1.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
2.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process 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, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
3.
Antena 3 (Spain)
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Antena 3 is a Spanish terrestrial television channel owned by Atresmedia which also owns Onda Cero, one of Spains most listened to radio stations. Some of the most popular programmes broadcast by Antena 3 include Aquí no hay quien viva, Física o Química, El Barco, Los Protegidos, Los Simpson and El Internado. Some of its programmes, such as Física o Química and Tu cara me suena gained international success, Antena 3 is listed as the third channel on television sets throughout Spain, except certain autonomous communities where the autonomous television station occupies channel 3. Its current headquarters are located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, the biggest winners for the channel are The Simpsons, Velvet, DEC, El Diario and the Noticias. Farmacia de Guardia, Menudo es mi padre, Nada es para siempre, Aquí no hay quien viva, Antena 3 Internacional is another channel owned by Grupo Antena 3, with distribution handled by MVS Comunicaciones. The channel serves the Americas and the Caribbean, Antena 3 Internacional was founded in 1995. The pictures in fact showed bodies of victims of a homicide in Casablanca. The Rachidi family whose relatives photos have been misused in bad faith is still awaiting for a public apology from Antena 3
4.
Cadena COPE
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COPE, an acronym for Cadena de Ondas Populares Españolas formerly called Radio Popular, is a Spanish radio station. It is the second most played in Spain generalist radio, the station is associated with the Spanish journal Diario ABC. Its editorial guideline is the promotion of the views of the hierarchy of the Spanish Catholic Church, rádio Renascença Cadena COPE Official Website
5.
New7Wonders of the World
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New7Wonders of the World was an initiative started in 2000 to choose Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. The popularity poll was led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber and organized by the New7Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, the New7Wonders Foundation claimed that more than 100 million votes were cast through the Internet or by telephone. Voting via the Internet was limited to one vote for seven monuments per person/identity, hence the poll was considered unscientific. According to John Zogby, founder and current President/CEO of the Utica, New York-based polling organization Zogby International, the New7Wonders Foundation, established in 2001, relied on private donations and the sale of broadcast rights and received no public funding or taxpayers money. After the final announcement, New7Wonders said it didnt earn anything from the exercise, although N7W describes itself as a not-for-profit organization, the company behind it—the New Open World Corporation —is a commercial business. All licensing and sponsorship money is paid to NOWC, the foundation has run two subsequent programs, New7Wonders of Nature, the subject of voting until 2011, and New7WondersCities, which wound up in 2014. In 2007 the New7Wonders Foundation contracted a partnership with the United Nations in recognition of the efforts to promote the UNs Millennium Development Goals. However, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in a release on June 20,2007. The list of the 8 New Wonders of the World will be the result of an undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the Internet. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by this public, additionally, leading corporate sponsors including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo spent millions of reals in the effort to have the statue voted into the top seven. Newsweek reports the campaign was so pervasive that, One morning in June, Rio de Janeiro residents awoke to a text message on their cell phones, Press 4916. According to an article in Newsweek, around 10 million Brazilians had voted in the contest by early July and this number is estimated as the New7Wonders Foundation never released such details about the campaign. An airplane message, with a huge inscription 4916 VOTE FOR CHRIST flew in Rio de Janeiro for a month. An intensive campaign led by the Peruvian Ministry of Commerce and Tourism in Peru had an impact in the media. The announcement of the new World Wonders generated great expectation and the election of Machu Picchu was celebrated nationwide. The Chilean representative for Easter Islands Moais, Alberto Hotus, said Weber gave him a letter saying that the Moais had finished eighth and were one of the New Seven Wonders. Hotus said he was the participant to receive such an apology. A campaign to publicize the Taj Mahal in India gathered speed and it reached a climax in July 2007 with news channels, radio stations, queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan joined the campaign to back Petra, Jordans national treasure
6.
