Spain is the largest and most populous of the three nations found in the Iberian peninsula, the others being Portugal and Andorra (in the Pyrennes Mountains). It shares a border with France and Andorra to the north, Portugal to the west, with Gibraltar to the south, and with Morocco in North Africa through the cities of Ceuta and Melilla). Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
During the past 3,000 years, Spain has absorbed influences from many diverse cultures, including Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Germanic Tribes, Arabs, Moors, Berbers and Jews. The Moors, who governed parts Spain for some 700 years from around 800 to 1500, have left a particularly strong impression on Spanish language, culture and arts, particularly in the south. Spain became a unified monarchy with the union of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of Granada in 1492, followed by the annexation of Navarra in 1515.
Spain is bound to the east by Mediterranean Sea, to the north by the Bay of Biscay and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Its landscape is characterised by high plateaus and mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees to the north and the Sierra Nevada to the south. Several major rivers have their headwaters in these mountains, including the the Tajo, the Ebro, the Duero, the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. Alluvial plains are found along the coast, such as those along the Guadalquivir River in Andalusia and the Segura, Júcar and Turia Rivers to the east.
The Spanish climate is characterised by four basic types:
Spain consists of 50 provinces grouped into 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla on Morocco's northern coastline). The 17 autonomous communities are as follows:
While affirming the sovereignty of the Spanish Nation as a whole, the Spanish Constitution recognizes that a number of distinct historical nationalities exist within Spain's borders. Castilian is the official language throughout Spain, and is the language commonly known simply as Spanish. Other regional languages are also widely spoken and are "co-official" with Castilian in their respective autonomous communities. These languages include Catalan (spoken in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Aragon, Alguer in Sardinia and Rosellón in France), Basque (spoken in the Basque Country and Navarra), Galician (spoken in Galicia) and Occitan (the Aranese dialect, spoken in the Val d'Aran in Catalonia). Catalan, Galician, Aranese (Occitan) and Castilian are all Latin languages and some have their own dialects.
Other minority Romance languages that survive today in Spain include Asturian/Leonese (spoken in Asturias, Leon, Zamora and Salamanca) and Extremaduran (spoken in Caceres and Salamanca, both derived from the historical Astur-Leonese dialect. Aragonese is still spoken in some parts of Aragon, and some Portuguese dialects are spoken in towns in Extremadura and Castile-Leon. Unlike more widely spoken languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque, these languages do not enjoy "co-official" status in their respective communities.