100 Interesting Facts About Spain
Hello Friends:
Welcome to Countries facts so today I am talking about top 100 interesting facts about Spain oh sorry note about Spain.
1 Spain officially known as the kingdom of Spain as a country mostly located in the Iberian Peninsula in the uber cool continent of Europe the Spanish word for Spain is espana which means Spain believe it or not.
2 The original meaning of the word Spain is highly contested with many theories offering up various wildly differing interpretations some of the most common proposals for the etymological origin to Spain suggest the name might mean city of the Western world the land where metals are forged or even the land of rabbits I think it's the last one I hope it's the last one.
3 Spain covers around 85% of the Iberian Peninsula a large bulbous landmass that extends out into the Atlantic Ocean closing off the Mediterranean Sea Spain shares the Iberian Peninsula with a tiny microstate of Andorra as well as the British overseas territory of Gibraltar a small southern sliver of France and Portugal the land of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nando's.
4 As such continental Spain is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea and as a small land boundary with the British overseas territory to Poulter and to the north and northeast by France and Dora and the Bay of Biscay to the west oh is the Atlantic Ocean and the aforementioned peri-peri Portugal.
5 Spain is divided into 17 territories 15 of which are part of continental Spain where are the other two Sham haha well I'll tell you the other two were constituted by two large archipelagos the Canary Islands off the African Atlantic coast and the balearic islands in the Mediterranean see in addition Spain owns two autonomous cities on continental Africa called Toyota and Malaya as one of several small islands in the AL Boren sea close to the African coast known as the plazas de sibour anja meaning cities of sovereignty.
6 As a result of its tiny Dom mainland territory Spain is the only European country to have a border with an African country which is Morocco.
7 With an area of roughly five hundred six thousand square kilometres Spain is the largest country in southern Europe the second-largest country in Western Europe and the European Union and is a fourth largest country in the European continent always a bridesmaid never a bride.
8 The first modern human derived on the land that is now known as Spain roughly thirty five thousand years ago though early human ancestors have inhabited the Iberian Peninsula for far longer clearly that glorious Spanish Sun has been attracting hominids for eons.
9 Later iberian cultures as well as ancient Phoenicians Greeks and Carthaginians settlements began to emerge on the peninsula before the region was brought under Roman rule in approximately 200 BC those pesky Romans with their pesky straight road and art made out of small colored tiles makes me sick.
10 Eventually however the western part of the Roman Empire kind of well collapsed after which the region was invaded by various Germanic tribal Confederations from Central Europe such as thus ye be vandals and Alan's yep an entire tribe of people called Alan at least that's what I assume that means.
11 Eventually the Visigoths a super-special variety of goth forcibly integrated all the existing independent territories in the peninsula leaving only small areas on Gotha thighed there were black camels and fake plastic bats everywhere.
12 The late 8th century the visigothic kingdom fell to the Moors a loosely defined group of Muslim invaders who would end up rolling most of the peninsular for the next seven centuries very Moorish the Moors yeah see myself out.
13 Eventually however the Europeans gradually clawed back their territory that had been taken from them although centuries ago in a process known as the Reconquista with the marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand ii of aragon which happened in the late 15th century it was great times you should have been there spain emerged unified catholic country.
14 In the same year in 1492 the last Moorish kingdom of Iberia finally surrendered to the Catholic crown and a certain Italian fellow named Christopher Columbus under the sponsorship of Ferdinand and Isabella discovered America supposedly this resulted in the glorious age of peaceful cooperation with the native people of the Americas in which absolutely nobody was almost entirely wiped out oh wait nope hang on I've got that wrong that's exactly.
15 Interestingly there is a direct descendent of Christopher Columbus who was actually alive today he's a Spanish nobleman called and I'm sorry in advance here Cristobal Colon de Bajal eager Rosabelle 18th Duke of boricua but his friends just call him the first bit for short.
