Gateway Guide to Spain [antikvár]

An everyday scene in one of Spain's lovely old towns, Toledo: the strongly fortified St Martin'sBridge, which spans the River TagusAREA AND POPULATIONThe land beyond the Pyrenees, the Iberian peninsula, measures 225,200 sq. miles. Of this the area of Spain is 190,700 sq. miles, while that of Portugal is 34,500 sq. miles, and the Balearic Islands consist of 1935 sq. miles. The population of mainland Spain is about 30,245,000 making an average density of 154 per sq. mile, whereas Portugal with its small population of about 8,700,000 has nearly twice the average density, 251 per sq. mile, and the Balearic Islands have a density of 234 per sq. mile with their population of about 448,000. LANDSCAPEThe Pyrenees form the Franco-Spanish frontier; and the rest of the landscape is one of mountains and plateaux. The Pyrenees continue westwards as the Cantabrian Mountains: these completely cover Asturias and Galicia and together with the Sierra de Gata, the Sierra de Credos, the Sierra de Cuadar-rama, and the Iberian Border Mountains enclose Old Castile. La Mancha, the plateau south of Madrid, is also framed by mountains: the Sierra Guadarrama, the Toledo mountains, the Sierra Morena and the Sierra Grillemona. Further south, on the coast, is the beautiful range of the Sierra Nevada, with the highest mountain of the Iberian peninsula, the Pico de Mulhacen (11,420 ft.). RIVERSThe five largest rivers in Spain are: the Ebro, which rises in the Cantabrian mountains and flows into the Mediterranean between Barcelona and Valencia; the Duero, rising in the Iberian Border Mountains, flows through old Castile and Portugal (where it becomes the Douro) into the Atlantic near Oporto; the Tajo or Tagus comes from the Sierra de Cuenca, passes Toledo and flows into the Atlantic at Lisbon; the Guadiana also rises in the Cuenca mountains, flows right across the plateau of La Mancha and