Spain

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Spain

(Mapping Specialists, Ltd.)

A country of southwest Europe comprising most of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic and Canary Islands. Inhabited since the Stone Age, the region was colonized by Phoenicians and Greeks and later ruled by Carthage and Rome (after 201 B.C.). Barbarians first invaded Spain in A.D. 409 but were supplanted by Moors from North Africa (711-719), who organized a kingdom known for its learning and splendor. The Moors were gradually displaced by small Christian states and were ousted from their last stronghold, Granada, in 1492. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile then became rulers of a united Spain, which became a world power through exploration and conquest. After the empire was lost in the 18th and 19th centuries, Spain experienced social and economic unrest that culminated in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the rise of Francisco Franco. After Franco's death in 1975 the monarchy was restored under King Juan Carlos, who oversaw the creation of a parliamentary democracy. Madrid is the capital and the largest city. Population: 40,400,000.

 

For more information on Spain, visit Britannica.com.

The far western area of the European peninsula. The only reference to Spain in the Bible occurs in the Epistle to the Romans where Paul writes of his plans to travel to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). It is uncertain whether Paul actually accomplished this, although according to Clement of Rome, in a letter written 30 years after the apostle's death, Paul traveled to "the limits of the west".

Concordance
Rom 15:24, 28

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As in most European countries c.1839, progressive circles in Spain looked to Paris as the source of innovation and enlightenment. The announcement of Daguerre's invention was therefore extensively covered, with a predictably optimistic gloss, in the liberal press. In early 1839, however, the prestigious Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona was also getting direct information about Daguerre's process from its agent in Paris, the doctor and writer Pedro Felipe Monlau y Roca (1808-71), whose reports led it to acquire a daguerreotype outfit, brought to Barcelona by the engraver Ramón Alabern. The academy then organized a public demonstration of the process. On the morning of 10 November 1839, to the accompaniment of a band, and explanations for the spectators of what was going on, Alabern made a successful exposure of a building. The resulting daguerreotype was exhibited, and publicly raffled four days later. Thus did photography become a practical reality in Spain.

In 1839-40 up to four different translations of Daguerre's manual were published—an unprecedented event for a technical work in Spain. However, photographic activity remained limited, given the narrow basis of science and technology in Spanish society, and because the country was just emerging from civil war (1833-9). But by 1850, cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Cadiz had portrait studios, and shops where daguerreotype equipment could be obtained. The advent of the wet-plate process and the spread of the carte de visite subsequently boosted the portrait business, so that by c.1860 practically every provincial capital had a least a couple of permanent studios. By 1900, their numbers had increased dramatically. As elsewhere, the competence of commercial operators was variable, although the average quality of Spanish portraiture seems to have been high.

Many professionals also moved into the celebrity portrait and art reproduction markets. Much late 19th-century non-portrait work was related to the latter, and to illustrated book publishing. Particularly spectacular was the output of the Madrid-based French photographer Jean Laurent (1816-c.1892). After an initial catalogue of 1863 containing a few hundred photographs of works of art in Spain (mainly painting, architecture, and monumental or urban views), Laurent assembled a large archive of negatives, and by the 1890s had thousands of items on offer. His firm, J. Laurent y Cia, had a shop in Paris and a European-wide distribution network. (Under subsequent owners, the Laurent archive remained active until around the mid-1970s.) On a smaller scale, several Spanish photographers followed in Laurent's footsteps: for example, Casiano Alguacil Blázquez (1832-1914) in Toledo, A. Esplugas in Barcelona, the Beauchy family in Seville, and Eusebio Juliá (1826-c.1890) in Madrid. Such enterprises contributed significantly to knowledge of classic Spanish art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Spain's history, topography, and cultural heritage increasingly attracted visitors from all over the world. Commercial and amateur photographers toured the country to record the main cities and art treasures; Burgos, Madrid, El Escorial, Granada, and Seville were featured in the core itineraries. Of cities, Seville probably attracted the most photographers; the Alhambra in Granada was Spain's most-photographed individual monument. Prominent among 19th-century visitors, lured by the fabulous—and, it was feared, disappearing—remnants of a glorious past, were Eugène Piot (1812-91), who arrived in 1840 with the writer Théophile Gautier; Edmond Jomard, who contributed a few Spanish views to N. M. P. Lerebours's Excursions daguerriennes (1840-4); the Irish photographer Edward King Tension, who produced a set of extraordinary calotypes c.1851-2; Gustave de Beaucorps in 1858 and Louis de Clercq in 1863, en route to Africa and beyond. For commercial purposes, Francis Frith, James Valentine (both using hired operators), and Jules Levi obtained large numbers of Spanish views. Of resident foreigners, other than Laurent, the key figure was the Welshman Charles Clifford (1819-63), whose output between 1850 and 1862 at least equalled in quality anything else produced there in the 19th century.

By the turn of the 20th century, alongside industrial and social modernization, the availability of dry plates, roll-film, and hand-held cameras facilitated the growth of amateur photography. Salons and photographic magazines became popular in the larger cities and even outside them. But most materials were imported, and the local photographic industry never captured a significant share of the market. Photographic practice remained rather exclusive, which kept costs high and gave the medium an elitist, aesthetically conservative aura. The debates surrounding pictorialism—mainly as to whether or how far the negative should be manipulated—centred on the newly formed photographic societies. The most important was Madrid's Photographic Society, which from 1904 produced an influential bulletin, edited by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (Kâulak).

Some modernist movements, and many talented individuals, worked their way round ‘official’ artistic trends. Artistic movements in early 20th-century Spain mainly followed European and American trends. However, in different regional and social contexts, their impact varied considerably. The movements imbued with the spirit of the Generación del 98 first and the Novecentistas later (especially in Catalonia) substantially influenced Spain's otherwise not very dynamic art photography. In the 1920s Catalonia's highly developed graphic tradition certainly impacted on the region's photographic scene. Many Catalan Nouvecentistes sought to renew prevailing intellectual and aesthetic conventions, and to launch a new era of Spanish art, one that would be dramatically interrupted by the coming of civil war in 1936. Until then, many Spanish photographers would be involved in the Nouvecentistes movements, and between 1927 and 1930, when Joaquin Pla Janini (1879-1970) was president of the Agrupación Fotográfica de Catalunya, some, including Rafael Areñas Tonà, Antoni Arissa, and Claudi Carbonel, would achieve international exposure and recognition.

But between 1936 and 1939 the Civil War drove talent into either the propaganda machines or exile. The conflict was covered on an unprecedented scale in the international illustrated press, although both at the time and later a disproportionate amount of glory went to foreigners like Capa rather than to Spanish photographers, who took most of the casualties. In the war's immediate aftermath the economy could hardly sustain even minimal photographic activity, commercial or creative, and it was not until the mid-1950s that recovery began. In the meantime, both during and for a long time after the Civil War, Spain's most prominent photographer remained the conservative pictorialist José Ortiz-Echaguë. As autarky was dismantled, however the photographic scene revived; some strong local photographic industries emerged (but would disappear in the late 1980s); and, c. 1960, photography became popular with both ordinary consumers and a new generation of aspiring ‘authorial’ photographers. Key events of the 1970s included the founding of the magazine Nueva lente (1971); the opening of the Spectrum Gallery in Barcelona (1973), followed by similar initiatives; and the inauguration, in 1974, of the Photocentro in Madrid. May 1980 brought the first Week of Spanish Photography in Barcelona, a festival that was repeated every 2-3 years thereafter. By this time, against the background of political democratization and Spain's entry into the EEC (1984), photographic culture had come to conform to general Western trends.

In the 21st century, photography in Spain is a major visual medium, fully accepted as a means of expression. Exhibitions and festivals are numerous and popular, especially with the young. However, the development of an art photography market has been limited, and only a few institutions promote the study of photographic history or photography as an art form. Digital photography has had a seismic impact on the Spanish photographic scene, and become central to photographic creation and debate.

— Gerardo F. Kurtz

Bibliography

• Fontanella, L., Historia de la fotografia en España, desde sus origenes hasta 1900 (1981).
• López Mondéjar, P., Fotografia y sociedad en la España del siglo XIX (1989).
• Cuatro direcciones: fotografia contemporánea española, 1970-1990 (2 vols., 1991).
• López Mondéjar, P., Fotografia y sociedad en España, 1900-1939 (1992).
• López Mondéjar, P., Fotografia y sociedad en la España de Franco, trans.
• Watson, L., Photography in Franco's Spain (1996).
• López Mondéjar, P., Historia de la fotografia en España (c. 1997).
• Fontcuberta, J., De la posguerra al siglo XXI (2001)

Spanish dance tended to adhere to its own traditions during the 19th and much of the 20th century, rather than slavishly following the ballet trends set by the rest of Europe. The dominant dance form was escuela bolera which dated from the early 19th century and fused Spanish dance forms like the bolero and the cachucha with elements from French ballet. During the second half of the 19th century flamenco began to change from an intimate social dance to a professional artform with the establishment of performances in clubs and bars. Some foreign ballet was presented in major theatres and the Teatro del Licea in Barcelona and the Teatro Real in Madrid had corps de ballet, while the Real ran its own ballet school. Few permanent professional companies were founded during this period but several individual performers emerged as stars on the international scene. One of the most famous was Buenos Aires-born Antonia Mercé who called herself La Argentina. She trained as a classical dancer and became prima ballerina of the Royal Opera Theatre, Real Madrid, in 1899 at the age of 11. At 14 she gave up classical dance and studied traditional Spanish dance with her mother, after which she began touring the world as a concert artist, displaying an extraordinary castanet technique, and using largely Spanish music. In 1928 she formed her own company and choreographed several ballets on Spanish themes. European and American audiences at this time were fascinated by Spanish dance and culture. Massine's popular Le Tricorne (1919), with its flamenco-inspired choreography and music by de Falla, was widely performed and the Ballet de Madrid, founded in 1927 by Encarnacion López Julvez (who called herself La Argentinita in homage to Mercé) with Federico García Lorca, scored a huge success in New York during 1928. In 1933 La Argentinita attempted the first large-scale theatrical presentation of authentic flamenco in Las calles de Cadiz and in 1939 she collaborated with Massine on Capriccio espagnol. Her sister, Pilar López danced in her company and after the latter's death in 1946 López created her own company, Ballet Espagnol, with José Greco. She trained a new generation of male dancers who in turn left to form their own companies. José Greco launched a company in America with his wife Nila Amparo which toured widely and also established a Foundation of Spanish Dance in America. Antonio Gades, who also danced with López, trained in both Spanish and classical dance and collaborated with Dolin in creating Bolero for Rome Opera. In 1964 he set up his own company which blended Spanish idioms with modern and classical dance.

Other international stars were gypsy-born Carmen Amaya who toured the world with a company drawn from her relatives between the late 1920s and 1940s, and the two cousins Antonio and Rosario who also danced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1950. In 1953 Antonio formed his own Spanish ballet company, Antonio and the Ballets de Madrid. More recently Cristina Hoyos, originally a dancer with Gades, has formed her own renowned flamenco company, which along with the government-sponsored Cumbre Flamenco has generated a new international vogue for gypsy-style flamenco. Joaquín Cortés has drawn new audiences with his fusion of flamenco and rock, as has Sara Baras (b 1971) with her contemporary virtuoso style. The first government-sponsored Spanish company to operate on a permanent basis was the National Dance Company of Spain (replacing the Ballet Antología Española), founded in 1978, under Gades, for the performance of Spanish dance, and now known as the National Ballet of Spain. There have been recent attempts to establish a classical dance culture in Spain but they have been slow to take off. Ballet Clásico was founded in 1979, becoming Ballet Lírico Nacional, but under the direction of Nacho Duato since 1990 the repertory has become exclusively contemporary and has been renamed Compañia Nacional de Danza. The chamber ensemble Ballet de Zaragoza performs some classics, such as The Nutcracker and Coppélia, alongside 20th-century ballets but has faced possible closure. In 1997, however, Victor Ullate's company became resident at the newly rebuilt Opera House in Madrid, officially called Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid but better known as Ballet Ullate, performing neo-classical and classical works. Ullate, who has run a school in Madrid since 1979, has nurtured some fine dancers, including Angel Corella and Tamara Rojo, though most have tended to move elsewhere. The country's most energetic area of growth has been in modern dance as a new generation of choreographers has begun to look outside Spain. Companies like Danat Danza, Mal Pelo, Lanonima Impérial, and Cia. Vicente Saez have all gained international reputations.

Since there were no notable compilers of fairy tales in Spain like the Brothers Grimm, these fanciful narratives must be sought either in isolated texts or in literary allusions to familiar tales. Although the universally recognized stories of ‘Cenicienta’ (‘Cinderella’), ‘Blanca Nieve’ (‘Snow White’), ‘La bella durmiente’ (‘Sleeping Beauty’) ‘Caperucita Roja’ (‘Little Red Riding Hood’), and ‘Los niños abandonados’ (‘Hansel and Gretel’) have been circulating in Spain and in Latin America for some time now, it is not clear when they became part of the native canon of wonder tales.

1. The 11th century to the 17th century

Nevertheless, Spain produced its share of wonder tales, some of which reflect the 800‐year Arab presence in the Iberian peninsula. An important collection of tales of Arabic origin is Disciplina Clericalis, translated into Latin by Moisés Sefardí (born in Huesca in 1056, converted, christened Petrus Alphonsi in 1106). In ‘The Rustic and the Bird’ a man captures a bird. To gain her freedom she gives him some words of advice: ‘Do not believe everything that is said’ (a precious stone in her body), ‘what is yours you will always possess’ (she is in the sky; he cannot possess her), ‘do not sorrow over lost possessions’ (he must not lament loss of the stone). This tale was disseminated widely with variants and was interpolated in a chivalric text, in a translation of the life of Buddha, and in a compilation of sermonic exempla. Also from Disciplina is the tale of ‘Dream Bread’ (whose literary trajectory led it to the Golden Age dramatist Lope de Vega's San Isidro labrador de Madrid, 1599), in which a clever rustic tricks his urban travelling companions by pretending to have had a miraculous dream.

Fadrique, Alfonso X's brother, was the patron in 1253 for a translation of another Arabic text, Seven Sages (modern Spanish title Sendebar). Sendebar includes three tales set in a perilous forest: ‘The Hunter and the She‐Devil’, ‘The Three Wishes’, and ‘Spring that Changes Prince into a Woman’. The common element is a prince or nobleman who leaves home to go hunting and comes to grief in a forest.

In another Arabic text, Kalila and Dimna (translated as Calila e Dimna by order of Alfonso X, 1221–84), a sage leaves home on a quest. He journeys to India seeking a resuscitative herb. The topic reappears in a 13th‐century poem, Razón de amor, in which the scent of magical flowers in an enchanted meadow will revive the dead. Calila contains two transformation tales. In ‘The Rat Maiden’ a monk raises a tiny rat and prays that she be transformed into a young woman. Old enough to wed, she wants the most powerful mate of all. He offers her the sun, but it is covered by clouds; the clouds are controlled by winds; a mountain blocks the winds, but the mountain is gnawed by rodents. Therefore, she must marry a rat. He prays that she will return to her previous shape. In ‘The Frog‐King's Mount’, a serpent's arrogance is punished by a transformation into serving as a frog‐king's mount, condemned to eat only those frogs given him by the king.