16 The 16th and 17th centuries would turn out to be the golden age for Spain as it developed into Europe's leading power its status was reinforced by trade and wealth from its colonial possessions which sounds fairly innocuous if you don't mention the millions of non-european people who are killed or enslaved don't do Cloney ilysm kids.
17 Spain's colonial legacy meant that there are currently 21 independent countries that were once under Spanish rule obviously that's nothing compared to us British.
18 You're not a real country until you've had a good old-fashioned Civil War clearly not wanting to be left out Spain had its very own Guerrera civil between 1936 and 1939 known simply as the Spanish Civil War the boring title in which left-wing Republicans of the second Spanish Republic fought against the Catholic nationalists yeah I know it's not exactly bruno Tison the nationalist one leading to the ascension of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco who ruled until his death in 1975.
19 The weapons known as Molotov cocktails of a distinctly Slavic name improvised incendiary devices of this type were first used in the Spanish Civil War before becoming famous for their use in other conflicts.
20 During the era of Francoist Spain the Catholic Church abducted as many 300 thousand newborn babies from known Republicans and then literally sold them to Catholic families Catholic officials would often whisk the child away straight after birth for routine testing after which the parents would be told their child had died Wow good one Catholic Church nice job.
21 nterestingly Spain was technically neutral throughout the first and second world wars however Spain's leaders what I do not to be aligned with Germany who were the baddies in this case bad spine make better choices.
22 To be fair though some Spanish people listen to me except from the past and did my gratis during World War Two was Spaniard by the name of hohenberg Assia became a double agent against the Nazis by faking pro-fascist fanaticism he soon attracted the attention of the Germans who sent him to England to recruit more agents which be jolted immediately with the only catch being that those he recruited were entirely fictional just like his numerous intelligence reports the Allies eventually accepted him as a useful asset and his devious Spanish ways but his significant role in the downfall of the Axis powers.
23 As a result of his work as a super called nasty confusing literal double agent Pujol had the rare distinction of receiving military decoration from both sides of the conflict an Iron Cross from the Germans and an MBE from the British that's stupid Nazis.
24 When Franco died in 1975 following four decades of dictatorship the monarchy was restored and Juan Carlos became the king of Spain Juan Carlos reigned as Spain's head of state for thirty-nine years until he abdicated in 2014 to make way for the younger generation his place as the Spanish sovereign was later taken by son Felipe now King Felipe the sixth.
25 As such Spain is barring any nasty revolutions between me recording this video on the video going live a secular parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy similar to us in the UK although technically we're not secular.
26 The longest river located entirely within Spain is the Ebro River which stretches across northern Spain for roughly nine hundred and thirty kilometres however vein is also home to most of the Tagus River In central Spain and flows through Portugal and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at one thousand seven kilometres long the Teja is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula.
27 The highest point in Spain is Mount t'ai de a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa it stands at 3,700 18 metres and is the highest point above sea level of any island in the Atlantic Ocean.
28 The highest point in continental Spain though is mula Sen which is also the highest point in the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula it stands at three thousand four hundred eighty two metres and is part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Spain.
29 The language of his commonly spoken in Spain is unsurprisingly Spanish Spanish originates from the Castile region and is therefore known as two Castilian or Castillejo at least 70% of Spanish words are derived from Latin with the rest coming from Arabic native-american Germanic and Celtic languages.
30 Arabic sin fluence on the Spanish language owing to the region century long rule under the Moors can be seen in the numerous place names in Spain with the owl at the beginning such as al meriya al bara theme and a Laconte with al being the Arabic for the word there.
31 The Spanish language is known for the usage of inverted exclamation and question marks this feature only exists in Spanish and languages that have cultural connections to Spanish such as Galla Sein Catalan and the war a language of the Philippines Spanish also pronounces the letter J as a throaty ha that would mean my future wife is called Jennifer Lawrence.
32 Spain's colonial empire left behind an enormous cultural and linguistic legacy that includes over 500 million speakers of Spanish known as his span of owns this makes Spanish the world's second most spoken native language behind only Mandarin Chinese.
