S
pain occupies 85 percent of the
Iberian Peninsula, the boxy region
that forms the southwest corner of
Europe. Portugal, on the western edge,
occupies the remainder. Larger than
California but not as large as Texas, Spain
has a total area of 194,884 square miles,
including the Balearic Islands in the
Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in
the Atlantic, and two enclaves in
Morocco, Ceuta, and Melilla. In the
north, the Pyrenees Mountains form a
natural barrier between Spain and
France. Also in the north lies the Bay ofBiscay; to the west, the Atlantic Ocean
and Portugal; and to the east and the
southeast, the Mediterranean Sea. At
Spain’s southern tip is the Strait of
Gibraltar, which at its narrowest is less
than eight miles wide, all that separates
the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa.
From antiquity, the people of Spain
exhibited both the penchant for blending
and the devotion to local traditions that
would characterize Hispanic America.
The region’s geography encouraged both
traits. Via its Mediterranean coastline,
Spain received seafaring traffic fromTHE ROOTS OF A PEOPLE
(^1) The Many Cultures of Hispanic America
CHAPTER
Contemporary Spain