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Madrid Geography
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Published: August 23, 2006
Madrid geography makes the city perfectly situated to be Spain's national capital.
Its latitude and longitude coordinates are 40:26 north and 3.42 west. These coordinates place the city nearly at the geographic center of the country. It is easily accessible from north, south, east and west. Cities such as Avila, Segovia and Toledo are all within a day's travel of the capital.
Madrid is the most centrally located city of the Iberian Peninsula (consisting of Spain, Portugal and Andorra).
Madrid's cityscape occupies 607.08 sq. km (234.4 sq. mi). It is 588 meters (1,932 ft.) above sea level, putting it at approximately the same elevation as Las Vegas, Nev. The city is located on a large plateau called the Meseta Central. Madrid geography finds the Manzanares River flowing on its historic western border. However, urban expansion has pushed Madrid's city limits past the Manzanares in recent years.
Besides being the national capital, Madrid also is the capital city of a province and an autonomous community. The autonomous community is designated A.C. Madrid.
The city of Madrid is divided into 21 neighborhoods, or barrios, where its 4.2 million residents live. Another one million or so people live outside the city proper, but still within Madrid's metropolitan area. Madrid's citizens refer to themselves as Madrilenos. They are sometimes called gatos (cats). The nickname was given to their Middle Age ancestors for their ability to climb the high walls surrounding the city.
No discussion of Madrid geography is complete without considering its climate. Because it sits on a high plateau, Madrid's climate is arid and subject to a wide range of temperatures – again, much like Las Vegas. The rain – about 18 inches a year – comes in the spring and fall. While it can be as hot as 40 degrees Centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in mid-summer, it rarely reaches freezing in the winter. (The record highs and lows are 42 degrees C/107.6 F and -5 degrees C/5 F.)
It seldom snows in the city. Madrid geography benefits from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains found to the north and west. They shield Madrid from the more extreme winter weather coming down from Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean.
While the dry climate of the Meseta Central is good for sheep ranching, Madrid geography makes it difficult to grow crops other than wheat and barley. The poor soil found on the plateau also has few mineral resources. Because Madrid could not rely upon farming or mining for income, it took advantage of its centralized location to become an administrative center.
Today, Madrid is known around the world for the service economy it has developed. Banking, finance and trade shows and exhibitions are the "crops" Madrid sells to the rest of the world. Thanks to its centralized location and development of service industries, Madrid often is referred to as the financial capital of the Iberian Peninsula.
Its latitude and longitude coordinates are 40:26 north and 3.42 west. These coordinates place the city nearly at the geographic center of the country. It is easily accessible from north, south, east and west. Cities such as Avila, Segovia and Toledo are all within a day's travel of the capital.
Madrid is the most centrally located city of the Iberian Peninsula (consisting of Spain, Portugal and Andorra).
Madrid's cityscape occupies 607.08 sq. km (234.4 sq. mi). It is 588 meters (1,932 ft.) above sea level, putting it at approximately the same elevation as Las Vegas, Nev. The city is located on a large plateau called the Meseta Central. Madrid geography finds the Manzanares River flowing on its historic western border. However, urban expansion has pushed Madrid's city limits past the Manzanares in recent years.
Besides being the national capital, Madrid also is the capital city of a province and an autonomous community. The autonomous community is designated A.C. Madrid.
The city of Madrid is divided into 21 neighborhoods, or barrios, where its 4.2 million residents live. Another one million or so people live outside the city proper, but still within Madrid's metropolitan area. Madrid's citizens refer to themselves as Madrilenos. They are sometimes called gatos (cats). The nickname was given to their Middle Age ancestors for their ability to climb the high walls surrounding the city.
No discussion of Madrid geography is complete without considering its climate. Because it sits on a high plateau, Madrid's climate is arid and subject to a wide range of temperatures – again, much like Las Vegas. The rain – about 18 inches a year – comes in the spring and fall. While it can be as hot as 40 degrees Centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in mid-summer, it rarely reaches freezing in the winter. (The record highs and lows are 42 degrees C/107.6 F and -5 degrees C/5 F.)
It seldom snows in the city. Madrid geography benefits from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains found to the north and west. They shield Madrid from the more extreme winter weather coming down from Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean.
While the dry climate of the Meseta Central is good for sheep ranching, Madrid geography makes it difficult to grow crops other than wheat and barley. The poor soil found on the plateau also has few mineral resources. Because Madrid could not rely upon farming or mining for income, it took advantage of its centralized location to become an administrative center.
Today, Madrid is known around the world for the service economy it has developed. Banking, finance and trade shows and exhibitions are the "crops" Madrid sells to the rest of the world. Thanks to its centralized location and development of service industries, Madrid often is referred to as the financial capital of the Iberian Peninsula.
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