33 The use of Spanish on the Internet has increased by one thousand three hundred and twelve point four percent between the year 2000 and 2015 get online espanha phones it's great stuff.
34 However not all Spaniards are native speakers of Spanish as there are actually four official languages in the country these are Spanish Catalan Galician and Basque still Spanish is the native language of roughly 72 percent of the Spanish people.
35 The language of the Basque region is known as Basque in English does go in Spanish and a euskara in Basque and is interesting for being a language isolate meaning it's a natural language not known to be related to any other it's a renegade badass language that plays by its own rules and don't need no man.
36 Spain has a population of just under 47 million people making it the sixth most populous nation in Europe with more than three-quarters of Spanish people living in urban areas.
37 Spain is also the least densely populated country in Europe with an average of just over 200 inhabitants for every square mile however in terms of in which people actually live the people of Spain are actually quite densely packed.
38 Traditionally Spaniards all have two surnames the first surname is their father's first surname and the second is their mothers first surname that makes sense this is of course deeply sexist which is something we English speakers can say because forcing women to take their husband's surname isn't sexist at all.
39 Despite the fact that roughly 70% of Spanish people identify as Catholic just over 13% of them actually go to church on Sundays that is according to a 2012 study by the centre of sociological studies in Spain.
40 Owing to its rich history fascinating culture and generally fantastic weather Spain was the third most visited country in the world in 2013 behind only France and the United States and second according to some sources Spain actually overtook America and took the second place spot in 2017 mmm a wonderful could've caused America to drop in the rankings in 2017.
41 Spain boasts an impressive 44 UNESCO World Heritage Sites putting it in third place globally behind Italy with 49 and China with 45 Spain sites include prehistoric rock art historic cities buildings and different britches yes bridges oh you can't make this stuff up the meaning of life.
42 The Spanish also had a massive influence on the world of modern art starting all the way back in the 1800s artists like Antoni gaudà Pablo Picasso Joanne Moreau and Salvador Dali cemented Spain's place in the history of art for their contributions to Art Nouveau cubism and surrealism.
43 You can also thank Spain for its contribution to literature having produced one of the very first modern novels with the publication of Don Quixote written in 1605 a Miguel de Cervantes the book follows the story of a nobleman who was so obsessed with reading romantic tales he literally goes mad and decides to set out on his own knightly adventure.
44 The most popular sport in Spain is football or soccer the Spanish prefer to call the sport football which is a rough Spanish pronunciation of the English name Spain is one of only eight countries to have won the FIFA World Cup which he did at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this was also the first time the team would even reach the final.
45 The national animal of Spain is the ball which is slightly strange given how some Spaniards enjoy torturing and killing them as part of the cultural tradition of bullfighting but hey whatever youngja cranks pain.
46 One of Maine's most famous festivals is satella Tomatina in which people concrete in the Valencian town of Bunol why I hear you ask well des throw tomatoes to each other for sheer fun more than 150-thousand tomatoes who usually thrown at La Tomatina in an hour-long all-out food fight that leaves participants covered in tomato blood.
47 One amazing side effect of La Tomatina is that after the tomato brawl is over the village cobbled streets are left pristine owing to the citric acid of the tomatoes which disinfecting clean everything they touch.
48 Another famous or perhaps infamous Spanish custom is the Running of the Bulls festival held every year in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona more than a million people attended each year to see people attempt to outrun the time feeding Bulls who are being trampled or go to death what fun have you ever had to run away from a herd of stampeding bulls I know I have let us know when I found some YouTube poll.
49 Another kind of cruel Spanish festival involves the small town of Magha Nessus filipova Rosa in which villages would mark the fourth Sunday of January by hunting a goat from a church belfry in commemoration of a legendary goat that fell from the tower but landed safely the unlucky goat chosen for the ritual will be caught in the canvas sheet but the practice was still regarded cruel enough to be banned in the early 2000s.
