Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula in the southwest of Europe, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Much of the interior is a high, dry plateau called the Meseta, with Madrid right in the middle. The country also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and two small cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla.
For almost 800 years, from 711 to 1492, Muslim rulers held part of Spain: at first nearly all of it, and in the end only the kingdom of Granada. They left behind masterpieces such as the Alhambra in Granada and the great mosque of Córdoba. In 1492 Spain became the base for Columbus's voyages, and within a century it ruled an empire that stretched across the Americas and into Asia.
Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.
Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Christian kings all shaped Spain. From a patchwork of kingdoms it became a world empire, lived through a civil war and a long dictatorship, and then built one of Europe's young democracies.
During their war with Carthage, Roman troops landed at Empúries on the Catalan coast. Over the next two centuries Rome conquered the whole peninsula, which it called Hispania, and left behind roads, bridges, aqueducts and the Latin language.
Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon married in secret. Their union joined Spain's two largest Christian kingdoms and laid the foundations of the Spanish state.
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition left Spain in 1519. Magellan was killed in the Philippines, and Juan Sebastián Elcano, a Basque sailor, brought the ship Victoria home in 1522, completing the first voyage around the world.
Philip II sent a great fleet to invade England. It was beaten off by the English navy and then wrecked by storms around Scotland and Ireland.
After a short war with the United States, Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. The defeat, called 'the Disaster' in Spain, ended its overseas empire in the Americas and Asia.
General Franco died on 20 November 1975. Two days later Juan Carlos I was proclaimed king, and he helped lead the country's peaceful move to democracy.
On 1 January 1986 Spain and Portugal joined the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union.
Euro notes and coins replaced the Spanish peseta, which had been the national currency since 1868.
Cook one of the recipes, print the large-print pack about Spain, and finish with the big-screen quiz or the words crossword. Grandchildren can colour the flag.
