Spain has many different
faces and is one of the most visited countries in Europe. Beautiful
beaches, cultural richness, excellent food, dramatic contrasts
in people, landscape and culture are only a few excitements
that makes so many visitors come to enjoy Spain. Also it is
one of the more affordable countries in Europe. StudyGlobal
offers more language programs in Spain than in any other country,
because of the many different faces Spain has to offer. Madrid,
Barcelona, Sevilla, Alicante, Granada and Almuñecar give
you the opportunity to pick the location in Spain that fits
your needs the best. Carefully review all programs and locations
before you make your decision. But don't worry no matter where
you choose to go, you can never go wrong with Spain. Please
email us about our combination
programs between Madrid, Cadiz, Alicante or the combination
Granada and Almuñecar.
Spain, together with
Portugal, forms the westernmost of the three major peninsulas
of southern Europe, an enormous octagonal promontory, at the
extreme southwest of the continent. It is situated in a temperate
area, between latitudes 43 47' 24''N. (Estaca de Bares) and
36 00' '3'' S. (Punta de Tarifa) and between longitudes 7 00'
29'' E. (Cabo de Creus) and 5 36' 40'' W. (Cabo Tourinan). Out
of a total of 580,825 square kilometres, Espagne occupies four
fifths of the Peninsula. It borders to the North on the Bay
of Biscay, France and Andorra; to the East, on the Mediterranean;
to the South, on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and to
the West on the Atlantic and Portugal.
Ancient historians
gave Spain different names in the remote past. For some it was
Ophiusa, for others Edetania, Sacania, Tartessos, Hesperia.
It was the Romans who hit on the name of Hispania, a word which
is apparently of Phoenician origin, derived from shepham which
probably means 'coast or island of rabbits'. Professor Garcia
y Bellido believes that the name of Hispania dates from two
centuries B.C. Strabo considered the terms Iberia and Hispania
to be synonymous. 'The Romans have called this whole region',
he wrote, 'Iberia or Hispania, dividing it into two parts, Ulterior
and Citerior, and reserving the right to change them yet again,
should circumstances call for a further administrative division'
(subsequently the division would be Baetica, Lusitania and Tarraconense).
Peninsular Spain has a total area of 493,486 sq kilometres,
to which must be added 4,992 sq km for the Balearics, 7,447
for the Canary archipelago and 32 for the Spanish towns situated
in North Africa: Ceuta, with 18 sq km, and Melilla, with 14
sq km.
The perimeter of peninsular
Spain totals 5,849 kilometres. Of this distance, 3,904 are coastline
and 1,945 land frontiers. The French and Andorran frontier account
for 712 kilometres; the Portuguese frontier extends for 1,232
kilometres, while the border with Gibraltar is just a kilometre.
The most important part of insular Spain is the Balearic and
Canary archipelagoes. The first of these, situated at one side
of the Peninsula, in the western Mediterranean, consists of
the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera
and other similar ones, while the Canary Islands to the south
in the Atlantic, off the African coast, comprise Lanzarote,
Ferteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera, Palma, Hierro
and a few islets.
Population
The population estimated
to July 2001 was 40,037,995.
Language
Spanish is the official
language of Spain. There are several regional dialects of Spanish.
Dialects can include Catalan, which is usually spoken in eastern
Spain, and Gallegos, which is popular in the northwest. Each
dialect has different pronunciations and spellings. Additionally,
the native language of the Basque region is called Euskera.
It is not a form of Spanish, and its origins are unknown.
Spain is exactly one
hour behind of Greenwich Mean Time
Climate
Although Spain lies
in the temperate zone, its rugged relief gives rise to a great
diversity of climates. The Cantabrian mountains mark the first
well-defined climatological dividing zone. To the north of this
range, i.e. in the narrow northern strip, where the Basque Country,
Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia are situated, lies what we may
call rainy Spain, with a maritime climate par excellence, with
only slight variations in temperature, mild winters and cool
summers, an almost constantly cloudy sky and frequent rainfall,
although less so during the summer. This climate, which is typical
of western Europe, favours a northern European type of vegetation.
To the south of the Cantabrian range lies dry Spain, which has
extremely varied climates, always characterized by scarce rainfall
and a pitiless burning sun in an intensely blue sky, occasionally
crossed by short-lived, fierce local thunderstorms. In terms
of surface area, rainy Spain accounts for about a third of the
country, while the other two thirds make up dry Spain.
Economy
Spain's mixed capitalist
economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 80% that
of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right
government successfully worked to gain admission to the first
group of countries launching the European single currency on
the 1st of January 1999. The Aznar administration has continued
to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation
of the economy and has introduced some tax reforms to that end.
Unemployment has been steadily falling under the Aznar administration
but remains the highest in the EU at 14%. The government intends
to make further progress in changing labor laws and reforming
pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of both
Spain's internal economic advances and its competitiveness in
a single currency area. Adjusting to the monetary and other
economic policies of an integrated Europe - and further reducing
unemployment - will pose challenges to Spain in the next few
years.
While most people have heard of tapas, and they're
available in most Spanish bars, it's not always clear to everyone
how to go about finding and ordering them. Part of the problem
is that the word tapas usually doesn't appear on menus or billboards,
and that many bars don't adhere to the real tradition of tapas.
The word tapas comes from the Spanish verb 'tapar' (which means
to cover). A tapa was meant as a free snack to be placed on
top of a drink to keep flies and other what-nots out. While
many bars in Madrid provide a tapa with a glass of beer or wine
(which in some cases is delicious and in others hardly worth
eating), it's by no means the norm. More typically, going out
for tapas implies ordering a plate of food called a ración,
if it is to be shared among a few people, or a perhaps a canapé,
which is something on a small piece of bread. Also common in
tapas bars are bocadillos (or bocatas) which are sandwiches
made with a bread roll or baguette.
Just about any manner of Spanish food comes in the form of tapas,
and as such it's a very good way to go about trying the huge
variety of Spanish dishes. Don't worry if you don't understand
the menu, most tapas bars have their goods on display at the
bar so you can simply point at what looks appealing to you.
"La tapa" so as to be considered, has to be eaten
between main meals as food that allows the body to hold until
lunch or dinnertime.
Some authors assure that „the tapa" was born when,
and due to an illness, the Spanish king Alfonso the 10th, the
Wise, had to take small bites of food with some wine between
meals. Once recovered from the disease, the wise king ordered
that in all inns of Castile's land, wine was not to be served
if not with something to eat. This royal providence has to be
considered convenient and wise in order to avoid the alcoholic
disturbances in the body to the ones that drunk the wine, those
that, hadn't enough money to pay themselves mostly a regular
and full of proteins appropriate meal. The story of the royal
disease can be left apart if we rather consider the theory that
„the tapa" first appeared, because of the need of
farmers and workers of other unions to take a small amount of
food during their working time, that allowed them to continue
the job until the main meal's time.
Au début
