Spain

Spain: population and cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, Spain has about 46.2 million residents.

Ethnic composition

The population of Spain is made up of around 74.5% Spaniards, around 17% Catalans, 6.5% Galicians, 1.5% Basques and around 0.5% people of other ethnicities.

Religious affiliation

About 95% percent of Spaniards are baptized Roman Catholics. There are also smaller communities of Protestants, Jews and Muslims.

National languages

The official national language is Spanish, which is based on the Castilian dialect. Around 500,000 people in the Spanish and French Basque Countries speak Basque. This language is extremely old and its origin is unknown. It has no relationship to any other European language. Catalan has displaced Spanish more and more since the end of the Franco era in the northeast of the country. Galician is closely related to Portuguese, and there is no clear language border between the two. Basque, Catalan and Galician have been recognized as national languages since 1978 and are the official languages in the respective areas.

Capital, other cities

The capital of Spain is Madrid with a population of 3.2 million.

Other cities are:

• Barcelona with around 1.5 million residents
• Valencia with around 700,000 residents
• Seville with around 700,000 residents
• Zaragoza with around 600,000 residents
• Burgos with around 172,000 residents
• Salamanca with around 160,000 residents
• Palma de Mallorca with and 350,000 residents

Spain: map

National borders

Defined by DigoPaul, Spain has common borders with a total of 5 countries:

• France with a length of around 623 km,
• Andorra with a length of approx. 64 km,
• Portugal with a length of around 1,214 km,
• Gibraltar with a length of 1.2 km,
• as well as to Morocco through the cities of Ceuta with a length of 6.3 km and Melilla with a length of 9.6 km.

Also belong to Spain

- the Balearic Islands (see also Palma de Mallorca) in the Mediterranean with a total area of approx. 5,000 km2,

- the Canary Islands off the African coast in the Atlantic with a total of approx. 7,500 km2,

- some small islands off the Moroccan coast,

- the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco as well

- the exclave of Llivia in the French Pyrenees southeast of Andorra.

Coastline

Spain's coast to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic has a total length of 4,964 km, of which 3,904 km are coastline on the Spanish mainland, the rest is distributed over the islands.

Spain: geography

Area and land use

Spain covers a total area of 505,992 km². Thereof:

• Forest

  Around 31% of the country are forest and bush landscape.

• Meadow/pasture land

  Around 30% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land

• Fields and fields

  Around 31% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing vines, olives, almonds, wheat and barley.

National borders

Spain has common borders with a total of 5 countries:

• France with a length of around 623 km,
• Andorra with a length of approx. 64 km,
• Portugal with a length of around 1,214 km,
• Gibraltar with a length of 1.2 km,
• as well as to Morocco through the cities of Ceuta with a length of 6.3 km and Melilla with a length of 9.6 km.

Coastline

Spain's coast to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic has a total length of 4,964 km, of which 3,904 km are coastline on the Spanish mainland, the rest is distributed over the islands.

Islands, Canaries, Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

Mallorca with an area of approx. 3,640 km²,

Menorca with an area of approx. 700 km²

Ibiza with an area of approx. 572 km²

Formentera with an area of approx. 90 km² as well as

Cabrera with an area of approx. 17 km² and a few others small islands.

Note

A comprehensive representation of the Balearic Islands can be found at goruma here >>>

Canaries

The Canary Islands with the capital of the eastern islands Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and the capital of the western islands Santa Cruz on Tenerife

Tenerife with an area of 2,085 km²

Fuerteventura with an area of over 1,700 km²

Lanzarote with an area of 845 km²

La Gomera with an area of approx. 400 km²,

Gran Canaria with an area of approx. 1,560 km²

La Palma with an area of approx 708 km² and the smallest Canary Island

Hierro with an area of approx. 280 km².

Note

A comprehensive representation of the Canary Islands can be found at goruma here >>>

Islands off Morocco

Islas Chafarinas with an area of 0.61 km²,

Peñon de Velez de la Gomera with an area of 0.04 km² and

Peñon de Alhucemas with an area of 0.01 km².

Tidal range

In Spain on the Atlantic coast, the mean tidal range is around 2 to 3 m. However, a tidal range of up to 4.5 m can occur on the coast of Galicia. In contrast, the tidal range in the Mediterranean is only a few deimeters. For a detailed explanation of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Comparisons

The world's highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, and at spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Spain extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Time

The "motherland" Spain has no deviation from CET.

