1.
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Spain is not a federation, but a highly decentralized unitary state. Some scholars have referred to the system as a federal system in all. There are 17 autonomous communities and two cities that are collectively known as autonomies. The two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet used this right and this unique framework of territorial administration is known as the State of Autonomies. The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a country made up of different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown by the 16th century, the constituent territories—be it crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of customs, laws. From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime, leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces and these were the Basque Country and Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism, therefore, economic and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1913 and it was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonias mediaeval institution of government, was restored. During General Francos dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the unity of the Spanish nation, peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats. When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, the then Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. In the end, the constitution, published and ratified in 1979, found a balance in recognizing the existence of nationalities and regions in Spain, within the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. The starting point in the organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution. In order to exercise this right, the established a open process whereby the nationalities
Autonomous communities of Spain
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A map of
Iberia in 1757
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Galicia
Autonomous communities of Spain
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The Spanish Parliament, Congress of Deputies
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Pro-Catalan independence and pro-Spanish pertenence demonstrations in
Barcelona.
2.
Flag of Aragon
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The Senyera is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a golden background. This coat of arms, often called bars of Aragon, or simply the four bars, the senyera pattern is nowadays in the flag of four Spanish autonomous communities, and is the flag of the historically Catalan-speaking city of Alghero in Sardinia. The Senyera is also used informally to represent the Catalan language. It is also a synonym for Royal Flag, although the word refers to the Catalan. Also in Aragonese, it is referred to as O Sinyal dAragón. The Senyera is one of the oldest flags in Europe to be used in present day, there are several theories advocating either a purely Catalan or a purely Aragonese origin for the symbol. The dynastic coat of arms became also the one for the lands ruled by the counts. It is thus present in the flags and shields of the territories that once were part of the Crown of Aragon and also in the arms of Andorra, Provence-Côte dAzur and Sicily among others. The colours for the city of Rome, which in those times was controlled by the Pope, were the same. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the flag of the Holy Sees Navy from the 12th century on consisted of two red and yellow bands, sometimes bearing the tiara and the keys. According to the Vatican official website, the yellow and red of the flag of the Holy See were two colors traditional of the Roman Senate and People and this ancient flag can still seen on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, near the Roman Forum. The Papal States changed its colours in 1808 to the present yellow and white and we can reject this theory based on the works of Geronimo de Blancas, chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon,1585. This author reports that Pope Innocent III after crowning the King Pedro II accepted that Aragon was a kingdom of the Apostolic See. To compensate for this gesture the Pope appointed King Peter II confalonier of the Church, the Almogavars of the Catalan Company used a royal pennon with the arms of the Kings of Aragon when campaigning in the Byzantine Empire. It was used as ensign of the Aragonese Navy from 1263 to 1516, the plain version of this was used as official flag of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia during the Second Spanish Republic and since the Spanish transition to democracy. In its plain version, it is used in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales. It is also used as the flag of Provence, a region with historic ties to the Counts of Barcelona. The blazon of this version is Or, four bars Gules
Flag of Aragon
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Flag of Catalonia at the Plaça Octavià in
Sant Cugat del Vallès
Flag of Aragon
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Catalonia
Flag of Aragon
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King Alfons the Chaste riding a horse caparisoned in his familiar arms. From a 13th-century
chansonnier. Document 854, folio 108r at
Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Flag of Aragon
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The
Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, creating an enormous mosaic of the Senyera before a match with Real Madrid
3.
Crown of Aragon
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Put in contemporary terms, it has sometimes been considered that the different lands of the Crown of Aragon functioned more as a confederation than as a single kingdom. In this sense, the larger Crown of Aragon must not be confused with one of its constituent parts, formally, the political center of the Crown of Aragon was Zaragoza, where kings were crowned at La Seo Cathedral. The de facto capital and leading cultural, administrative and economic centre of the Crown of Aragon was Barcelona followed by Valencia, finally, Palma was an additional important city and seaport. For brief periods the Crown of Aragon also controlled Montpellier, Provence, Corsica, the countries that are today known as Spain and Portugal spent the Middle Ages after 722 in an intermittent struggle called the Reconquista. This struggle pitted the northern Christian kingdoms against the Islamic taifa petty kingdoms of the South, in the Late Middle Ages, the expansion of the Aragonese Crown southwards met with the Castilian advance eastward in the region of Murcia. Afterward, the Aragonese Crown focused on the Mediterranean, acting as far as Greece and Barbary, whereas Portugal, mercenaries from the territories in the Crown, known as almogàvers participated in the creation of this Mediterranean empire, and later found employment in countries all across southern Europe. The Crown of Aragon has been considered by some as an empire which ruled in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years and it was indeed, at its height, one of the major powers in Europe. However, its different territories were connected through the person of the monarch. A modern historian, Juan de Contreras y Lopez de Ayala, Marqués de Lozoya described the Crown of Aragon as being more like a confederacy than a centralised kingdom, let alone an empire. Nor did official documents refer to it as an empire, instead. This union respected the institutions and parliaments of both territories. This was due to the loss of Catalan influence, the renunciation of the family rights of the counts of Barcelona in Occitania. Petronillas father King Ramiro, The Monk who was raised in the Saint Pons de Thomières Monastery and his brothers Peter I and Alfonso I El Batallador had bravely fought against Castile for hegemony in the Iberian peninsula. After the death of Alfonso I, the Aragonese nobility that campaigned close him feared being overwhelmed by the influence of Castile, and so, Ramiro was forced to leave his monastic life and proclaim himself King of Aragon. He married Agnes, sister of the Duke of Aquitaine and betrothed his daughter to Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona. The wedding agreement provided Raymond Berengar IV the title of Princeps Aragonum and Dominator Aragonenesis and kept the title, Raymond Berengar IV, the first ruler of the united dynasty, called himself Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon. Alfonso II inherited two realms and with them, two different expansion processes, the House of Jiménez looked south in a battle against Castile for the control of the Mediterranean coast in the Iberian peninsula. The House of Barcelona looked north to its origins, Occitania, soon, Alfonso II of Aragon and Barcelona committed himself to conquer Valencia as the Aragonese nobility demanded
Crown of Aragon
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Petronilla of Aragon (1136–1173) and
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (ca. 1131–1162) depicted in a 16th-century painting.
Crown of Aragon
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Standard
Crown of Aragon
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Equestrian heraldic representation of King of Aragon in the "Equestrian armorial of the Golden Fleece" 1433-1435.
