• Geotoura
• Spain
• Lexicon
• Z

The term “zambra” used to refer to a Moorish festival with music and dance. Later, it came to stand for the flamenco performances and venues of the “gitanos” in the Sacromonte, the neighbourhood in Granada where most flamenco events still take place in the cuevas, the former “living caves”. Today, the term “zambra” is also used to describe a dance accompanied by monotonous music and singing.

Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was born on 4 August 1960 in Valladolid (Castile-León). He was Prime Minister of Spain from 17 April 2004 to 20 December 2011 and comes from a family with a long socialist tradition. His grandfather, who fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, was murdered by supporters of General Francisco Franco y Bahamonde at the beginning of the war in 1936. During the Franco regime, Zapatero attended school and then studied law at the University of León. After Franco’s death (1975), he became politically involved in the newly founded Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

• 1978 he became a member of their youth organisation. In 1986 he was elected to the Spanish parliament, where he served on the constitutional committee, among other things.
• 1986 was elected to the Spanish parliament, where he served on the constitutional committee, among others.
• His academic career also began in 1986, first as a lecturer and later as a full professor of constitutional law at the Faculty of Law at the University of León.
• 1988 Zapatero was elected provincial secretary of the PSOE in the province of León.
• 1997 he joined the PSOE party executive.
• In July 2000 he was elected General Secretary of the PSOE.

At the end of 2000, Zapatero concluded an agreement with José María Aznar López, Prime Minister from 1996 to 2004, to combat and contain Basque terrorism. From the spring of 2003, this came under increasing public criticism due to Spain’s involvement in the US war in Iraq. Zapatero positioned himself clearly on the side of the opponents of the war, as a result of which the opposition party became increasingly important. Three days after the attack at Madrid’s main railway station in March 2004, Zapatero won the Spanish parliamentary elections as the PSOE’s leading candidate. On 16 April 2004, he was elected by parliament as the new Spanish prime minister. Shortly after taking office, he initiated the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.

The start of peace negotiations with the Basque terrorist organisation ETA, the legalisation of same-sex marriage and the strong influence of the Catalan nationalist party ERC led to a polarisation of Spanish domestic politics. In February 2005, Spain was the first EU member state to vote on the common European constitution. At the beginning of 2005, it legalised around 800,000 Spanish immigrants without residence permits.

From the Pyrenees to the Canary Islands, Spain’s diverse climatic zones allow Spaniards to enjoy juices made from the juice of their own country’s fruit all year round.