50 Every year in the Spanish province of Burgos people celebrate el kalanchoe a traditional holiday in which infants have been born in the last 12 months are laid on mattresses in the street before men dressed as the devil leap over them to cleanse them of original sin and if the costumes are anything to go by the first of all proves that Satan has terrible dress sense.
51 Spain's national anthem March aureole is one of only four national anthems in the world that is entirely lyric plus it's literally just music basically it's like the interlude on a pretentious indie album that you always skip.
52 Spain decided to jump on the eurozone bandwagon its original monetary unit was the humble per se tie not to be confused with peso with a Mexican currency that are still in use or paella which is a form of Spanish food.
53 Spain produces more virgin olive oil than the rest of the planets combined however most of it is sold as Italian virgin olive oil because the truth doesn't matter and everything is meaningless.
54 Spain produced the very first postage stamp to depict a nude woman for in commemoration of the famous oil painting Lamarr hardest nuda by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya the titillating stamps cost outrage in Spain and the prudish United States government even returned an email bearing them.
55 There are no laws in Spain that's explicitly ban and ladies of the night making the practice vaguely legal within certain parameters as such there is a school in Spain that offers professional courses in this art form would provide instructions such as how to do it safely the laws surrounding it and even l.o.v.e making skills.
56 Hilariously in 2010 said ladies of the night working in the spanish city of da de or ordered to wear fluorescent high-vis vest while peddling their wares on roadsides this wasn't to make it more obvious for paying customers and avoid certain awkward situations but to be in accordance with existing health and safety laws.
57 In 1864 spain started a war with peru and chile by seizing the Chincha islands owing to its abundance of guano which is the accumulated excrement of sea birds and bats tasty arming to its chemical composition quano can be used as a highly effective fertilizer and is even an ingredient in gunpowder so yeah what I'm saying is Spain literally started a war.
58 Spain's capitalism had rid and with a population of 6.5 million it's also Spain's largest city other major urban areas include barthelona Seville Valencia Malaga and Bilbao.
59 The name Madrid comes from the Arabic Marguerite's which means place of many streams my Beatrice died which is a shame.
60 The official mascot of the city of Madrid is the bear which comes from the town's famous emblem which depicts a bear reaching up for the fruit of a strawberry tree which I've since learned does not produce actual strawberries and is therefore a tree of lies.
61 Roughly 667 metres above sea level Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe it shares his title with Amsterdam which is also the highest capital city in Europe.
62 The world famous Sagrada famÃlia is a large unfinished Catholic Church in Barcelona designed by the Catalan architect Antoni gaudà the enormous building is expected to completed by 2026 meaning it will have been under construction for over 130 years longer than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
63 Since 1961 a 92 year old former monk named justo Gallego Martinez also known as Don justo has been building an unauthorised Cathedral in Spain's capital city of Madrid the building which is apparently called nuestra senora de Pilar has no plane permission nor approval from any Church authority he just wanted to build the cathedral guys and you know he's doing it he's living his best life nintendo.
64 Madrid is also home to the Puerta del Sol Plaza one of the busiest and most well known parts of the city its name translates to gate of the Sun and is the physical center of the country from where all the nations network of radial roads are measured.
65 The residents of Madrid are officially known as Metro lanius they are also often called Gatos which means cats this is apparently because they sleep all day and alt all night and not because they kill birds display dominance.
66 Spain Corona beer is branded as cor Anita meaning little Corona this is because the renowned winemaker bodegas Torres has owned the trademark for Coronas since 1907.
67 A study conducted in 2006 fan art almost 94% of all euro banknotes in circulation in Spain carry trace amounts of cocaine meaning if you are able to take all of it off every single Spanish banknote Jude has a boatload of it.
68 Spain had a higher rate of unemployment than the United States during the Great Depression the USA suffered an unemployment rate of 25% compared to the rate of Spain which was 27.2.
