SpainSpain, country occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula and bounded to the north by the Bay of Biscay, France and Andorra, and to the east by the Mediterranean Sea. The Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa are governed as provinces of Spain. In addition, Spain administers two small enclaves in Morocco: Ceuta and Melilla. The area of ​​Spain, including African and island territories, is 194,885 square miles. Madrid is the capital and largest city.PopulationThe Spanish people are essentially a mixture of the indigenous peoples of the Iberian Peninsula and the successive peoples who conquered the peninsula and occupied it for long periods of time. These added ethnological elements include the Romans, a Mediterranean people, and the Suevi, Vandals and Visigoths, Teutonic peoples. Semitic elements are also present. Population characteristics The population of Spain at the 1991 census was 38,872,268 inhabitants. The estimate for 1995 is 39,276,000, giving the country an overall density of about 202 people per square mile. Spain is increasingly urban, with more than 80 percent of the population in cities. Main cities The capital and largest city is Madrid (population, largest city, 1991.3.010.492), also capital of the autonomous community of Madrid; The second largest city, main port and commercial center is Barcelona, ​​capital of the province of Barcelona and the region of Catalonia. Other important cities include Valencia, capital of the province of Valencia and the Valencia region, a manufacturing and railway center; Seville, a cultural center; Zaragoza and Bilbao (369,839), a busy port.ReligionRoman Catholicism is professed by approximately 97 percent of the population. The country is divided into 11 metropolitan seats and 52 suffragan seats. Additionally, the Archdioceses of Barcelona and Madrid are directly responsible to the Holy See. Formerly, Roman Catholicism was the established church, but the 1978 constitution decreed that Spain would have no state religion, while recognizing the role of the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish. Company. There are small communities of Protestants, Jews and Muslims. Higher education Spanish higher education institutions had almost 1.3 million students in the early 1990s. Major universities in Spain include the University of Madrid, the Polytechnic...... middle of paper ...... and ETA, which has intensified its terrorist activities. Meanwhile, the Catalans were pushing for greater control over local affairs and demanding greater linguistic rights. The use of Catalan and nationalist sentiments has increased in and around Barcelona. Galicians have constantly distanced themselves from Madrid, even if ethnoregionalism has remained weaker in Galicia than in Catalonia or the Basque Country. Suárez governed by consensus, consulting all non-extremist parties when formulating basic policy. Catalonia and the Basque Country were granted autonomy and their languages ​​were officially recognized. The constitution extended similar privileges to 15 other regions. Thus, the movement of political centralization initiated by Ferdinand and Isabella some 500 years earlier was reversed and a "Spain of autonomous communities" was created. In recent years, concerns about Spain's environmental problems have increased. The country has seen increased problems with air pollution in Madrid and along the northeast coast, water pollution in agricultural and coastal areas, and erosion...