With an area of 504,030 square kilometers, Spain or Reino de España, is a southwestern European country located on the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of around 46 million, and has the city of Madrid as its capital. Its other large urban centers include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Malaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Bilbao.
Spain has a constitutional monarchy, along with a hereditary monarchy and a bicameral parliament system, called the Cortes Generales. The country’s executive branch comprises a Council of Ministers that is headed by the President of Government, which acts much like a prime minister, is endorsed by the monarch and elected after a legislative election by the National Assembly. Its economy, according to figures from the Worlds Bank, is considered the eighth largest in the world as well as being the fifth largest in Europe. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of 2007 was pegged and valued at $1,439,000 trillion. The country’s economy in 2007 rose by around 3.8%, and was ahead of all G7 members and other major European Union economies for three consecutive years. It is also rated as the 3rd largest global investor.
Spain’s official language is Spanish. It’s also referred to as español or castellano or Castilian. It is the only language that has a nationwide official status, although other languages and regional dialects also have co-official status. The major dialects are spoken in some towns, communities, territories and special enclaves in Africa. Among the major regional dialects is Basque or euskera, which is primarily spoken in Navarre and the Basque Country. Catalan, or català is widely spoken in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, while Valencian, which is referred to as a unique variant of Catalan, is also widely spoken in the Valencian Community. Galician or galego is also the main dialect spoken in the province of Galicia.
Apart from these major regional dialects, there is also a number of thriving ancient Romance minority languages like the Astur-Leonese group, which includes the Asturian and Leonese languages. Asturia, officially referred to as "Bable", is used primarily in Asturias, while Leonese is commonly used in Castile and León. The people in Aragon province also speak Aragonese. However, unlike Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, these minority languages or dialects are not conferred by any official status because of the very small number of speakers, along with having a less-significant written tradition when compared to Galician or Catalan. Aside from these, most residents who speak the minority languages do not strongly demand for recognition of their regional or provincial dialects.
The Spanish language is generally considered an inflected language, as it has a two-gender system along with having around fifty conjugated forms per verb. It however, has a limited inflection of adjectives, nouns, and determiners. This major European language is closely associated with other West Iberian Romance languages, namely Asturian, Galician, Ladino, Leonese and Portuguese. Spain and its close neighbor Portugal are known to share similar vocabulary and grammar patterns, as well as a heavy injection of Arabic influence, especially when it came under Islamic rule in the Middle Ages.
According to linguistics experts and historians, the Spanish language was believed to have evolved from Vulgar Latin. It is also filled with major vocabulary influences from Arabic, especially during the Andalusian period. It started out as a variety of Latin along the remote Northern Spanish provinces of Cantabria, Burgos and La Rioja. This early language form then gradually spread to eventually became the official language of government and trade. This language form was then exported to the America and other colonies by the legions of Spanish explorers and colonists.
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