationalists, dissatisfied with the autonomous status of their region, have more than once committed terrorist attacks on state institutions in Spain, but have never achieved independence. The territory of the small nation is still controlled by Spain.
Interesting facts about the Basque country are popular among lovers of European history and philology, because the national language of this historical region not only does not belong to the Romance languages, but does not even belong to the group of Indo-European languages, which makes it unique and mysterious.
One of the oldest monarchies
The list of interesting facts about Spain cannot do without the story of the royal dynasty, which has ruled Spain since the XVlll century. It may seem that this is a very short time for European monarchies, but it should be taken into account that we are talking about the Bourbon dynasty, which has been known in Europe since the Xlll century.
This is one of the oldest royal dynasties, which dates back to the Capetian family, a dynasty that made a huge contribution to the creation of French statehood. For more than a thousand years of history, the dynasty ruled in France, Sicily, Naples and Spain. And since 1964, representatives of the dynasty gained power over the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Thus, we can talk about the kinship between the rulers of Spain and Luxembourg.
Empire Shards
Once, one of the greatest empires in the history of mankind ceased to exist, but left a legacy around the world in its memory. From Mexico to the Philippines, you can find beautifully preserved examples of colonial architecture. Churches, ports and fortresses built during the heyday of Spanish power still serve people.
Although the time of colonial empires is a thing of the past, Spain still continues to control some territories not located on the European continent. First of all, we are talking about the Canary Islands, lying in the Atlantic Ocean and remote from Africa, at most, a hundred kilometers.
However, there are more interesting cases. For example, in the Kingdom of Morocco, Spain still owns two territories. Ceuta and Melilla have a special status and are very important for Spanish statehood. They serve as a kind of reminder of past greatness, and the Spaniards in no way want to part with them, although this creates some problems.
Ceuta and Melilla. European borderland
An autonomous city within the Kingdom of Spain is located in Africa and on the one hand borders the Kingdom of Morocco, and on the other it is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Such an unusual geographical position of the 85 thousandth city requires a special management system. And this is an extremely interesting fact about Spain and its relations with Morocco, which, due to the special proximity of the two countries, are very important for the entire European Union.
When it comes to relations between Spain and Morocco, the first question is raised about illegal migration from Africa to Europe. In order to prevent migrants from entering Ceuta, a special wall was built, and border and passport controls operate in the port of the city.
Approximately the same border rules apply to the territory of another semi-enclave of Spain - the port city of Melilla, founded in the Vl century BC. e. Phoenicians. For a long time the city was under the control of the Carthaginians, then it came under the power of the Roman Empire, and today it is the border city of the European Union, so desired for numerous refugees from Africa.
What else do we not know about this country
In the next 2 sections, we will present 10 interesting facts about Spain.
Fact number one: no matter how strange it may seem, but Spain has a common land border with Britain. This is possible due to the fact that at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula there is a British colony - Gibraltar, which serves as the cause of many years of disputes between the two countries.
The second fact: Spain is a multinational country whose inhabitants speak eight languages, and some regions of the country have achieved independence for many decades. Catalonia and the Basque Country demand full sovereignty and insist on holding a referendum on independence.
The third interesting fact can be considered that the country is ruled by the most ancient royal dynasty of Europe, and its kings are related to other royal people.
