Spain Geography

Spain Geography

Spain is located in southwestern Europe and comprises about 84 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain comprises of a total area of 504.782 sq km out of which 1,917.8 km is the total land area and 5,240 sq km is water. The coastline comprises of 4,964 km.

Spain is bounded to the north by the Bay of Biscay, France (623 km), and Andorra (63.7 km). To the east Spain is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea; on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the west Spain is bounded by Portugal (1,214 km) and the Atlantic Ocean. In the south west the 13km wide Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Africa.

Spain occupies four-fifth of the Iberian Peninsula and is a land of immense geographical diversity. Off the Iberian Peninsula there are several other Spanish areas: the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands to the southwest, 108 km (67 miles) off northwest Africa, and five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberanía) on and off the coast of Morocco: Ceuta, Melilla, Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. Besides five places of sovereignty on and off the coast of Morocco, Spain consists of 17 administrative regions, 15 of which are on mainland Spain.

The terrain at Spain is large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north. There are five big mountain ranges crossing the country. Landscapes are extremely varied, some almost desert-like, others green and fertile, and of course there are the long coasts, in the east along Mediterranean Sea from Pyrenees to Gibraltar, and in the west along the Atlantic Ocean and Cantabrian Sea. The land consists slightly more than twice the size of Oregon.
The Natural resources include coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, and hydropower.

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