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Kingdom of Spain

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Flag of the Kingdom of Spain
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Royal Coat of Arms

Spain (Spanish: España [esˈpaɲa] officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, with two large archipelagoes, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands off the North African Atlantic coast, two cities, Ceuta and Melilla, in the North African mainland and several small islands in the Alboran Sea near the Moroccan coast. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. 
Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe, and the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid; other major urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao and Málaga.

Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Span or Spania. In the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the eight centuries-long reconquest, or Reconquista from the Moors in 1492. In the early modern period, Spain became one of history's first global colonial empires, leaving a vast cultural and linguistic legacy that includes over 500 million Spanish speakers, making Spanish the world's second most spoken first language, after Mandarin Chinese.

Spain is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The current Spanish king is Felipe VI, who took the throne following his father's abdication in 2013. It is a middle power and a major developed country with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. 

History
Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe's most ancient cities Cadiz and Malaga. Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule. During the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process that took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas. A global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries.

Continued wars and other problems eventually led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire and left the country politically unstable. Prior to the Second World War, Spain suffered a devastating civil war and came under the rule of an authoritarian government, which oversaw a period of stagnation that was followed by a surge in the growth of the economy. Eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

Geography
Mainland Spain is a mountainous country, dominated by high plateaus and mountain chains. After the Pyrenees, the main mountain ranges are the Cordillera Cantábrica (Cantabrian Range), Sistema Ibérico (Iberian System), Sistema Central (Central System), Montes de Toledo, Sierra Morena and the Sistema Bético (Baetic System) whose highest peak, the 3,478-metre-high (11,411-foot) Mulhacén, located in Sierra Nevada, is the highest elevation in the Iberian Peninsula. The highest point in Spain is the Teide, a 3,718-metre (12,198 ft) active volcano in the Canary Islands. The Meseta Central (often translated as "Inner Plateau") is a vast plateau in the heart of peninsular Spain.

There are several major rivers in Spain such as the Tagus (Tajo), Ebro, Guadiana, Douro (Duero), Guadalquivir, Júcar, Segura, Turia and Minho (Miño). Alluvial plains are found along the coast, the largest of which is that of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia.

Politics
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 is the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The constitutional history of Spain dates back to the constitution of 1812. Impatient with the slow pace of democratic political reforms in 1976 and 1977, Spain's new King Juan Carlos, known for his formidable personality, dismissed Carlos Arias Navarro and appointed the reformer Adolfo Suárez as Prime Minister. The resulting general election in 1977 convened the Constituent Cortes (the Spanish Parliament, in its capacity as a constitutional assembly) for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution of 1978. After a national referendum on 6 December 1978, 88% of voters approved of the new constitution. 

As a result, Spain is now composed of 18(Including Portugal) autonomous communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy thanks to its Constitution, which nevertheless explicitly states the indivisible unity of the Spanish nation. The constitution also specifies that Spain has no state religion and that all are free to practice and believe as they wish.

The Spanish administration approved legislation in 2007 aimed at furthering equality between genders in Spanish political and economic life (Gender Equality Act). However, in the legislative branch, as of May 2017 only 140 of the 350 members of the Congress were women (40%). It places Spain 12th on a list of countries ranked by proportion of women in the lower house. In the Senate, there are only 101 women out of 263 (38.0%). The Gender Empowerment Measure of Spain in the United Nations Human Development Report is 0.794, 12th in the world. As well recently Portugal and Spain united under a common flag. 

Government
Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a bicameral parliament, the Cortes Generales (General Courts). The executive branch consists of a Council of Ministers of Spain presided over by the Prime Minister, nominated and appointed by the monarch and confirmed by the Congress of Deputies following legislative elections. By political custom established by King Juan Carlos since the ratification of the 1978 Constitution, the king's nominees have all been from parties who maintain a plurality of seats in the Congress.

The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a Senate (Senado) with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to also serve four-year terms.

Head of State:
King Felipe VI, since 19 June 2014
Head of Government:
Prime Minister of Spain (Presidente del Gobierno, literally President of the Government): Mariano Rajoy Brey, elected 20 November 2011.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Presidency: Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría.
Cabinet:
Council of Ministers (Consejo de Ministros) designated by the Prime Minister.


Spain is organisationally structured as a so-called Estado de las Autonomías ("State of Autonomies"); it is one of the most decentralised countries in Europe, along with Switzerland, Germany and Belgium; for example, all autonomous communities have their own elected parliaments, governments, public administrations, budgets, and resources. Health and education systems among others are managed by the Spanish communities, and in addition, the Basque Country and Navarre also manage their own public finances based on foral provisions. In Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre and the Canary Islands, a full-fledged autonomous police corps replaces some of the State police functions (see Mossos d'Esquadra, Ertzaintza, Policía Foral/Foruzaingoa and Policía Canaria).

