Topic: Madrid

Madrid , city (1990 pop. 3,120,732), capital of Spain and of Madrid prov., central Spain, and the focus of its own autonomous region, on the Manzanares River. The newest of the great Spanish cities, it lacks the traditions of the ancient Castilian and Andalusian towns. Lying on a vast open plateau, it is subject to extremes of temperature; the daily variation is sometimes 40°F (22°C). Madrid is almost in the exact geographic center of Spain and is the nation's chief transportation and administrative center. Its commercial and industrial life developed very rapidly after the 1890s and is... Read more