Crown of Aragon
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Ferdinand V and
Isabella I,
King and Queen of Castile and León, and later of Aragon, Valencia, Sicily, and Majorca
4.
Coat of arms of Aragon
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The Coat of arms of the Spanish Autonomous Community of Aragon was first chronicled in 1499 by Pablo Hurus. The first quarter represents the legendary Kingdom of Sobrarbe and the establishment of Aragonese liberty, the second, the Cross of Íñigo Arista, represents the Pyrenees and the monarchy. The fourth quarter has the pallets, representing the union of Aragon to the Counties of Catalonia to create the Crown of Aragon, the third quarter inspired the coat of arms and flag of Sardinia. Aragon ruled Sardinia from in the 14th and 15th centuries
Coat of arms of Aragon
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Coat of arms of Aragon
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
6.
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
Spain
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Lady of Elche
Spain
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Flag
Spain
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Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
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Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
7.
Zaragoza
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Zaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva, on 1 September 2010 the population of the city of Zaragoza was 701,090, within its administrative limits on a land area of 1,062.64 square kilometres, ranking fifth in Spain. It is the 32nd most populous municipality in the European Union, the population of the metropolitan area was estimated in 2006 at 783,763 inhabitants. The municipality is home to more than 50 percent of the Aragonese population, the city lies at an elevation of 199 metres above sea level. Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008 in the summer of 2008, a fair on water. It was also a candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2012, the city is famous for its folklore, local gastronomy, and landmarks such as the Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral and the Aljafería Palace. Together with La Seo and the Aljafería, several other buildings part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fiestas del Pilar are among the most celebrated festivals in Spain, the city was called by the ancient Romans Caesaraugusta, from which the present name derives. The Iberian town that predated the Roman city was called Salduie, see also, Caesar Augusta The Sedetani, a tribe of ancient Iberians, populated a village called Salduie. Later on, Augustus founded a city called Caesaraugusta at the location to settle army veterans from the Cantabrian wars. The foundation date of Caesaraugusta has not been set with exact precision, the city did not suffer any decline during the last centuries of the Roman empire and was captured peacefully by the Goths in the fifth century AD. From 1018 to 1118, Zaragoza was one of the taifa kingdoms, during the first three decades of this period, 1018–1038, the city was ruled by the Banu Tujibi. After the death of El Cid his kingdom was overrun by the Almoravids, who, by 1100, had managed to cross the Ebro into Barbastro, the Banu Hud stubbornly resisted the Almoravids and ruled until they were eventually defeated by them in May 1110. On 18 December 1118, the Aragonese led by Alfonso I conquered the city from the Almoravids, after Alfonsos death without heirs in 1134, Zaragoza was swiftly occupied by Alfonso VII of León and Castile. The wedding never happened, as Petronila ended up marrying Ramon Berenguer IV, the marriage union was the origin of the Crown of Aragón. While the reality of the existence of Saint Dominguito del Val is questioned, despite a decline in the outlying rural economy, Zaragoza has continued to grow. The General Military Academy, a training center of the Spanish Army, was re-established on September 27,1940 by Minister of the Army José Enrique Varela Iglesias. During the second half of the 20th century, Zaragozas population boomed as a number of factories opened in the region, in 1979, the Hotel Corona de Aragón fire killed at least 80
Zaragoza
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Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the
Ebro River
Zaragoza
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Roman theatre
Zaragoza
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Aljafería Palace (at night), built in the 11th century.
Zaragoza
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La Seo Cathedral
8.
President of the Government of Aragon
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The President of the Government of Aragon is the head of government of the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. The President is elected to a term by the Aragonese Corts. The presidency was established in 1983 under Article 12 of the Statute of Autonomy for Aragon, 1983-1987 Santiago Marraco, Spanish Socialist Workers Party government 1987-1991 Hipólito Gómez de las Roces initially a PAR government with support from Peoples Party. From March 1989 a coalition of PAR and PP ruled, in September 1993 a former PP deputy together with IU and PSOE deputies passed a no-confidence motion. 1993-1995 José Marco, PSOE government with IU support,1995 Ramón Tejedor, PSOE government with IU support from January 1995 until elections in May 1995. 1995-1999 Santiago Lanzuela Marina, PP government with support from PAR. 1999-2011 Marcelino Iglesias, PSOE-PAR coalition 2011-2015 Luisa Fernanda Rudi Ubeda, PP-PAR coalition 2015- Javier Lambán, supported by Podemos, CHA and IU
President of the Government of Aragon
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Incumbent Javier Lambán since July 3, 2015
9.
PSOE
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The Spanish Socialist Workers Party, is a social-democratic political party in Spain. PSOE formed the government in democratic Spain between 1982 and 1996, and between 2004 and 2011 and it is the currently the oldest political party in Spanish history. The party, under Felipe González, formed a majority government after its victory in the 1982 general election, the party then formed a minority government until 1996. PSOE has had ties with the General Union of Workers. For decades, UGT membership was a requirement for PSOE membership, however, since the 1980s, UGT has frequently criticized the economic policies of PSOE, even calling for a general strike on 14 December 1988. PSOE was last in power between 2004 and 2011 general elections, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero serving as leader of the government, the PSOE is a member of the Party of European Socialists, Progressive Alliance and the Socialist International. In the European Parliament, PSOEs 14 Members of the European Parliament sit in the Socialists and Democrats European parliamentary group, PSOE was founded with the purpose of representing and defending the interests of the working class formed during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The ideology of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party has evolved throughout the 20th Century according to relevant historical events and this allowed for the consolidation of the leftist forces in PSOE. Currently, PSOE defines itself as democratic, center-left and progressive. Concerning the territorial model of the realm, PSOE supports asymmetric federalism and it is grouped with other self-styled socialists, social democrats and labour parties in the Party of European Socialists. PSOE was founded on the 2nd of May,1879 in the Casa Labra Pub by the historical Spanish workers leader Pablo Iglesias, the first program of the new political party was passed in an assembly of 40 people, on 20 July of that same year. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940, PSOE formed part of the Spanish Government during the Second Spanish Republic and as part of the Spanish Popular Front, elected to government in February 1936. The dictator Francisco Franco banned PSOE in 1939, and the party was legalized again in 1977, during Francos rule members of PSOE were persecuted, with many leaders, members and supporters being imprisoned or exiled and even executed. Its 25th Congress was held in Toulouse in August 1972, in 1974 at its 26th Congress in Suresnes, Felipe González was elected Secretary General, replacing Rodolfo Llopis Ferrándiz. González was from the wing of the party, and his victory signaled a defeat for the historic. The direction of the party shifted from the exiles to the people in Spain who hadnt fought the war. Their standing was further boosted in 1978 when the 6 deputies of the Popular Socialist Party agreed to merge with the party, in their 27th congress in May 1979, González resigned because the party would not abandon its Marxist character. In September of that year, the extraordinary 28th congress was called in which González was re-elected when the party agreed to move away from Marxism, European social-democratic parties supported Gonzálezs stand, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany granted them money
PSOE
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Pablo Iglesias founded the party back in 1879.
