Peninsular Spain
Peninsular Spain refers to that part of Spanish territory located within the Iberian peninsula,[1] thus excluding other parts of Spain: the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and a number of islets and crags off the coast of Morocco known collectively as plazas de soberanía (places of sovereignty). In Spain it is mostly known simply as "la Península". It has land frontiers with France and Andorra to the north; Portugal to the west; and the British territory of Gibraltar to the south.
Many inhabitants of peninsular Spain tend to conflate that region with Spain as a whole, disregarding the other territories mentioned above.[2]
Characteristics
Peninsular Spain is 492,175 km² in area[3] - and in population - 43,731,572.[4] It contains 15 of the autonomous communities of Spain.
Occupying the central part of Spain, it possesses much greater resources and better interior and exterior communications than other parts of the country. To redress this imbalance, Spanish residents outside the peninsula receive a State subsidy for transport to and from the peninsula.[5]
These are the municipalities with the highest population:
- Madrid 3,207,247
- Barcelona 1,611,822
- Valencia 792,303
- Seville 700,169
- Zaragoza 682,004
- Málaga 568,479
- Murcia 438,246
- Bilbao 349,356
- Alicante 335,052
- Córdoba 328,704
See also
- País Vasco peninsular, the portion of the historic Basque Country located in Peninsular Spain
- Peninsulares, inhabitants of Spanish colonies born in Peninsular Spain
References
- ^ List of publications, Google
- ^ VV.AA (2009), De las naciones a las redes (En: From nations to networks). Barcelona: El cobre. pp. 38. ISBN 978-84-96501-56-0.
- ^ INE (National Statistical Institute) Annual Statistical Report 2006, Part 1: physical and environmental context
- ^ INE, 1 January 2013
- ^ El PP "garantiza" la subvención al transporte extrapeninsular pero tumba el blindaje de las ayudas, RTVE, 19 February 2013