The Spanish Legion (Spanish: Legión Española, La Legión or colloquially El Tercio) is an elite unit of the Spanish Army and Spain's Rapid Reaction Force. It was raised in the 1920s to serve as part of Spain's Army of Africa. The unit, which was founded as the Spanish equivalent of the French Foreign Legion, was known as the Tercio de Extranjeros ("Foreigners Regiment"). However, in practice it recruited almost exclusively Spaniards and Spanish expatriates from Spanish-speaking nations.