PSOE
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Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista Obrero Español
PSOE
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Casa Labra Pub
PSOE
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Felipe González was the Spanish Prime Minister from 1982 to 1996.
10.
Aragonese Corts
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The Aragonese Corts is the regional parliament for the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. The Corts traces its history back to meetings summoned by the Kings of Aragon which began in 1162, abolished in 1707, the Corts were revived in 1983 following the passing of a Statute of Autonomy. The King of Aragon was bound to summon the Corts at least once every five years, the main business of the Corts was judicial, solving disputes between individuals or towns or dealing with complaints or grievances concerning the Kings officers or Estates. The Corts also approved legislation and voted on tax issues, the Corts was organised into four Estates or branches, the clergy, the great nobles, the Knights and the towns. For the more important laws, unanimity was required each of the Corts four Estates. In such cases, the decision was referred to a permanent committee which consisted of two representatives of each Estate who would judge whether the majority will was sound or not. These Corts were the model for the parliaments of Sardinia and Sicily, the Corts survived until 1707 when Philip V issued the Nueva Planta decrees, centralising political power and abolishing the former regional assemblies of the Crown of Aragon. The modern Corts were established in 1983 under Article 12 of the Statute of Autonomy for Aragon and it must monitor borrowing and spending and appoint an Auditor General for Aragon. Additionally the legislature must elect the appropriate number of Senators to serve in the Spanish Senate, the largest party after each election is denoted in bold
Aragonese Corts
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Aljafería Palace, modern location of the Aragonese Parliament or Corts
Aragonese Corts
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Chamber of the legislative assembly of Aragon in the Aljafería
11.
List of Spanish autonomous communities by area
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This article includes several ranked indicators for Spains autonomous communities, as well as for the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish autonomies by length of coastline, Spanish autonomies by gross regional product in 2010 international dollars. Spanish autonomies by gross regional product per capita at purchasing power parity in 2010 international dollars, Spanish autonomies by unemployment rate, according to the Bank of Spain and EPA Spanish autonomies by real GRP growth rate. Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities List Spanish autonomous communities and cities by GDP National Institute of Statistics
List of Spanish autonomous communities by area
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Map of each community's population as of 2011
12.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
13.
Aragonese language
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It is the only modern language which survived from medieval Navarro-Aragonese in a form distinctly different from Spanish. Informally known as fabla, Aragonese is also referred to by the names of its local dialects such as cheso or patués. Aragonese, which developed in portions of the Ebro basin, can be traced back to the High Middle Ages and it spread throughout the Pyrenees to areas where languages similar to Basque were previously spoken. The Kingdom of Aragon expanded southward from the mountains, pushing the Moors farther south in the Reconquista, the Aragonese Reconquista in the south ended with the cession of Murcia by James I of Aragon to the Kingdom of Castile as dowry for an Aragonese princess. The best-known proponent of the Aragonese language was Johan Ferrandez dHeredia and he wrote an extensive catalog of works in Aragonese and translated several works from Greek into Aragonese. The spread of Castilian, the Castilian origin of the Trastámara dynasty, a turning point was the 15th-century coronation of the Castilian Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Ferdinand of Antequeraa. In recent times, Aragonese was mostly regarded as a group of dialects of Spanish. Compulsory education undermined its already weak position, for example, pupils were punished for using it, however, the 1978 Spanish transition to democracy heralded literary works and studies of the language. Aragonese is the language of the Aragonese mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, in the comarcas of Somontano, Jacetania, Sobrarbe. Cities and towns in which Aragonese is spoken are Huesca, Graus, Monzón, Barbastro, Bielsa, Chistén, Fonz, Echo, Estadilla, Benasque, Campo, Sabiñánigo, Jaca, Plan, Ansó, Ayerbe, Broto, and El Grado. It is spoken as a language by inhabitants of Huesca, Zaragoza, Ejea de los Caballeros. According to recent polls, there are about 10,000 active speakers and 30,000 passive speakers, in 2009, the Languages Act of Aragon recognized the native language, original and historic of Aragon. The language received several linguistic rights, including its use in public administration, some are conservative features that are also shared with the Astur-Leonese languages and Galician-Portuguese, where Spanish innovated in ways that did not spread to nearby languages. Romance initial F- is preserved, e. g. FILIUM > fillo, Romance palatal approximant consistently became medieval, as in medieval Catalan and Portuguese. This becomes modern ch, as a result of the devoicing of sibilants, in Spanish, the medieval result was either, or nothing, depending on the context. IUVENEM > choven, GELARE > chelar, Romance groups -LT-, -CT- result in, e. g. FACTUM > feito, MULTUM > muito. Romance groups -X-, -PS-, SCj- result in voiceless palatal fricative ix, Romance groups -Lj-, -CL-, -TL- result in palatal lateral ll, e. g. MULIERE > muller, ACUTLA > agulla. Open O, E from Romance result systematically in diphthongs, e. g. VETLA > viella and this includes before a palatal approximant, e. g. octō > ueito
Aragonese language
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Map of Aragon with the
Aragonese dialects of Northern Aragon in gray, blue, and light orange
14.
