With an area of 505,990 km2 (195,360 sq mi), Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the

second-largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the fourth-largest country
by area on the European continent. With a population exceeding 47.3 million, Spain is the sixth-most
populous country in Europe, and the fourth-most populous country in the European Union. Spain's
capital and largest city is Madrid; other major urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville,
Zaragoza, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Bilbao.

Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago.[15] The
first cultures and peoples that developed in current Spanish territory were Pre-Roman peoples such
as the ancient Iberians, Celts, Celtiberians, Vascones, Turdetani and Occitans. Later, foreign
Mediterranean peoples such as the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks developed coastal trading
colonies, and the Carthaginians briefly controlled part of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline. From
the year 218 BC, with the taking of the city of Ampurias, the Roman colonization of Hispania began
and, with the exception of the Atlantic cornice, they quickly controlled the territory of present-day
Spain. The Romans had driven the Carthaginians out of the Iberian peninsula by 206 BC, and divided
it into two administrative provinces, Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior.[16][17] The Romans laid
the foundations for modern Spanish culture and identity, and was the birthplace of important Roman
emperors such as Trajan, Hadrian or Theodosius I.

Spain remained under Roman rule until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth
century, which ushered in Germanic tribal confederations from Central and Northern Europe. During
this period, present-day Spain was divided between different Germanic powers, including the Suevi,
Alans, Vandals and Visigoths, the latter maintaining an alliance with Rome via foedus, while part of
Southern Spain belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Eventually, the Visigoths emerged as the
dominant faction by the fifth century, with the Visigothic Kingdom spanning the vast majority of the
Iberian Peninsula, and established its capital in what is now the city of Toledo. The creation of the
code of laws Liber Iudiciorum by the King Recceswinth during the Visigothic period deeply influenced
the structural and legal bases of Spain and the survival of Roman Law after the fall of the Roman
Empire.

In the early eighth century, the Visigothic Kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate, ushering
in over 700 years of Muslim rule in Southern Iberia. During this period, Al-Andalus became a major
economic and intellectual center, with the city of Córdoba being among the largest and richest in
Europe. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in the northern periphery of Iberia, chief among them
León, Castile, Aragón, Portugal, and Navarre. Over the next seven centuries, an intermittent
southward expansion of these kingdoms—metahistorically framed as a reconquest, or Reconquista—
culminated with the Christian seizure of the last Muslim polity, the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, and
the control of all Iberia by the Christian kingdoms in 1492. That same year, Christopher Columbus
arrived in the New World on behalf of the Catholic Monarchs, whose dynastic union of the Crown of
Castile and the Crown of Aragon is usually considered the emergent Spain as a unified country.
During the centuries after the Reconquista, the Christian kings of Spain persecuted and expelled
ethnic and religious minorities such as Jews and Muslims through the Spanish Inquisition.
From the 16th until the early 19th century, Spain ruled one of the largest empires in history, which
was among the first global empires; its immense cultural and linguistic legacy includes over 570
million Hispanophones,[18] making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language. Spain
hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy,[19] with King Felipe VI as
head of state. It is a highly developed country[20] and a high income country, with the world's
fourteenth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the sixteenth-largest by PPP. Spain has one of the
longest life expectancies in the world.[21] Spain is a member of the United Nations (UN), the
European Union (EU), the Eurozone, the Council of Europe (CoE), the Organization of Ibero-American
States (OEI), the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE), the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many
other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation"
to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes it a de facto member of the group.
[22]