Documents for "Spanish and Portuguese Physical Geography":

• Alhambra [Arab.,=the red], extensive group of buildings on a hill overlooking Granada, Spain. They were built chiefly between 1230 and 1354 and they formed a great citadel of the Moorish kings of Spain...

• Aneto, Pico de Fr. Pic de Néthou or Pic d'Anethou, peak, 11,168 ft (3,404 m) high, NE Spain, in the Maladetta group near the French border. It is the highest peak of the Pyrenees.

• Cantabrian Mountains N Spain, extending c.300 mi (480 km) along the Bay of Biscay from the Pyrenees to Cape Finisterre. Torre de Cerredo (8,687 ft/2,648 m) in the Picos de Europa group in the central section is the...

• Costa del Sol a strip of coastline, S. Spain, in Andalusia, extending from Motril to Estepona The area has become famous as a Mediterranean coastal resort, and its tourist industry continues to expand.

• Douro or Duero , river, c.475 mi (765 km) long, rising in the Sierra de Urbión, N central Spain. It flows W across N Spain, then southwest to form part of the Spanish-Portuguese border before flowing W across N...

• Duero river: see Douro.

• Ebro Catalan Ebre, longest river entirely in Spain, c.575 mi (925 km) long, rising in the Cantabrian Mts., N Spain, and flowing SE between the Pyrenees and the Iberian Mts. past Logroño and Zaragoza. It empties...

• Escorial or Escurial , monastery and palace, in New Castile, central Spain, near Madrid. One of the finest edifices in Europe, it was built (1563-84) as the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial by Philip II to...

• Estrela, Serra da mountain range, central Portugal. It rises to 6,532 ft (1,991 m) in Malhão da Estrela, Portugal's highest peak. The range is an important pastoral region. Its streams are used to generate...

• Finisterre, Cape [Lat. finis terrae =land's end], rocky promontory, extreme NW Spain, on the Atlantic coast of Galicia. Off the cape, the English won two naval battles against the French (1747, in the War of the Austrian Succession;...

• Gata, Sierra de mountain range, W Spain. Between the valleys of the Douro and Tagus rivers, it separates León from Estremadura. Its highest point is the Jálama peak (5,577 ft/1,700 m).

• Giralda the famous tower adjoining the Cathedral of Seville, Spain. It was built (1163-84) to serve as minaret to the main mosque of Seville, on the site of which the cathedral now stands. In 1568 it was...

• Guadalquivir river, c.350 mi (560 km) long, rising in the Sierra de Cazorla, SE Spain, and flowing generally SW past Córdoba and Seville into the Atlantic Ocean near Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Known to the Arabs as Wadi al-Kebir [the large river], it is the longest stream in the Andalusia region of S Spain. There are several hydroelectric plants along its course. In its middle course it flows through a populous fertile...

• Guadalupe, Sierra de mountain range, W Spain, in Extremadura, between the Tagus and Guadiana rivers. The highest elevation is 4,734 ft (1,443 m).

• Guadarrama, Sierra de mountain range rising from the plateau of central Spain, N of Madrid, and extending c.120 mi (190 km) between the Tagus and Douro rivers. The rugged mountains rise to Pico de Peñalara...

• Guadiana river, 510 mi (821 km) long, rising in the La Mancha Plateau, E Spain. It flows west through central Spain, then south, forming part of the Spanish-Portuguese border (except for a swing into...

• Iberian Mountains mountain system, extending c.250 mi (400 km) along the northeastern edge of the Meseta (central plateau), NE Spain. Moncayo (7,590 ft/2,313 m high) is the highest peak in the system. The Douro...

• Iberian Peninsula c.230,400 sq mi (596,740 sq km), SW Europe, separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. Comprising Spain and Portugal , it is washed on the N and W by the Atlantic Ocean and on the S and E by the Mediterranean Sea; the Strait of Gibraltar separates it from Africa. The Iberian Peninsula is dominated by the Meseta...

• La Granja Spain: see San Ildefonso.

• Maladetta Mountains Span. Montes Malditos [Span.,=cursed mountains], massif of the central Pyrenees, NE Spain, near the French border. Its highest point, Pico de Aneto (11,168 ft/3,404 m), is also the highest in the Pyrenees. The Garonne...

• Malditos, Montes see Maladetta Mountains.

• Manzanares river, c.55 mi (90 km) long; rising in the Sierra de Guadarrama, central Spain, and flowing S past Madrid (where it is canalized) into the Jarama River. The Manzanares is used for irrigation and...

• Meseta see Iberian Peninsula.

• Miño river: see Minho.

• Minho Span. Miño, river, c.210 mi (340 km) long, rising in Galicia, NW Spain, and flowing generally SW to the Atlantic Ocean. The Sil is its chief tributary. The lower part of the Minho forms a section of the border...

• Mulhacén or Muley-Hacén , peak, 11,411 ft (3,478 m) high, Granada prov., Spain; highest point of the Sierra Nevada and of Spain.

• Néthou, Pic de see Aneto, Pico de.

• Peñalara, Pico de see Guadarrama, Sierra de.

• Río and Rio, respectively Spanish and Portuguese terms for river. For those not listed here, see under the second element of the name. Thus, for Río Lerma, see Lerma.

• Roca, Cabo da cape, W Portugal, W of Lisbon. It is the western extremity of Europe.

• Roncesvalles Fr. Roncevaux, mountain pass (alt. 3,468 ft/1,057 m), in the Pyrenees, between Pamplona (Spain) and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France). Tradition has made it the scene of the death of the hero Roland...

• São Vicente, Cabo de see Saint Vincent, Cape.

• Saint Vincent, Cape Port. Cabo de São Vicente, high and rocky promontory at the southwestern extremity of Portugal. Several historic sea battles were fought nearby, the most notable in 1797, when the British under John Jervis defeated a large...

• Segura river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising on the northeastern slopes of the Sierra de Segura, SE Spain, and flowing generally East into the Mediterranean Sea. It is used for hydroelectric-power...

• Sierra Morena mountain range, SW Spain, extending c.375 mi (600 km) eastward along the southern edge of the Meseta (central plateau) from the Portuguese border to the Sierra de Alcaraz. Its highest peak is...

• Sierra Nevada chief mountain range of S Spain, in Granada prov., running from east to west for c.60 mi (100 km), parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. The range's highest peak is Mulhacén (11,411 ft/3,478 m). The...

• Tagus Span. Tajo, Port. Tejo, river, c.585 mi (940 km) long, rising in the mountains E of Madrid, E Spain, and draining the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Tagus flows northwest through the mountains, past Teruel,...

• Tajo river: see Tagus.

• Tejo river: see Tagus.