Catalan language
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Catalan is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It is the national and only language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands. It also has status in the commune of Alghero, situated on the northwestern coast of the island of Sardinia. All these territories are often called Catalan Countries. 4% with Catalan and 47. 5% only Spanish, in order to integrate newcomers, the Generalitat de Catalunya spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories. Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees, during the Low Middle Ages it saw a golden age as the literary and dominant language of the Crown of Aragon, and was widely used all over the Mediterranean. The union of Aragon with the territories of Spain in 1479 marked the start of the decline of the language. In 1659 Spain ceded Northern Catalonia to France, and Catalan was banned in both states in the early 18th century, 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, which culminated in the 1913 orthographic standardization, and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic. However, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration, there is no parallel in Europe for such a large, bilingual, non-state speech community. Catalan dialects are relatively uniform, and are mutually intelligible and they are divided into two blocks, Eastern and Western, differing mostly in pronunciation. The terms Catalan and Valencian are two varieties of the same language, there are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community. Catalan shares many traits with its neighboring Romance languages, thus, the similarities are naturally most notable with eastern Occitan. Nouns have two genders, and two numbers, pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, in terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages. The word Catalan derives from the territory of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology, in English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain. It is attested a language name since at least 1652, Catalan can be pronounced as /ˈkætəlæn/, /kætəˈlæn/ or /ˈkætələn/. The endonym is pronounced /kə. təˈɫa/ in the Eastern Catalan dialects, in the Valencian Community, the term valencià is frequently used instead. The names Catalan and Valencian are two names for the same language, see also status of Valencian below. By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south
Catalan language
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Homilies d'Organyà (12th century)
Catalan language
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Catalan
Catalan language
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Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan, predating the famous
Homilies d'Organyà by a century
Catalan language
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Official Decree Prohibiting the Catalan Language in France
15.
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
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The Congress of Deputies of Spain, commonly referred to as simply the Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spains legislative branch. It is located in the Palace of the Parliament and it has 350 members elected by constituencies by proportional representation using the DHondt method. The President of the Congress of Deputies is the analogue to a speaker, in the Congress, members of the Parliament from the political parties, or groups of parties, form parliamentary groups. The MPs belonging to parties who cannot create their own parliamentary group form the Mixed Group, the Spanish Constitution establishes in the Article 68.1 that the Congress of Deputies must be composed of among 300 deputies at least and 400 deputies at most. At present, the chamber has 350 deputies which is determinated by the General Electoral Regim Organic Law, the Spanish Constitution establishes that the deputies are chosen by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage. The Election is held four years or before in case of snap election. The members of the Congress are elected by proportional representation with closed lists in each constituency, there are 52 polynominal constituencies for the Congress of Deputies which belong to the 50 provinces of Spain and the two autonomous cities. According to the Spanish Electoral Law, each province must elect two deputies at least, the two autonomous cities can only elect one each. In this way, there are 102 deputies already elected, the other 248 deputies are allocated proportionally to the citizenships. This distribution can change a bit in each election and it is specified in the Royal Decree Calling Elections, after the General Election, seats are assigned to the electoral lists in each constituency. For this distribution it is used the DHondt method in each constituency separately and this system guarantees that any elected candidate has got less votes than a non-elected candidate in that constituency. Moreover, there is a threshold of 3% that is to say that a political party needs the 3% of the valid votes emitted in its constituency at least to aim for the seats distribution. The last item is only applied in the provinces which elect 24 deputies at least, at present, this condition is only fulfilled by Madrid and Barcelona. 0. 1% of signatures of the register in each constituency are needed. Each citizen can only sign once for each candidacy, the Electoral Board will establish the details of the collection of signatures. Likewise, the most populated provinces are underrepresented and this system tends to favour the biggest political parties. In spite of using a representation system, the electoral system of the Congress of Deputies favours the creation of a two-party system. It is due to different reasons such as, The large disparity of population between the provinces, despite the smaller provinces are overrepresented, the number of deputies assigned to each one is small and tends to go to the two main parties
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
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Congress of Deputies Congreso de los Diputados
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
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The allegorical front of the building
16.
Senate of Spain
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The Senate is the upper house of Spains parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is made up of 265 members,208 elected by popular vote, all senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time. The Spanish senate was instituted by the constitution of 1837 under the regency of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies and it remained under the regimes of the constitutions of 1845,1856,1869 and 1876. It was composed, at that time, of three main categories, senators by their own right, senators for life and senators elected. This chamber was suppressed after the coup of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, only after the Spanish transition to democracy in 1978 was it re-instituted. Senators form groups along party lines, parties with fewer than ten senators form the Mixed Group. If the membership of an existing group falls below six during a session, for example, Coalición Canaria lost its senate caucus in 2008 after electoral losses reduced its group from six to two. The PNV group is again under threshold after returning the borrowed Socialists, legally,133 seats are required for an absolute majority, vacant seats notwithstanding. Most members of the senate are elected by the people. Each province elects four senators without regard to population and this allocation is heavily weighted in favor of small provinces, Madrid, with roughly 6 million people, and Soria, with 100,000 inhabitants, are each represented by four senators. In non-insular constituencies, each party nominates three candidates, candidates names are organized in columns by party on a large ochre-colored ballot called a sábana or bedsheet. Each voter may mark up to three names, from any party. This is the occasion when Spanish voters vote for individuals rather than a party list. Panachage is allowed, but typically voters cast all three votes for candidates of a single party, as a result, the four Senators are usually the three candidates from the most popular party and the first placed candidate from the next most popular. Before 2011, a party could not choose the order of its candidates on the ballot paper, when a party did not get all three of its candidates elected, this arrangement favored candidates with surnames early in the alphabet. This was the case for 2nd placed parties in every province, demographic growth increased the combined size of the regional delegations from 51 to 56 in 2008 for the 9th term. Conventionally, the proportions of the regional delegations mimic their legislative assemblies, however, Autonomous Communities have considerable leeway, and a motion to appoint the delegation often requires no more than a plurality. This arrangement was part of a five-party coalition agreement and this anomaly was resolved in 2008, when the Balearic Islands gained a second senate seat which was filled by the PP
Senate of Spain
Senate of Spain
Senate of Spain
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The candidates sheet for Madrid with 3 votes cast
17.
