General Information about Spain

General Information about Spain

Spain is a country in the southwest of Europe. Its official name is the Kingdom of Spain and its capital is Madrid. Its adjacent to France and Andorra in North, to Gibraltar and Morocco in South. It also has maritime boundary with Mediterranean Sea in east and with Atlantic Ocean in west and north.

Its area is about 500,000 km² which is governed by kingdom government and Juan Carlos is its king at present. Its biggest city is Madrid. Their official language is Spanish and their official currency is Euro. Spain is the biggest producer of olive oil in the whole world.

Spanish language or Espanyol language (which will be called as Castile language, too) is among Roman language family and is among the most spoken languages in the world. Most references define this language as the fourth most spoken language in the world, whereas some introduce it as the second and third most spoken language due to the large population of Spanish-language people in South America and the growth of speaking it in U.S.A.

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Spains Provinces

Spain is divided to fifty provinces, except self-governing provinces. In past the provinces were more important, however since coming self-governing sections system, they have less power. Most provinces are named according to the name of their capital except Alava, Asturias, Biscay, Cantabria, Guipuscoa, Balearic Islands, La Rioja, and Navarra.

The seven self-governing sections are included in one province: Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarra.

The following table shows the list of Spains provinces, their capitals, the self-governing section which the province is placed in it, and their countries and rural districts.

Economy

Among the most important agricultural products of Spain, in Castile and Andalusia and Aravan, wheat; in Abroo Rivers Delta, grain, corn and rice; and potato, sugar beet, cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, and all types of fruits especially Grapes can be named. The most important mineral products of the country are coal stone in Spains North-Western, Asturias, Catalonia, and Andalusia; Iron around port cities Bilbao, Santander, and Barcelona; Copper, Lead, Zinc, Mercury, Nickel, Sulfur, Silver, and Salt can also be found. Among the most important industries of Spain Metalworking, Weaponry, Glass working, Cigarettes making, chemical Industries and Textile Industries can be named. It can be mentioned that these industries are mostly centralized in Asturias, Catalonia, and Aragon. Animal Husbandry and Pastoralist is very common in North-Western areas which have the Atlantic Oceans Humidity and cow is very important in these areas. In addition to normal cows, special types of cow named (Torero) will be treated for bullfighting, too. Treating pigs and fishing is very important in all beaches. Among the most important importing products of Spain Oil, Medicines, Industrial Machines and Vehicles can be named. The greatest portion of the countrys exporting includes ore stones, iron and steel, fruits, olive oil and canned fish. Among other high income industries of Spain, the Tourism industry can be named which is indebted to the special geographical and historical situation of this country. Very beautiful perspectives, palaces, castles, centers of Islamic period in Madrid, Barcelona, Cordoba and Andalusia have been always the factor for attracting many tourists. Moreover, holding bullfighting champions in one side, ad classic dance and music (Arabic – Spanish) in another side created special attractions for tourists.

Spains Rural Districts

 Rural districts are the smallest part in Spains division. Now it has 8108 rural districts. Each rural district is a part of a province and each province is a part of one 17 self-governing communities.

According to the decision made by self-governing parliament, each self-governing community can be divided to some cities. Each city has an average of 5300 population but the changes domain is very large. The most populated rural district in Spain is Madrid City with about 4 million people. While there are many rural districts which have a population of less than 10.00. The area of rural districts is usually between 2 to 40 km², while some rural districts have an area of 400 km².

The following table shows ten most populated rural districts of Spain. (The population is approximated by 2008 census).