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Spain

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Felipe González signing the treaty of accession to the European Economic Community on 12 June 1985

On 1 January 2002, Spain fully adopted the euro, and Spain experienced strong economic growth, well above the EU average during the early 2000s. However, well-publicized concerns issued by many economic commentators at the height of the boom warned that extraordinary property prices and a high foreign trade deficit were likely to lead to a painful economic collapse.

In 2003 José María Aznar supported US president George W. Bush in the Iraq War, and a strong movement against war rose in Spanish society. On 11 March 2004 a local Islamist terrorist group inspired by Al-Qaeda carried out the largest terrorist attack in Spanish history when they killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 others by bombing commuter trains in Madrid. Though initial suspicions focused on the Basque terrorist group ETA, evidence soon emerged indicating Islamist involvement.

The bursting of the Spanish property bubble in 2008 led to the 2008–16 Spanish financial crisis. High levels of unemployment, cuts in government spending and corruption in Royal family and People’s Party served as a backdrop to the 2011–12 Spanish protests. Catalan independentism also rose. On 19 June 2014, the monarch, Juan Carlos, abdicated in favor of his son, who became Felipe VI.

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Felipe VI

A Catalan independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 and then, on 27 October, the Catalan parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence from Spain to form a Catalan Republic on the day the Spanish Senate was discussing approving direct rule over Catalonia as called for by the Spanish Prime Minister. Later that day the Senate granted the power to impose direct rule and Mr Rajoy dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a new election. No country recognized Catalonia as a separate state.

On 31 January 2020, the COVID-19 virus was confirmed to have spread to Spain, where it has caused as of June 2021 more than 80,000 deaths, causing life expectancy to drop by more than 1 year.

On 18 March 2021, Spain became the sixth nation in the world to make active euthanasia legal.

Geography:

At 505,992 km2 (195,365 sq mi), Spain is the world’s fifty-second largest country and Europe’s fourth largest country. It is some 47,000 km2 (18,000 sq mi) smaller than France and 81,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi) larger than the US state of California. Mount Teide (Tenerife) is the highest mountain peak in Spain and is the third largest volcano in the world from its base. Spain is a transcontinental country, having territory in both Europe and Africa.

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Topographic Map of Spain

On the west, Spain is bordered by Portugal; on the south, it is bordered by Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and Morocco, through its exclaves in North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla, and the peninsula of Vélez de la Gomera). On the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it is bordered by France and Andorra. Along the Pyrenees in Girona, a small exclave town called Llívia is surrounded by France.

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