View source for Iberian Peninsula

{{Short description|Peninsula in southwestern Europe}}
{{Redirect|Iberia|other uses including the early mediaeval Caucasian kingdom|Iberia (disambiguation)|and|Iberian (disambiguation){{!}}Iberian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox peninsulas
| name               = Iberian Peninsula
| local_name         = {{Collapsible list|framestyle=border:none; padding:0 |liststyle=text-align:center; |titlestyle=background:transparent; text-align:center; font-size:9pt;
  |title = {{resize|9pt|Native names}}
  |1 = {{native name|es|Península Ibérica}}
  |2 = {{native name|pt|Península Ibérica}}
  |3 = {{native name|an|Peninsula Iberica}}
  |4 = {{native name|ast|Península Ibérica}}
  |5 = {{native name|eu|Iberiar Penintsula}}
  |6 = {{native name|ca|Península Ibèrica}}
  |7 = {{native name|en|Iberian Peninsula}}<!-- official in Gibraltar -->
  |8 = {{native name|ext|Península Ibérica}}
  |9 = {{native name|fr|Péninsule Ibérique}}
  |10 = {{native name|gl|Península Ibérica}}
  |11 = {{native name|mwl|Península Eibérica}}
  |12 = {{native name|fax|Península/Pinínsula Ibérica}}
  |13 = {{native name|oc|Peninsula Iberica}}