Loarre Castle
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The Castle of Loarre is a Romanesque Castle and Abbey located near the town of the same name, Huesca Province in the Aragon autonomous region of Spain. It is one of the oldest castles in Spain, the complex was built largely during the 11th and 12th centuries, when its position on the frontier between Christian and Muslim lands gave it strategic importance. The first of the two building programs began ca. 1020, when Sancho el Mayor reconquered the lands from the Muslims. After 1070, Loarre became increasingly important, in 1073, King Sancho installed a community of Augustinian canons, and it was from Loarre that he prepared for the conquest of Huesca in 1094. In 1097, however, his successor, Peter I of Aragon and Navarre and this evidence suggests that the second major construction program was undertaken between 1073 and 1097, and much building evidently does date from this period. By comparison with other monuments, however, it is clear that the building. The location appears in the 2005 epic film Kingdom of Heaven, the castles location on a rocky outcrop affected the layout, it was not possible to have one unified structure, and like many castles Loarre was a collection of buildings bounded by curtain walls. Originally the internal plan included two towers and a chapel behind several curtain walls, towards the end of the 11th century an additional chapel was built in Romanesque style just outside the castle walls. The outermost walls of the castle and their eight towers were erected in the 13th or 14th century. At least three towers, two of which survive, the keep and the Tower of the Queen, as well as a dedicated to Saint Mary of Valverde. The keep was built in a position in front of the fortifications. It contained a basement and five floors, the chapel is composed of a single-cell nave with an eastern apse covered by a semicircular vault. The original timber roof of the nave was replaced by a vault at the end of the 11th century, R. del Arco, El castillo-abadía de Loarre, Semin. Xiii. xv, pp.5.36 F. Iñiguez Almech, Las empresas constructivas de Sancho el Mayor, El castillo de Loarre, Archv Esp. A. xliii, pp.363.73 A. Canellas-López and A
Loarre Castle
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Loarre Castle
Loarre Castle
Loarre Castle
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A far view of the complex
18.
Provinces of Spain
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Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces. The layout of Spains provinces closely follows the pattern of the division of the country carried out in 1833. The only major change of provincial borders since that time has been the sub-division of the Canary Islands into two rather than one. Historically, the provinces served mainly as transmission belts for policies enacted in Madrid, the importance of the provinces has declined since the adoption of the system of autonomous communities in the period of the Spanish transition to democracy. They nevertheless remain electoral districts for national elections and as references, for instance in postal addresses. A small town would normally be identified as being in, say, Valladolid province rather than the community of Castile. The provinces were the building-blocks from which the communities were created. Consequently, no province is divided more than one of these communities. Only two capitals of autonomous communities—Mérida in Extremadura and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia—are not also the capitals of provinces, seven of the autonomous communities comprise no more than one province each, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarra. These are sometimes referred to as uniprovincial communities, the table below lists the provinces of Spain. For each, the city is given, together with an indication of the autonomous community to which it belongs. The names of the provinces and their capitals are ordered according to the form in which they appear in the main Wikipedia articles describing them. Unless otherwise indicated, their Spanish-language names are the same, locally valid names in Spains other co-official languages are indicated where they differ
Provinces of Spain
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Provinces of Spain
19.
Province of Huesca
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Huesca, officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France, within Spain, Huescas neighboring provinces are Navarre, Zaragoza and Lleida. Covering a primarily mountainous area of 15,626 km², the province of Huesca has a population of 228,566. The low population density,14. 62/km², has meant that Huescas lush valleys, rivers, popular with mountaineers, spelunkers, paragliders, and white water rafters it is also a popular snow skiing destination with notable resorts in Candanchú, Formigal, Astún, Panticosa and Cerler. The Romans colonised the province of Huesca, which formed the part of Hispania Tarraconensis. As a mountainous region, it was difficult to dominate. The modern day province comprises 10 comarcas and 202 municipalities, the following comarcas having their capital in Huesca Province include municipal terms within Zaragoza Province, Bajo Cinca, Mequinenza. Hoya de Huesca, Murillo de Gállego and Santa Eulalia de Gállego, jacetania, Artieda, Mianos, Salvatierra de Esca and Sigüés. Monegros, La Almolda, Bujaraloz, Farlete, Leciñena, Monegrillo, in the easternmost areas of the province, varieties of the Catalan language are spoken, with a few transitional dialects difficult to classify as Aragonese or Catalan. List of municipalities in Huesca Diputación Provincial de Huesca
Province of Huesca
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The Marboré lake with the
Monte Perdido and the
Cilindro de Marboré in the background
Province of Huesca
Province of Huesca
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"The Egg of
Morrano " or the "
Peña Falconera " rock formation (
Spanish: El Huevo de Morrano).
20.
Province of Zaragoza
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Zaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community, other towns in Zaragoza include Calatayud, Borja, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Ejea de los Caballeros and Tarazona. Its area is 17,274 km² and it is the fourth-largest Spanish province by land area and its population is 973,252, of whom nearly three-quarters live in the capital, and its population density is 50. 95/km². It contains 292 municipalities, of more than half are villages with fewer than 300 people. The main language throughout the province is Spanish, although Catalan is spoken in the Bajo Aragón-Caspe comarca, the province of Zaragoza is bordered by the provinces of Lleida, Tarragona, Teruel, Guadalajara, Soria, La Rioja, Navarre, and Huesca. The southern and western side of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area and includes its highest point, the Ebro River crosses the province from west to east. Comarcas in the Zaragoza province, The following comarcas having their capital in Huesca Province include municipal terms within Zaragoza Province, Bajo Cinca, hoya de Huesca, Murillo de Gállego and Santa Eulalia de Gállego. Jacetania, Artieda, Mianos, Salvatierra de Esca and Sigüés, monegros, La Almolda, Bujaraloz, Farlete, Leciñena, Monegrillo and Perdiguera. List of municipalities in Zaragoza Official website
Province of Zaragoza
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The
Moncayo Massif seen from
Tarazona
Province of Zaragoza
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Flag
21.
Province of Teruel
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Teruel is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia, Cuenca, Guadalajara, the area of the province is 14,809 km². Its population is 138,686, of whom about a live in the capital. It contains 236 municipalities, of more than half are villages of under 200 people. The main language throughout the province is Spanish, although Catalan is spoken in the comarca of Matarranya and this province is located in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. Most of the Teruel Province has undergone massive depopulation since the middle of the 20th century and this situation is shared with other areas in Spain, particularly with those near the Iberian mountain range and with other areas in Aragón. The exodus from the mountain areas in Teruel rose after General Francos Plan de Estabilización in 1959. As a consequence there are many ghost towns in different parts of the province, a great number of surviving towns in Teruel province have only a residual population, reviving somewhat during the summer when a few city-dwellers spend their holidays there. The Teruel Exists movement began at the turn of the 21st century and it is a platform of provincial authorities, institutions and sympathizers seeking to reverse the long-standing neglect of this province. org Teruel Info. - Caciquismo & desarrollismo – N. B and this text-only website is in Japanese
Province of Teruel
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The
Sierra Carrascosa with the Guerrero Romano rock formation near
Bordón
22.