A chivalric novel, Cavallero Zifar (1300, translated as The Book of the Knight in 1983) strings together a number of fairy tales. The good knight's adventures begin when he is unable to serve any royal master for long because he had been cursed. Any horse or other beast that served him as a mount dies after ten days (‘Equine Curse’). He seeks a new post repeatedly since he represents a considerable expense for his royal masters. One day a son is carried off by a lioness, nurtured by her until he is adopted by kind strangers (‘Child Nurtured by Lioness’). His wife, captured by pirates, defeats her captors, throws their corpses overboard, and sails magically to a safe port. In another episode Zifar's squire becomes a knight, and is lured into the underwater realm of the ‘Lady of the Lake’, whom he marries. His fairy wife orders him not to speak to anyone in her realm. He disobeys the interdiction. In this land parturition follows conception by seven days. Fruit trees bear fruit every day, and beasts have young every seven days. Having violated her interdiction against speech, he and his adult son are ejected violently from his underworld kingdom soon after his arrival. In a parallel episode, Zifar's son, Roboán, is at the court of the emperor of Tigrida, a monarch who never laughs. Roboán is punished for asking why the emperor does not laugh. He is set adrift in an oarless, rudderless boat to a magic kingdom, the Fortunate Isles. There he is chosen by the empress, Nobility, to be the emperor with the understanding that if he completes a year successfully on the throne, he will never lose the empire. Three days before his year ends, an enchantress seduces him with a magical mastiff, an enchanted hawk, and finally a horse that can outrun the wind. Mounted on the magical horse faster than the wind, he touches its flanks lightly with his spurs, and the horse carries him away from his empire back to Tigrida. There he learns that he and the doleful emperor were two in a long succession of unlucky men who had lost the empire of the Fortunate Isles in the same demonic way.

In the chivalric novel Amadís de Gaula (1508) lovers are tested for constancy and nobility in another enchanted kingdom (Ínsola Firme). Before the noble Apolidon and his bride Grimanesa leave their enchanted realm, they must select successors who match them in nobility, skill in arms, and in governance as well as in physical beauty and loving constancy. As a test they build an enchanted arch leading to four chambers. Unworthy pairs passing under the arch are ejected by a horrific mechanical trumpeter and terrible flames and smoke. The same trumpeter plays wonderfully sweet music for the deserving couple, Amadís and Oriana. An evil enchanter, Arcalaus, disguised as a mysterious stranger, devises a test to tempt Amadís and Oriana to come out of hiding. Two magnificent gifts are offered: a magic sword that can be taken from its sheath only by a lover whose devotion to his beloved is greater than any other's in the world, and a headdress adorned with flowers that will bloom only when worn by a woman whose devotion to her beloved equals his. To counter the efforts of Arcalaus, a good enchantress, Urganda the Unknown, guides and protects Amadís throughout his life. Every time he needs her help she appears. Similarly, the evil enchanter, Arcalaus, appears when the storyteller needs a limit to his hero's almost unlimited powers; for example, he tricks Amadís into entering an enchanted chamber whose power causes him to faint and appear to die. Arcalaus comes to court to trick King Lisuarte into permitting him to wed Oriana. He lends the king two magical objects: a crown that guarantees its wearer perpetual honour and power, and an enchanted cloak for the queen that ensures that there can never be discord between the wearer and her mate. They may retain the gifts until Arcalaus comes to claim them. If for any reason Lisuarte cannot return them, he must promise to grant him whatever he wants. The evil enchanter sends an emissary to the queen for the crown and cloak, and then comes in person to claim the missing items. Unable to return them, Lisuarte must surrender his only daughter Oriana to the evil magician.

A traditional paradisaical land of abundance, La Tierra de Jauja, where the streets are paved with eggs and sweets, rivers run with wine and honey, roast partridges fly by with tortillas in their beaks saying ‘Eat Me’ is described by Luis Barahona de Soto (1548–95) in Diálogo de la montería (also in Lope de Rueda's La Tierra de Jauja, 1547). Mateo de Alemán alludes to this territory in the picaresque novel Guzmán de Alfarache, as does Fray Juan de Pineda in Diálogos familiares de la agricultura cristiana (1589).

Heroes kill two grotesque, horrific monsters, another feature of fairy tales. One in Amadís is the hideous fruit of an incestuous union between the giant Bandaguido and his daughter Bandaguida, and the other is a fearsome dragon said to have consumed a whole town, in the crusade narrative Gran Conquista de Ultramar. In a ballad, a dragon abducts a princess (‘El culebro raptor’), and in another a seven‐headed serpent gnaws at a penitent sinner (‘Penitencia del rey don Rodrigo’). The fantasy of a grotesque mountain woman, who preys on travellers, appears in many tales. Her horrible nature is best described, in a ballad, as a lamia with the head and breast of a woman and the body of a serpent (‘La Gallarda, matadora’).

Time is manipulated magically in many ballads and tales. In a ballad, a captive's magic sleep makes him think only minutes have passed. In reality seven years have gone by (‘El conde Arnaldos’). In prose this motif occurred in the tale of ‘Don Illán and the Dean of Santiago’ in El Conde Lucanor (1335) by Don Juan Manuel (1282–1347). In a 15th‐century compilation of sermonic exempla a friar follows a bird to paradise and returns 100 years later (Libro de los enxenplos por a.b.c. by Clemente Sánchez de Vercial, 1370–1426, translated as The Book of Tales by A.B.C. in 1992). In the most famous Golden Age drama, La vida es sueño (1631–2), Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–81) has his hero Segismundo fall into a magic time‐distorting sleep.

Storytellers interpolated fairy tales in larger narratives. The Libro de Apolonio (1235–40) begins with a princess who is the prize offered to the solver of a hermetic riddle. In Gran conquista de Ultramar (1295–1312), ‘The Swan Knight’ is inserted into a crusade story. Princess Isomberta's family arranges a marriage for her, and she escapes in a rudderless boat without sails. She lands on a deserted island where Count Eustacio finds her in a hollow tree. He is uneasy about this strange apparition and consults his mother Ginesa about marriage to her. His mother disapproves, but they wed anyway. While Eustacio is away Isomberta has seven babies. Multiple births were thought to be results of adulterous behaviour, but an angel comes to save her and the babies putting a gold collar on each child. Ginesa orders a servant to kill the children, but he takes them to a wilderness and abandons them. A deer nurses them until a hermit adopts them and raises them. Ginesa spies six of the boys, takes them to her palace, and orders her servants to kill them, but first to remove their collars. Their collars removed, the boys turn into swans and fly away. She takes the gold (silver) to a metalworker who melts it and makes a goblet. He keeps the metal from the five collars since one suffices for the goblet. When their father learns the truth, the five remaining collars are restored. The seventh lad, still wearing his collar and accompanied by his swan brother, spends his life defending those who need him, including his calumniated mother. When he marries, he imposes an interdiction on his bride. She may never ask him for his name, nor his origin. If she does, he must leave forever, carried away by his swan brother.

Sometimes fairy tales leave only traces of themselves in the form of allusions. Allusive passages in literary works are signs that the tale had spread widely enough in the community to be familiar to the average reader. For instance, the anonymous author of a 16th‐century picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes alluded to an Arabic tale ‘The House Where No One Eats Nor Drinks’ in a chapter where his hero serves an impoverished squire. Cervantes refers to the ‘Frogs who asked Jupiter for a King’ and the ‘Princess Rescued by a Half‐Man, Half‐Bear’ in Don Quixote. Later Fernán Caballero (pseudonym of Cecilia Böhl de Faber) and Alonso de Morales related the same story as ‘Las princesas encantadas’.

Many stories like ‘The Tale of a Youth who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was’ were part of Spain's cultural heritage (Quinquagenas, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, 1478–1557). Lope de Vega (1562–1635) alluded to it in two dramas (Los porceles de Murcia, c.1604–8), Quien ama no haga fiero, c.1620–2), and later Juan de Ariza wrote a story ‘Perico sin Miedo’ (1848).

While the interest for the modern reader of the antonomastic lover, Don Juan, is his indefatigable pursuit of women, in El burlador de Sevilla, the public for Tirso de Molina (pseudonym of Friar Gabriel Téllez, 1571–1648) was more concerned with his lack of repentance as evidenced in his invitation to dinner to the dead Comendador's statue, a situation paralleled in the tale of ‘The Skull Invited to Dinner’. Antonio de Zamora (1664–1728) wrote a version No hay plazo que no se cumpla, ni deuda que no se pague, y convidado de piedra (No Agreement Goes Unfulfilled, nor Any Debt Unpaid). A dead person grants good fortune to his benefactor and returns to demand the reward promised him in Lope de Vega's Don Juan de Castro (c.1604–8), a theme also used by Calderón in El mejor amigo el muerto (1636).

Similarly, proverbs that enjoyed popular currency are evidence that the tales to which they refer existed in the oral tradition. For example, a fanciful story tells of an encounter between a giant who reproached Pedro de Urdimales when he tried to carry off a mountain full of firewood, telling him to be satisfied with one tree. A 17th‐century proverb collection lists the tale's echo, ‘Pedro de Urdimales, o todo el monte, o nonada’ (‘Either the Whole Mountain or Nothing’).

Another source of information about fairy tales is the oral‐traditional ballad. These brief narratives were first written down in the 16th century, but it was not until 1832 that Agustín Durán published his Romancero general and Ferdinand Wolf and Conrad Hoffman collected them in Primavera y flor de romances (1856). Among these popular narratives, we find the tale of a hunter who comes upon an enchanted princess in a tree. Like the princess in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ (‘Briar Rose’) she had been cursed at birth by one of seven fairies who had come to bring her gifts. She was compelled to spend seven years in an enchanted tree. Like the count in the ‘Swan Knight’ story, the frightened hunter must first consult his mother (aunt) before he can agree (‘La infantina’). In variant versions, he makes sexual demands on her. She reveals she is the Virgin Mary (‘El caballero burlado a lo divino’). In another ballad he comes upon a magical dove and promises that her offspring and his will be brothers and sisters (‘El mal cazador’). In still another, a deer is really an enchanted princess who asks him to marry her (‘La niña encantada’).

A serpent appears to a woman at a fountain. He is a king enchanted for six years (‘La inocente acusada’). In a Portuguese ballad, a man falls in love with a Moorish woman in a castle. He captures the castle, but she disappears magically (‘A moura encantada’). Echoing the experience of the ‘Bold Knight’ and Prince Roboán, a fairy takes her lover to her bed in a far‐off land and keeps him enchanted. He has a son with her (‘Los amores de Floriseo y de la reina de Bohemia’). Extraordinary people are said to be other‐worldly. A man whose beauty rivals the stars causes the goddess of beauty to fall in love with him (‘Romance del infante Troco’).

Strange, magical happenings are often associated with the sea. A sailor's song calms the sea and the winds, causes fish to leap out of water, and birds to perch on a ship's mast (‘El conde Arnaldos’). The protagonist of several ballads travels in a magic boat. Just as in the chivalric novel El caballero Zifar, in which the knight's wife single‐handedly steers a boat whose sails fill miraculously and whose rudder takes her to a safe harbour, a galley without sails and oars is invincible in battle (‘La toma de Galera’). In a Portuguese ballad, an exiled woman returns home in a boat without sails (‘A filha desterrada’). Hero seeks Leander in a boat using her sleeves as sails, and her arms as oars (‘Hero y Leandro’). Reminiscent of Rapunzel, imprisoned in a tower, Leander lets down her long hair so that her lover can climb (‘Hero y Leandro’), and still another woman uses her long tresses as a lifeline for a drowning man (‘Repulsa y compasión’).

Other unusual objects have migrated from fairy tales to ballad narratives. A gigantic sapphire adorns a castle tower and illuminates the area, promising marvellous events. Night becomes day (‘Romance de Rosaflorida’). A magic sword promises that the hero need only brandish it to cut a swath through the enemy ranks (‘El conde Niño’). Just as fairy‐tale objects had migrated to ballads, they also made their way into prose narratives. Cervantes alluded to magic wands in two of his Exemplary Novels: El casamiento engaños (The Deceitful Marriage) and Los baños de Argel (The Bagnios of Algiers).

Magic animals figure in many ballads. A marauding deer leads seven lions and a lioness to kill knights and their horses (‘Romance de Lanzarote’). A speaking horse will aid the hero if given winesop and not fodder (‘Gaiferos libera a Melisendra’), ‘Pérdida de don Beltrán’, ‘Passo de Roncesval’, ‘Conde Olinos’). Birds carry messages from captives to their potential rescuers (‘El Conde Claros en hábito de fraile’; ‘La esposa de D. García’). Another bird warns men not to trust women (‘La tórtola del peral’). A dove sustains a shepherdess for seven years with a magic flower (‘A pastora devota de María’, ‘La devota del rosario’). Problem pregnancies in ballads are attributed to inhaling the magic fragrance of some flowers or treading upon magic grass (‘Romance de don Tristan’, ‘La mala hierba’).

2. The 18th century

As far as fairy tales are concerned in Spanish literature, the 18th century constitutes a tremendous gap; the almost total absence of fantasy short narrative in that period comes to an end in the next century. However, before exploring the main tendencies and writers of the Märchen in the 19th century, it is worth recounting the reasons why the Spanish Age of Reason showed such a negative attitude towards a genre that was otherwise profusely used in neighbouring countries, above all in France.

In 18th‐century Spanish literature, both the short novel and the short story failed to develop any degree of quality, and therefore they offer little interest to contemporary readers and scholars. Writers of the 18th century tended to devote their talents to other genres. While scarcely any attention was paid to short narrative genres, the Spanish literary heritage was enriched by many a writer's devotion to such genres as diaries, travel literature, speeches, journalistic essays, and utopias, as the critic Esther Lacadena Calero has pointed out.

According to Juan Antonio Ríos Carratala, one of the reasons why imaginative narrative genres were neglected in 18th‐century Spain is that an omnipresent censorship controlled all kinds of publications and was especially vigilant with respect to periodicals and translations, mainly from French into Spanish. Such censorship, of both a civil and a religious nature, made it very difficult for editors to publish unauthorized works; however, there were some exceptions to this. Mariano José Nipho, for example, was an editor who went against the grain, supporting several publications which regularly published short narratives and some moralistic tales addressed to a female reading public.

Ríos Carratala also affirms that short narratives were despised by most important literary figures of the period as non‐respectable genres, on the basis that they lacked the support of a classical literary tradition. Moreover, the same critic points out that literary theorists and writers of the time showed great mistrust of pure fiction; for them, literature had to play a moral and instructive role that short narratives of a fictitious nature could never perform, since they were considered to be simply destined to entertain their readers.

Despite the forces working against the development of short narrative in 18th‐century Spain, some examples of it can still be traced. Thus, Professor Antonio Fernández Insuela of the University of Oviedo (Spain) studied the small corpus of short narrative publications in the 18th century, particularly in Tertulia de la aldea (A Village Literary Gathering). This journal was structured in several sections, one of which included brief texts under the heading of ‘tales’, ‘jokes’, ‘sayings’, ‘funny stories’, etc., which had a historical or pseudo‐historical origin and also sometimes a traditional or folk one. Ríos Carratala (1993) mentions yet another 18th‐century periodical which gave some attention to the short‐story genre: El Correo de Madrid (The Madrid Post). In this periodical, apart from some moralistic stories, jokes, and anecdotes, it was likewise possible to read brief tales with a folk source.

