Spain holds with Italy the largest number of UNESCO world heritage sites

Spain (Hispania) was the most important province of the Roman Empire. From Hispania came emperors (Trajan, Hadrian) philosophers poets playwrights (Seneca)

Roman ruins in Tarragona Mérida Segovia A Coruña Lugo Cartagena

Spain defeated and expelled Moors from the Iberian Peninsula in one of the largest efforts in the defense of Europe ever: Reconquista (711-1492)
Pelayo El Cid
Battles of Simancas, Navas de Tolosa (1212)
Granada, 1492

During the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries in defense of European Civilization Spain would war constantly with the Ottoman Empire and muslim berbers in the Mediterranean
Lepanto(1571)
Don Juan de Austria
Alvaro de Bazán

Continuing the Mediterranean Empire of the Crown of Aragon -beggining with the dominance over Normans in Sicily (1282)-, the Spanish Empire was the largest empire in history and the first GLOBAL empire with posessions in 5 continents:

Europe (parts of Germany and France Holland Belgium Luxembourg Milan Kingdom of Naples Sicily Sardinia Portugal)

Africa
Asia
Oceania
and America (Buenos Aires to Alaska)

ruled by 5 million

For hundreds of years the Sun never set on the Spanish Empire

After Rome Spain has been the greatest building force in History:

Colonial arquitecture (Hospitals Cathedrals Universities Roads Palaces Printing Presses) in America and Asia during the XVI and XVII centuries

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain was with Portugal the vanguard of European global discoveries

Spain opened trade routes across the oceans between Europe Asia and America

Due to Spanish missionaries the Philippines is one of the few Christian nations in Asia

Juan de la Cosa´s famous map of the world, the Mappa Mundi of 1500: oldest known European cartographic representation of the New World
Alonso de Ojeda
Elcano (1st man to circumnavegate the globe)
Nunez de Balboa(1st European at Pacific Ocean)
Rodrigo de Bastidas
Cabeza de Vaca
Coronado(1st European at Colorado Canyon)

In the greatest military feat in epic terms in history, 500 Spaniards (with the collaboration of oppressed amerindians) led by Cortes toppled the Aztec Empire
160 Spaniards led by Pizarro toppled the Inca Empire

Spanish missionaries put an end to massive human sacrifice rituals practiced by Aztecs and Incas

From 1492 to 1643 the Spanish Empire was the foremost global power dominating the oceans and ruling the European battlefield with its infantry (Tercios)

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Battles: Pavía(1525) San Quintin (1556) Gravelinas (1558) Punta Delgada (1582)
Nördlingen (1634) Honnecourt (1642)

The "Spanish Road" connected Vienna and Brussels

Cultural Golden Age:
CERVANTES Rojas The Picaresque Novel Quevedo Góngora
Saint Teresa Saint John of the Cross
The Jesuit Order
Playwrights: Lope Tirso Calderón
Music: Luis de Narváez, Luis de Milán, Tomás Luis de Victoria Alonso Lobo
Painting: El Greco VELÁZQUEZ Murillo Zurbarán
Arquitecture: Herrera

In the 15 16 17 18 and early XIX centuries the Spanish Empire maintained the largest territory in the world

Confronted by the new experiences created by empire-building Spanish thinkers formulated the first modern ideas on:
natural law: Suárez
etnology: Sahagún
sovereignty: Suárez Father Mariana
international law: Francisco de Vitoria
war: Vitoria
and economics: Father Mariana, Soto

— even questioning the legitimacy of imperialism — in related schools of thought called the School of Salamanca

The 1st human Rights Debates in History took place in Valladolid during the early XVIcent

Spain's European empire was not undone until the Peace of Utrecht (1713)

Paradoxically, Spain's fortunes improved:
Blas de Lezo: Battle of Cartagena, 1741
Bernardo Gálvez (Independence of USA)
Malaspina expedition
Balmis expedition: 1st sanitary expedition in World history
Goya
Ventura Rodriguez
Juan de Villanueva: Prado Museum

Spain maintained and enlarged its vast overseas empire until the 19th century

Spain was a major force in the defeat of Napoleon
Spain was the 1st occupied nation to rebel

Battle of Bailén (1808): 1st major defeat of the Grand Armée on land, by an all Spanish army

Spain retained significant fragments of its Empire
in the Caribbean; Asia (Philippines)
and Oceania (Guam Micronesia Palau and Northern Marianas)

until the Spanish--American War(1898)

Spain had a 2nd cultural Golden Age from 1898 to the Spanish Civil War, the most written about war in history

Painting: Fortuny Sorolla Picasso Gris Dalí
Literature: Galdós Clarín Jiménez Lorca etc
Philosophy: Unamuno Ortega
Film: Buñuel Berlanga Bardem
Arquitecture: Gaudí
Music: Mompou Falla Granados Tárrega Turina Albéniz Concert for Aranjuez
Science: Peral, Severo Ochoa Ramón y Cajal