Spain (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Spain<br><br>Spain has held, for two thousand years, an interesting and important position among the states of Europe. She is of Europe and she is not. For the Pyrenees separate her so far from the continent, that her people have always had characteristics of their own, more deeply stamped upon them than those of any other European nation. Yet the Pyrenees are not impassable, and the Mediterranean is easily traversed. So that Spain has been no separated Japan, but she has had to give and take in the international courtesies, exchanges, and conflicts of the western world. There have been times when the monarchs of Spain gave the law to Europe. Even the Greek emperor once owed his crown to the succor of Catalonia. There have been times, again, when none have been so poor as to render to Spain any reverence. There are spots in Spain where a year may pass without a drop of rain. But within a few hundred miles the rainfall of the same year is all that is needed for the most successful agriculture, and these regions are rich and beautiful, while the others are arid deserts. The history of Spain shows contrasts which are as strong.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.