Military
The armed forces of Spain are known as the Spanish Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Españolas). Their Commander-in-chief is the King of Spain, Felipe VI.

The Spanish Armed Forces are divided into three branches:

Army (Ejército de Tierra)
Navy (Armada)
Air Force (Ejército del Aire)

 
In-Depth Information:

 

Command Structure

Frigate Cristóbal Colón (F-105) of the Spanish Navy.

Eurofighter Typhoon of the Spanish Air Force.
The commander in chief of the Armed Forces is the King of Spain with the title of Capitán General. While the king is formally entrusted with the "supreme command of the military" by the constitution, in practical terms military decision-making is responsible by the President of the Government. Also, there exists another civilian official after the President, which is the Minister of Defence. In addition to this, there is also military commanders, the Chief of Defence Staff and after him, one chief of staff for every branch. The structure is:

Coat of Arms of Spanish Monarch.svg Commander in chief: General Captain of the Armed Forces H.M. The King of Spain, Felipe VI.
President of the Government: The Most Excellent President Mariano Rajoy.
Minister of Defence: The Most Excellent Madam Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal.
Coat of Arms of the Spanish Defence Staff-EMAD. Chief of the Defence Staff: The Most Excellent Army General Fernando Alejandre Martínez.
Coat of Arms of the General Staff of the Spanish Army.svg Chief of Staff of the Army: The Most Excellent Army General Francisco Javier Varela Salas.
Emblem of the Military staff of the Spanish Navy.svg Chief of Staff of the Navy: The Most Excellent General admiral Teodoro E. López Calderón.
Emblem of the Military staff of the Spanish Air Force.svg Chief of Staff of the Air Force: The Most Excellent Air General Javier Salto Martínez-Avial.
Branches
The Spanish armed forces are a professional force with a strength in 2017 of 101,900 active personnel and 4,770 reserve personnel. The country also has the 77,000 strong Civil Guard which comes under the control of the Ministry of Defence in times of a national emergency. The Spanish defence budget is 5.71 billion euros (7.2 billion USD) a 1% increase for 2015. The increase comes because of security concerns in the country.

Army

The Spanish army consists of 15 active brigades and 6 military regions. Modern infantry have diverse capabilities and this is reflected in the varied roles assigned to them. There are four operational roles that infantry battalions can fulfil: air assault, armoured infantry, mechanised infantry, and light role infantry. The Spanish army has the latest technology at its disposal to preserve the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain.[13]

Navy

Under the command of the Spanish Chief of Naval Staff, stationed in Madrid, are four area commands:

Cantabrian Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Ferrol on the Atlantic coast
Straits Maritime Zone with its headquarters at San Fernando near Cadiz
Mediterranean Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Cartagena
Canary Islands Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The current flagship of the Spanish Navy is the amphibious assault ship Juan Carlos 1 which is also used as an aircraft carrier. In addition, the fleet consists of: 2 amphibious transport docks, 11 frigates, 3 submarines, 6 mine countermeasure vessels, 23 patrol vessels and a number of auxiliary ships. The total displacement of the Spanish Navy is approximately 220,000 tonnes. As of 2012, the Armada has a strength of 20,838 personnel.

Marines

Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Marines, in Spanish, Infanteria de Marina, are the marine infantry of the Spanish Navy, the oldest in the world. It has a strength of 5,000 troops divided into base defense forces and landing forces. One of the three base defense battalions is stationed with each of the Navy headquarters. "Groups" (midway between battalions and regiments) are stationed in Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Tercio (fleet — regiment equivalent) is available for immediate embarkation and based out of San Fernando. Its principal weapons include light tanks, armored personnel vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and TOW and Dragon antitank missiles.

Air Force

Spain currently has 10 fighter squadrons, each with 18-24 airplanes. The air force also has 15 operational air bases around the country. The air force operates a wide-ranging fleet of aircraft, from fighters to transport aircraft and passenger transports to helicopters. It maintains some 450 aircraft in total, of which around 130 are fighter aircraft, including a number of Eurofighter Typhoons. The Spanish Air Force is replacing older aircraft in the inventory with newer ones including the recently introduced Eurofighter Typhoon and the Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter. Both are manufactured with Spanish participation; EADS CASA makes the Eurofighter's right wing and leading edge slats, and participates in the testing and assembly of the airlifter. Its aerobatic display team is the Patrulla Aguila, which flies the CASA C-101 Aviojet.Its helicopter display team, Patrulla Aspa, flies the Eurocopter EC-120 Colibrí.

Economy
Unemployment stood at 7.6% in October 2006, lower than many other European countries, and significantly below Spain's early 1990s unemployment rate of at over 20%. Perennial weak points of Spain's economy include a large informal economy, and an education system which OECD reports place among the poorest for developed countries.