3. The 19th century

With the advent of the 19th century, the situation of short narratives radically changed. In fact, it was during this century that the short story became an autonomous literary genre. Excellent examples of short narrative were produced at the time, and most of the great literary figures of the century tried their hand at writing short stories. It is Ríos Carratala (1993) again who best summarizes the reasons why this change took place. First of all, he mentions the end of censorship during the 1830s. Secondly, he points out the enormous development of the press, since it benefited all literary genres, particularly the short story. In fact, the 19th‐century short story was almost always initially published in literary sections of periodicals. Throughout the 19th century the short story gained a degree of acceptance that it had lacked in the past; moreover, it received some critical attention, this being especially true in the case of the literary tale based on folk material.

One aspect concerning the short stories produced in 19th‐century Spanish literature is that they can be categorized according to many different types, as Baquero Goyanes has demonstrated in his seminal study El cuento español en el siglo XIX (The Spanish Short Story in the 19th Century, 1949). Some of the categories that he has distinguished are: literary versions of folk tales, fantastic tales, children's tales (in which the main character is a child), legendary tales, rural tales, historical and patriotic tales, religious tales, and humoristic and satiric tales. It is worth pointing out for our purposes that literary versions of folk tales were not often cultivated by Spanish 19th‐century writers. In fact, Baquero Goyanes is quite convinced that this category might just be comprised of Cecilia Böhl de Faber's works as well as those of a couple of her followers, Antonio de Trueba (1819–89) and Luis Coloma (1851–1914).

Nevertheless, it would seem that the list of 19th‐century Spanish writers who appropriated folk material for their literary purposes could be further expanded so as to include the names of those who, in the history of Spanish literature, tend to figure prominently in categories distinct from that of the literary folk tradition. This would be the case of Emilia Pardo Bazán and Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, generally regarded among the ranks of the naturalist school; Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, who is otherwise grouped with romantic novelists; and writers like José María de Pereda, Armando Palacio Valdés, and Benito Pérez Galdós, who were part of the realist tradition; all of these writers cultivated to some degree the genre of the literary fairy tale. Furthermore 19th‐century scholars and journalists such as Manuel Ossorio y Bernard and José Godoy Alcántara can be added to the list, as can Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, the famous romantic playwright. Mainly known for his poetry, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer nevertheless should be accorded a place within the history of the Spanish literary tale on account of his Leyendas (Legends, 1871), for which he drew motifs from Spanish legends as well as from the European folk tradition. A special case is that of Leopoldo Alas ‘Clarín’; he was not a writer of literary fairy tales himself, but was none the less a major defender of the genre, and was also responsible for some of the best short stories of the 19th century.

There were no notable compilers of fairy tales like the Grimm brothers in Spain; yet, it should be pointed out that the romantic impulse to collect folk tales systematically did produce some outstanding results, if not as noteworthy as those gathered in Germany. Cecilia Böhl de Faber, generally referred to by her male pseudonym ‘Fernán Caballero’, is the most important figure to have transformed this impulse into an actual compilation of folk stories entitled Cuentos y poesías populares andaluzas (Popular Andalusian Tales and Poems, 1859). Her project was not as ambitious as that of the Grimms', since she did not aim at gathering folk tales from the whole of Spain, but only from one of its regions, Andalusia. However, like the Grimms she transcribed the stories she collected from different folk sources and subsequently adapted them to her own literary taste.

4. the 20th century

In the 20th century it becomes much more difficult to make a comprehensive analysis of literature written in Spanish owing to the influence of other cultures and literatures. In fact, after gaining their independence, all South American countries began to develop their own sense of identity, out of which new forms of literature grew.

At the turn of the century, two writers figure prominently in Spain: Pío Baroja and the Nobel Prize‐winner Jacinto Benavente. As was the trend in the 19th century, neither of them was associated explicitly with the fairy‐tale genre, but both had some connection to it. Baroja, one of the greatest contemporary Spanish novelists, wrote some short narratives of a fantastic nature akin to those by Edgar Allan Poe, while Benavente's plays for children were almost always inspired by one classical fairy tale or another.

From the 1940s to the 1960s, however, a good number of writers began to devote themselves more specifically to the fairy‐tale genre. It should be noted that many of them were women writers who had in mind an adolescent audience, or who were simply writing for children. Thus appeared collections of fairy stories by writers like María Luisa Gefaell, Concha Castroviejo, María Luisa Villardefrancos, and Elizabeth Mulder. During these decades of Franco's dictatorship, the fairy tale was often used to convey a traditional ideology that was being promoted by the followers of the regime. The girls' magazine Bazar, for instance, was intended to inculcate in its readers an ideal of femininity characterized by docility, passivity, and piety. It promoted a kind of woman who had no other interests beyond household and marital duties, whose body was to conform to canonical beauty, and who duly fulfilled the precepts of Catholicism. Aurora Mateos, for years the editor of Bazar, made sure that one or several fairy tales imbued with such an ideology filled some of the pages of each issue.

For the most part, the approach to folk and fairy‐tale materials underwent a dramatic change from the 1970s onwards in Spain, although examples can still be found, such as that of Ana María Matute, of writers who venerate the established fairy‐tale canon and do not wish to subvert it. With the beginnings of democracy, the censorship imposed by the Franco regime was brought to an end, with the result that many themes, until then considered taboo, could be freely dealt with in literature. Fairy‐tale material was used in works that tried to deconstruct traditional discourses concerning the national past, Catholic morals and manners, and a good number of sexual taboos, as in Juan Goytisolo's work. Feminist ideology was also soon easily identifiable in much of post‐Franco literature, and feminist writers were often inspired by the genre of the fairy tale, as is the case of a good number of Sara Suárez Solís's short stories, and also of Carmen Martín Gaite's novels and fairy tales; some famous publishing houses even produced whole collections in which the best‐known traditional fairy tales were rewritten with a feminist bias, of which the series ‘The Three Twins’, published by Planeta, is an excellent example.

Feminist revision of fairy tales is a phenomenon that has likewise affected the production of several Latin American writers from the 1970s onwards. The Puerto Rican Rosario Ferré, Luisa Valenzuela, and Marco Denevi, both Argentinian, figure among those writers who have used fairy‐tale material in their short stories in order to socialize their reading public according to values other than the patriarchal ones, or at least, to make their readers conscious of the patriarchal ideology inscribed in many traditional narratives.

In Chile, during Salvador Allende's presidency (1970–3) a publishing house called Quimantú working under the auspices of the Unidad Popular (Allende's political party) published Cabrochico (Small Child), a children's magazine in which several classical fairy tales appeared; they were all refashioned according to the socialist ideology that the leaders of the country wanted to disseminate.

Leaving aside the socializing aim which fairy stories have often been intended to fulfil in contemporary South American literature, what is undeniable about the genre is that it has ignited such movements as magical realism in Spanish. Moreover, in the case of the short story, a number of South American writers are reputed to have produced the best examples of the literary fairy tale in the Spanish language. The three names most often cited are: Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, and above all Jorge Luis Borges. In their works, folk and fairy‐tale material are intertwined with features borrowed from the genres of the fantastic and magic realism, the fundamental South American contribution to contemporary world literature. Borges, one of the best short‐story writers in the Spanish language, adds yet another element to his literary production—the inspired touch of The Arabian Nights, the masterpiece which influences almost all of his works.

Bibliography

• Baquero Goyanes, Mariano, El cuento español en el siglo XIX (1949).
• ––El cuento español. Del Romanticismo al Realismo (1992).
• Boggs, Ralph Steele, Index of Spanish Folktales (1930).
• Bravo‐Villasante, Carmen, Historia de la literatura infantil española (1972).
• ––Antología de la literatura infantil española (1979).
• Cerda, Hugo, Ideología y cuentos de hadas (1985).
• Chevalier, Maxime, Cuentos folkoricos españoles del Siglo de Oro (1983).
• ––Cuentos maravillosos, Biblioteca Románica Hispánica (1995).
• Espinosa, Aurelio, The Folklore of Spain in the American Southwest: Traditional Spanish Folk Literature in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado (1985).
• Fernández Insuela, Antonio, ‘Notas sobre la narrativa breve en las publicaciones periódicas del siglo XVIII: Estudio de la Tertulia de la aldea’, Estudios de historia social, 52–3 (1990).
• Garcia Collado, Marian, ‘El cuento folklorico y sus adaptaciones: Entre la tradición oral y la fijación escrita. Tres apropiaciones del cuento “Juan el oso” (cuento tipo AT 301b)’, Revista de Dialectologla y Tradiciones Populares, 47 (1992).
• Goldberg, Harriet, Motif‐Index of Medieval Spanish Narrative (1998).
• Lacadena Calero, Esther, La prosa en el siglo XVIII (1985).
• Ríos Carratala, Juan Antonio, “‘La narrativa breve en España (siglos XVIII y XIX)’”, in J. L. Alonso Hernández, M. Gosman, and R. Rinaldi (eds.), La Nouvelle Romane (Italia–France–España) (1993).

— Harriet Goldberg/Carolina Fernandez

Spain (Gk. Ibēria, from the name of the river Ibērus, Ebro; Lat. Hispania). From earliest times the races of Spain have been mixed; peoples arriving from Africa in Neolithic times (to exploit the mineral resources) spread throughout the south and east, mixing in the centre and west with Celts invading from the north in the late Bronze and early Iron Ages. According to tradition, Phoenicians from Tyre discovered Tartessus and colonized Gades c.1100 BC. In the third century BC the Carthaginians under Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal conquered much of Spain, but the Romans, under Scipio Africanus, drove them out of the country (206) during the Second Punic War. Two Roman provinces were established in Spain in 197. They comprised at first only a relatively small portion of the peninsula, and were known as Hispania Citerior, ‘Hither Spain’, the eastern seaboard, and Hispania Ulterior, ‘Further Spain’, roughly modern Andalusia. But the native population had not then been effectively subdued, and unrest continued for many years. An important pacification was brought about in 179 by Ti. Sempronius Gracchus (father of the Gracchi), who by his personal character won the confidence of the Spaniards. But native risings were renewed in 154, and Numantia resisted the Romans for nine years. Its capture by Scipio Aemilianus in 133 brought the Spanish wars to a close, the Romans then occupying about two thirds of the peninsula, failing to hold only the mountainous region in the north and north-west.

In the civil wars of the first century BC Spain was held by the Marian leader Sertorius against the party of Sulla, and later against Pompey, until Sertorius was murdered in 72. The military talent of Julius Caesar was first revealed when he was propraetor in Spain in 61. He subsequently waged war there in 49 against the Pompeian generals Afranius and Petreius, and in 45 against the sons of Pompey, finally making himself master of the Roman empire by his victory at Munda. Notable among the colonies that he founded were Hispalis (Seville) and Tarraco (Tarragona). A final pacification of the whole peninsula, including the north and north-west, was achieved by the emperor Augustus.

In literature, Spanish colonies produced the two Senecas and Lucan; Columella, Quintilian, and Martial came from native stock. The emperor Trajan was born in Spain, and Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius belonged to Spanish families. The Frankish invasions of the early third century AD severely disrupted northern Spain, but a strong Christian church emerged in the fourth century, inspiring the works of Prudentius and Orosius; it survived the barbarian invasions of the fifth century, and converted the Visigothic kings to Christianity. The seventh-century bishop of Seville, Isidore, was an important link in continuity between classical culture and the Middle Ages.

Country in Western Europe. As a non-belligerent country during World War II, Spain became a possible refuge for Jews fleeing the Nazis. Indeed, within two years of Hitler'S rise to power in Germany in 1933, some 3,000 Jews had entered Spain in search of a safe haven. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, there were about 6,000 Jews residing in Spain. During the war, which lasted until April 1939, most of the Jews left Spain. After the Civil War ended with a victory for General Francisco Franco, all Jewish organizations in Spain were shut down.

Although Hitler's army had helped Franco's Fascist forces defeat the Republicans in the Civil War, and although Spain was a member of the Anti-Comintern Pact (along with Germany), other than a few members of the Spanish legion who joined the SS, Spain did not take part in the fighting during World War II.

After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940, tens of thousands of Refugees flocked to the Spanish border, hoping to reach Spanish or Portuguese ports from which they would try to leave Europe by ship. In spite of strict rules about entry into Spain that were issued in 1940 and 1941, tens of thousands of refugees managed to cross the border---even if they did not possess a visa to a final destination. Refugees who missed their boats or had entered Spain without a visa were detained in the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp or transferred back to France. Jewish refugees from Germany continued to pass through Spain by train until the German authorities banned all emigration from the Reich in October 1941. During the first half of the war, some 20,000--30,000 Jews were given permission to pass through Spain.

During the summer of 1942 the Nazis began deporting Jews from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. At that point, many Jewish refugees crossed into Spain illegally. Those who were caught were arrested, and the Spanish government planned to return them to France, where they would face almost certain death. The Allies warned that the fate of these refugees would have a major impact on Allied policy on Spain. As a result of that warning, Spain announced in April 1943 that it would admit refugees, as long as some other party would provide for their care and the refugees would leave the country as fast as they could. The refugees were mainly provided for by the Joint Distribution Committee in Spain. Between the summer of 1942 and the fall of 1944, some 7,500 Jews fled to Spain and were given temporary refuge.

During the war, more than 4,000 Spanish Jews found themselves living in German-occupied territories; as Spanish nationals, these Jews were given protection by the Spanish government, which instructed its representatives abroad to report any situations in which Spanish citizens were mistreated, and to intervene on their behalf. However, as long as Spanish laws were not violated, the representatives were not supposed to insist that Spanish citizens be exempt from local laws. Thus, in many cases, Spanish Jews depended on the goodwill of the representatives of the Spanish government to deliver them from danger. In Hungary in 1944, Georgio Perlasca, an Italian national, rescued Jews in the name of Spain.

In January 1943 the German embassy in Spain told the Spanish government that it had two months to remove all of its Jewish citizens from Western Europe. Spain now had an opportunity to save the lives of 4,000 Spanish Jews---but instead of rising to the task, the government severely regulated who was to be given entry visas. As a result of these restrictions, only 800 Spanish Jews were allowed to enter Spain. After the war the Spanish government claimed that it had protected all of its Jews, and the truth about its real actions was hidden from the Spanish public.

In February and March 1893, one month after its appearance in the Viennese journal Neurologisches Zentralblatt, two Spanish journals, the Revista de ciencias médicas in Barcelona and the Gaceta médica in Granada, published On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena by Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud (1893a). It was, in the words of James Strachey, "the very first publication in the world of a translation of a psychological work by Freud."

In 1911 José Ortega y Gasset, the well-known intellectual, published a long article titled "Psicoanálisis, ciencia problemática" (Psychoanalysis, a problematic science), in which he recognized the importance of a great number of Freud's contributions. This article provoked the publication of Freud's works in Spanish. At Ortega's suggestion, the publisher Ruiz Castillo acquired the rights to publish all existing and future works by Freud and commissioned López Ballesteros to translate them. The publication of the first translation in the world of Freud's complete works in seventeen volumes appeared over ten years (1922-1932).

The most eminent psychiatrists of the time published various works in which they analyzed Freud's work and assessed the value of his contributions, but they also criticized what they considered "the omnipotent unconscious sexuality in all psychical phenomena" and the subjectivity of the therapeutic method. Psychoanalytic ideas exercised a considerable influence on judges, teachers, and thinkers. Writers and artists also felt attracted by Freud's discoveries. A group of intellectuals invited Freud to Spain to give conferences, but his illness prevented him from realizing this project. Sándor Ferenczi nevertheless went to Spain in October 1928 and conducted the communication program Learning Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Transformation of the Character.

