Ransom

Hi, my name is shawnee and my country im currently working on is Spain.


 * Climate:** temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast


 * Religions:** Roman Catholic 99%, other sects 1%


 * Languages:** Castilian Spanish, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2**%**
 * Natural resources:** coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, hydropower

Geography

 * Location:** Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, between Portugal and France

=SPAIN: Fiestas and Traditions=

Best known among Spain's folkloristic traditions are certainly [|**Flamenco**] and [|**bullfights**]. You will find bullfights indeed throughout the country, the most popular event perhaps being the "Running of Bulls" during the [|**Sanfermines in Pamplona**]. But bullfights are part and parcel of any //Fiesta//


 * **THE SPANISH ROYAL FAMILY** ||
 * [[image:http://www.ctspanish.com/legends/king/crest.jpg width="138" height="151" caption="crest.jpg (28160 bytes)"]]
 * The Spanish Royal Crest** || As of 1978, Spain has been a Parlimentary System with a Constitutional Monarchy. This is similar to the system in Great Britain. The King is the head of the state and as such, represents Spain internationally ||

 =Geography= Spain occupies 85% of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal, in southwest Europe. Africa is less than 10 mi (16 km) south at the Strait of Gibraltar. A broad central plateau slopes to the south and east, crossed by a series of mountain ranges and river valleys. Principal rivers are the Ebro in the northeast, the Tajo in the central region, and the Guadalquivir in the south. Off Spain's east coast in the Mediterranean are the Balearic Islands (1,936 sq mi; 5,014 sq km), the largest of which is Majorca. Sixty mi (97 km) west of Africa are the Canary Islands (2,808 sq mi; 7,273 sq km).

Read more: [|Spain: History, Geography, Government, and Culture — Infoplease.com] [] =Brazilian president meets with foreign leaders= The Associated Press Posted: 01/02/2011 07:11:06 AM PST Updated: 01/02/2011 07:11:06 AM PST

  Click photo to enlarge Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, right, looks on as Spain s Prince... ((AP Photo/Eraldo Peres))

BRASILIA, Brazil—Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is meeting with international leaders on her first full day in office. The former Marxist rebel and the country's first female president made foreign policy her priority Sunday, taking advantage of the many leaders who came to the country for her inauguration a day earlier. Among the leaders Rousseff is meeting are Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and Spanish Crown Prince Felipe. The 63-year-old Rousseff is taking over from Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who spent eight years in office and became the country's most popular president. Rousseff was Silva's hand-picked successor.
 * [|«]
 * [|1]
 * [|2]
 * [|3]
 * [|»]

Second Punic War in Spain 218 – 206 BCE
As the Romans fought the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, Spain became a field of conflict between the two sides, both aided by Spanish natives. After 211 the brilliant general Scipio Africanus campaigned, throwing Carthage out of Spain by 206 and beginning centuries of Roman occupation.

Spain Fully Subdued 19 BCE
Rome’s wars in Spain continued for many decades of often brutal warfare, with numerous commanders operating in the area and making a name for themselves. On occasion the wars impinged on the Roman consciousness, with eventual victory in the long siege of Numantia being equated to the destruction of Carthage. Eventually A grippa conquered the Cantabrians in 19 BCE, leaving Rome ruler of the whole peninsula. **Spain is a member of the European Union (EU).** In 2002 the euro was implemented as the common currency for most EU member countries. For the traveler, this means one can move from many EU countries to the next without stopping to exchange currency. Note: Not all EU countries have adopted the euro as their currency.

=Population of Spain= The Spanish people are a mixture of the indigenous peoples of the Iberian Peninsula with the successive peoples who conquered the peninsula and occupied it for extended periods. Location of Spain is on the South Western side of Europe. Three oceans such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Cantarbrian Sea borders Spain. Fifty autonomous provinces comprise Spain. **Religion in Spain** includes Catholicism along with some other religions as well. However Catholicism is the major religion in Spain. Spain is dominated by the Roman Catholics. According to the statistics about seventy six percent of the population is Catholics. People belonging to other religious faith comprise of two percent. While there nineteen percent of the population has no faith in God. Those who were christened before, sometimes consider themselves to be the Catholics. There are certain populations who do not involve themselves in any form of religious practices. Religious services are attended regularly on a monthly basis by about twenty percent of the Spanish population. Present day Spain is secular in nature. In Spain gay marriage is legalized. Again due to the immigration from different countries, the number Muslims have increased. This phenomeno =PHYSICAL RESOURCES OF SPAIN=

About 35 percent of the land is cultivated; 7 percent is planted with permanent crops such as olives, wine grapes, and citrus; and 27 percent is used for pasture and meadow. Irrigation is practiced extensively, making water a major resource in drier regions. Fuel resources are inadequate, despite some deposits of bituminous coal, anthracite, lignite, petroleum, and natural gas. Large deposits of sulfur, mercury, gypsum, nickel, copper, phosphates, potassium, lead, zinc, and uranium occur, but most deposits lie in folded and faulted areas surrounding the edges of the Meseta and are difficult to extract. Hydroelectric power is important, but costly dams are required to regulate the seasonal flow of most rivers. n has happened in the nineteenth century. Thus **religion in Spain** involves a number of Muslim populations. Though Roman Catholicism is the major goverment.