Nationalities and regions of Spain
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In Spanish jurisprudence, the concept nationality appears for the first time in the current constitution, approved in 1978, and after much debate in the Spanish Parliament. Although it was understood that the term made reference to Galicia, the Basque Country and Catalonia. The rest of the communities are simply defined as regions of Spain. Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León are referred to as regions having a regional identity. In fact, no attempt was made to centralize the administration until the reforms of the eighteenth century. By the beginning of the century, though, the Spanish government was heavily centralized. The larger economic development occurring in areas overlapping spatially delimited ethnic communities enhanced the regions own identity, the Assembly drafted a Statute of Autonomy that was, however, rejected by the General Courts. The Commonwealth of Catalonia was dissolved during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in 1923, the Basque Country and Galicia followed suit in 1936, but only the Statute of Autonomy of the first was approved before the Spanish Civil War erupted. After the war, centralism was most forcefully enforced during Francos regime as a way to preserve the unity of the Spanish nation. When Franco died, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, a decree-law was passed that allowed for the creation of pre-autonomías, pre-autonomies or provisional regional governments for all regions, the historical nationalities included. Catalonia was the first to be so constituted, reviving again the Generalitat, the Basque Country quickly followed suit. This newly elected Parliament was entrusted to formulate a new constitution, in fact, the writing of the second article, in which the nationalities and regions of Spain were recognized, was the most hotly debated in the Parliament. Its acceptance was not smooth, the right vigorously opposed it, while the nationalists, the natural corollary to debating the term nationalities was debating the term nation. In the end, the article was passed along with the term nationalities. It aimed to give an answer to the aspirations that had been silenced during the four decades of Francos dictatorial regime. This was a significant move, since for the historical part of their distinctiveness lies on their own regional languages. The third article ends up declaring that the richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain represent a patrimony which will the object of special respect, thus the process was purposely intended to be asymmetrical in nature. Yet, the outcome was not predictable, the created a process for devolution
Nationalities and regions of Spain
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Map of Spain in 1757
Nationalities and regions of Spain
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Kingdom of Spain
Nationalities and regions of Spain
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Spanish Constitution of 1978
Nationalities and regions of Spain
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2006 demonstration led by
Republican Left Party of Catalonia in favor of using the term "nation" to define Catalonia in its Statute of Autonomy
23.
Pyrenees
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The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. For the most part, the main crest forms a divide between France and Spain, with the microstate of Andorra sandwiched in between. The Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre have historically extended on both sides of the range, with smaller northern portions now in France and larger southern parts now in Spain. The demonym for the noun Pyrenees in English is Pyrenean, in Greek mythology, Pyrene is a princess who gave her name to the Pyrenees. The Greek historian Herodotus says Pyrene is the name of a town in Celtic Europe, Hercules, characteristically drunk and lustful, violates the sacred code of hospitality and rapes his hosts daughter. Pyrene gives birth to a serpent and runs away to the woods, alone, she pours out her story to the trees, attracting the attention of wild beasts who tear her to pieces. After his victory over Geryon, Hercules passes through the kingdom of Bebryx again, and all the rock-cliffs and wild-beast haunts echo back Pyrene. … The mountains hold on to the name through the ages. Pliny the Elder connects the story of Hercules and Pyrene to Lusitania, the Spanish Pyrenees are part of the following provinces, from east to west, Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Huesca, Navarra and Gipuzkoa. The French Pyrenees are part of the following départements, from east to west, Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, the independent principality of Andorra is sandwiched in the eastern portion of the mountain range between the Spanish Pyrenees and French Pyrenees. Physiographically, the Pyrenees may be divided into three sections, the Atlantic, the Central, and the Eastern Pyrenees, together, they form a distinct physiographic province of the larger Alpine System division. In the Western Pyrenees, from the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean, at the eastern end on the southern side lies a distinct area known as the Sub-Pyrenees. On the French side the slopes of the range descend abruptly. The Pyrenees are older than the Alps, their sediments were first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, the intense pressure and uplifting of the Earths crust first affected the eastern part and moved progressively to the entire chain, culminating in the Eocene Epoch. The eastern part of the Pyrenees consists largely of granite and gneissose rocks, the massive and unworn character of the chain comes from its abundance of granite, which is particularly resistant to erosion, as well as weak glacial development. Low passes are lacking, and the roads and the railroads between France and Spain run only in the lowlands at the western and eastern ends of the Pyrenees. A notable visual feature of mountain range is La Brèche de Roland, a gap in the ridge line. Coal deposits capable of being profitably worked are situated chiefly on the Spanish slopes, the open pit of Trimoun close to the commune of Luzenac is one of the greatest sources of talc in Europe
Pyrenees
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Central Pyrenees
Pyrenees
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Composite satellite image of the Pyrenees (
NASA)
Pyrenees
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Pico del Aneto, the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.
Pyrenees
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Pic de Bugatet in the
Néouvielle massif
24.
Catalonia
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Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula. It is designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy, Catalonia consists of four provinces, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain, Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, the official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan. The eastern counties of these marches were united under the rule of the Frankish vassal the Count of Barcelona, in the later Middle Ages Catalan literature flourished. Between 1469 and 1516, the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castile married and ruled their kingdoms together, retaining all their distinct institutions, Courts, and constitutions. During the Franco-Spanish War, Catalonia revolted against a large and burdensome presence of the Royal army in its territory, within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia, at a high economic cost for Catalonia, until it was largely reconquered by the Spanish army. In the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic, in the second half of the century Catalonia experienced industrialisation. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, Catalonia saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements appeared. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces formed a Commonwealth, and with the return of democracy during the Second Spanish Republic, after the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan institutions and banning the official use of the Catalan language again. Since the Spanish transition to democracy, Catalonia has regained some political and cultural autonomy and is now one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain, the origin of the name Catalunya is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence. During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the medley of Goths with Alans. Other less plausible theories suggest, Catalunya derives from the land of castles, having evolved from the term castlà or castlan. This theory therefore suggests that the names Catalunya and Castile have a common root, the source is of Celtic origin, meaning chiefs of battle. Although the area is not known to have been occupied by Celts, the Lacetani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved by metathesis to Katelans and then Catalans. In English, Catalonia is pronounced /kætəˈloʊniə/, the native name, Catalunya, is pronounced in Central Catalan, the most widely spoken variety whose pronunciation is considered standard. The Spanish name is Cataluña, and the Aranese name is Catalonha, the first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic. From the next era, the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic, important remains survive
Catalonia
–
A
Roman aqueduct in
Tarragona.
