The Geography of Spain

In essence, and in spite of the portrayal of the country in traditional geographies, captivated by the ample, more accessible plains, Spain is a mountainous country. Mountains cover large areas of the territory, and this feature has conditioned the country’s development, economy, ideas, politics, administration,administration and cultural heritage. Accessibility has consequently suffered in historical times, and anfractuosity still hinders communications in many parts of the territory, especially in wintertime. Railways and roads are difficult to construct and maintain, an issue if there are flat, easier areas competing for resources that has created several unbalances in regional development. On the brighter side, however, difficult communications and historical isolation have helped preserve some natural areas. Trees in flat areas have historically been cut down for the navy, railroads, and lumber or to make room for cereals and other crops. The idyllic account of a country covered by a continuous canopy in Roman times contrasts with the actual reality of mountains becoming the refuge of valuable species such as oaks.

The continental shelf of Spain is the underwater surface beyond the coast to a depth of 200 m. It is an area of great fishing and ecological importance. In the peninsula, it is relatively narrow and is minimal in the Canary IslandsCanary Islands . Its narrowness has led to the search for distant fishing grounds, such as those of Newfoundland, exploited by Basque fishermen since centuries ago. The European interest in exploiting the Saharan bank and in reaching fishing agreements with Morocco and Mauritania is due to the need to provide an outlet for a large fishing fleet that is increasingly efficient in its catches.

Most of Spain’s geological historyhistory was already well described in geological literature of the late nineteenth century, but until the beginning of the twenty-first century, there were a number of controversies. These have been resolved, thanks to the advance of physical and chemical analyses. Although details are important for a total knowledge of the environment, Geography, as a science of synthesis, is more interested in knowing what might have a more direct relationship with human activities, so often only relates what is relevant to explaining the location of an element.

There are three types of natural rocksrocks : igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Spain contains a good representation of the three, and there are certain places which are archetypical of the planet, including several “type locations.” So, for instance, the Canaries have both AA and pahoehoe lava (Hawaii only has the latter); roads in the north of Castile have roadcuts revealing some neat strata from the Miocene; and metamorphic rocks characterize the landscape and the buildings of parts of Guadalajara (“black villages,” owing to the color of the slate used for roofing) and CáceresCáceres (shire of “Las Hurdes”). Lithology has played a very important role in the selection of construction sites, not only for tectonic reasons but also for other practical reasons. A good example is the location of Mahon in MenorcaMenorca . The southern shore, made up of limestone and sandstone and where freshwater could be found, was chosen for the settlementssettlements , while the northern, steeper and sheer rock, remained unoccupied.

The climate of peninsular Spain is conditioned by its latitude, geographical position, and reliefrelief . The latitude situates it in the zone of temperate climate, with four marked seasons. Its geographical position, a peninsula surrounded by the sea, and the general circulation of the atmosphere mean that it is affected by the humidity coming from the ocean, especially from the Atlantic, while the relief generates barriers that affect the air masses. This, combined with the height of the Meseta, makes it possible to find a type of continental climate that does not appear in the other peninsulas of Europe (Italian and Balkan, more open to the influence of the sea).

Rivers are fundamental for the life in Spain. Most water consumption in Spain comes from surface resources [75% in 2018 (Data in this chapter from INE (2010–2018))]. Agriculture consumes about 15k hm3 per year. The ones that consume the most (2015 data) are arable lands (55%), fruit trees (17%), potatoes and vegetables (10%), and olive groves and vineyards (9%).

Today, forestsforests occupy about 30% of the territory of Spain, but before the Phoenician settlementssettlements began on the south and east coasts, most of Spain was covered by forests. In this respect, the country contrasts with other European regions, such as the great steppes of Russia, where trees have historically been absent because the climate is too dry to support them (but not dry enough to become a desert). In Spain, however, the process has been one of progressive destructions of a preexisting forest mass of an enormous wealth and varietyvariety . Fortunately, the destruction was not total, and now, the green cover is a major asset of the country.

The varietyvariety of fauna and floraflora of the Spanish natural spaces is enormous. Many of the species are endemic and some are relicts, which notably increases their geographical interest. There are an estimated 60,000 different species of flora and fauna, including 770 terrestrial vertebrates. The biological treasure of such biodiversity is a valuable resource that often goes unnoticed by the specificity of its study but which represents one of the most important geographical values of Spain. This chapter lists extensively the resources in order to gauge its importance (A detailed analysis of the geographical importance of this biodiversity is very much needed, but outside the scope of a synthesis. This chapter will be subject to extensive development in the fully fledged follow-up of this work, but at present, I can only comprehensively list and map the more geographically-important species).