By the mid-1990s the economy had recommenced the growth that had been disrupted by the global recession of the early 1990s. The strong economic growth helped the government to reduce the government debt as a percentage of GDP and Spain's high unemployment rate began to steadily decline. With the government budget in balance and inflation under control Spain was admitted into the Eurozone in 1999.

Since the 1990s some Spanish companies have gained multinational status, often expanding their activities in culturally close Latin America. Spain is the second biggest foreign investor there, after the United States. Spanish companies have also expanded into Asia, especially China and India. This early global expansion is a competitive advantage over its competitors and European neighbours. The reason for this early expansion is the booming interest towards Spanish language and culture in Asia and Africa and a corporate culture that learned to take risks in unstable markets. 

Education
Concepción Arenal, krausist and pioneer of the Asociación para la Enseñanza de la Mujer.
State education in Spain is free and compulsory from the age of six to sixteen. The current education system is regulated by the 2006 educational law, LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación), or Fundamental Law for the Education. In 2014, the LOE was partially modified by the newer and controversial LOMCE law (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa), or Fundamental Law for the Improvement of the Education System, commonly called Ley Wert (Wert Law). Since 1970 to 2014, Spain has had seven different educational laws (LGE, LOECE, LODE, LOGSE, LOPEG, LOE and LOMCE).

Institución Libre de Enseñanza was an educational project that developed in Spain for the half a century of about 1876–1936 by Francisco Giner de los Ríos and Gumersindo de Azcárate. The institute was inspired by the philosophy of Krausism. Concepción Arenal in feminism and Santiago Ramón y Cajal in neuroscience were in the movement.

Health
The health care system of Spain (Spanish National Health System) is considered one of the best in the world, in 7th position in the ranking elaborated by the World Health Organization. The health care is public, universal and free for any legal citizen of Spain. The total health spending is 9.4% of the GDP, slightly above the average of 9.3% of the OECD.

Religion
 
67.8% Roman Catholicism
 
  
27.5% No religion 

  
2.2% No Answer

  
2.5% Other

Roman Catholicism has long been the main religion of Spain, and although it no longer has official status by law, in all public schools in Spain students have to choose either a religion or ethics class. Catholicism is the religion most commonly taught, although the teaching of Islam, Judaism, and evangelical Christianity is also recognised in law. According to a June 2016 study by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research about 68% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 27% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 59% hardly ever or never go to church, 16% go to church some times a year, 9% some time per month and 15% every Sunday or multiple times per week. Recent polls and surveys have revealed that atheists and agnostics comprise anywhere from 20% to 27% of the Spanish population.

Culture
Culturally, Spain is a Western country. Almost every aspect of Spanish life is permeated by its Roman heritage, making Spain one of the major Latin countries of Europe. Spanish culture is marked by strong historic ties to Catholicism, which played a pivotal role in the country's formation and subsequent identity. Spanish art, architecture, cuisine, and music has been shaped by successive waves of foreign invaders, as well as by the country's Mediterranean climate and geography. The centuries-long colonial era globalised Spanish language and culture, with Spain also absorbing the cultural and commercial
 

Foreign Relations (Non-Existent yet) 

 

(OOC: Well I don't have any foreign relations yet but there is the rest of the general information about my nation, I'm looking to open relations though if you'd like, just comment on here if you want to. Happy to be joining you guys in NatRP)

Edited by Felipe VI of Spain
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*An official response from "The Regime"*

Dr. Light- "We would like to personally welcome you to orbis and establish relations, this nation in the past has taken an isolationist stance to the world in fear of what happened many years ago, so the Regime is taking a new leaf and is willing to discuss exchanging embassies. Our Head of state, Flash has personally stated he would like to meet with your leaders for these discussions"

6015de7f2bb2f2414f5266b262e2c825--grant-

#WALDOASF SIGGIF.gif.fbe87157f6507ae8c6df0ee1d66bd3b1.gif

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We welcome you to Orbis. We'd like to build Embassies and reccomend you to build one in our Nation. We wish yo a nice welcome again and hope you have a nice prosperous sucsessful nation. We like that you are a Monarchy as there aren't as many Monarchies in this world that SOE likes or any to be honest, and we'd like to see if you will be the lucky one.

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Yeet on all the fascists, viva la revolution mofo - Josip Broz for all dem Titos and Tities

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Imperial Statement from The Holy Britannian Empire

 

The Holy Britannian Empire would like to welcome the Kingdom of Spain to the global stage, and send their best regards to their respective leaders. We are eager to work alongside the Spanish for the better of both nations. Should the Spanish need anything from Britannia, we would like it to be aware we are open to being approached by most common and entry offers.

Regardless, we hope you accept our gift of tea and other delicacies from our Colonies in Arabia, Venice, Hong King, Japan, and Korea.

 

Best of Regards

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Ex-Archduke of Defence for BK

3 minutes ago, Buorhann said:

@Lelouch Vi Britannia - BK needs you, but they really don't deserve you.  Thanks for the dankness.

 

 

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