Catalonia
–
Flag
Catalonia
–
The Medieval church of
Sant Climent in
Taüll, located at the foothills of the
Pyrenees.
Catalonia
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La Seu Vella, Lleida
25.
Valencian Community
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The Valencian Community, or the Valencian Country, is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populousautonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and it is often homonymously identified with its capital Valencia, which is Spains third largest city. It is located along the Mediterranean coast to the east of the Iberian peninsula and it borders with Catalonia to the north, Aragon and Castile–La Mancha to the west, and Murcia to the south. The Valencian Community consists of three provinces which are Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, according to its Statute of Autonomy, the Valencian people are a nationality. Their origins date back to the Catalan-Aragonese colonization of the Moorish Taifa of Valencia, the newly founded Kingdom of Valencia was granted wide self-government under the Crown of Aragon with the promulgation of its Furs in 1261. Valencia experienced its golden age in the 15th century, becoming the economic and cultural capital of the Crown, self-government continued after the unification of the Spanish Kingdom, but was eventually suspended in 1707 by Phillip V of Spain as a result of the Spanish War of Succession. Valencian nationalism resurged towards the end of the 19th century, which led to the conception of the Valencian Country. Self-government under the Generalitat Valenciana was finally reestablished in 1982 after Spanish transition to democracy, the Valencian people speak a variety of Catalan called Valencian, accounting for a third of all Catalan speakers. Valencian is a language that has been historically repressed in favour of Spanish. Since it regained status in 1982, Valencian has been implemented in public administration. However, its use continues to be threatened by Spanish due to migration from other parts of Spain, especially in the cities of València. Furthermore, the conflict continues to be pressing, with some groups opposing the official standard based on Catalan orthography. Valencia was founded by the Romans under the name of Valentia Edetanorum, with the establishment of the Taifa of Valencia, the name developed to بلنسية, which eventually became Valencia after the expulsion of the Moors. Valencian Community is the translation of the official name in Valencian recognized by the Statute of Autonomy of 1982. This is the name most used in administration, tourism. On one hand, Valencian Country represented the modern conception of nationality that resurged in the 19th century and it became well-established during the Second Spanish Republic and later on with the works of Joan Fuster in the 1960s, implying the existence of the Catalan Countries. This nationalist subtext was opposed by anti-Catalan blaverists, who proposed Former Kingdom of Valencia instead in order to emphasize Valencian independence from Catalonia, currently, blaverists have accepted the official denomination. The autonomous community can be identified with its capital Valencia
Valencian Community
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Archeological site of Tossal de Manises, ancient
Iberian –
Greek –
Carthaginian –
Roman city of Akra Leuke or
Lucentum
Valencian Community
–
Location of the Valencian Community within Spain
Valencian Community
–
Villena castle
Valencian Community
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Quart Towers,
city of Valencia
26.
La Rioja (Spain)
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La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province in Spain, located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada and it has an estimated population of 322,415 inhabitants. It covers part of the Ebro valley towards its north and the Iberian Range in the south, the community is a single province, so there is no County Council, and it is organized into 174 municipalities. It borders the Basque Country to the north, Navarre to the northeast, Aragón to the southeast, the area was once occupied by pre-Roman Berones, Pellendones and Basques. After partial recapture from the Muslims in the tenth century, the region became part of the Kingdom of Pamplona, later being incorporated into Castile after a century. The name Rioja is first attested in 1099, the region is well known for its wines under the brand Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja. In Roman times the territory of La Rioja was inhabited by the tribes of the Berones, Autrigones and it was part of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. In medieval times La Rioja was often a disputed territory, the Visigoths created the Duchy of Cantabria that probably included most of La Rioja, as a border march against the Vascones. The area was invaded by the Muslims at the beginning of the eighth century, after the Muslim invasion of 711, La Rioja fell into the Muslim domains of Al Andalus. Most of the territory was reconquered in 923 by Sancho I of Pamplona, acting for the Kingdom of Pamplona together with the Kingdom of León, the lower region around Arnedo came under control of his allies the Banu Qasi of Tudela. The territory to the east of the Leza River remained under Muslim control, later there was a dispute between the Castilian Count Fernán González and the kings of Pamplona-Navarra, involving great battles. It was decided in favour of the Navarrese after the imprisonment of the Counts family in Cirueña, La Rioja briefly formed the independent Kingdom of Viguera from 970 to about 1005, at which point it became a part of the Kingdom of Pamplona. Sancho Garcés moved the capital of the Kingdom of Pamplona to Nájera, creating the so-called kingdom of Nájera-Pamplona which was, due to its large size, the first Spanish Empire. After the independence of Castile in 1035, this new kingdom fiercely fought against Pamplona for the possession of Bureba, La Rioja, in 1076, after the murder of Sancho VI, Navarre was divided among Castile and Aragon. Castile obtained La Rioja, together with other Navarrese lands, the name La Rioja first appears in written records in the Miranda de Ebro charter of 1099. The territory was centred on the site of Logroño, the 12th-century church Iglesia de Santa Maria de Palacio recalls its origin as a chapel of the administrative palace. The region was awarded to Castile in a judgement by Henry II of England and its importance lay in part in the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, the Camino de Santiago, which crossed the River Ebro on the stone bridge, the Puente de Piedra. Up to the 19th century the territory remained divided between the provinces of Burgos and Soria, the region was taken by Napoleonic forces in the Peninsular War and remained solidly in French hands until 1814
La Rioja (Spain)
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Footprints of a
Theropoda found near
Enciso.
La Rioja (Spain)
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Flag
La Rioja (Spain)
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Monasterios de San Millán de Yuso
La Rioja (Spain)
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Arnedillo, in La Rioja
27.
