Copyright 2005 Hugh Griffin
Spain is a country in southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of
Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the
Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France. Spain consists of 19
autonomous communities including the Balearic Islands and the
Canary Islands, and three small Spanish possessions off the
coast of Morocco - Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and
Penon de Velez de la Gomera. The total area of Spain is 504,782
sq km. Spain has borders with Andorra (63.7 km), France (623
km), Gibraltar (1.2 km), Portugal (1,214 km), Morocco (Ceuta)
(6.3 km), Morocco (Melilla) (9.6 km). The Spanish climate is
considered temperate; clear, hot summers in the interior, more
moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in the
interior, and partly cloudy and cool along the coast. The
population of Spain is 40,341,462 (July 2005). Castilian Spanish
is the official language nationwide and is spoken by 74% of the
population. Catalan is spoken by 17%, Galician is spoken by 7%,
Basque is spoken by 2%. These languages are official regionally.
Religion: 94% of the people are Roman Catholic.
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