Spain :: essays research papers

community The Spanish people ar essentially a mixture of the autochthonous peoples of the Iberian Peninsula with the successive peoples who conquered the peninsula and occupied it for extended periods. These added ethnologic elements implicate the Romans, a Mediterranean people, and the Suevi, Vandals, and Visigoths (see GOTHS), Teutonic peoples. Semitic elements are also present. Several social groups in Spain have kept a separate identity, culturally and linguistically. These include the Basques (Euskal-dun), who number somewhat 2.5 million and live chiefly roughly the bay of Biscay the Galicians, numbering about 2.5 million, who live in northwestern Spain and the nomadic Spanish Gypsies (Gitanos see GYPSIES).Population Characteristics The population of Spain (1991) was 38,872,268. The estimate for 1993 was 39,207,159 the overall density was about 78 people per sq km (about 201 per sq mi). Spain in increasingly urban with more than than three-fourths of the population in towns and cities."Spain," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & angstrom unit Wagnalls Corporation.Forestry and Fishing The cork-oak tree is the principal forest resource of Spain, and the one-year product of cork, more than 110,000 metric tons in the mid-1980s, is second only to that of Portugal. The devote of Spains forests is insufficient for the countrys wood-pulp and timber needs.The fishing industry is important to the Spanish economy. The annual catch was about 1.5 million metric tons in 1990 and consisted in the beginning of tuna, squid, octopus, hake, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, blue whiting, and mussels.Mining The mineral wealth of Spain is considerable. In 1990 annual takings included about 36 million metric tons of ember and lignite, 1.5 million tons of smoothing conjure ore, 255,000 tons of zinc concentrates, 58,400 tons of lead, 5 million tons of gypsum, and 795,000 tons of crude petroleum. The prin cipal coal mines are in the northwest, near Oviedo the chief iron-ore deposits are in the same area, around Santander and Bilbao large mercury reserves are located in Almadn, in southwestern Spain, and copper and lead are mined in Andalusia. other minerals produced are potash, manganese, fluorite, tin, tungsten, wolfram, bismuth, antimony, cobalt, and rock salt.Manufacturing Among the leading goods manufactured in Spain are textiles, iron and steel, motor vehicles, chemicals, clothing, footwear, ships, refined petroleum, and cement. Spain is one of the worlds leading wine producers, and the annual payoff in the late 1980s was about 2.3 million metric tons. The iron and steel industry, centered in Bilbao, Santander, Oviedo, and Avils, produced about 13.