1. Spain: past and
present
César Díaz Caviedes

2. Index
The threeblocks
o The country and the State
General information
o The culture
Things you have to know
o Big issues of our time
Important aspects of actual Spanish society

3. FIRST BLOCK: the State
o Geography
- 504.645 square kilometres
- Two spaces: atlantic and mediterranean
o Demography
- 46.771.600 population
- Slowly growing older

4. The form of the State
o Parliamentary Monarchy
- King as the head of the State and the Army
o Autonomical State
- Statute of Autonomy
- 1978 Spanish Constitution

5. Source:http://lacolumnata.es/images/2012/10/Espa%C3%B1a-y-sus-provincias.jpg

6. SECOND BLOCK: the culture
o History
o Spanish diversity
o Spain and Europe
o Spain and Latinoamerica
o Spanish dualism?

7. History
o First alphabet from East Mediterranean societies
o Roman impact and legacy
o Muslim impact
o Coalition of kingdoms
o Imperial expansion

8. Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Spanish_Empire_Anachronous_0.PNG

9. o Building of a liberal state XIX-XX
o Conflicts between backward·modern Spain
o Civil War 1936·9, Francoism 1939·75 and
o Transition 1975·7 and Democracy 1977·now
- Political violence (strikes, demostrations, ETA, GRAPO,
GAL…)
- The role of the king in 1981 coup d’ètat
- Disintegration of Francoist state

10. Languages
o Spanish is the official language of the state
o Cooficial languages are Catalan, Basque and Galician. Included in
public administration and education
o Valencian and Aranese, controversial forms of the Catalan language,
are also cooficial
o Other languages, like Asturianese, have some support from the local
authorities but are not official

11. Spain and Europe
o Actual Spain come from an old during european isolation because
Francoism since 1939
o Joined NATO in 1982
o Joined the European Community in 1982 and the Euro in 2003

12. Spain and Latinoamerica
o Spain has a unique position among the European Community
because its special economic and cultural links with Latinamerica
Some of the greatest figures of Spanish letters are actually Americans
(Borges, Cortázar, García Márquez, Benedetti…)

13. Spanish dualism?
o Left·Right (Civil War scars)
o Atlantic North·Mediterranean South
o Religious·anticlerical (World Youth Day 2011)
o Industrial North·rural South

14. THIRD BLOCK: Big issues of our time
o Crisis
o nationalisms·terrorism
o Inmigration·emigration
o Europe

15. Crisis
o Financial crisis and debt
o “Cajas” (saving funds)
o Construction bubble
o Cuts in public spending
o High unemployment rate
o Political scandals (Gürtel, EREs…)
o Royal Family scandals (Nóos scandal)
o Police brutality
o Decline in living standards, poverty, evictions…
(Special BBC report: “The Great Spanish Crash”)

16. Nationalisms
o The role of language and history
o Basque Country nationalism (PNV), independentism (Bildu) and
terrorism (ETA)
o Catalan nationalists, CiU and Esquerra Republicana
o Galician nationalists, BNG
o Spanish nationalism

17. Inmigration·emigration
o In 2011 came 457.650 inmigrants and 507.740 left the country
o 5,7 m. inmigrants in Spain, 12,1 % of population
-Romania, Morocco, U.K., Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia…
-Chinese growing minorty
o Spaniards leaving the country
- Specially Europe and Latinamerica

18. Spain and Europe
o Europe as the future
- European isolation
o Europe disenchantment
- Cutbacks in social spending

19. Bibliography
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/ESP.html
http://www.ine.es/
Maps: www.wikipedia.org