webcam

About Spain

     Spain (Spanish: España (help·info), IPA: [es'paɲa]), is a Western European country. The country consists of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, two archipelagos, one in each sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa.

     The Spanish mainland is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and east, by the Cantabric Sea that includes the Bay of Biscay to the north, and by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal to the west. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands off the African coast. It shares land borders with Portugal, France, Andorra, the British colony of Gibraltar, and Morocco. It is the largest of the three sovereign states that make up the Iberian Peninsula — the others being Portugal and Andorra. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).

     Spain is a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, and has been a member of the European Union since 1986. It is a developed country with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU.

     Spain has a very ancient and complex prehistory. Under the Roman empire Hispania flourished and became one of the empire's most important regions. During the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule. Later, nearly the entire peninsula came under Muslim rulers. Through a long process Christian kingdoms in the north gradually rolled back Muslim rule, which was finally extinguished in 1492. That year Columbus reached the Americas, the beginnings of the first global empire. Spain became the strongest kingdom in Europe in the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries but continued wars and other problems eventually led to a diminished status. In the middle decades of the twentieth century it came under a dictatorship, under which it went through many years of stagnation and then a spectacular economic revival. In 1986 it joined the European Union and has experienced an economic and cultural renaissance.

About Karlshamn

     Karlshamn is a city in Blekinge,southern Sweden. It has 18,768 inhabitants and is the seat of Karlshamn Municipality, Blekinge County.

     Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles X Gustav realized the strategic location near the Baltic Sea and the rivalling Danish troops there. In 1666 the town changed its name from Bodekull to Karlshamn, literally Karl's Port.

     On the small island in the harbour inlet, the King had constructed a citadel to defend the city