Madrid is the capital of Spain, and is home to the Spanish Royal family as well as the Spanish Government. It is a modern metropolitan city and an economical and industrial center of Spain, and, with its population of nearly 3,5 million people, is also the biggest city in Spain.
It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and is surrounded by mountains and natural parks. Although it is located in the centre of the country, it has traditionally been the hub between different areas of Spain and is therefore connected to all major Spanish cities by train, road or air.
The weather in Madrid varies a lot depending on the season, from hot and dry in the summer, and with some rain in the winter.
Barcelona joins several of the coastal cities throughout Spain in sharing an interesting and very long history. Since the city’s creation in approximately 200BC it has been influenced by Visigoths, Muslims and Carthaginians until the 9th century.
This was when the Christians defeated the Muslims and Barcelona was then inhabited by Catalans. Throughout the 14th century the mini-empire of the Catalans reached its peak and this included regions such as the Balearic Islands and Valencia, there were also areas of Southern France which fell under its ruling. In the year 1473 Castilla’s kingdom invaded Catalonia, this was after several conflicts.
Then in 1700 the language of Catalan was forbidden for a long duration after they had combined forces with the English army against Castilla.
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