Navarre
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The first documented use of a name resembling Navarra, Nafarroa, or Naparroa is a reference to navarros, in Eginhards early 9th Century chronicle of the feats of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Other Royal Frankish Annals feature nabarros, there are two proposed etymologies for the name. Basque nabar, brownish, multicolor (i. e. in contrast to the mountainous lands north of the original County of Navarre. Basque naba, valley, plain + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines considers naba to be linguistically part of a wider Vasconic or Aquitanian language substrate, rather than Basque per se. During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops. Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area, the Vascones included neighbouring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and that kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Sancho III, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony. When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons and it never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200, Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads. The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, however, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile, but keeping a separate status. A Chartered Government was established, and the managed to keep home rule. After the 1839 Convention of Bergara, a version of home rule was passed in 1839. The relocation of customs from the Ebro river to the Pyrenees in 1841 prompted the collapse of Navarre’s customary cross-Pyrenean trade, amid instability in Spain, Carlists took over in Navarre and the rest of the Basque provinces. The end of the Third Carlist War saw a wave of Spanish centralization directly affecting Navarre. In 1893-1894 the Gamazada popular uprising took place centred in Pamplona against Madrids governmental decisions breaching the 1841 chartered provisions. Except for a faction, all parties in Navarre agreed on the need for a new political framework based on home rule within the Laurak Bat
Navarre
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Coins of Arsaos, Navarre, 150–100 BC, showing
Rome 's stylistic influence
Navarre
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Flag
Navarre
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Castle of Xabier
Navarre
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Carlists in retreat to the Irache monastery during the
Third Carlist War
28.
Ebro
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The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the second longest river in the Iberian peninsula after the Tagus, the source of the river Ebro is in Fontibre, from the Latin words Fontes Iberis, source of the Ebro. Close by is the big artificial lake Embalse del Ebro created by the damming of the river, the upper Ebro rushes through rocky gorges in Burgos Province. Karst geological processes shaped the landscape of layers of carbonate rock of extensive limestone bedrock formed in an ancient seabed. Aragonite, a named for Aragon, attests to the fact that carbonates are abundant in the central Ebro Valley. The valley expands and the Ebros flow then becomes slower as its volume increases. There, larger tributaries flowing from the Central Pyrenees and the Iberian System discharge large amounts of water, as it flows through Zaragoza the Ebro, is already a sizeable river. There, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar stands next to the Ebro, the soils in most of the valley are primarily poor soils, calcareous, pebbly, stony, and sometimes salted with saltwater endorheic lagoons. The semi-arid interior of the Ebro Valley has either drought summers and it is covered with chaparral vegetation. Summers are hot and winters are cold, the dry summer season has temperatures of more than 35 °C, occasionally reaching over 40 °C. In winter, the temperatures drop below 0 °C. In some areas the vegetation depends heavily on moisture produced by condensation fogs and it is a continental Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures. There are many ground frosts on clear nights, and sporadic snowfalls, the biomes are diverse in these Mediterranean climate zones, Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. Hinterlands are particularly distinctive on account of extensive sclerophyll shrublands known as maquis, the dominant species are Quercus coccifera and Quercus ilex. These trees form monospecific communities or communities integrated with Pinus, Mediterranean buckthorns, Myrtus, Chamaerops humilis, junipers, Pistacia, Rosmarinus, Thymus, etc. The mountain vegetation is mostly coniferous forests that are drought adapted and their presence is related to the marine origin of the Ebro valley and the extensive marine deposits in the same area. After reaching Catalonia, the Ebro Valley narrows, and the river becomes constrained by mountain ranges, massive dams have been built in this area, such as the dams at Mequinenza, Riba-roja, Flix. In the final section of its course the river bends southwards, the massive calcareous cliffs of the Serra de Cardó range constrain the river during this last stretch, separating the Ebro Valley from the Mediterranean coastal area
Ebro
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The Ebro River in Zaragoza
Ebro
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Watershed of the Ebro
Ebro
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The source of the Ebro in
Fontibre.
Ebro
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The Ebro River delta from space
29.
Aneto
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Aneto is the highest mountain in the Pyrenees and in Aragon, and Spains third-highest mountain, reaching a height of 3,404 metres. It stands in the Spanish province of Huesca, the northernmost of all three Aragonese provinces,4 miles south of the French border and it forms the southernmost part of the Maladeta massif. It is also locally known as Pic de Néthou in French. Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, in the municipality of Benasque, Huesca province, autonomous community of Aragon and it is part of the Maladeta massif and is located in the Benasque valley. It consists of Paleozoic terrain of a nature and Mesozoic materials. It is estimated that it has lost more than half of its surface in the last 100 years, initially, the great mass of granite did not even have a name. There are indications that the shepherds and hunters from the southern valleys referred to it as Malheta or Malahita or Punta, the first cultured traveller who saw it from the port of Benasque, Louis Ramond de Carbonnières, simply described its appearance as needles of ice in 1787. The highest point of the Pyrenees eventually inherited the name of a village on its south-eastern side, the French, on hearing the Argonese pronunciation of Aneto, retained the last two clearly accentuated phonetic syllables, ne and tu, ignoring the first syllable a. So these names were the toponyms that were then used and it took Émile Bellocs renown work on the Pyrenees to establish the name of Aneto as the official toponym, he consistently used that name in 1898 already. Some two miles away on its north-west fringe lies the Maladeta peak that, though not being among the five highest peaks in the environment and it subsequently earned the greatest interest of climbers, especially in the early 18th century. Until then, the Monte Perdido had been considered the highest and he fell in a crack in the ice on Maladeta. This caused a shock and the natives, already very fearful of venturing on the glacier. Aneto rises to 3,404 meters above sea level in the centre of the Pyrenees mountain range whose territories runs almost entirely along the border between France and Spain, the peak lies to the north-east of the province of Huesca and occupies the eastern end of the Malditos Mountains. The waters of the western and southern sides, however, meet in the Superior, Middle and Lower mountain lakes, today, global warming has reduced the portentous mass to eleven glaciers that total only three hundred acres. The Aneto-Maladeta massif sustains a total of 286 acres surface, representing more than half of all the glaciers in Spain - all of which being located in the Pyrenees. The rest cannot truly be defined as glaciers without contention, as they have lost all mobility, among these are the Cregüella, Alba and Salenques glaciers, which are in a major state of decline. However, even considering them as snowfields, their past glacier state has kept them to date, the mountains ascent is usually made from the Renclusa Refuge. From there, the itinerary traverses the longest part of the glacier that extends to the north of the peak, the summit is defended by a short rocky passage called the Bridge of Mohammed
Aneto
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North face of Aneto
Aneto
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Map of Aneto and the valleys and massifs that surround it.
Aneto
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Pine forest at the foot of the massif of Maladeta.
Aneto
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Aneto Peak (3404m) summit panorama, looking South West, Pyrenees range
30.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
Gross domestic product
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Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order
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"Aragon". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 313–314.
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