Andalusia
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Andalusia is an autonomous community in southern Spain. It is the most populated and the second largest in area of the communities in the country. The Andalusian autonomous community is recognised as historical nationality. The territory is divided into eight provinces, Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and its capital is the city of Seville. Andalusia is the only European region with both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines, the small British overseas territory of Gibraltar shares a three-quarter-mile land border with the Andalusian province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. The main mountain ranges of Andalusia are the Sierra Morena and the Baetic System, consisting of the Subbaetic and Penibaetic Mountains, in the north, the Sierra Morena separates Andalusia from the plains of Extremadura and Castile–La Mancha on Spains Meseta Central. To the south the geographic subregion of Upper Andalusia lies mostly within the Baetic System, the name Andalusia is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus. Including an intense relationship with Naples, Italy, Andalusia has been a traditionally agricultural region, compared to the rest of Spain and the rest of Europe. However, the growth of the community especially in the sectors of industry and services was above average in Spain, the region has, however, a rich culture and a strong cultural identity. Many cultural phenomena that are seen internationally as distinctively Spanish are largely or entirely Andalusian in origin and these include flamenco and, to a lesser extent, bullfighting and Hispano-Moorish architectural styles. Andalusias hinterland is the hottest area of Europe, with cities like Córdoba, Late evening temperatures can sometimes stay around 35 °C until close to midnight, with daytime highs of over 40 °C common. Seville also has the highest average temperature in mainland Spain and mainland Europe. Its present form is derived from the Arabic name for Muslim Iberia. However, the etymology of the name Al-Andalus is disputed, the Spanish place name Andalucía was introduced into the Spanish languages in the 13th century under the form el Andalucía. This was a Castilianization of Al-Andalusiya, the form of the Arabic language al-Andalus. The etymology of al-Andalus is itself somewhat debated, but in fact it entered the Arabic language before this came under Muslim rule. Like the Arabic term al-Andalus, in historical contexts the Spanish term Andalucía or the English term Andalusia do not necessarily refer to the territory designated by these terms today. To designate the territories the Christians had regained by that time in the Guadalquivir valley and in the Kingdoms of Granada, in a document from 1253, Alfonso X styled himself Rey de Castilla, León y de toda Andalucía
7.
Cave of Altamira
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The earliest paintings in the cave were executed around 35,600 years ago. Altamira was the first European cave for which prehistoric origin of the paintings was suggested and promoted by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola and he published his research with the support of Juan Vilanova y Piera in 1880 to public acclaim. Altamira is located in the Franco-Cantabrian region and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as the element of the Cave of Altamira. The cave is approximately 1000 meters long and consists of a series of twisting passages, the main passage varies from two to six meters in height. The cave was formed through collapses following early Karst phenomena in the rock of Mount Vispieres. Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of artifacts from the Upper Solutrean, both periods belong to the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. In the millennia between these two occupations, the cave was inhabited only by wild animals. Around 13,000 years ago a rockfall sealed the entrance, preserving its contents until its eventual discovery. Human occupation was limited to the mouth, although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave. The artists used charcoal and ochre or haematite to create the images, often diluting these pigments to produce variations in intensity and they also exploited the natural contours of the cave walls to give their subjects a three-dimensional effect. The Polychrome Ceiling is the most impressive feature of the cave, depicting a herd of extinct steppe bison in different poses, dated to the Magdalenian occupation, these paintings include abstract shapes in addition to animal subjects. Solutrean paintings include images of horses and goats, as well as handprints that were created when artists placed their hands on the cave wall, numerous other caves in northern Spain contain Paleolithic art, but none is as complex or well-populated as Altamira. In 1879, amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was led by his eight-year-old daughter María to discover the caves drawings, a fellow countryman maintained that the paintings had been produced by a contemporary artist, on Sautuolas orders. Later Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola found out the artist could have used marrow fat as oil for the lamp, alcohol was not available at the time as far as we know. Still, remains unexplained how the paintings particularly in Altamira cave and that year, Emile Cartailhac emphatically admitted his mistake in the famous article, Mea culpa dun sceptique, published in the journal LAnthropologie. Sautuola, having died 14 years earlier, did not live to enjoy his rehabilitation, further excavation work on the cave was done by Hermilio Alcalde del Río between 1902–04, the German Hugo Obermaier between 1924–25 and finally by Joaquín González Echegaray in 1981. In 2008, researchers using uranium-thorium dating found that the paintings were completed over a period of up to 20,000 years rather than during a brief period. This means that these drawings could have made by Neanderthal authors instead of homo sapiens
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