Spain & Real Madrid

SPAIN

Spain is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with theBritish Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the AtlanticOcean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceutaand Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometers, it is the second largestcountry in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in  Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.

History

The Iberian peninsula enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came under the rule of Rome. During the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later,it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process that took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas. A global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe and the leading world power for a century and a half and the largestoverseas empire for three centuries.
Continued wars and other problems eventually led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire and left the country politically unstable. Prior to the Second World War, Spain suffered a devastating civil war and came under the rule of an authoritarian government,whose rule oversaw a period of stagnation but that finished with a powerful economic surge. Eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. In 1986, Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a cultural renaissance and steady economic growth.
Geography

At 504,782 km2 Spain is the world's  51 st-largest country. It is some 47,000 km2 smallerthan France and 81,000 km2 larger than the U.S. stateof California. Mt. Teide (Tenerife, Canary Islands) has the highest mountain peak of Spain and the third largest volcano in the world from its base.
Spain lies between latitudes 26° and 44° N, and longitudes 19° W and 5° E.
On the west, Spain borders Portugal; on the south, it borders Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and Morocco,through its exclaves in North Africa (Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera). On the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principalityof Andorra. Along the Pyrenees in Gerona, a small exclave town called Llívia is surrounded by France.

Real Madrid F.C
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly knownas Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club and has traditionally worn a white home kit since. The word Real is Spanish for royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the1950s.
 Real Madrid has won a record 32 La Liga titles, 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Supercopas de España, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la Liga. Internationally it has won a record nine European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles and a joint record three Intercontinental Cups, as well as two UEFA Cups, and one UEFA Super Cup.

Crest and Shirt
The first crest had a simple design consisting of a...