69 Esposito since the beginning of the recession in 2008 to 2013 female entrepreneurs had took 40 percent of all new businesses in Spain so dealing roughly 800 thousand businesses you go girls or send your Rita's.
70 Most people will remember the not at all terrifying tradition of the tooth fairy who retrieves lost teeth that have been found under pillows and replaces them with money this not creepy at all practice also assists in Spain but with one major difference it isn't a fairy who exchanges teeth for money but a small mouth adorably named Breton cito Perez.
71 Awesomely spain was also one of the first countries in the world to legalize gay marriage which they did all the way back in 2005 they were only the third country to do so being beaten to the punch by the netherlands 2001 and belgium in 2003.
72 Spain is also responsible for gifting on to the world the humble mop and wheeled bucket which was invented in 1956 by manuel hal on Quora meanest car meanest also invented the disposable syringe which thinking about it now makes me wonder why i led with a mop and bucket.
73 Spain is one of a handful of countries including France the Netherlands Germany in Austria where beer is sold in McDonald's here we just drink coke in all our pubs close at 11:30 p.m. because we're children who can't be trusted.
74 Spain's Paralympic basketball team were ordered to return the gold medal said one that year in Sydney's Paralympic Games art it emerged that nearly all of their players had no disabilities I mean there's no real joke here they cheated against disabled people I suppose they're the joke in a way.
75 British forces accidentally invaded Spain roughly 24 all Marines disembarked there instead of in Gibraltar they spent about five minutes in Spain before realizing their mistake and all withdrew.
76 The reason why the flu pandemic of 1918 is referred to as the Spanish flu is because Spain as a non belligerent in the First World War was basically the only country that didn't fake and minimize the data to maintain wartime morale unlike Germany Britain France in the u.s. this created the false impression that the outbreak was especially severe in Spain spalling the nickname Spanish flu.
77 Spain is the only country in the world to erect Tutt sorry-sorry a monument to the liver yes you heard that correctly the internal organ known as the liver the monument was inaugurated in the city of her role in 1987 by the city coroner who called the liver the silent and unselfish organ.
78 When the 16th century new cathedral in Salamanca was renovated - in the early 1990s various carvings with modern designs were added including we're not limited to an astronaut and a gargoyle eating ice cream it's actually a tradition for artisans to include contemporary imagery so the inclusion of these figures was perfectly reasonable.
79 In 2012 the homeowner association of the village of sedate Oh won the Spanish Christmas lottery which had a jackpot a roughly 950 million dollars at the time working out at roughly $130,000 per person literally everyone in the village had bought at least one ticket except of exactly one man who I assume is no longer with us.
80 The town of Korea to Rio in southern Spain is home to roughly 700 people at the surname her palm these individuals are descended from various members of the delegation of Japanese officials they're both 17th century samurai called her Sakura suna Naga the first Japanese official and boy to Spain.
81 Certain regions of Spain in New Zealand are land Antipodes meaning they're directly opposite each other on each side of the planets this allowed some intrepid foodies to create the world's first earth sandwich in 2006 by simultaneously placing two sides of a baguette on the ground in both Spain and New Zealand Yami although the only person that can eat that sandwich is Galactus am i right guys haha nerd jokes.
82 There is a restaurant located on the Spanish island of Lanzarote that cooks its food using geothermal heat from an active volcano this eateries appropriately named restaurant El Diablo which translates must be to restaurant of the devil.
83 There are mines in southwestern Spain that except for some periods of interruption have been in operation for much of the past 5,000 years starting with the ancient Iberian Xand tarty shion's so many different groups of mined in the area that the minerals have leached into an Andalusian River turning it bright Riot earning the nickname Rio Tinto meaning Red River.
84 The Council of a tiny town in Northwest Spain called Tree Grows del by a unanimously decided to officially recognize cats and dogs as equal citizens the town adopted an animal Bill of Rights comprised of 13 articles including statements like all residents are born equal and have the same right to existence as well as a resident whether human or non-human is entitled to respect.