For the Canary Islands, however, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET). A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

Highest sun in Madrid and Las Palmas (Canary Islands)

Madrid lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 40 ° (exactly 40 ° 24 '). If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at Δ = 23.5 °, summer begins in Madrid, June 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

40 ° = (90 ° - h) + 23.5 °

so:

At 73.5 °, the sun in Madrid has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

Las Palmas on the Canary Island of Gran Canaria is located at a northern latitude of around φ = 28 ° (exactly 28 ° 06 'N). Using the same equation, it follows for the midday sun high above the city:

Mountains, Pico del Teide

Pico del Teide

The highest mountain in the country is the Pico del Teide on Tenerife with a height of 3,718 m.

Other high mountains are:

The Mulhacén as the highest mountain on the mainland (Betic Cordillera) with 3,481 m height

the Pico de Añeto in the Pyrenees with 3,404 m height

the Veleta (3,392 m) and

the Posets o Llardana (3,375 m).

Rivers, Tagus

Tajo

The Tajo (attention: in Spain the river is called Tajo and in Portugal the Tagus) is the longest of the Iberian Peninsula with its approx. 1,007 km.

The river has its source in the east of Spain in the Fuente de Garcia in the Sierra de Albarracín mountains, in the province of Teruel, at an altitude of about 1,600 m. From there the river basically flows in a westerly direction towards its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon. The Tajo gets a particularly picturesque shape near the city of Toledo, which it also flows around 3 sides, in the east, south and west.

In addition to Lisbon, there are other important cities such as Aranjuez, Toledo, Talavera de la Reina and Santarém. The river covers approx. 727 km within Spain and approx. 280 km within Portugal. Lisbon is also home to the largest bridge over the Tagus.

The Ponte Vasco da Gama is the longest bridge in Europe with its 17 km. At Lisbon the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean as the Tagus.

Other rivers in the country are:

the Duero with a length of 895 km,

the Ebro with a length of 930 km,

the Guadalquirir with a length of 657 km,

the Guadiana with a length of 778 km,

the Jucár with a length of 498 km and

the Miño with a length of 310 km

the Turia with a length of 280 km.

Lakes

There are no major natural lakes in Spain. However, reservoirs were created on many rivers.

Mediterranean, Atlantic

Spain borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the east

Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean

An ocean or a sea is understood to mean all larger bodies of water that are connected to one another. In this respect, for example, the Caspian Sea - despite its name - is not a sea in the sense of the definition of geographers or oceanographers.

With an area of around 106 million km², the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic) is the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific. Its area corresponds to about 20% of the total surface of the earth. Its salt content is on average 3.54% grams per liter (g/l).

It separates America from Europe and Africa. The Strait of Gibraltar is certainly a very well-known connection between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean , where it separates Europe (Gibraltar/Great Britain) from Africa (Morocco).

The Panama Canal connects the Pacific with the Atlantic for around 82 km.

At Cape Agulhas, about 250 kilometers southeast of Cape Town - on the southern tip of the African continent - and not at the Cape of Good Hope, is the geographical place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.

With the Arctic Ocean , the Atlantic is through the Denmark Strait and connected to Baffin Bay. The Atlantic is connected to the Pacific by the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn.

The deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean is around 9,220 m below the water surface. This location is known as Milwaukee Deep and is part of the Puerto Rico Trench. The Puerto Rico Trench is located southeast of the Bermuda Triangle at the junction of the "North American Plate" and the "Caribbean Plate".

The average depth of the Atlantic Ocean, together with its secondary seas, is 3,340 m - without its secondary seas, the average depth is 3,930 m.

The Atlantic Ocean together with its tributaries has a water volume of 354.7 million km³. Without its side seas, it has a water volume of 323.6 million km³.

Mediterranean Sea

The name "Mediterranean" is probably derived from the Latin term "mediterraneus". This means something like the center of the earth. Because because of the world known in antiquity, the Mediterranean was just in the middle of this known world. However, the Mediterranean also received other names.

The Romans called the sea "Mare Nostrum", which means "Our Sea", to demonstrate their power over this sea.