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Front: Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930) Spanish painter

Julio was born in Córdoba, Spain and lived there most of his life. He was the son of a well-known painter Rafael Romero Barros. Julio began his training at the Escuela de Bellas Artes from the age 10.

Julio took part in the late 19th century intellectual movement, based around the Royal Academy of Science, Arts and Literature. He became famous in his own lifetime and had exhibitions in cities all over the world, including London, Paris, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. The Museum of Julio Romero de Torres at his former residence in Córdoba houses some of his paintings and personal objects.

Back: Painting by Torres

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Front: Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), Spanish composer of classical music

Manuel was born in Cádiz, and studied music in Madrid in the 1890s. Between 1907 and 1914 he lived in Paris, where he met a number of composers who influenced his musical style.

He returned to Madrid at the beginning of WWI. There he composed several of his best known pieces, including the three nocturnes for piano and orchestra Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain, 1916), the ballets El amor brujo (Love the Magician, 1915), and El corregidor y la molinera (The Magistrate and the Miller's Wife).

Back: The summer residence of the Moorish kings in Granada

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Front: Leopoldo Alas (1852-1901), Spanish author

Alas was a Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and literary critic who wrote under the pseudonym Clarín. He began his career as a journalist, later became professor of law at the University of Oviedo. He is best known for his naturalistic novel La Regenta, an analysis of provincial life. His other works include another novel, Su único hijo (his only son), and several volumes of short stories.

Back: Tree and cross

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Front: Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), Spanish conquistador

Cortés was born in Medellín, Spain. At the age of 16 in 1501, he decided to seek adventures in the Spanish colonies of the New World. He took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba and was granted a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts.

Upon learning of a more distant land where gold was said to be abundant, Cortés led an expedition in 1519 with 11 ships, 500 men, and 15 horses. Cortés landed his party in Veracruz. The natives greeted him with gifts of food, feathers, gold and women. Even Mexican/Aztec Emperor Montezuma II sent gifts, hoping to keep him at bay by satisfying him with gold. Soon, however, Cortés conquered the rest of Mexico.

Back: Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541), Spanish conquistador

Pizarro conquered the Incan empire, stealing immense hoards of gold, silver, and other treasures. After looting and generally destroying the Incan capital of Cusco, Pizarro founded Lima. He was assassinated in Lima, Peru, in 1541, by followers of Pedro de Almagro (Cortes' captain) who wanted to seize Lima for its riches.

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Front: Jose Celestino Mutis (1732-1808), Spanish naturalist and plant explorer

José Mutis was born in Cádiz, Spain. He was trained as a physician in Madrid, and in 1757 became physician to the royal household of Ferdinand VI.

Mutis studied botany in his spare time. In 1760 he was appointed physician to the viceroy of New Granada in South America. In 1766 he took up residence in the Andes at Pamplona, where he reorganized the teaching of medicine, developed modern mining methods, and investigated the curative powers of quinine. He also taught botany and botanical drawing and cultivated plants for medicinal and agricultural uses.

In 1782 Mutis was named first botanist and astronomer of the botanical expedition of northern South America. He built a botanical garden in the town of Mariquita and assembled one of the finest botanical libraries in the New World. Along with his staff of artists, zoologists, and botanists, he assembled thousands of drawings, a collection of bird and animal skins, and a herbarium containing more than 24,000 plants. He wrote hundreds of botanical papers, but his Flora de Bogotá o de Nueva Granada, containing more than 6,000 illustrations, was so massive that the Spanish government could not afford to print it.

Back: Royal Botanical Garden and title page of Mutis' work

Spain, located in southwest Europe, was the most powerful monarchy in Europe in the 16th century. It was ruled by France between 1808 and 1814. The monarchy was restored in 1814 and continued, interrupted by the short-lived republic of 1873-74, until the exile of Alfonso XIII in 1931, when the Second Republic was established. Francisco Franco established himself as ruler of fascist Spain in 1936 after a bloody civil war. Spain became a constitutional monarchy in 1975. For a more detailed country profile, see CIA World Factbook on Spain.

Beginning on January 1, 2002 Euro becomes the official currency for Spain.