The Kingdom of Spain shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal and Gibraltar. France and the tiny country of Andorra are on its northeast side, boarded by the Pyrenee mountains. The Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in north Africa are also part of Spain.

The middle of Spain is a high, dry and flat land called La Meseta. La Meseta is usually very hot in summer and cold in winter. Spain also has many mountain ranges and a quite long coastline. The weather is usually very sunny, with mild to warm or hot temperatures. Many people from Northern Europe take their vacations in Spain, enjoying its beaches, cities and countryside.

The people of Spain are called Spanish or Spaniards. Most people speak Spanish, but there are other languages in different parts of the country: Catalan, Basque and Galician. The religion of most of the people in Spain is Roman Catholic.

Since 1978, the Spanish King only executes and follows decisions taken by the parliament. The parliament is called Las Cortes and its members are elected by the Spanish people. This type of government is called a constitutional monarchy. The current King of Spain is Juan Carlos and the President, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The government and the King's palace are in Madrid, the capital of Spain located in the center of the country.

There was not much peace in Spain during the first part of the 20th century. Some Spaniards tried to set up a government chosen by the people (a democracy) and made the King of Spain leave the country. In 1936, two different groups of Spaniards went to war over whether the government should be a democracy or not. In 1939, those who wanted democracy were defeated and a dictator named Francisco Franco took over the government. Franco died in 1975. He had decided that Spain should have a king again and chose Juan Carlos, the grandson of the King who had been forced to leave the country. But the new King did not rule as a dictator; instead, he chose to set up a democracy. Today Spain is a modern democratic country, part of the European Union.