 }}
| image_name         = España y Portugal.jpg
| image_caption      = A satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula
| image_size         = 255px
| map_image          = Iberia (orthographic projection).svg
| location           = [[Europe]]
| coordinates        = {{Coord|40|30|N|4|00|W|scale:10000000|display=inline,title}}
| area_km2           = 583,254
| highest_mount      = [[Mulhacén]]
| elevation_m        = 3478
| country            = [[Iberian Peninsula#Political divisions|See below]]
| demonym            = Iberian
| population         = {{circa|56}} million<ref name="trivino" />
| ethnic_groups      = 
}}
The '''Iberian Peninsula''' ({{IPAc-en|IPA|aɪ|ˈ|b|ɪər|i|ə|n}} {{respell|eye|BEER|ee|ən}}),{{efn|In the local languages:
* {{langx|an|Peninsula Iberica}} {{IPA|an|peninˈsula iβeˈɾika|}}
* {{langx|ast|Península Ibérica}} {{IPA|ast|peˈninsula jˈβeɾika|}}
* {{langx|eu|Iberiar penintsula}} {{IPA|eu|iβeɾi.ar penints̺ula|}}
* {{langx|ca|Península Ibèrica}}, {{IPA|ca|pəˈninsulə iˈβɛɾikə|label=[[Eastern Catalan]]:}}
* {{langx|ext|Península Ibérica}} {{IPA|ext|peˈninsula jˈβeɾika|}}
* {{langx|fr|Péninsule Ibérique}} {{IPA|fr|penɛ̃syl ibeʁik|}}
* {{langx|gl|Península Ibérica}} {{IPA|gl|peˈninsʊlɐ iˈβɛɾikɐ|}}
* {{langx|mwl|Península Eibérica}} {{IPA|mwl|pɨˈnĩsulɐ ejˈβɛɾikɐ|}}
* {{langx|oc|Peninsula Iberica}} {{IPA|oc|peninˈsylɔ iβeˈɾikɔ, - ibeˈʀikɔ|}}
* {{langx|pt|Península Ibérica}} {{IPA|pt-PT|pɨˈnĩsulɐ iˈβɛɾikɐ|}}
* {{langx|es|Península Ibérica}} {{IPA|es|peˈninsula jˈβeɾika|}} (mostly rendered in lowercase as {{lang|es|península ibérica}}).}} also known as '''Iberia''',{{efn|In the local languages:
* {{langx|an|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|an|iˈβeɾja|}}
* {{langx|ast|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|ast|iˈβeɾja|}}
* {{langx|eu|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|eu|iβeɾi.a|}}
* {{langx|ca|Ibèria|links=no}}, {{IPA|ca|iˈβɛɾi.ə|label=Eastern Catalan:}}
* {{langx|ext|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|ext|iˈβeɾja|}}
* {{langx|fr|Ibérie|links=no}} {{IPA|fr|ibeʁi|}}
* {{langx|gl|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|gl|iˈβɛɾjɐ|}}
* {{langx|mwl|Eibéria|links=no}} {{IPA|mwl|ejˈβɛɾi.ɐ|}}
* {{langx|oc|Ibèria|links=no}} {{IPA|oc|iˈβɛɾi.ɔ, iˈbɛʀi.ɔ|}}
* {{langx|pt|Ibéria|links=no}} {{IPA|pt-PT|iˈβɛɾi.ɐ|}}
* {{langx|es|Iberia|links=no}} {{IPA|es|iˈβeɾja|}}.}} is a [[peninsula]] in south-western [[Europe]]. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the [[Pyrenees]], it includes the territories of [[Peninsular Spain]]{{efn|Thus, strictly speaking, leaving out the mainland Spanish territory of the [[Aran Valley]], in the northern Pyrenean watershed.<ref name="bp" />}} and [[Continental Portugal]], comprising most of the region, as well as the tiny adjuncts of [[Andorra]], [[Gibraltar]], and, pursuant to the traditional definition of the Pyrenees as the peninsula's northeastern boundary, a tiny part of [[France]].<ref name="bp">{{Cite book|year=2015|title=The Birds of the Iberian Peninsula|first1=Eduardo|last1=de Juana|first2=Ernest|last2=Garcia|isbn=978-1-4081-2480-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgIzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|page=9|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]}}</ref> With an area of approximately {{convert|583,254|km2|sqmi}},{{Sfn|Lorenzo-Lacruz|Vicente-Serrano|López-Moreno|González-Hidalgo|2011|p=2582}} and a population of roughly 56 million,<!-- This refers to the Peninsula: no archipelagos et. al. --><ref name="trivino">{{Cite journal|last1=Triviño|first1=María|last2=Kujala|first2=Heini|last3=Araújo|first3=Miguel B.|last4=Cabeza|first4=Mar|title=Planning for the future: identifying conservation priority areas for Iberian birds under climate change|url=https://www.academia.edu/36153813|journal=Landscape Ecology|year=2018|language=en|volume=33|issue=4|pages=659–673|doi=10.1007/s10980-018-0626-z|bibcode=2018LaEco..33..659T |hdl=10138/309558|s2cid=3699212|issn=0921-2973|hdl-access=free}}</ref> it is the second-largest European peninsula by area, after the [[Scandinavian Peninsula]].

==Etymology==
[[File:Sesars.svg|thumb|[[Northeastern Iberian script]] from [[Province of Huesca|Huesca]]]]
The Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the River [[Ebro]] (Ibēros in [[ancient Greek]] and Ibērus or Hibērus in [[Latin]]). The association was so well known it was hardly necessary to state. For example, Ibēria was the country "this side of the Ibērus" in Strabo. [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called "the whole of the peninsula" Hiberia because of the Hiberus River.<ref>III.3.21.</ref> 

The river appears in the [[Ebro Treaty]] of 226 BCE between Rome and Carthage, setting the limit of Carthaginian interest at the Ebro. The fullest description of the treaty, stated in [[Appian]],<ref>{{cite web|first=Horace|last=White|author2=Jona Lendering|title=Appian's History of Rome: The Spanish Wars (§§6–10)|url=https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_spain_02.html#%A77|publisher=livius.org|access-date=1 December 2008|pages=Chapter 7|archive-date=20 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220045731/http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_spain_02.html#%A77|url-status=dead}}</ref> uses Ibērus. With reference to this border, [[Polybius]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Polybius: The Histories: III.6.2|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/3*.html|publisher=Bill Thayer}}</ref> states that the "native name" is ''Ibēr'', apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin ''-os'' or ''-us'' termination.