85 There is an island in the beador sober river called la Delos face an S or pheasant island that's jointly owned by France and Spain located in the basque country the two nations decided to alternate ownership of the island every six months meaning that it's sometimes in spain and sometimes in france depending on the time of year.
86 Under the laws of the US state of Nevada the Statue of Liberty New York is legally married to the christopher columbus monument in barcelona spain this stupid idea that is totally bad and stupid was carried out as part of project honeymoon a multi-site international art project created by Spanish artist Antony Miranda.
87 In 2015 archeologists working in the cave of the Asturias region of northern Spain uncovered the remains of what appears to be a family group of 12 Neanderthals who were cannibalized by the humans about 42,000 years ago experts say that the markings found on the bone showed unmistakable signs of cannibal activity that's a damning indictment on paella right there.
88 In 2011 Castillo an airport in eastern Spain was officially opened despite having no Airlines signed up to use the airport and no government approval to operate despite being built at a cost of 150 million euros the first go to a commercial flight landed the facility in 2015 and as such the airport is since become a symbol of wasteful spending that led to Spain's current economic woes.
89 Only 35 years ago the small city of Almeria on the southern coast of Spain was almost entirely dry desert however the city rebuilt its economy around vegetable production and is now home to the largest collection of greenhouses on earth covering 26,000 hectares and producing more than half of all Europe's fruit and vegetables.
90 There's a street in the central Spanish native leg eni's named ACDC in honor of the iconic Australian rock band of the same name the band even visited the street in 2000 when it was inaugurated however the city was eventually forced to paint the sign because the streets name plaque would constantly get stolen by fans.
91 The ancient tower Hercules located to the entrance of La Coruna Harbor in northwestern Spain is the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today having been built in the late first century that's right it's the best part of 2,000 years old.
92 The poor Sabina and Cornell bode dams which in case you were wondering can be found in the eastern spanish region for extra madura were both built by the Romans at some time in the 1st or 2nd century making them roughly 1100 years old amazingly they're still in use today which is kind of worrying for a dam right that's gonna break soon and I've seen of an almighty.
93 In 1971 several years after the death of his wife Ava Peron the exiled Argentinean President Juan Peron had her body extreme dand flown to Spain where he and his new wife kept the corpse in an open casket on a platform in their dining room well I'm sure it was a conversation starter.
94 There's a zip line that starts in the southern Spanish village of San Luca de guadarrama crosses the Guadiana River and ends in the town of our ku team in Portugal the journeys 720 meters long and lasts for about a minute and you get to bypass customs.
95 There's a 47 storey skyscraper in Spain that has no lifts is what an incorrect person would say the bizarre rumor about the in tempo skyscraper which is located in Benidorm of all places can be found everywhere online but the building actually has six lifts or elevators what's interesting about the building is that it features two enormous columns holding up a massive upside-down cone it's hard to make a building look evil.
96 The spanish region of Catalonia which totally wants to be not a spanish region but spain would let them it's home to a particularly strange christmas tradition involving a character called tod Nidal a smileyface wooden log who's beaten with sticks until he poos out Christmas treats cool good to know.
97 A few days later at new year Spaniards celebrate the new year by gathering with their family and eating one grape for each bell strike of the tower clock in Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
98 Interestingly the Eiffel Tower now a symbol of France were known the world over was originally intended to be built in Barcelona however the project was rejected and moved to power instead.
99 Spain's Balearic Islands contain the island of Ibiza oh we're going to I beta one of Europe's most well known party destinations the island is notorious for raucous lads holidays and Hindus a reputation that the island has attempted to diminish in favour of family or inter to tourism several times by closing down clubs however it's not really working.
100 Britain's popular celebrity news magazine hello was first launched in 1998 too much rejoicing but did you know that hello is the British local edition of aller a Spanish magazine first published in 1944 no you pitiful imbecile well.
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