Spain

Spain, country located in extreme southwestern Europe, occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour Portugal.
Its location at the crossroads of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, has made it a key political and cultural bridge across five continents. Spain is an extremely mountainous country with a large central plateau. 

Through exploration and conquest, Spain became a world power in the 16th century, and maintained a vast overseas empire until the 19th century. Its modern history was marked by the bitter civil war of 1936-39, and the ensuing decades-long dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Since General Franco's death in 1975, Spain has made the transition to democracy, and built a modern economy.

Spain is a unitary state, composed of 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy. Separatism remains a live issue in wealthy Catalonia in the north-east.