Spain

The Mesquita of Cordoba

By Christopher Minster

If the planet has a crossroads, Spain has to be it. Although it is part of Europe, it is very close to Africa, with which it has a long history.  It also has connections, mostly via trade, to different parts of Asia. Spain’s relationship with the Americas is, of course, the stuff of history. Spain was a key part of the Roman Empire, found itself on the front lines of the conflict between Islam and Christianity that still simmers today, and built its own Empire in the New World. The Empire fell, and Spain lost everything. By the middle of the twentieth century, Spain was a smoking ruin, having ripped itself apart in a bloody Civil War. But the indomitable will of the Spanish prevailed, and the nation reinvented itself out of the ruins of war and rot of Fascism. Now a modern, thriving nation, the people of Spain can be excused for believing that the best is yet to come for this crossroads, located where all of Earth’s roads meet.

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