The discourse on psychoanalysis, already present in Spanish psychiatry, prompted two psychiatrists, Ramon Sarró and Angel Garma, to acquire psychoanalytic training. Garma trained at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. He returned to Madrid in November 1931 and left Spain for good in 1936. For the five years between 1931 and 1936, motivated by the desire to create a psychoanalytic movement in Spain, he worked intensely to promote the discipline. The Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 and put an end to his hopes. He then emigrated to Argentina, where he participated in the creation of the Asociacíon psicoanalítica argentina (Argentine Psychoanalytic Association).

The Civil War (1936-1939) and the years of dictatorship imposed silence on many cultural and scientific sectors, particularly psychoanalysis. It was not until the end of the 1940s that two small groups of psychiatrists and intellectuals, one in Madrid and the other in Barcelona, took steps to train as psychoanalysts and to introduce psychoanalysis to Spain. In 1949 the Madrid psychiatrist R. del Portillo turned to the Deutsche psychoanalytische Gesellschaft (German Psychoanalytic Society) for training. He was analyzed by M. Steimback, whom he invited to Madrid to act as a training analyst. Steimback accepted and, until 1954, the year of his death, participated in training such analysts as Drs. R. del Portillo, Ma Teresa Ruiz, Carolina Zamora, J. Pertejo, and Julio Corominas.

During this same period Drs. Bofill, Folch, and Nuria Abelló from Barcelona turned to the Swiss Psychoanalytical Society for training. There they came into contact with Drs. Rallo from Madrid and F. Alvin from Lisbon. Drs. Pertejo, Zamora, and Corominas organized the Grupo Luso-Español de psicoanálisis (Portuguese-Spanish Group for Psychoanalysis), which, sponsored by the Swiss and Paris societies, was recognized by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) in 1957. In 1958 R. del Portillo and Ma Teresa Ruiz joined the group. During the International Congress in 1959 the International Psychoanalytical Association admitted the group as a member. Following the break with the Portuguese group in 1966, the Sociedad Luso-Español de psicoanálisis (Portuguese-Spanish Society for Psychoanalysis) became the Sociedad Española de psicoanálisis (Spanish Psychoanalytical Society).

In 1973 psychoanalysts practicing in Madrid decided to form an independent group, and in 1979 the International Psychoanalytical Association recognized the Asociación de psicoanalítica de Madrid (Madrid Psychoanalytical Association) at the thirty-first congress. From then on the two IPA-affiliated societies together contributed to the development of psychoanalysis in Spain.

The scientific activity of the two societies proved to be intense and prolific throughout the years. Publications by Drs. León Grinberg, Folch, Bofill, Coderch, Torres de Bea, Spilka, Cruz Roche, Manuel Pérez Sánchez, Utrilla, Paz, Olmos, Loren, Guimón, congresses, symposia, schools, conferences; the publication of the journals Revista catalana de psicoanálisis and the Revista de psicoanálisis de Madrid—all bear witness to ongoing reflections on psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. In these and other ways the two societies were active in both the medical and academic spheres, thus contributing to the dissemination of psychoanalytic thought.

In 1975 Oscar Masotta, an Argentinean philosopher and member of the Freudian School of Paris, introduced Jacques Lacan's ideas in Spain. In 1977 the library Biblioteca Freudiana was created in Barcelona, thus embodying the first institutional form of Lacan's ideas in the country.

After Masotta's death (1979), the dissolution of the Freudian school of psychoanalysis (1980), and the death of Lacan himself (1981), the Lacanian groups broke up and dispersed. In 1990, a group of eminent personalities, among them Jacques-Alain Miller, Eric Laurent, and Colette Soler, founded the European School of Psychoanalysis and the first section of the branch school in Barcelona. Later in the 1990s, different sections have come together in the European School of Psychoanalysis—Spain. Other Lacanian groups also exist and are directly linked to various French groups.

One hundred years after the first publication in Spain of a work by Freud, a great many psychoanalytic ideas have taken hold in psychiatry, medicine, psychology, teaching, and ethics, and many psychoanalysts are actively working to relieve psychic pain and contribute to a better knowledge of human development, both normal and pathological.

Bibliography

Bermejo, Frijole V. (1993). La institucionalización del psicoanálisis en España en el marco de la A.P.I. Doctoral thesis, faculty of psychology, University of Valencia.

Caries, Egea. (1983). Introducción al psicoanálisis en España, 1893-1922. Doctoral thesis, University of Murcia.

Muñoz, María Luisa. (1989, May-November). Contribución a la historia del movimiento psicoanalitico en España. Revista de psicoanálisis. Madrid.

Muñoz Gonzalez, J. (1987). Evolución del psicoanálisis en España (1923-1936). Doctoral thesis, University of Murcia.

Pérez Sánchez, Manuel. (1984). Inicios del movimiento psicoanalítico. Revista catalana de psicoanálisis, 1,1.

—MARÍA LUISA MUÑOZ

Although the term "Spain," from Latin Hispania, had long been used to refer to the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula, that nation did not become a political reality until the marriage of Isabella of Castile (1474–1506) to Ferdinand of Aragón (ruled 1479–1516) united the kingdom of Castile and León with the crown of Aragón. Castile added the Canary Islands during the fifteenth century, Granada in 1492, Melilla in 1497, and most of Navarre after 1512. The crown of Aragón possessed the kingdoms of Aragón and Valencia, the county of Barcelona (Catalonia), and the Balearic Islands. Between 1707 and 1716, Philip V (ruled 1700–1746), first king of the Bourbon dynasty, unified these regions into the single kingdom of Spain, with its sole capital at Madrid.

Prior to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the crown of Aragón also held the Mediterranean kingdoms of Sardinia (after 1323), Sicily (from 1409), and Naples (from 1443). Castile, beginning in 1492, acquired a vast empire in the Americas and the Philippine Islands, along with a few towns and forts on the North African coast.

Geography

Spain occupies 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. It borders France to the north, the boundary defined since 1659 by the crest of the Pyrenees, following Spain's cession to France of Roussillon and most of Cerdagne. To the west Spain borders Portugal, with the boundary running through rugged, sparsely inhabited country save in its southern reaches, where the Rio Guadiana defines it. For the rest, Spain is surrounded by sea: its northwest and southwest coasts face the Atlantic, its east coast, the Mediterranean. Some eleven miles of the Strait of Gibraltar separate Spain from North Africa.

Spain is mountainous, and its climate, apart from the rainy northwest, ranges from Mediterranean to semiarid. Much of Castile is a high tableland, known as the meseta. Barely half Spain's terrain was historically productive, only a fraction rich. Four important rivers, the Duero, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir, flow west to the Atlantic. None is navigable for other than small craft until it nears the sea. Each defines a valley with mountains separating it from the others. Of the rivers that flow east, only the Ebro is long, allowing barge traffic in its lower reaches. Shorter rivers that flow east water fertile soils in Catalonia and Valencia and irrigate semiarid vegas ('fertile plains') in Murcia and eastern Granada.

For most of the early modern period the historic kingdoms and principalities of Spain defined its political geography. The largest kingdom, Castile, incorporated many others: Galicia in the northwest; the principality of Asturias and the Basque lordships of Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa facing the bay of Biscay; a third Basque lordship, Álava, inland of them; León and Old Castile in the Duero valley; the kingdom of Badajoz, today's Extremadura; New Castile, often called the kingdom of Toledo; the kingdoms of Jaén, Córdoba, and Seville along the course of the Guadalquivir; and, in the mountainous southeast, the kingdoms of Granada and Murcia. The Bourbon King Ferdinand VI (ruled 1746–1759) replaced Castile's historic kingdoms with twenty-four provinces in 1749, each based in a populous capital. In 1799, further subdivision increased the number to thirty-two.

Population and Languages

The first attempt at a modern census occurred in 1768. Earlier population figures derive from counts of heads of household (vecinos), usually undertaken by bishops. Sometimes their figures are precise, more often they are rounded guesses. Demographers use multipliers that range from 4 to 6, with 4.5 most common. Philip II (ruled 1556–1598) undertook a detailed census, the Relaciones topográficas, but data for only a few regions were actually collected. His counselors thought Castile had about 1,250,000 households. Around 1500 there may have been 6,000,000 Castilian subjects, another 100,000 in Navarre, 300,000 in Aragón, 400,000 in Catalonia, and 600,000 in Valencia. Most were Roman Catholics. In 1492 at least 40,000 Jews, of a population that had numbered over 200,000, chose to leave rather than accept Christianity. The rest became or had earlier become "New Christians," mainly under pressure, and were known as Conversos. Many Muslims left after 1500, when Islam was proscribed; most, however, some 400,000, remained and accepted Christianity, as often as not superficially, and became Moriscos.

During the sixteenth century Spain's population grew until checked in the late sixteenth century by agrarian crises and recurring epidemics that decreased it by as much as 20 percent by 1660. In 1609–1611, over 200,000 Moriscos were expelled to North Africa. Economic shifts depopulated many northern Castilian cities, even as Madrid and Seville grew. Emigration to the Americas attracted a few thousand each year, while endless foreign wars took more. Growth in population did not return till after 1680, and the 7,500,000 estimated for the early eighteenth century matched the figure for the sixteenth. By the end of the eighteenth century, Spain's population had reached 11,000,000, with much of the growth in Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country, and Andalusia. Apart from the overpopulated capital of Madrid and its vicinity, the Castilian heartland recovered more slowly.

Spain's people spoke several languages. Castilian in its several dialects prevailed in Old and New Castile, Andalusia, Murcia, old Aragón, and most of Navarre. In Galicia people spoke Gallego, a dialect very close to Portuguese. In Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearics, people spoke Catalan. All these were Romance languages and mostly mutually intelligible. In the Basque Country and parts of Navarre. people spoke Basque, a unique language with no relation to the Romance languages. At court, for government, in correspondence, printing, and literature, Castilian came to dominate. Antonio de Nebrija published a grammar for Castilian in 1492, but, until the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1713, spelling continued to vary widely. Catalan and Galician literature, rich in the Middle Ages, would experience a revival in the nineteenth century.

Economy

Most Spaniards worked the soil and lived at a subsistence level. They dwelled communally in villages, towns, and cities. Many peasant proprietors were found across northern Spain, but in the south large estates (latifundia) prevailed, owned by a few and worked by landless laborers. In the seventeenth century high taxes and hard times forced many from the land, and Spain had a conspicuous number of vagabonds. Where lands were arable, cereal crops predominated, save in Valencia, where rice provided an alternate staple. Maintained close to dwellings, gardens provided vegetables and fruit, and poultry provided meat and eggs. Orchards were widespread and Spanish citrus fruit, fortified wines, and olive oil proved profitable exports. While scrub woods suited pigs, much of Spain's land was suitable only for grazing cattle and sheep. Wool provided a major export. Each year vast flocks of sheep walked from winter pastures in southern New Castile and Andalusia to summer pastures in Spain's northern mountains. In a trade that had its ups and downs, Burgos became the center for shipping wool to the mills of northwest Europe. Wool shipments to Italian looms were also considerable.

Given Spain's topography, cities of 20,000 people and more, or towns greater than 10,000, generally stood thirty to forty miles distant from one another. Each served as the economic, political, and ecclesiastical hub for its surrounding villages, and provided a focus for the larger regional economy. The lack of navigable rivers and the many mountain barriers limited long-distance transport as well as communication. Most transported goods rode the backs of pack animals. Before the serious improvement of roads in the eighteenth century, wagon transport seldom left its home region. Until that century, little was done for inland water traffic, despite discussion and periodic planning.

The chief regional economies were those of the major river valleys, the valleys of Catalonia and Valencia, and the maritime economies of the north coast, the gulf of Cádiz, and the coasts of Granada, Murcia, Valencia, and Catalonia. Barcelona, a great medieval commercial center, had been devastated by fourteenth-century plagues, and not till the eighteenth century did it reach its former prosperity. Until that century, local privilege in Castile and the Aragonese realms added further restrictions to internal commerce. Thereafter, Spain's maritime regions became more closely linked, with a revived Catalonia and the Basque Provinces leading.

Manufacture was chiefly limited to local markets. In ironware, military hardware, and shipbuilding, the Basque Provinces dominated, although ships were built along the entire north coast. Old Castile for a long time had a lively textile industry, but that declined in the seventeenth century because foreign goods were cheaper. In the eighteenth century textiles revived, but mainly in Catalonia and Valencia. Catalonia also built ships, though primarily for the Mediterranean. In the sixteenth century Barcelona's arsenal built Spain's Mediterranean galleys, and Málaga founded bronze cannon.

With the opening up of the Americas, their commerce became an important element in Spain's economy and fed many exaggerated notions of Spain's wealth. The crown made Seville the center of American commerce in 1503, but it soon became a clearinghouse. The influx of treasure in the sixteenth century drove Spanish prices up till Spain could only compete through tariffs and restrictions. Other parts of Europe, with longer experience and better resources, produced cheaper goods that came to dominate the American trade, so long as they cleared Seville. By the mid-seventeenth century, Spain could not even provide sufficient shipping for its American trade.

The European wars of the Habsburg dynasty, a heavy tax burden, and the diversion of treasure, goods, and people to warfare abroad, were the chief causes of Spain's economic woes. In the seventeenth century, inflation was compounded by the debasement of currency. In finance and banking, foreigners, above all the Genoese, supplanted less-experienced Spaniards and took their cut. Though popular theorists known as arbitristas proposed plans for economic reform, many of them harebrained, little was achieved before the eighteenth century, when Spain made a remarkable economic recovery under more efficient government, even if its Bourbon rulers continued to go to war.

The recovery was most marked on the periphery, where population and industry grew in what became a relatively free market. Influenced by Enlightenment ideas, many of Spain's elite formed societies of amigos del país ('friends of the country') and stimulated improvements in education, local industry, and agriculture, while the crown promoted agricultural colonies in long-deserted areas. Economic recovery enabled Spain to tighten control over commerce with its empire, which, along with positive results, bred Spanish-American resentment and inflamed aspirations for independence after 1800.

Society

Spanish society was based on the three Estates: clergy, nobles, and commoners. The clergy was entered by vocation, the others by birth, although service or money might bring a commoner noble status. Spanish religious life was strong, and the church rich, attracting some 200,000 men and women to the clergy at any time. For ambitious people of humble origins, it offered an avenue to fortune and power. In annual income Spain's primate, the archbishop of Toledo, was second only to the pope.

Perhaps 400,000 Spaniards claimed noble status. At the top stood the grandees, whose number grew from twenty-five in 1520 to 119 by 1787. With great wealth and often great debts, they maintained their domains through mayorazgo ('primogeniture'), and dominated provincial life. Like the number of grandees, the number of other nobles with titles grew from perhaps a hundred in 1500 to 585 in 1787. The Bourbon monarchs after 1700 opened a new round in the creation of titles to reward those who served them. With few exceptions, Spanish titles were personal, usually based on one of the holder's domains. Alba de Tormes, from which the duke of Alba's title comes, is simply a lordship, not a duchy. Many without titles possessed domains and were known simply as señores de vasallos, 'lords of vassals'. The term vassal in Spain, where vestigial feudalism was limited to Aragón and Catalonia, meant anyone under a lord's jurisdiction.

For those claiming noble status, but without domains, the terms hidalgo ('nobleman') and caballero ('knight') were loosely applied. One was born a hidalgo; the king could create a caballero, most often as a reward for military service. All natives of some regions, most notably Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya, and Navarre, claimed hidalgo status.

Most Spaniards, at whatever economic level and whether they lived in town or country, were commoners. Unlike the clergy and nobility, they were subject to direct taxes and were often referred to as pecheros ('taxpayers').

