Madrid - geography.

Madrid - geography. I INTRODUCTION Madrid, Spain Madrid, the largest city in Spain, is the country's capital as well as a financial center and a growing metropolis. The incorporation of industrial suburbs into the city's limits has increased Madrid's manufacturing base; it now competes with Barcelona for the status of Spain's main industrial center. Nigel Francis/Corbis - geography. Madrid, capital and largest city of Spain. It is also the capital of the autonomous region and province of Madrid. The city of Madrid is located in the historic region of New Castile near the geographic center of the Iberian Peninsula. Madrid is Spain's administrative, financial, and transportation center. The city is famous for its historical landmarks, museums, active street life, broad boulevards, and outdoor cafés. Madrid lies in an interior region that Spaniards call the heart of Spain. This region is divided in two by the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra de Gredos mountain ranges. The city has an area of 607 sq km (234 sq mi) and lies within a larger autonomous community and province, both also called Madrid, which make up the same area of 7995 sq km (3087 sq mi). The city of Madrid spreads over several rolling hills at the northern edge of New Castile. Its average elevation is about 640 m (about 2100 ft) above sea level. Until about 1960 the small Manzanares River marked the western and southern boundaries of the city, but since then urbanization has spread across the river. Once a greenbelt at the edge of Madrid, the river is now bordered by high-speed roads that provide motorists with access to the center of the city. Beyond the developed part of the city, which ends abruptly, Madrid is surrounded by farmland. Although Madrid lies as far north as New York City and Chicago, its weather is mild most of the year. Winters in Madrid are fairly temperate because the Gulf Stream brings warm ocean water along the western coast of Spain and Portugal, and prevailing winds pull warm air inland. It is rare for Madrid to have more than a trace of snow; the average temperature in January ranges from 2°C (35°F) to 9°C (47°F). In contrast, summers can be hot, with July temperatures ranging from 17°C (63°F) to 31°C (87°F). The summer heat is often lessened in the evenings by winds from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains. These same winds, however, can make winter weather seem colder. The yearly rainfall varies considerably, but it averages 460 mm (18 in), about the same as Tucson, Arizona. II MADRID AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA Puerta del Sol, Madrid Puerta del Sol is a busy, oblong plaza in Madrid, on the city's Calle Mayor (Main Street), and from which several streets and pedestrian walkways radiate. The name means "Gate of the Sun" in English and refers to a figure of the sun that once adorned a wall in the plaza. The government building on the south side of the plaza served as the city's post office in the 18th century. Its clock tower now rings in the New Year for the crowds that gather below it. Puerta del Sol also marks Spain's Kilometer 0, the point from which highway distances are measured. For this reason, Puerta del Sol is referred to as the center of Spain. © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. - geography. A The Old City Madrid's Plaza Mayor Built in the early 17th century, the Plaza Mayor was used for a variety of activities, including bullfights, executions during the Inquisition, and festivals. Today it is one of Madrid's main tourist attractions. Cesar Lucas/The Image Bank The traditional heart of Madrid is an area 3.9 sq km (1.5 sq mi). In 1656 King Philip IV had a city wall built around the area. Over the next 200 years the city grew through construction of taller buildings and the use of open land within the wall. The first major expansion outside the wall was to the east; this area, known as the Barrio de Salamanca, is still considered an exclusive neighborhood. Major plazas and monuments mark the old inner city. On the west side of the Manzanares River is a large park known as the Casa de Campo (Country House). Overlooking it is the Royal Palace. The palace stands on the site of the older Alcázar Palace, which began as a medieval fortress. In the early 1500s the Alcázar was used as a hunting lodge, and it was remodeled by King Philip II after he established Madrid as his capital city in 1561. The current palace was built from 1738 to 1765 after a massive fire destroyed the Alcázar. Today the Royal Palace stands as a huge, neoclassical monument to the Spanish monarchy in the 1700s. Sabatini Gardens, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain The city of Madrid, capital of Spain, is the home of many grand buildings, including the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). The Sabatini Gardens, on the grounds of the palace, are a classic example of a formal garden, or parterre, with shaped yews, shrubbery in geometric shapes, and a man-made pond with classical statuary. Tourist Office of Spain From the Royal Palace one can follow the old Calle Mayor (Main Street) a few blocks east to the equally imposing Plaza Mayor. Madrid has many plazas (large public squares lined with buildings), and the Plaza Mayor is one of the most notable. This plaza was built from 1617 to 1619 and served as the civic and economic center of Madrid until the end of the 19th century. It was used every day as a public market and was the scene of public ceremonies. It was also used as a bullring for royal festivals and held as many as 50,000 spectators. Now the Plaza Mayor is primarily a tourist center. A few blocks farther east along the Calle Mayor is the Puerta del Sol. Considered the center of Madrid, this plaza is the point from which distance is measured on highways leading away from the city. From the Puerta del Sol the main east-west route through the old city continues as the Calle de Alcalá. This street runs a few more blocks east to the Plaza de Cibeles and the nearby Puerta de Alcalá. The Plaza de Cibeles is named after a statue of Cybele, the Roman goddess of nature. In the 18th century King Charles III placed the statue at the plaza, regarded as the main entrance to Madrid. Today the plaza is marked by the immense central post office, which was built in the early 20th century. The Calle de Alcalá continues eastward from the old city, passing the Plaza de Toros (bullring), which can accommodate 25,000 spectators. Though once on the eastern edge of Madrid, the Plaza de Toros is now surrounded by the city. Running north-south from the Plaza de Cibeles is the most famous street of Madrid. The name of this tree-lined boulevard changes three times. The two oldest sections, the Paseo del Prado and the Paseo de Recoletos, made up the eastern edge of the city until it began to expand after 1850. The word prado means meadow or pasture in Spanish, and the area that is now the Paseo del Prado was an open meadow area until around 1740. Thereafter the Prado area was gradually developed into a combination of boulevards, walkways, and fountains lined with museums, libraries, and sidewalk cafés, as well as the royal Botanical Garden. The two older sections of the street are also near Madrid's Retiro Park. Retiro means resting place or retreat in Spanish. This park began as the gardens around a royal palace and in the 1770s it became a public park. The third section of the famous three-part street is the Paseo de la Castellana, which runs north from the old city and was extended several times as the city grew. This boulevard is lined by the skyscrapers and high-rise apartment buildings typical of Madrid's modern sections. B Surrounding Areas Most of Madrid's growth has happened during the 20th century. Unlike many American cities, Madrid had few separately governed suburban cities on its borders until the 1970s. Madrid's large and fast-growing metropolitan area incorporated towns and industrial suburbs that once were independent areas outside of the city. In 1975, when longtime authoritarian leader Francisco Franco died, this method of growth began to change. Since then the government has built superhighways and regional commuter railroads to encourage development of areas outside the city limits. This growth created an industrial axis extending eastward along the highway and railroad to Barcelona. During the 1960s and 1970s the towns of Vicalvaro, Canillejas, San Fe...