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| Official name: Reino de España (Kingdom of Spain) Head of State: King Juan Carlos I (since 1975) Head of government: Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) (sworn in 17 Apr 2004) Ruling party: Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) (elected 14 Mar 2004) Area: 504,782 square km, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the Ceuta and Melilla enclaves in North Africa Population: 41.90 million (2004) Capital: Madrid Official language: Castilian Spanish, Catalan (in Catalonia including the Balearics), Basque (in the Basque provinces), Valencian (Province of Valencia), Galician (Galicia). Currency: Euro (eur) = 100 cents Exchange rate: eur0.77 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$20,335 (2003) GDP real growth: 2.30% (2003) Labour force: 17.85 million (2003) Unemployment: 11.40% (2003) Inflation: 3.20% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$38.21 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$90.00 billion (2003) |
Historical profile
The Spanish are descended from the Iberians, Celts, Romans and Arabs that conquered
the peninsula up to the eighth century.
In the thirteenth century, Castilla and Aragón emerged as the two main kingdoms in the peninsula. In the fifteenth century, the kingdoms united, following the marriage of the princess of Castilla and the heir to the throne of Aragón, Isabella and Ferdinand. The Catholic Monarchs united all of Spain and launched the Spanish Inquisition, which forced Catholicism on all of the population.
1492 Spain began colonising much of the Americas, following Christopher Columbus' landings in the region.
1560s Spain colonised the Philippines.
1702–14 The major European powers fought to install a new monarchy in Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession, following the death of Charles II in 1700. France eventually installed the grandson of Louis XIV, Philip of Anjou, as the King of Spain.
1808–13 The Spanish population, with help from Britain, fought against French rule in the War of Independence.
1868 The army revolted against the Spanish monarchy. A military government, led by General Juan Prim, took over the country. Prim offered the Spanish crown to the son of Italian king Victor Emmanuel II, Amadeo of Savoy.
1873 Prim was assassinated. Amadeo of Savoy left Spain after failing to get installed as the new king. The remnants of the government announced the creation of the First Spanish Republic.
1874 Attempts to introduce constitutional and political reforms to the Republic failed and the monarchy was restored.
1898 Spain lost control of Cuba, Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, after being defeated in Cuba by the US.
1909 Spanish and French forces began fighting against separatists in Spanish-ruled northern Morocco.
1923 The war in Morocco and an economic recession resulted in an authoritarian government, led by General Miguel Primo de Rivera, taking over Spain.
1926 The Spanish and French defeated the Moroccans, bringing the war to an end.
1930 After failing with economic and political reforms, Primo de Rivera resigned from government
1931 Republican parties won the municipal elections, which led the Spanish King, Alfonso XIII, to abdicate. The Second Republic was declared.
1936 Civil war broke out. The army, led by Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, fought to take control of Spain. In October, General Franco was declared the head of state. With help from Nazi Germany and Italy, Franco's forces supported the Nationalists, composed of fascists, monarchists and right-wing parties, against the Republicans, which included Communists and other left-wing organisations.
1939 The civil war was won by the Nationalist forces. General Franco established authoritarian rule, restricting individual liberties and severely repressing challenges to his power.
1955 After being kept out of international organisations, Spain was allowed to join the UN.
1956 Morocco was granted independence, although Spain maintained control of the Ceuta and Melilla enclaves in northern Morocco.
1959 The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) (Homeland and Freedom) organisation was formed with the aim of creating an independent Basque region through violence.
1968 Spanish Guinea in West Africa gained independence and was renamed Equatorial Guinea.
1973 Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated by ETA in response to government's execution of Basque militants.
1975 General Franco died in November. He was succeeded as head of state by King Juan Carlos I.
1977 Restrictions on political activity were lifted and free parliamentary elections were held. The Union de Centro Democrático (UCD) (Union of the Democratic Centre) coalition, led by Adolfo Sáurez González, emerged as the largest party.
1978 A new constitution was endorsed by referendum and ratified by the King. It confirmed Spain as a parliamentary monarchy, with freedom for political parties and it enshrined the ‘indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation', yet recognised the right to autonomy of its ‘nationalities and regions'.
Early 1980s Devolution began after referendums on regional autonomy in the Basque region and Catalonia. Spain was divided into 17 regions, each with its president and parliament, plus two self-governing enclaves on the north African coast – Ceuta and Melilla.
1981 Due to disenchantment with the government, Suárez resigned as prime minister in January. The paramilitary Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) attempted to launch a coup against the UCD government, holding members of the cabinet and parliament hostage. The coup was aborted when King Carlos I demanded that the military should remain loyal to the crown and the constitution.
1982 The Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) won the October parliamentary elections. Felipe González was elected as prime minister.
1986 Spain joined the EU in January.
1986--96 The PSOE won the 1986, 1990 and 1993 parliamentary elections and Felipe González served four terms as prime minister.
1996 José María Aznar, leader of the Partido Popular (PP) (Popular Party), was elected prime minister in May at the head of a minority PP government.
2000 The PP won the parliamentary elections.
2001 A new round of talks began between British and Spanish governments on the future of Gibraltar.
2002 In January, the euro replaced the peseta as Spain's national currency. Prime Minister Aznar announced that he would retire from domestic politics when his term ended in 2004. In July, Morocco landed 12 soldiers on the disputed Isla del Perejil (Parsley Island), an uninhabited 1.2 square kilometre rocky island close to the Spanish-controlled Ceuta enclave in Morocco. Spain re-occupied the island, which the Moroccans lay claim to and call Leila.
The oil slick from the wrecked tanker, the Prestige severely polluted some 400km of Atlantic coastline in northern Spain. The perceived failure of the PP government to deal with the disaster effectively caused internal divisions within the PP, opposition protests and a sharp drop in the PP's poll ratings. The cost of the clean-up was estimated at over eur1 billion.
2003 The Supreme Court approved in March government proposals to ban Batasuna (Unity), the party believed to be the political wing of ETA. Government support for the US-lead coalition invasion of Iraq was opposed by an estimated 85 per cent of the population, causing a further deterioration in support for the PP. Prime Minister Aznar repeated his announcement that he would not be standing for re-election in the March 2004 elections. He designated party loyalist Mariano Rajoy, generally perceived to be a less than charismatic, as his replacement.
2004 In February, the Basque separatist movement, ETA, announced that it had entered a pact with the autonomous government of Catalonia whereby no terrorist actions will be undertaken by ETA in Catalonia. On 11 March, 10 bombs planted in four commuter trains in Madrid during the morning rush hour killed around 200 people and wounded more than 1,400. The opposition party, PSOE, won the 14 March parliamentary elections. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) was sworn in as prime minister on 7 April.
2005 In February, Spain voted in favour of a constitution for the EU, but the
turnout was low at 42.3 per cent. In the Basque country's regional elections
in April, the moderate nationalist ruling party lost ground and the Socialists
gained seats.
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