Government

A monarchy, Spain came under royal jurisdiction. The crown provided justice, made law, organized defense, upheld the church, and collected taxes. From the early sixteenth century, Spanish rulers resided chiefly in Castile and appointed viceroys to their Aragonese and other dominions. To assist the sovereign at court, a system of councils developed that continued through the seventeenth century. The Council of State advised on high policy for all the sovereign's possessions. For Spain there were councils for Castile and Aragón that dealt with administration and law. The Council of War handled military and naval matters. Spain's overseas empire was the business of the Council of the Indies. As Castile provided most of the revenues, its Council of Finance set fiscal policy, largely a matter of struggling with crown debts. The poorer Aragonese realms contributed little, and that with strings. A Council of Military Orders, of which the king became grand master, managed the orders' properties. Most notorious was the Supreme Council of the Inquisition, established in 1480, with jurisdiction over Christians throughout Spain, an organization suspected of being used for political as well as religious ends.

Spain's Bourbon kings after 1700 eliminated the councils, regarded as clumsy and dilatory, save for an honorific Council of State. In their place they appointed responsible ministers for justice, finance, foreign affairs, interior, army, navy, and overseas possessions. Captains general replaced viceroys in the former Aragonese realms and Navarre. In Castile, hereditary offices were suppressed and captaincies general of maritime regions became appointive.

If the sovereign ruled all Spain, at the bottom, in villages, towns, and cities, noble and taxpaying householders elected councils on which both commoners and nobles served. While female heads of household with underage children might not hold office, they enjoyed limited voting rights until they remarried or a son came of age.

Into the major cities of Castile that came directly under its jurisdiction, the crown sent corregidores ('magistrates') to look after its interests. Most corregidores were well trained in law, and tended to dominate elected counselors, part-timers who had their own private interests to look after. In fortress towns, the corregidor was often a soldier, who was assisted by a legist (a specialist in civil law). In the Aragonese kingdoms cities retained greater autonomy until Spain's Bourbon rulers introduced corregidores into them. Everywhere they increased corregidores' powers, and later appointed intendants (governors) to each province with even greater authority.

Smaller towns and villages might come under the crown's jurisdiction, or that of an ecclesiastical or secular lord, or the nearest city. It was jurisdiction that defined a seignorial domain and produced income through offices, taxes, dues, and fines. Both jurisdictions and offices were often for sale. The lord of a domain, whether king, churchman, or noble, usually owned some lands and businesses in it, but hardly all. Most belonged to vassals, whether noble or common. Much land, especially pastures and woods, was considered common, and there were understood rights to grazing, cutting wood, hunting, and fishing. In Castile señores might appoint their own corregidores to villages. Villages often sought greater liberty with payments to crown or lord.

In the provision of justice and making of law, Spain's sovereign was in theory absolute, bound only by divine and natural law, and the fundamental laws of Spain, such as the right of female succession. Legal advisers assisted the sovereign. Two chancelleries, in Valladolid and Granada, served Castile as high appellate courts, with broad authority to supervise municipal and seignorial courts. Audiencias, lesser appellate courts, existed in Seville and elsewhere. The Aragonese realms had their own appellate system, and Aragón itself had a justiciar, who might challenge the king's rulings. After the Chief Justiciary in Saragossa joined a revolt in 1590, the office was suppressed. Under the Bourbon dynasty, Spain's court system was centralized and further refined.

The church served in many respects as a branch of government. The pulpit was the surest way to reach the entire population. The church was also a great landholder. Churchmen served in high office for the crown. Through concordats with the papacy, the crown gradually gained the right to nominate Spain's bishops for papal approval. Education, hospitals, and feeding the poor were the church's business. In theory, Spaniards tithed, though a third of the tithe went to the crown.

For revenues the crown derived many rights from Roman law, including customs and the royal fifth of minerals, which extended to the gold and silver mines of the Americas. Some rights to salt flats and customs duties had been transferred to nobles during the later Middle Ages, but from the reign of Philip II the crown gradually recovered them. Much of the historic crown domain had been transferred as well, but by Ferdinand and Isabella's acquisition of the grand masterships of the Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa, the crown regained extensive, though seldom rich, domains. These soon became encumbered with debts.

On Castile, richer than the Aragonese realms at the time of union, fell the chief burden of direct taxes till the advent of the Bourbons. After 1538 nobles no longer sat in the Castilian Cortes ('parliament'), which voted subsidies and approved tax increases. Only thirty-six delegates, two each from eighteen royal towns, attended. While stubborn, they generally yielded to the crown's demands.

From Moorish times the crown held the right to the alcabala, in theory a ten-percent tax on sales and business transactions. Its actual rate was lower and required bargaining with the Cortes for its collection by municipal corporations, and increasingly by royal tax collectors and agents of creditors. Only reluctantly, because of mounting debt and repeated bankruptcies, did the crown agree to levies on basic foodstuffs. The Cortes also granted periodic subsidies in addition to the sums raised through the alcabala. As the delegates to the Cortes largely came from the elite, the tax burden fell unduly on the poor. Church wealth provided another big source of royal revenue, mainly arranged through the papacy, on the argument that Spain crusaded against infidels and heretics.

The Bourbon dynasty, which summoned the Cortes only to acclaim succession to the crown, proved unable to overhaul the Castilian tax structure, but, by eliminating regional privileges in the Aragonese realms, it increased revenues from Catalonia and Valencia as prosperity returned to those areas. From the mid-seventeenth century, corporations of tax farmers undertook much of the revenue collection. Beginning in the early eighteenth century, government finances improved and debt began to decline. Ferdinand VI, whose reign was peaceful, saw a surplus. Mexican silver financed the wars of Charles III (ruled 1759–1788), but with the coming of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, debt mounted and government finances turned chaotic.

Education and Culture

Education was in the hands of the church. Colleges and universities, established in the Middle Ages, concentrated on theology and canon and civil law. To career-oriented students law had the greatest appeal. Science was pursued largely outside the university. Interest in navigation led to an academy of mathematics in Madrid in 1582, while the exotic plants of empire encouraged botanical studies. Though Philip II brought anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) to Spain, Spanish medicine remained undistinguished before the work of Andrés Piquer (1711–1772) at the University of Valencia.

Spanish literature of the "Golden Age" peaked with Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). Theater flourished with Lope de Vega (1562–1635), Tirso de Molina (1583–1648), and Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681), poetry with St. John of the Cross (1542–1591) and Luis de Góngora (1561–1627). Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611) proved a giant of Renaissance music. The Cretan El Greco (1541–1614) caught Spain's religious fervor in paint, while Diego de Velázquez (1599–1660) took painting to unsurpassed levels. For all its renewed prosperity, however, the eighteenth century produced little remarkable, apart from the powerful art of Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), and some good music, with that of Antonio Soler (1729–1783) perhaps the best.

Political History, 1474–1516

Ferdinand and Isabella put an end to endemic civil war, restored government, and in 1492 completed the seven-hundred-year "reconquest" of Spain from the Moors with the conquest of Granada. They expelled Spain's Jews, avowedly to prevent those Jews who had become Christian from backsliding. Also in 1492 Isabella commissioned Christopher Columbus to seek Asia by sailing west. His discoveries brought an American empire to Spain.

Rebellion by the Muslims of Granada brought expulsion after 1500 of those who did not accept Christianity. Perhaps 400,000 remained in Spain as New Christian Moriscos, suspected nevertheless by Old Christian Spaniards of insincerity and collaboration with Barbary corsairs and the Ottoman Turks.

Ferdinand's foreign policy led to the dynastic marriage of Princess Joanna to Archduke Philip, son of the Habsburg Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I. The deaths of her only brother Juan, older sister Isabel, and Isabel's infant son made Joanna her parents' heir. When Isabella died in 1504, Queen Joanna (1504–1555) and her consort, Philip I, succeeded to Castile. Philip died in 1506 and Ferdinand became regent for Joanna, who was known as la loca ('the Mad'), deemed unfit to rule and confined to a palace at Tordesillas.

Habsburg Spain, 1516–1700

When Ferdinand died in 1516, Joanna's Habsburg son Charles (Carlos I, ruled 1516–1556) succeeded to Castile, Aragón, and the Italian possessions. Born in the Low Countries, which he inherited from his father, Charles also inherited the Austrian lands on Maximilian's death in 1519, and was elected Holy Roman emperor Charles V (ruled 1519–1558). Dunning Spain for money, Charles hurried to Germany in 1520, provoking many Castilian towns to rise in the revolt of the Comuneros. Feeling threatened, the landed nobility rallied to Charles and crushed the revolt. A revolt in Valencia that mixed urban grievances and hostility to Moriscos was also crushed by the nobility.

Charles bequeathed his Austrian inheritance to his brother Ferdinand in 1522 and returned to Spain to restore his rule, yet after 1530 he spent little time in Spain. Wars with France in defense of his Low Countries and Italian possessions, with German Lutherans and the Ottoman Turks, drained his energies and increased Spain's debts. In 1556 he abdicated to his Spanish-born son Philip II (ruled 1556–1598). Philip wished to improve government in Spain, but became embroiled in foreign wars. He began his reign with a bankruptcy in 1557 that allowed him to renegotiate his debts. Gaining an edge on France at the battle of St. Quentin (1557), he achieved a favorable peace at Cateau-Cambrésis (1559). Both he and the king of France feared the spread of Protestant heresy. Extirpated by the Inquisition in Spain, Protestantism would prove the chief issue in the Low Countries, where growing unrest led to open revolt in 1568. By 1580 the Low Countries had divided into a Protestant, Dutch-dominated United Netherlands in the north and the "Spanish" Netherlands in the south. Battling the Dutch Revolt proved a drain on both the Spanish treasury and manpower.

In the same years, Ottoman Turkish ambitions fired conflict in the Mediterranean, and in 1568–1571 the Moriscos of Granada rebelled. Though Philip's half-brother Don Juan of Austria crushed the Morisco revolt and, in league with the pope and Venice, defeated the Turkish navy at Lepanto (1571), Philip could not sustain simultaneous wars in the Mediterranean and Low Countries. In 1575 he declared bankruptcy again, and in 1578 achieved a truce with the Turks.

In 1580 he annexed Portugal when its legitimate male line died out, and acquired Portugal's Asian empire with its African way stations. Increasingly fearful of his power, both Protestant England and Catholic France fed the Dutch revolt and attacked Philip's overseas empire and treasure routes. In 1588 Philip launched his great armada to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and restore England to Roman Catholicism, or at least compel her to cease aiding the Dutch. The armada was defeated, but an English attack on Portugal in 1589 also failed. That year Protestant Henry IV succeeded to the French throne. Philip encouraged Catholic rebels and sent his army of Flanders into France against Henry. In 1590, local issues led to a brief revolt in Aragón. By 1595, Philip was at war with the Dutch, England, and France. In 1596 an Anglo-Dutch fleet sacked Cádiz. Philip vainly counterattacked with armadas in 1596 and 1597, and again declared bankruptcy. In 1598 he made peace at Vervins with Henry IV, now Catholic, and tried to separate the Low Countries from Spain by bestowing them on his daughter Isabel and her husband, Archduke Albert.

Though disease and famine racked Spain in 1599–1601, Philip III (ruled 1598–1621) persisted in war with England and the Dutch. Winning no advantage, he made peace in 1604 in London with James I of England, and in 1609 accepted a Twelve Years' Truce with the Dutch, but refused to relinquish his claims on their lands. Blame for Spain's shortcomings fell on his valido ('favorite'), Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (1553–1625), duke of Lerma. Unsuccessful abroad and facing economic problems at home, Spain's government expelled the Moriscos, who did not seem sufficiently assimilated and were suspected of conspiring with North Africa. In 1618, war in central Europe involving the Austrian Habsburgs sucked in Spain as well.

In 1621 Philip III died, the Low Countries reverted to the Spanish monarchy when Albert died childless, and the truce with the Dutch expired. Sixteen-year-old Philip IV (ruled 1621–1665) ascended the throne, while a new valido, Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), count-duke of Olivares, acquired direction of policy. He determined to make Philip IV the greatest of sovereigns, though most Spaniards had become disillusioned by endless wars, heavy taxes, and relentless recruiting. Olivares knew that Castile bore a disproportionate share of the monarchy's burdens and called for a Union of Arms, which would require more from the Aragonese realms and Portugal. Opposition proved immediate. After early victories, the tide of war turned against the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs. In 1628 the Dutch captured a treasure fleet, impairing Spain's credit even as Olivares pushed into the Mantuan succession crisis that brought war to Italy. In 1635, France openly joined the anti-Habsburg forces it had long aided, and in 1639 the Dutch shattered Spain's last great armada in the battle of the Downs.

Early in 1640 Olivares's policies provoked rebellion in Catalonia. At the end of that year Portugal, its empire savaged by Spain's Dutch foes, declared independence under John IV of Braganza. The growing cry for Olivares's removal succeeded in 1643, when Philip dismissed him. Don Luis de Haro took over direction of policy and sought peace. In 1648 Philip conceded Dutch independence at Münster, but war with France continued over holdings both crowns claimed. Even as Philip recovered Catalonia in 1655, England joined France against Spain. Beaten, in 1659 Philip signed the Peace of the Pyrenees, which both ceded territory and gave his eldest daughter Maria Teresa as bride to Louis XIV of France. Though she renounced all claims to Spain's throne for herself and her heirs, most jurists held that she could not bind them. When Philip IV died in 1665, his sickly four-year-old son Charles II (ruled 1665–1700) became king. Charles's sister, Margarita, married Emperor Leopold I (ruled 1658–1705).

The reign of Charles proved the nadir of Spain's fortunes, though after 1680 there was some faint hope for recovery. Always sickly, he sired no offspring. Bourbon Louis XIV and Habsburg Leopold I each sought to win Spain's throne for a candidate of his dynasty, while Louis nibbled at Charles's possessions that bordered France. In Spain Juan Joséde Austria (1629–1679), Philip IV's bastard, and the count of Oropesa, chief minister (1685–1691), struggled to maintain government while England and the Dutch tried to arbitrate the anticipated Spanish succession by partition of the inheritance among rival candidates. But Charles rejected partition and Spaniards supported him. Irritated by the Habsburg party at court and aware that France, not Austria, had a navy, Charles's counselors, led by Cardinal Portocarrero of Toledo, persuaded Charles to will his inheritance to Philip (1683–1746), duke of Anjou, grandson of Maria Teresa and Louis XIV, who became Philip V of Spain.

Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808

On Charles's death (1 November 1700), Louis accepted Charles's will and dispatched Philip V (ruled 1700–1724, 1724–1746) to Spain. Leopold declared war and claimed Spain for his younger son Charles. In 1702 England and the Dutch joined Leopold in the War of the Spanish Succession. When it ended in 1713, Philip retained only Spain and its overseas empire. Aided by Frenchman Jean Orry, dedicated ministers undertook fruitful reforms. In 1724 Philip abdicated to his son Luis, who quickly died, and Philip resumed the throne. His second wife, Elisabeth Farnese, involved Spain in wars that successfully won the Two Sicilies for her son Charles and Parma for her son Felipe. Philip and his son Ferdinand VI (ruled 1746–1759) continued to enjoy the services of ministers committed to improvements, such as Zenón de Somodevilla (1702–1781), marquis of La Ensenada. As Ferdinand was childless, Charles III (ruled 1759–1788) came to Spain from the Two Sicilies.

