by Linda Liston

Navarre, one of Spain's smallest Autonomous Communities, today exercises an economic influence as powerful as its political predominance in the Middle Ages. On a per capita basis, Navarre ranks among Spain's top generators of GDP and favorable trade balances and has its highest density of industrial companies. And it enjoys Spain's lowest unemployment.

That healthy economic outlook, plus an excellent geographic position and an industrious work force, is why Navarre caught the eye of more than 100 globally influential companies -- companies like Nissan, Volkswagen, TRW and Bosch-Siemens.

Navarre is in northern Spain, sharing its border with France for 100 miles (163 km). This puts Navarre in the middle of Spain's greatest industrial activity, the Madrid-Barcelona-Bilbao triangle.

Geographically, the position makes Navarre an almost obligatory throughway for people and goods crossing from continental Europe to the Iberian Peninsula. For that reason and others, Navarre was a prized possession in the Middle Ages, and today is a select spot for any company needing a launch pad for the European market.

A compact province of 6,500 square miles (10,421 sq. km), Navarre is similar in size to the U.S. state of Vermont. Navarre's population is about 540,000, with a density of about 49 people per sq. km, a very low number in the context of Europe. It houses about 1.4 percent of Spain's 40 million people.

Though small, Navarre slips rapidly from one physical face to another. In the space of just 100 miles, the landscape evolves from dense forests to desert. In the north, the panorama of La Montana is almost Alpine. Forested spires rise to the dramatic Pyrenees, and fresh sea breezes waft from the Bay of Biscay. In the center, or Zona Media, is the broad Pamplona Valley, with fertile fields yielding the vegetables for which the province is famous. In the flatter, drier south, is the Ribera area, where the Ebro River replenishes the land and provides abundant water for industry. In one southern stretch -- 25 miles long and 20 wide -- NATO pilots in training thunder over the moon-like landscape of las Bardenas desert. It is a wonderfully varied environment, wrapped in a pleasant, four-seasons climate.

Politically, Navarre is one of Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities. While most others comprise two or more provinces, Navarre is a single-province political entity. Culturally, today's Navarre hearkens to its rich history, one filled with royal dynasties. But it also remembers its agricultural roots -- as recently as 30 years ago Navarre was an agrarian society. From that combination of political power and stewardship of the land comes the Navarran's independent spirit and intense sense of responsibility.

The capital and government center is Pamplona, a mid-sized city of 200,000 population located in the center of the province. Pamplona and its residential suburbs represent half of the population of Navarre and a good chunk of its industrial and commercial activity.