Spain National Flag Crossed Flag Badge

Spain National Flag

The current edition of the national flag of Spain was officially adopted in 1981. However, the red and yellow bands have been an important part of the flag since King Charles III rule in 1785, these colours were chosen to allow for the flag to be more distinguishable from others when at sea. Since then, there have been a number of changes, primarily involving the coat of arms. However, for a brief period in the 1930s the bottom stripe was changed to purple. These colours have no known symbolic meaning to the nation. The coat of arms features the shields of the historic kingdoms, which are the Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of León, Crown of Aragon, Kingdom of Navarre and Kingdom of Granada. As well as the House of Bourbon in the centre. On the left and right sides are the Pillars of Hercules, which hold up the motto ‘Plus Ultra’, meaning ‘Further Beyond’. At the top of the coat of arms is the royal crown.

Spain is a European nation, which makes up a large amount of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula. To the west it is bordered by Portugal and to the south is the tiny area of Gibraltar. France borders Spain to the northeast, with Andorra a small nation separating part of the two nations. The rest of the nation is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, Balearic Sea and Alboran Sea. It is 505,983km² in area and home to around 48 million people. The official language is Castilian Spanish. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, behind only Mandarin and ahead of English, with an estimated 600 million people speaking Spanish worldwide. The capital city of Spain is Madrid, which is in the central region of the nation. The world-famous event the Running of the bulls occurs in the Spanish town of Pamplona, with thousands of people participating annually. Finally, Spain is home to 45 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which is the third most in the world, behind only China and Italy.