His enlightened reign saw Spain prosper, after the so-called Esquilache riots of 1766, spurred by the high cost of bread, prompted further reform. Modernizing ministers included the counts of Aranda, Campomanes, and Floridablanca, and Gaspar de Jovellanos (1744–1811), the most renowned. Threatened, the church and old nobility opposed many reforms, and in 1767 Charles expelled the Jesuits, but the Inquisition, an embarrassment to many, survived. Spain allied with France against Britain in the war of American Independence. With Louisiana ceded to Spain by France in 1763, and California opened to colonization, the empire reached its greatest extent.

A year after Charles IV (ruled 1788–1808) succeeded his father, revolution erupted in France. Spain joined the antirevolutionary coalition and went to war. When the regicides who guillotined Louis XVI were overthrown, Spain made peace with France. Manuel de Godoy (1767–1851), Charles's chief minister and purported lover of Queen Maria Luisa, came to dominate the Spanish government and renewed the French alliance. War as France's ally, however, proved disastrous. The battles of Cape St. Vincent (1797) and Trafalgar (1805) destroyed Spain's navy. Napoleon coerced Louisiana from Charles and sold it to the United States. Spaniards demanded peace and at Aranjuez in 1808 popular riots forced Charles IV to abdicate to his son Ferdinand VII (ruled 1808–1833). Napoleon promptly invaded Spain, imprisoned Charles and Ferdinand in France, and put his brother Joseph Bonaparte on Spain's throne. Spain's war of Independence (1808–1813) followed, leaving Spain devastated and its American empire in revolution. The restoration in 1814 of the absolutist Ferdinand quashed the effort of the 1812 Cortes of Cádiz to make Spain a constitutional monarchy, and created a state of political instability that racked Spain during the nineteenth century.

Bibliography

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Callahan, William. Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750–1874. Cambridge, Mass., 1984.

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Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio. The Golden Age of Spain, 1516–1659. Translated by James Casey. London, 1971.

Elliott, John H. The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline. New Haven, 1986.

——. Imperial Spain, 1469–1716. London, 1963.

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——. Spain and Its World, 1500–1700: Selected Essays. New Haven, 1989.

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——. Spain under the Habsburgs. 2 vols. Oxford, 1991, 1992.

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—PETER PIERSON

Constitutional monarchy in southwestern Europe, consisting of the Spanish mainland (bordered to the northwest by France and to the west by Portugal), the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Madrid.

• During the sixteenth century, Spain was the greatest world power. Its success was based partially on the riches it acquired in the New World (see Latin America and South America).
• The destruction of the Spanish Armada, a fleet sent to conquer England in 1588, marked the beginning of the decline of Spanish power.
• In the Spanish-American War, the United States defeated Spain, freed Cuba from Spanish colonial rule, and seized a number of former Spanish colonies, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
• In the Spanish Civil War, conservatives led by General Francisco Franco overthrew the second Spanish Republic.
• The Spanish monarchy was fully restored in 1975 after Franco's death. He had been dictator (see dictatorship) for thirty-six years.
• Under King Juan Carlos, Spain has established a political democracy and has been integrated into the European community.
• Bullfighting is a popular spectator sport in Spain.
• Basque separatists have carried out many acts of terrorism against Spain.

The international dialing code for Spain is:   34

It is 10:06 PM, November 20, in the following region(s) of Spain: Canary Islands.

It is 11:06 PM, November 20, in the following region(s) of Spain: Mainland, Baleares, Melilla, Ceuta.

Spain - Euro

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Background:

Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975, and rapid economic modernization (Spain joined the EU in 1986) gave Spain a dynamic and rapidly growing economy and made it a global champion of freedom and human rights. The government continues to battle the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist organization, but its major focus for the immediate future will be on measures to reverse the severe economic recession that started in mid-2008.

Location:	Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France
Geographic coordinates:	40 00 N, 4 00 W
Map references:	Europe
Area:	total: 504,782 sq km land: 499,542 sq km water: 5,240 sq km note: there are two autonomous cities - Ceuta and Melilla - and 17 autonomous communities including Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, and three small Spanish possessions off the coast of Morocco - Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera
Area - comparative:	slightly more than twice the size of Oregon
Land boundaries:	total: 1,917.8 km border countries: 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
Coastline:	4,964 km
Maritime claims:	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm (applies only to the Atlantic Ocean)
Climate:	temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast
Terrain:	large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north
Elevation extremes:	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands 3,718 m
Natural resources:	coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land
Land use:	arable land: 27.18% permanent crops: 9.85% other: 62.97% (2005)
Irrigated land:	37,800 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:	111.1 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):	total: 37.22 cu km/yr (13%/19%/68%) per capita: 864 cu m/yr (2002)
Natural hazards:	periodic droughts
Environment - current issues:	pollution of the Mediterranean Sea from raw sewage and effluents from the offshore production of oil and gas; water quality and quantity nationwide; air pollution; deforestation; desertification
Environment - international agreements:	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants
Geography - note:	strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar; Spain controls a number of territories in northern Morocco including the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas

Population:	40,525,002 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 14.5% (male 3,021,822/female 2,842,597) 15-64 years: 67.4% (male 13,705,107/female 13,601,399) 65 years and over: 18.1% (male 3,071,394/female 4,282,683) (2009 est.)
Median age:	total: 41.1 years male: 39.7 years female: 42.5 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate:	0.072% (2009 est.)
Birth rate:	9.72 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate:	9.9 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:	0.99 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization:	urban population: 77% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 0.9% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 4.21 deaths/1,000 live births male: 4.59 deaths/1,000 live births female: 3.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 80.05 years male: 76.74 years female: 83.57 years (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate:	1.31 children born/woman (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:	0.5% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:	140,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:	2,300 (2007 est.)
Nationality:	noun: Spaniard(s) adjective: Spanish
Ethnic groups:	composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types
Religions:	Roman Catholic 94%, other 6%
Languages:	Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally
Literacy:	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.9% male: 98.7% female: 97.2% (2003 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):	total: 16 years male: 16 years female: 17 years (2006)
Education expenditures:	4.2% of GDP (2005)

Country name:	conventional long form: Kingdom of Spain conventional short form: Spain local long form: Reino de Espana local short form: Espana
Government type:	parliamentary monarchy
Capital:	name: Madrid geographic coordinates: 40 24 N, 3 41 W time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October note: Spain is divided into two time zones including the Canary Islands
Administrative divisions:	17 autonomous communities (comunidades autonomas, singular - comunidad autonoma) and 2 autonomous cities* (ciudades autonomas, singular - ciudad autonoma); Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, Baleares (Balearic Islands), Ceuta*, Canarias (Canary Islands), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Cataluna (Catalonia), Comunidad Valenciana (Valencian Community), Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Melilla*, Murcia, Navarra, Pais Vasco (Basque Country) note: the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla plus three small islands of Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, administered directly by the Spanish central government, are all along the coast of Morocco and are collectively referred to as Places of Sovereignty (Plazas de Soberania)
Independence:	1492; the Iberian peninsula was characterized by a variety of independent kingdoms prior to the Muslim occupation that began in the early 8th century A.D. and lasted nearly seven centuries; the small Christian redoubts of the north began the reconquest almost immediately, culminating in the seizure of Granada in 1492; this event completed the unification of several kingdoms and is traditionally considered the forging of present-day Spain
National holiday:	National Day, 12 October (1492); year when Columbus first set foot in the Americas
Constitution:	approved by legislature 31 October 1978; passed by referendum 6 December 1978; effective 29 December 1978
Legal system:	civil law system, with regional applications; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage:	18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:	chief of state: King JUAN CARLOS I (since 22 November 1975); Heir Apparent Prince FELIPE, son of the monarch, born 30 January 1968 head of government: President of the Government (Prime Minister equivalent) Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO (since 17 April 2004); First Vice President (and Minister of the Presidency) Maria Teresa FERNANDEZ DE LA VEGA (since 18 April 2004), Second Vice President (and Minister of Economy and Finance) Elena SALGADO Mendez (since 8 April 2009), and Third Vice President (and Minister of Regional Affairs) Manuel CHAVES Gonzalez (since 8 April 2009) cabinet: Council of Ministers designated by the president note: there is also a Council of State that is the supreme consultative organ of the government, but its recommendations are non-binding elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually proposed president by the monarch and elected by the National Assembly; election last held on 9 and 11 April 2008 (next to be held in March 2012); vice presidents appointed by the monarch on the proposal of the president election results: Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO reelected President of the Government; percent of National Assembly vote - 46.94%
Legislative branch:	bicameral; General Courts or National Assembly or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (264 seats as of 2008; 208 members directly elected by popular vote and the other 56 - as of 2008 - appointed by the regional legislatures; to serve four-year terms) and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; each of the 50 electoral provinces fills a minimum of two seats and the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla fill one seat each with members serving a four-year term; the other 248 members are determined by proportional representation based on popular vote on block lists who serve four-year terms) elections: Senate - last held on 9 March 2008 (next to be held not later than March 2012); Congress of Deputies - last held on 9 March 2008 (next to be held not later than March 2012) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PP 101, PSOE 88, Entesa Catalona de Progress 12, CiU 4, PNV 2, CC 1, members appointed by regional legislatures 56; Congress of Deputies - percent of vote by party - PSOE 43.6%, PP 40.1%, CiU 3.1%, PNV 1.2%, ERC 1.2%, other 10.8%; seats by party - PSOE 169, PP 154, CiU 10, PNV 6, ERC 3, other 8
Judicial branch:	Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo
Political parties and leaders:	Aragonese Party or CHA [Bizen FUSTER]; Basque Nationalist Party or PNV or EAJ [Inigo URKULLU]; Basque Solidarity or EA [Begona ERRAZTI]; Canarian Coalition or CC [Jose Torres STINGA] (a coalition of five parties); Convergence and Union or CiU [Artur MAS i Gavarro] (a coalition of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia or CDC [Artur MAS i Gavarro] and the Democratic Union of Catalonia or UDC [Josep Antoni DURAN i LLEIDA]); Entesa Catalonia de Progress (a Senate coalition grouping four Catalan parties - PSC, ERC, ICV, EUA); Galician Nationalist Bloc or BNG [Anxo Manuel QUINTANA Gonzalez]; Initiative for Catalonia Greens or ICV [Joan SAURA i Laporta]; Navarra yes or Na Bai [Uxue BARKOS Berruezo] (a coalition of four Navarran parties); Popular Party or PP [Mariano RAJOY Brey]; Republican Left of Catalonia or ERC [Joan RIDAO]; Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO]; United Left or IU [Cayo LARA] (a coalition of parties including the Communist Party of Spain or PCE and other small parties)
Political pressure groups and leaders:	Association for Victims of Terrorism or AVT (grassroots organization devoted primarily to opposing ETA terrorist attacks and supporting its victims); Basta Ya (Spanish for "Enough is Enough"; grassroots organization devoted primarily to opposing ETA terrorist attacks and supporting its victims); Nunca Mais (Galician for "Never Again"; formed in response to the oil Tanker Prestige oil spill); Socialist General Union of Workers or UGT and the smaller independent Workers Syndical Union or USO; Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Commissions or CC.OO. other: business and landowning interests; Catholic Church; free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); university students
International organization participation:	ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BCIE, BIS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURCAT, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, Union Latina, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Jorge DEZCALLAR de Mazarredo chancery: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037 telephone: [1] (202) 452-0100, 728-2340 FAX: [1] (202) 833-5670 consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Diplomatic representation from the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Arnold A. CHACON embassy: Serrano 75, 28006 Madrid mailing address: PSC 61, APO AE 09642 telephone: [34] (91) 587-2200 FAX: [34] (91) 587-2303 consulate(s) general: Barcelona
Flag description:	three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width), and red with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band; the coat of arms is quartered to display the emblems of the traditional kingdoms of Spain (clockwise from upper left, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Aragon) while Granada is represented by the stylized pomegranate at the bottom of the shield; the arms are framed by two columns representing the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; the red scroll across the two columns bears the imperial motto of "Plus Ultra" (further beyond) referring to Spanish lands beyond Europe

Economy - overview:	The Spanish economy grew every year from 1994 through 2008 before entering a recession that started in the third quarter of 2008. Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is approaching that of the largest West European economies. The Socialist president, Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO, in office since 2004, has made mixed progress in carrying out key structural reforms. The economy was greatly affected, especially after Zapatero's second term began in April 2008, by the bursting of the housing bubble and construction boom that had fueled much of the economic growth between 2001 and 2007. The global financial crisis exacerbated the economic downturn. GDP growth in 2008 was 1.3%, well below the 3% or higher growth the country enjoyed from 1997 through 2007. The Spanish banking system is considered solid, thanks in part to conservative oversight by the European Central Bank, and government intervention to rescue banks on the scale seen elsewhere in Europe in 2008 was not necessary. After considerable success since the mid-1990s in reducing unemployment to a 2007 low of 8%, Spain suffered a major spike in unemployment in the last few months of 2008, finishing the year with an unemployment rate over 13%.
GDP (purchasing power parity):	$1.378 trillion (2008 est.) $1.36 trillion (2007) $1.337 trillion (2006) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):	$1.683 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	1.1% (2008 est.) 3.7% (2007 est.) 3.9% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):	$34,600 (2008 est.) $34,300 (2007 est.) $33,100 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 3.6% industry: 28.9% services: 67.5% (2008 est.)
Labor force:	23.1 million (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 4% industry: 26.4% services: 69.5% (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate:	13.9% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:	19.8% (2005)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:	lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 26.6% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:	32 (2005)
Investment (gross fixed):	30.1% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $443.3 billion expenditures: $535.6 billion (2008 est.)
Fiscal year:	calendar year
Public debt:	37.5% of GDP (2008)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):	1.4% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:	NA
Commercial bank prime lending rate:	9.54% (31 December 2008)
Stock of money:	NA note: see entry for the European Union for money supply in the euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 16 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money and quasi money circulating within their own borders
Stock of quasi money:	NA
Stock of domestic credit:	$3.724 trillion (30 November 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares:	$1.132 trillion (31 December 2008)
Agriculture - products:	grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish
Industries:	textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism, clay and refractory products, footwear, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment
Industrial production growth rate:	-6.5% (2008)
Electricity - production:	294.3 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - consumption:	276.1 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - exports:	14.52 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - imports:	8.773 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source:	fossil fuel: 50.4% hydro: 18.2% nuclear: 27.2% other: 4.1% (2001)
Oil - production:	29,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption:	1.611 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports:	181,800 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - imports:	1.777 million bbl/day (2005)
Oil - proved reserves:	150 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:	88 million cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:	34.43 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - exports:	0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:	34.47 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:	2.548 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Current account balance:	-$152.5 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:	$292.8 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:	machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods
Exports - partners:	France 18.8%, Germany 10.8%, Portugal 8.6%, Italy 8.5%, UK 7.6%, US 4.2% (2007)
Imports:	$444.9 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:	machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments
Imports - partners:	Germany 15.7%, France 12.7%, Italy 8.4%, China 5.8%, UK 4.8%, Netherlands 4.6% (2007)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:	$21.38 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external:	$2.478 trillion (30 September 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:	$606.8 billion (2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:	$738.5 billion (2008 est.)
Currency (code):	euro (EUR)
Currency code:	EUR
Exchange rates:	euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)

