Spain, officially the
Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: España, Reino de España[1]), is a country
located in Southern Europe, with two small exclaves in North Africa
(both bordering Morocco). Spain is a democracy which is organized as a
parliamentary monarchy. It is a developed country with the ninth-largest
economy in the world.[2] It is the larger of two sovereign states that
make up the Iberian Peninsula — the other is Portugal.
To the west, Spain borders Portugal, to the south, it borders Gibraltar
(a British overseas territory) and Morocco, through its cities in North
Africa (Ceuta and Melilla). To the northeast, along the Pyrenees
mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra.
It also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the
Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands
on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar, known as Plazas de
soberanía, such as the Chafarine islands, the isle of Alborán, the
"rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil. In
the northeast along the Pyrenees, a small exclave town called Llívia in
Catalonia is surrounded by French territory. |
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