Spain’s natural risks and hazards are of relative importance due to both the low intensity and frequency and the high level of anthropization of the territory. With a few exceptions, the populationpopulation has tended to occupy the safest areas, with the most exposed areas having been abandoned or destroyed in a process of pure natural selection. The exception is the location of human settlementssettlements in areas prone to floods. The greatest dangers today are phenomena of low frequency, decades or centuries, which means the riskrisk tends to be forgotten.

To a certain extent, it remains true Reclus’ idea that “historyhistory is geography over time and geography is history in space,” so a narrative is required in order to accomplish one of the aims of this Geography, namely, describing the country in a concise way. In what follows, the historical origin of some geographical facts in present time is described, emphasizing the territorial component and offering the minimum data needed to place them in time.

The historical milestones briefly collected in the previous chapter have created a statestate with a particular structure, based on a diverse territory and some national particularities. But in a sense the Spanish state is not very different from other European countries, especially from those in southern Europe. One significant aspect is that the country functions quite independently of political upheavals, which demonstrates the solidity of the structure.

Why are cities where they are and have the form they have? Why are villages sometimes in the middle of great plains and other times in places difficult to access? In Spain, this is a question that arises naturally when observing the great differences that exist between some settlementssettlements and others. The reasons behind this distribution and the differences are both environmental and historical.

The Spanish populationpopulation is about 47 million people (2018). Such significant growth in the population was not predicted in the last century, but is a consequence of a large wave of immigration in recent years (about six million residents are not Spanish nationals, two million of these are from the rest of the Europe and 2.2 from Latin America). Even so, the number is insufficient to maintain the welfare statestate enjoyed by the country, given the very low birth rate of Spanish women, and it will be necessary for the population to increase considerably to ensure the sustainability of the healthhealth system and pensions. In fact, the number of immigrants is very low in relation to other European countries such as France or Germany.

The Spanish society of 2019 is unlike that of the last century. The development of communication networks has multiplied knowledge of the outside world and of others, and a period of economic growth together with a freedom and tolerance environment made new ideas flourish.Today it can be said that there is no social norm of behavior or appearance, except in official events or acts of protocol, such as the reading of a doctoral thesis, and today it is common to find oneself in formal meetings with people dressed in many different ways. Urban fashion follows international trends, and fiction series and social networks have a noticeable effect on behavior.Concepts of social acceptability have varied greatly since the last century and patterns are highly segmented, which has made social life easier by making it increasingly difficult to know other people’s ideas and thresholds of tolerance. This has led to people being more careful in social interaction and therefore more educated to avoid offense.

One of the historical problems for the country’s economic development has been a poor transport network. The 1960s boom in the sector encountered bottlenecks generated by this factor, limiting growth. Since the 1980s, however, public effort to create infrastructures across the country with the territorial balance of the whole in mind has achieved a fluid network that allows for rapid exchanges (Data in this chapter from AENA (Air traffic data, 2018) and INE (Anuario Estadístico de España, 2002–2018), INE (Inebase, 2018), INE (España en cifras, 2018)).

The Spanish economy has three major agents: MadridMadrid , Catalonia,Catalonia and the Basque CountryBasque Country . These three communities are those where the financial and economic centers are concentrated and generate the largest proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP).Consumption in Spain is robust, and there is a large middle class with significant purchasing power and spending culture. The number of civil servants is comparable to that of other European countries. These, together with other public employees and an enormous number of small entrepreneurs, make the economy dynamic. On the other hand, the inequality index in Spain is high.The GDP of Spain was 1163 · 109 euros in 2017. GDP per capita is 25,000 euros, with great regional differences, from 33,800 in MadridMadrid to 17,200 in Extremadura.

The most important imports are those of the primary sector, followed by those of basic industrial goods, as a consequence of the bias of the economy towards services and the possibility of purchasing basic products abroad at more competitive prices. In terms of individual products, the main exports are motor vehicles and tractors, machinery and mechanical appliances, and electrical machinery and equipment. Major imports are machinery and mechanical appliances, motor vehicles and tractors, electrical machinery and equipment, and fuels and mineral oils. The ranking has been stable over the last 20 years, reflecting a structural trend.