Telephones - main lines in use:	18.583 million (2007)
Telephones - mobile cellular:	48.813 million (2007)
Telephone system:	general assessment: well developed, modern facilities; fixed-line teledensity is about 45 per 100 persons domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is nearly 170 telephones per 100 persons international: country code - 34; submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, Middle East, Asia, and US; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to adjacent countries
Radio broadcast stations:	AM 18, FM 250, shortwave 2 (2008)
Radios:	13.1 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:	379 (2008)
Televisions:	16.2 million (1997)
Internet country code:	.es
Internet hosts:	3.264 million (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):	56 (2000)
Internet users:	19.69 million (2007)

Airports:	154 (2008)
Airports - with paved runways:	total: 96 over 3,047 m: 18 2,438 to 3,047 m: 12 1,524 to 2,437 m: 18 914 to 1,523 m: 24 under 914 m: 24 (2008)
Airports - with unpaved runways:	total: 58 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 17 under 914 m: 39 (2008)
Heliports:	8 (2007)
Pipelines:	gas 7,738 km; oil 560 km; refined products 3,445 km (2008)
Railways:	total: 14,974 km broad gauge: 11,919 km 1.668-m gauge (6,950 km electrified) standard gauge: 1,099 km 1.435-m gauge (1,054 km electrified) narrow gauge: 1,928 km 1.000-m gauge (815 km electrified); 28 km 0.914-m gauge (28 km electrified) (2006)
Roadways:	total: 681,224 km paved: 681,224 km (includes 13,872 km of expressways) (2006)
Waterways:	1,000 km (2008)
Merchant marine:	total: 158 by type: bulk carrier 9, cargo 14, chemical tanker 11, container 22, liquefied gas 11, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 47, petroleum tanker 16, refrigerated cargo 5, roll on/roll off 15, specialized tanker 2, vehicle carrier 5 foreign-owned: 26 (Canada 4, Denmark 2, Germany 5, Italy 2, Mexico 3, Norway 5, UK 5) registered in other countries: 110 (Angola 1, Argentina 2, Bahamas 14, Belize 1, Brazil 9, Cape Verde 1, Cuba 1, Cyprus 6, Malta 3, Marshall Islands 1, Nigeria 1, Panama 50, Portugal 11, Saint Kitts and Nevis 1, UK 1, Uruguay 6, Venezuela 1) (2008)
Ports and terminals:	Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Huelva, Tarragona, Valencia

Military branches:	Spanish Armed Forces: Army (Ejercito de Tierra), Spanish Navy (Armada Espanola, AE; includes Marine Corps), Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire Espanola, EdA) (2009)
Military service age and obligation:	20 years of age (2004)
Manpower available for military service:	males age 16-49: 10,033,069 females age 16-49: 9,764,937 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:	males age 16-49: 8,139,020 females age 16-49: 7,899,157 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:	male: 199,124 female: 187,224 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures:	1.2% of GDP (2005 est.)

Disputes - international:

in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to remain a British colony and against a "total shared sovereignty" arrangement while demanding participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; Morocco serves as the primary launching site of illegal migration into Spain from North Africa; Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz

Illicit drugs:

despite rigorous law enforcement efforts, North African, Latin American, Galician, and other European traffickers take advantage of Spain's long coastline to land large shipments of cocaine and hashish for distribution to the European market; consumer for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish; destination and minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering site for Colombian narcotics trafficking organizations and organized crime

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Recipes

Gazpacho (Cold Tomato Soup)
Tortilla Española (Spanish Omelet)
Flan (Custard)
Mazapanes (Marzipan or Almond Candies)
Chocolate a la Española (Spanish Hot Chocolate)
Churros
Crema de Cabrales (Spread)
Tartaletas de Champiñón (Mushroom Tartlets)
Aceitunas Aliñadas (Marinated Olives)

Geographic Setting and Environment

With Portugal, Spain makes up the Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia. Iberia is separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees Mountains, which rise to a height of 11,168 feet (3,404 meters). The peninsula is bordered by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the east, the Strait of Gibraltar on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the Bay of Biscay on the northwest. Spain's miles of coastline (more than any other European country) provide it with bountiful seafood and fish. Spain is also a close neighbor to Africa. Morocco lies only a short distance—eight miles (thirteen kilometers)—across the Strait of Gibraltar from the southern tip of Spain.

Rich soils in interior valleys yield a variety of cultivated vegetables, while the country's arid (dry) climate provides excellent growing conditions for grapes and olives. The high plateaus and mountainsides of the interior are grazing grounds for sheep and cattle.

History and Food

As a gateway between Europe and Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Spain has been much fought over throughout history. The Greeks settled its coastal areas as early as the eighth century B.C., while Celts occupied interior regions. By the second century B.C., Spain was under Roman domination. In the early eighth century A.D., the Moors (Arabs from northern Africa) crossed Gibraltar and entered Spain, occupying it for the next 700 years before Christian kingdoms drove them out.

This long history of invasion is still evident in Spain's cuisine. Olives, olive oil, and wine tie it closely to Greek and Roman (Italian) culture. Meat and fish pies show the Celtic heritage. The Moorish influence is seen in the use of honey, almonds, citrus fruits, and spices, such as cumin and saffron (a yellow spice).

A leader in exploration and colonization, powerful Spain was among the first nations in Europe to discover the treasures of the New World. Beginning in the late 1400s, explorers returned from voyages across the Atlantic Ocean carrying such exotic new foods as tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, peppers, chocolate, and vanilla—all native to the Americas. These foods were slowly joined with the Spanish diet.

Foods of the Spaniards

Spain's culinary traditions rely on an abundance of locally grown vegetables and fruits as well as meats and poultry. Jamón serrano, a cured ham, and chorizo, a seasoned sausage, are popular. Seafood and fish are popular in coastal areas. Other popular foods are cheeses, eggs, beans, rice, nuts (especially almonds), and bread (a crusty white bread, baked fresh daily, is common). Olive oil and garlic are common ingredients. Spain is also known for its wines, including the rioja, made in the northern province; sherry, a fortified wine that may be dry or sweet; and sangria, wine mixed with fruit and soda water.

The best-known Spanish dish, a stew called paella (pie-AY-ah), originated in Valencia, an eastern province on the Mediterranean Sea. Rice, a main ingredient, is grown in Valencia's tidal flatlands. Though there are numerous variations, paella is usually made of a variety of shellfish (such as shrimp, clams, crab, and lobster), chorizo (sausage), vegetables (tomatoes, peas, and asparagus), chicken and/or rabbit, and long-grained rice. Broth, onion, garlic, wine, pimiento (sweet red pepper), and saffron add flavor to the stew.

Every region has its own distinct cuisine and specialties. Gazpacho, a cold tomato soup, comes from Andalucía in southern Spain. Traditionally, a special bowl called a dornillo, was used to pound the ingredients by hand, but modern Spanish cooks use a blender. Andalusians also enjoy freidurías (fish, such as sole or anchovies, fried in batter). Cataluña (Catalonia), in northeastern Spain, is known for its inventive dishes combining seafood, meat, poultry, and local fruits. In the northern Basque country (país Vasco), fish is important to the diet, with cod, eel, and squid featured prominently. The signature dish of Asturias, in northwestern Spain, isfabada, a bean stew. In the interior regions, such as Castilla, meats play a starring role. Tortilla española, a potato omelet, is served throughout the country. It can be prepared quickly and makes a hearty but simple dinner. Spain's best-known dessert is flan, a rich custard.

See Gazpacho (Cold Tomato Soup) recipe.

See Tortilla Española (Spanish Omelet) recipe.

See Flan (Custard) recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

To bring good luck in the year ahead, Spaniards traditionally eat twelve grapes, one with each chime of the clock at midnight on New Year's Eve. On February 3, St. Blaise's Day (Día de San Blas) is celebrated by baking small loaves of bread, called panecillos del santo, which are blessed at Mass in the Roman Catholic church. According to tradition, all the children in the household are to eat a bit of this bread to protect them from choking in the year ahead.

The Christmas season officially begins on December 24, called Nochebuena (the "good night"). It is marked by a special family dinner. A typical menu includes onion and almond soup; baked fish (cod or porgy); roasted meat (such as turkey); and red cabbage and apples (or another vegetable dish). Dessert may include flan and a variety of fruits, cheeses, and sweets—especially turrón (almond and honey candies) and mazapanes (or marzipan, a glazed concoction of almonds and sugar) which are sometimes shaped like coiled snakes to signify the end of one year and the beginning of the next. After this festive dinner, it is tradition to attend church. Christmas ends with the festivities of Three Kings Day, or Día de los Tres Reyes.

On January 5, parades are held to welcome the arrival of Baltasar, Gaspar, and Melchior who arrive that night to bring gifts to children. (Baltasar, Gaspar, and Melchior were the "Three Wise Men" who, according to the Christmas story, brought gifts to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.) The next day, January 6, the traditional Roscón de Reyes (a sweet bread) is baked and enjoyed. A small surprise, such as a coin, is baked into the cake and the person who finds it in his piece is believed to enjoy good luck in the year ahead.

See Mazapanes (Marzipan or Almond Candies) recipe.

Mealtime Customs

Daily meals in Spain begin with a light breakfast (desayuno) at about 8 a.m. Next comes a three-course lunch (comida), the main meal of the day. Families gather to eat it in the mid-afternoon (about 2 p.m.). At about 10 p.m. supper (cena), a lighter meal, is served. In addition, bollos (small rolls) may be eaten in the late morning; the merienda, a snack of tea or Chocolate a la España (Spanish-style hot chocolate) and pastries may be enjoyed in the early evening (about 5 p.m.); and tapas, traditional Spanish appetizers, are consumed around 8 p.m., before supper.

Though American fast-food restaurants have opened in Spain's cities, traditional "food-to-go" includes churros, sugary fritters sold at street stands; and bocadillos, sandwiches typically made of a cured ham (jamón serrano) or other meat and cheese. Bocadillos may be found in the school-child's lunch box, as might a wedge of a cold Tortilla Española (Spanish omelet), fresh fruit, and cheese.

The tradition of tapas, now enjoyed in many U.S. restaurants, originated with the practice of bartenders covering a glass of wine or beer with a small plate of free appetizers (tapa means "cover"). The great variety of tapas enjoyed today are testimony to their popularity. They may be as simple as a slice of fresh bread with tuna, as extravagant as caracoles a la madrileña (snails, Madrid style), or as comforting as an empanadilla, a mini meat pie. Invariably they are accompanied by lively conversation, a hallmark of Spanish daily life.

See Chocolate a la Española (Spanish Hot Chocolate) recipe.

See Churros recipe.

See Tapa: Crema de Cabrales (Blue Cheese, Apple, and Walnut Spread) recipe.

See Tapa: Tartaletas de Champiñón (Mushroom Tartlets) recipe.

See Tapa: Aceitunas Aliñadas (Marinated Olives) recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

The Spanish economy is strong. Spain was one of the countries that joined the European Monetary Union in 1999, and the country adopted the European currency, the euro. Nearly all Spanish children receive adequate nutrition.

In the late 1990s, concerns about mad cow disease, which was affecting cattle in the United Kingdom, caused all Europeans to be more cautious about eating beef. The market for Spanish sheep and hogs strengthened slightly, as Spanish cooks decided to cook more lamb, mutton, and pork.

Further Study

Books

Casas, Penelope. The Foods and Wines of Spain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. (A complete cookbook of Spain's traditional foods. Most recipes are quite involved, but many are preceded by the author's notes on the dish and its origins.)

Goodwin, Bob, and Candi Perez. A Taste of Spain. New York: Thomson Learning, 1995.

Mendel, Janet. Cooking in Spain. London, Eng.: Garnet Publications Ltd., 1997. (Recipes and background information on Spain's cuisine)

Sterling, Richard, and Allison Jones. Lonely Planet World Food: Spain. Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2000.

Web Sites

Spanish Gourmet. [Online] Available http://www.spanish-gourmet.com/ (accessed July 19, 2001).

Tienda. [Online] Available http://www.tienda.com (accessed August 17, 2001). (Tienda is a Virginia-based company selling food products from Spain; its web site also offers recipes).

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Spain has more vineyard acreage than any other country, but comes in third behind Italy and France in terms of volume of wine produced. The vineyard land is extremely arid in many areas and can't be densely planted because the vines won't get enough moisture. This, plus rather antiquated viticultural practices, limits yields in most parts of the country. The exception is the area around jerez where yields are very high. In the past, aside from sherry the rioja doca red wines, and the sparkling wines from the cava do (mainly from Penedès in catalonia), most of Spain's wines didn't have a following outside the country. This is partially because the old style of many Spanish wines-such as high-alcohol full-bodied (see body) reds and neutral, low-acidity whites-weren't popular internationally. But Spain is changing this image. It began by revamping its appellation system, denominación de origen (DO), after criticism that many areas with DO status didn't produce wines of acceptably high quality. A new higher classification, denominación de origen calificada (DOCa), has more exacting standards than those established for DOs. While there are over fifty regions with DO status, only two-rioja and priorat -are classified as DOCa. New, tighter DO regulations, plus planting in cooler regions, modernizing winery equipment, and improving winemaking techniques have all contributed to improving the overall quality of Spain's wines. Additionally, both red and white wines have benefited because long aging requirements have been lowered. In the case of white wines, such requirements have been eliminated altogether because extensive oak aging tended to eradicate their freshness and make many seem dull. Conversely, some aged red Riojas are quite highly regarded. Many DOs throughout Spain are notable in their own right. sherry is by far Spain's most famous wine and one of the world's classic fortified wines. It's produced in Jerez (jerez-xérès-sherry y manzanilla de sanlúcar de barrameda do) in a variety of styles. The nearby DOs of málaga and montilla-moriles also produce similarly styled fortified wines, which usually sell at lower prices. The Rioja DOCa is still best known for its red wines but is now producing improved white wines, for which it's attaining a good reputation. The white wines from the galicia and rueda dos are also gaining stature. Spain's Catalonia area-particularly with the Priorat DOCa which attracted international attention in the 1990s; the penedès do and potentially with DOs like tarragona-is gaining a reputation for high-quality red and white still wines in addition to their méthode champenoise sparkling wines. The red wines from the ribera del duero do have a solid reputation based on the historically renowned Vega Sicilia wine estate and the more recently acclaimed Tinto Pesquera wines from Alejandro Fer­nandez. Other high-quality wine estates are now also in place in this region. The toro do in the Castile and León region is viewed as one of the country's rising stars. Although improvements are underway, large amounts of ordinary wine are still produced from the vast central plains south of Madrid. This includes the wine-producing region of la mancha and the neighboring alicante, jumilla, utiel-requena and yecla regions, as well as cariñena farther north. Some of the other Spanish DOs are alella, almansa, campo de borja, conca de barberà, condado de huelva, costers del segre, empordà-costa brava, mentrida, navarra, rías baixas, ribeiro, tarragona, terra alta, valdeorras, valdepeñas, valencia and vinos de madrid. A large number of grape varieties are used throughout Spain for the diverse styles of wine. Red varieties include Azal Tinto, Baga, Borracal, Caiño, Cariñena (carignan), Es­padeiro, Ferron, Garnacha Tinta (grenache), graciano Mazuelo (Car­ignan), Mencía, Monastrell (mourvèdre) Moreto, Pansá Rosado, tempranillo (also called Cencibel,Ull de Llebre, and Tinto del Pais), and Tinta Pinheira. The most widely planted white variety in Spain and, in fact, the world is airén. Other white varieties in this country include Albariño (alvarinho), Garnacha Blanca (Grenache), Godello (verdelho), loureiro, Malvar, malvasia Merseguera, Moscatel (muscat), palomino, parellada, pedro ximénez Planta Nova, Torrontés, Trajadura, Treixadura, Verdil, Viura (macabeo), and xarel-lo (also called Pansá Blanca). In addition, there are some plantings of French favorites including cabernet sauvignon cabernet franc chardonnay malbec merlot pinot noir and sauvignon blanc.

