Spain has geographic boundaries with Portugal to the west, France to the northeast, and Africa (via the Strait of Gibraltar) to the south. The two largest cities are Madrid, the capital, and Barcelona. Spain has 17 autonomous communities, three of which have their own languages: Basque, Galician, and Catalan. The Romans invaded Spain in 206 BC and Latin became the dominant language. In 711 AD the Moors invaded and Arabic influenced Spanish vocabulary. In 1492 the Catholic monarchs expelled the last of the Moors and Jews from Spain, damaging the economy. The Spanish Civil War occurred from 1936-1939 resulting in Francisco Franco becoming dictator until his death in 1975, after which Spain established a parliamentary monarchy
3. Note the geographic boundaries : East--Mediterranean Sea West--Portugal South--Africa (Strait of Gibraltar) Northeast--France
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5. Spain is made up of 17 autonomous communities (previously called “regions”). Three of them have their own languages: The Basque Country—Basque Galicia—Galician Catalonia—Catalan Dialects of Catalan are also spoken in Valencia and Mallorca.
13. Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist. Catholicism was the state religion. Franco was totally opposed to a republican form of government. However, he wasn’t opposed to a monarchy, so he had Juan Carlos, grandson of Alfonso XIII, the monarch who fled before the civil war, brought to Spain and groomed to be his successor.