The agrarian system was of great importance in Spain until recent times. During the dictatorship, and due to the disastrous autocratic economic policy, its role remained predominant. The reforms of the developmental period did nothing to change the situation. The entry into the European Common Market and the subsequent inclusion in the EU significantly modified the agricultural sector, moving from a policy of subsidies to limit surpluses to a policy of giving priority to certain crops.

A third of industrial employment is in large companies (more than 250 employees), which represent only 0.4% of industrial companies, but which invoice 55.5% of sales. 84.9% of industrial companies had fewer than ten workers in 2018 (Official data from the Spanish administration (INE 1998; INE, Anuario Estadístico de España, 2002–2018; INE, Inebase, 2018a; INE, España en cifras, 2018b)). The autonomous communities contributing more than 10% of the sales figure in 2015 were CataloniaCatalonia (23.6%), Andalusia (11.2%), the Valencian Community (10.7%), and the Basque CountryBasque Country (10.0%).

This economic activity enabled the development of Spain in the 1960s and 1970s, and its territorial effects have been highly marked. Tourism is today a fundamental economic sector around which the balance of payments and the services sector gravitate. It also affects the dynamics of the food sector, agriculture (mainly wine and oil), and construction and housing. Tourism in Spain is mainly coastal, but inland tourism is starting to develop.

Spain has a significant natural and historical heritage that has only recently been given the value it deserves. Spain contains 43 UNESCO World Heritage Convention sites. These are places deemed of great importance for the culture of humanity following the UNESCO’s stringent set of criteria. Those sites are of mandatory study to anyone interested in the Geography of Spain.

The level of education is high. The literacy rate in the country is 97%. This figure is the highest ever recorded and a triumph worth celebrating considering the statestate of the country less than a hundred years ago.Basic education is free. Traditionally, the supply of public schools has not been sufficient to provide schooling for the entire populationpopulation , so all democratic governments have chosen to subsidize private schools to provide enough places for all. The system consists of the statestate paying an agreed amount to these schools in exchange for offering free education to all social strata under educational parameters similar to those of the public schools, permitting, on the other hand, the religious bias of these centers.

Public research is carried out mainly under the auspices of the CSIC, in public research centers (OPIs) and universities. Research at private universities is minimal. Companies began to invest in research and development especially in the 1990s and to avoid depending on foreign technology, but the orientation of their research is generally far from the international parameters of growth.

In spite of having produced one of the most advanced constitutions early in 1812, today’s Spain is a young democracy. After the first period (“the Transition”), a long phase of stability followed, a situation currently being challenged from the left and by the Catalan and Basque nationalists. Constitutionalism, the idea of perfecting the Constitution of 1978, has been under attack by those pursuing a radical political agenda, those seeking for a people’s republics in some regions, and sectors that would welcome the disintegration of the country. The long period of a two-party political system has evolved towards a more pluralistic scenario with four major national parties and several regional parties.

Spanish geopolitics has four axes: Hispanic America, the USA, the Muslim world, and the rest of Europe. Formerly a world power, Spain is now a small country highly dependent on the EU in terms of its economy and militarily dependent on NATO.

In terms of strategy, the geographical, political entity called “Spain” presents several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) on the road towards creating happier citizens in a sustainable, peaceful, and democratic society.

The initial hypothesis of this book ( Sect. 2.1 ) was that Spain presents an unusual combination of natural and anthropic elements. Several climates suitable for human activities in a relatively small space, a long coastline, a shared culture of more than 2000 years, and a wide diversity in various fields (environmental, cultural, economic) have achieved a particular mix which, working together as an unit, can optimally exploit the initial and boundary conditions of the country to maximize the well-being of its inhabitants. Naturally, any country looked at in sufficient detail is almost by definition unique, but only a few are able to satisfy human needs as fully as Spain does. It is not just about singularity, it is about variety. Countries such as Portugal or Ireland are also spaces that allow people to achieve happiness, but their more monolithic character offers fewer options for different types of people. On the contrary, the flexibility and variety of lifestyles in Spain are so broad that its capacity to accommodate human variety is enormous.

The Spain of c. 2020 is very different to that described in the geography handbooks of the 1960s, 60 years ago. The world is now connected, all the information generated by humankind is within the immediate reach of the population, communications are fluid, and society has become more urbanized (even in the countryside), more tolerant, more open, and much more knowledgeable.