Witchcraft

Modern Spain emerged in the fifteenth century. The land had previously been occupied by the Romans, Visagoths, and the Moors, who remained dominant beginning in the eighth century C.E. From early times, Spain was regarded as a special abode of superstition and sorcery, malevolent magic, and, in the Middle Ages, as the home of witchcraft, much of that reputation deriving from the notoriety of the Moorish alchemists. Spain was a major point of dissemination of Arab learning into Christian Europe. As early as 1370, the kingdom of Castile (a major component of what would become Spain) declared divination to be heresy. Writing about 1458 C.E., Alfonso de Spina, a Franciscan brother from Castile, created a work especially directed against heretics and nonbelievers, in which he gave a chapter on those articles of popular belief that were derived from ancient pagan beliefs. Among these, witches, called Xurguine (jurgina) or bruxe, held a prominent place. He stated that in his time offenders abounded in Dauphiny and Gascony, where they assembled in great numbers by night on a wild tableland, carrying candles with them to worship Satan, who appeared in the form of a boar on a certain rock, popularly known by the name Elboch de Biterne, and that many of them had been taken by the Inquisition of Toulouse and burned.

Spain reemerged as a Christian kingdom during the reign of Ferdinand V(1474-1504) and Isabella. They introduced the Inquisition, expelled the Jews, and financed Columbus's voyages to America. Their reign coincided with the redirection of the Inquisition against witchcraft in the 1480s and from that time in Spain, the charge of witchcraft and sorcery was frequently made under different forms and circumstances. Local inquisitors operated without clear guidelines, especially regarding exactly what constituted sorcery, and had considerable latitude in their prosecution of the accused.

The first auto-da-fé (act of faith) against witchcraft appears to have been that of Calahorra in 1507, when 30 women charged before the Inquisition as witches, were burned. In 1527 a great number of women were accused in Navarre of the practice of sorcery through the information of two girls, one 11, the other only nine years old, who confessed before the royal council of Navarre that they had been received into the sect of the jurginas. They promised, on condition of being pardoned, to expose all the women who were involved in these practices.

The prevalence of various magic practices in the Basque provinces became notorious, and Charles V, judging that it was to be attributed more to the ignorance of the population of those districts than to any other cause, directed that preachers should be sent to instruct them.

The first treatise in the Spanish language on the subject of sorcery was by a Franciscan monk named Martin de Castanaga, printed under approbation of the bishop of Calahorra in 1529. About this time, the zeal of the inquisitors of Saragossa was excited by the appearance of many witches who were said to have come from Navarre, and to have been sent by their sect as missionaries to make disciples of the women of Aragon. This sudden witch persecution in Spain appears to have had an influence on the fate of the witches of Italy. Pope Adrian IV, who was raised to the papal chair in 1522, was a Spanish bishop, and had held the office of inquisitor-general in Spain.

In the time of Pope Julius II (1503-13), a large sect of witches and sorcerers had reportedly been discovered in Lombardy who had their Sabbats and all the other activities of the Continental witches. The proceedings against them had been hindered by a dispute between the inquisitors and the ecclesiastical judges who claimed jurisdiction in such cases. Then on July 20, 1523, Pope Adrian issued a bull against the crime of sorcery, equating divination with its practice, and by naming both as heresy, placed sorcery clearly under the sole jurisdiction of the inquisitors. This bull freed the Inquisition to act against witches in Spain.

Of the cases that followed during more than a century, the most remarkable was that of the auto-da-fé at Logrono on November 7 and 8, 1610, which arose in some measure from a visit to the French Basque province in the preceding year. The valley of Bastan is situated at the foot of the Pyrenees on the French frontier, near Labourd. It was within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition established at Logrono in Castille. The mass of the population of this valley were said to have been sorcerers, and they held their meetings or Sabbats at a place called Zugarramurdi.

A woman who was condemned implicated a number of other persons. All the persons arrested on this occasion agreed in their description of the Sabbat and of the practices of the witches, who in their general features bore a close resemblance to the witches of Labourd. The usual place of meeting was known here, as in Labourd, by the popular name of Aquelarre, a Gascon word signifying "the meadow of the goat." Their ordinary meetings were held on the nights of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, every week, but they had grand feasts on the principal holidays of the church, such as Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. All these feasts appear to have been fixed by the Christian teachers at the period of older pagan festivals. The accounts of their claimed Sabbats were similar to those given of such meetings elsewhere. They supposedly danced, sang, took part in orgies, and came into personal contact with Satan.

The auto-da-fé of Logrono, as far as it related to the sect of the sorcerers of Zugarramurdi, caused a sensation, and brought the subject of witchcraft under the consideration of the Spanish theologians. They were far more enlightened than most of their contemporaries in other countries, that they generally held the opinion that witchcraft was a mere delusion and that the details of the confessions of its victims were all creations of the imagination. They were punished because their belief was a heresy, contrary to the doctrines of the church. Llorente gave the abstract of a treatise on this subject by a Spanish ecclesiastic named Pedro de Valentia, addressed to the grand inquisitor in consequence of the trial at Logrono in 1610. It remained in manuscript among the archives of the Inquisition.

Valentia adopted the opinion that the acts confessed by the witches were imaginary; he attributed them partly to the methods in which the examinations were carried out—and to the desire of the people examined to escape by saying what seemed to please their persecutors—and partly to the effects of the ointments and draughts they had been taught to use. These were composed of ingredients that produced sleep and acted upon the imagination and the mental faculties.

Although the heresy-hunting of the Spanish Inquisition resulted in a vast number of victims being burned throughout Europe, in Spain itself witchcraft persecutions were relatively more restrained than elsewhere, and there were relatively fewer burnings. An entrenched skepticism on the part of the Suprema as to the reality of witchcraft discouraged mass persecutions from 1526 onward. During the witchcraft panic of 1610 in Navarre, the secular judges had burned their victims before the Inquisition could act. Subsequently the Suprema restrained punishment for alleged witches and in some cases denounced the charges as a delusion.

Spiritualism

A writer in the Religio-Philosophical Journal (flourished 1865-1905) states: "The language that furnishes the largest number of periodicals devoted to the dissemination of the doctrine and philosophy of modern Spiritualism, is the Spanish. This statement will be somewhat surprising to many of our readers, for we have been accustomed to look upon the Spaniards as non-progressive and conservative in the extreme. Spain, until a few years, has always been intolerant of any religions except the Roman Catholic, and was the latest of European nations to yield to the spirit of religious progress. Protestantism has with the greatest difficulty obtained a foothold in that country within the last few years, but it has been attended with annoying restrictions and persecutions, while its progress has been exceedingly slow and discouraging."

Spiritualism in Spain began, as in many other lands, with a series of disturbances, which took place in a family residing in the outskirts of Cadiz. Stone throwing, bell ringing, and other poltergeist-style annoyances were the first means of awakening attention to the subject. Because they occurred at the house of a Spanish gentleman who had just returned from the United States, full of the marvels of the Rochester rappings, circles were at once formed, intelligent responses by rappings obtained, and a foothold for Spiritualism established. So rapidly did interest in Spiritualism spread, that the first promulgators were soon lost sight of. As early as 1854, a society was formed at Cadiz for the sole purpose of publishing the communications received from the spirits during the two preceding years.

From 1854 to 1860, Spiritualism spread through the principal towns and villages of Spain in the usual fashion, aided in large part by Spiritualism's claim to be a nonreligious, scientific movement. Circles were held in private families, and an endless number of societies were formed and dissolved, according to the exigencies of the time.

One of the first public events of note in connection with Spanish Spiritualism deserves special mention. It was no other than a modern auto-da-fé, held on the morning of October 9, 1861, at the Esplanade Barcelona. The difference between this burning and the fiery executions of earlier centuries was that the early victims were humans, while these were all the books, pamphlets, and works of a Spiritualist character that could be procured at that period of the movement. Resting on the "funeral pyre" were the writings of Allan Kardec and Baron Ludwig von Guldenstubbe, some copies of English and American Spiritualist papers, and a large collection of tracts issued by the Spiritualists of Spain. Some change of attitude soon occurred.

Among the well-known residents of Barcelona was a Señor Navarez, whose daughter Rosa had, for many years, been the subject of spasmodic attacks, called by some of the Roman Catholic clergy "the obsession of demons," and by the medical faculty, "an aggravated condition of epilepsy." Within two years following the Barcelona burning, Rosa was pronounced entirely cured by the magnetic passes of a gentleman who was the medium of the private circle held in the city.

Shortly after this, Barcelona could boast of its well-approved Spiritualist publications, numerous societies for investigation, and several mediums. A journal published by a Señor Alcantara was supported by the Viscount de Torres Solanot and many other leaders of science and literature in Spain. Through this publication the opponents of Spiritualism were amazed to learn of the immense progress the cause was making, and the number of distinguished persons who assembled nightly in circles to promote its investigation.

A circular calling the attention of the Spanish public to the phenomena of Spiritualism was published in 1875 by Viscount Solanot. The authors of this circular met with no little response. However, the energetic viscount again promoted the subject before the Paris Exposition of 1878. In articles written for El Criterio, he argued for the development of an international cooperative effort by Spiritualists and named among those societies prepared to promote such a structure as including: La Federation Espirita, of Belgium; The British National Association of Spiritualists, England; La Sociedad Central Espirita, of the Republic of Mexico; and El Central General del Espiritismo. There was also an attempt to form a national association and unite all the discordant elements under the one broad banner of Spiritualism. Instead of further development, however, by the end of the century Spiritualism had ceased to exist as a vital movement in Spain.

Animal Magnetism and Mediums

In Spain, as in Italy, a considerable amount of attention was directed toward exploring mediumistic abilities by means of animal magnetism. Magnetic societies abounded in Spain prior to World War I, but internal discord eventually dissolved the bonds that had united flourishing associations.

Among the numerous groups formed in the different parts of Spain in the late nineteenth century to study Spiritualism and its phenomena was one of long standing at Tarragona called The Christian Circle. The president of this circle sent the following communication to the Revue Spirite of Paris: "The convict prison here in Tarragona has 800 inmates sentenced to forced labour. By some means, Spiritualistic books have been introduced among the prisoners. The circulation of these books among them has been the means of bringing seventy or eighty of them to be believers in our doctrine. These converts have ceased to regard their miserable position from their old point of view; they no longer entertain schemes of revolt against the authorities. They endure their lot with resignation under the influence of the teaching that this world is but a preliminary stage to another, where, if repentant of the ill they have done, and seeking the good of others, they will be better off than here.

"Not long since one of these men died; at his death he declined the established offices of the prison priest, on the ground that he was a Spiritualist and did not need them. The priest then discovered that Spiritualism was a subject of discussion with many of the prisoners. He made a representation of the matter to his bishop, who made formal complaint of it to the commandant of the prison, and the commandant made an investigation. In the end a particular prisoner was selected for punishment in the form of an additional weight of fetters. This coming to the knowledge of the Spiritualists of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Lerida, they had a meeting upon the subject and delegated one of their number, a man of position, to interview the commandant. The representations which he made, led the commandant to cancel his order as to the additional fetters. The bishop's censure against Spiritualist books placed them under prohibition, which was maintained. It is known, however, that although never found by gaolers, the books are still there."

In April 1881 the editor of the Madrid El Criterio stated that "… great progress has been made in the cause of Spiritualism; that the hall of meeting of the Spiritual Society is completely full every Thursday evening, and is not now large enough to hold the public who come to the sessions, that Dr. Merschejewski has called the attention of the University of St. Petersburg to a psychometric phenomena of much importance; to wit: A young man deemed from childhood to be an idiot, who will in some seconds solve any mathematical problem, while if a poem be read to him, even of many hundred verses, he will repeat the whole of it without failing in a single word."

In the same issue of El Criterio Señor Manuel Lopez wrote on the progress of a society of Spiritualists in Madrid: "We have received a mediumistic work of extraordinary merit, executed by a medium of the Society of Spiritualists of Zaragoza. It consists of a portrait of Isabel the Catholic, made with a pencil, and is a work truly admirable. It is said by intelligent persons who have examined it to be an exact copy of one preserved in the Royal Museum of Painters of this court. Many thanks are tendered to the Zaragozan Society for this highly appreciated present."

It was about the end of the year 1880 that the Spiritualists of Spain sustained another series of attacks from the church. The first of these was the refusal of the clergy to accord the customary rites of interment to the remains of two women, both of irreproachable character and good standing in society, but both "guilty" of having believed in Spiritualist manifestations.

The second attack by the church about this time was the suppression of a Spiritualist paper published at Lerida, entitled El Buen Sentido. The bishop of Lerida had long threatened this step and warned the editor to beware allowing any writings reflecting upon clerical doings to appear in his columns.

One article that seemed to inflame the clergy to such threats was an article that appeared in El Buen Sentido protesting the condemnation of a working man to three years' imprisonment, leaving a family of children destitute, and all for daring to speak in public against the intolerance of the church.

In an issue of El Criterio dated 1881 was a letter from Don Migueles in which he gave a somewhat discouraging account of the cause of Spiritualism as it existed at that time in Spain. The editor commented, "Don Migueles visited many cities to examine into the state of affairs of a spiritual nature, but found many who were only to be enticed by physical phenomena, caring nothing for the esoteric beauties of our faith; many who were convinced that they knew all there was to be known concerning it, and others who were timid fearing the disapproval of neigh-bours."

In some places, however, excellent mediums were discovered. In Santiago, in Oviedo, in Corunna, and in Valladolid an exceptional interest was manifest. Near Santiago, there was a young girl said to be possessed of remarkable faculties. Two bars of magnetized iron held over her horizontally, half a meter distant, were reportedly sufficient to suspend her body in the air.

In 1881 the Barcelona Lux gave encouraging accounts of séances held at Cordova, Tarragona, Seville, and many other places. The editor, Madame Soler, also referred to an archbishop's prohibiting Catholics from possessing or reading the Spiritualist work of Niram Aliv of the Society of Spiritualists of Tarrasa; that of the circle of Santa Cruz of Tenerif; that of Faith, Hope, and Charity, of Andujar, and that of St. Vincent de Bogota.

Psychical Research

Psychical research emerged in Spain but had an extremely spotty existence. Some research was carried on by the Ferderacion Espirita Española, a Spiritualist group in Sabadel. Periodicals included Hacia La Iguidad y el Amor of Barcelona and Lumen of Tarrasa. Spain was also represented at the several international congresses of psychical research. By 1930 Don Manuel Otero of Madrid and Signor Tassi of Perugia were active psychical researchers who had investigated the phenomena of the medium Eusapia Palladino in Naples in 1899.

The Civil War and World War II disrupted developments from the 1930s on. However, interest in parapsychology reappeared in 1971 when Ramos Molina Perera began to teach courses at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Two years later Perera, several colleagues, and others interested in the field founded the Sociedad Española de Parapsicologia. Perera served as president for many years. The society, which at one time had several thousand members, conducts research, sponsors courses at colleges and universities, and issues Psi Comunicacíon.

Sources:

Baroja, Julio Caro. The World of the Witches. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Lea, Henry. History of the Inquisition in Spain. New York and London, 1906.

Llorente, J. A. History of the Inquisition of Spain. 1826.

Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. New York: Crown, 1959.

The Roots of the New Age Movement. http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/newage3.html. June 19, 2000.

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