The early range of these natives, which geographers and historians place from the present southern Spain to the present southern France along the Mediterranean coast, is marked by instances of a readable script expressing a yet unknown language, dubbed "[[Iberian language|Iberian]]". Whether this was the native name or was given to them by the Greeks for their residence near the Ebro remains unknown. Credence in Polybius imposes certain limitations on etymologizing: if the language remains unknown, the meanings of the words, including Iber, must also remain unknown. 

In modern [[basque language|Basque]], the word ''ibar''<ref name="Morris">[http://www1.euskadi.net/morris/dictionary.htm Morris Student Plus], Basque-English dictionary</ref> means "valley" or "watered meadow", while ''ibai''<ref name="Morris"/> means "river", but there is no proof connecting the names with ''Ebro'' or ''Iberia''.

===Greek name===
The word ''Iberia'' comes from the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|Hiberia}} originating from the [[Ancient Greek]] word {{lang|grc|Ἰβηρία}} ({{transliteration|grc|Ibēríā}}), used by Greek geographers under the rule of the [[Roman Empire]] to refer to what is known today in English as the Iberian Peninsula.<ref name="LyonsPapadopoulos2002">{{cite book|author1=Claire L. Lyons|author2=John K. Papadopoulos|title=The Archaeology of Colonialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xB7EZ9L7y-gC&pg=PA68|year=2002|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-635-4|pages=68–69}}</ref> At that time, the name did not describe a single geographical entity or a distinct population; the same name was used for the [[Kingdom of Iberia]], natively known as [[Kartli]] in the [[Caucasus]], the core region of what would later become the [[Kingdom of Georgia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Strabo|author-link=Strabo|title=Geographica|chapter=Book III Chapter 1 Section 6|quote=And also the other Iberians use an alphabet, though not letters of one and the same character, for their speech is not one and the same.|title-link=Geographica}}</ref> 

It was [[Strabo]] who first reported the delineation of {{transliteration|grc|Iberia}} from [[Gaul]] ({{transliteration|grc|Keltikē}}) by the [[Pyrenees]]<ref name="Ebel1976">{{cite book|author=Charles Ebel|title=Transalpine Gaul: The Emergence of a Roman Province|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbwUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA49|year=1976|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-04384-5|pages=48–49}}</ref> and included the entire land mass southwest (he says "west") from there.<ref name="Padrón2004">{{cite book|author=Ricardo Padrón|title=The Spacious Word: Cartography, Literature, and Empire in Early Modern Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/spaciouswordcart0000padr|url-access=registration|date=1 February 2004|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-64433-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/spaciouswordcart0000padr/page/252 252]}}</ref> With the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] and the consolidation of [[Romance languages]], the word "Iberia" continued the Roman word {{lang|la|Hiberia}} and the Greek word {{lang|grc|Ἰβηρία}}.

The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the [[Phoenicians]], by voyaging westward on the [[Mediterranean]].<ref name="WaldmanMason2006">{{cite book|author1=Carl Waldman|author2=Catherine Mason|title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&pg=PA404|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1|page=404}}</ref> [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] was the first known to use the term {{transliteration|grc|Iberia}}, which he wrote about {{circa|500 BCE}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Strabo|author-link=Strabo|others=Horace Leonard Jones (trans.) |title=The Geography|volume=II|date=1988|publisher=Bill Thayer|location=Cambridge|language=el, en|page=118, Note 1 on 3.4.19|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/3D*.html#note124}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] of Halicarnassus says of the [[Phocaea]]ns that "it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with [...] Iberia."<ref name="Herodotus1827">{{cite book|author=Herodotus|title=The nine books of the History of Herodotus, tr. from the text of T. Gaisford, with notes and a summary by P. E. Laurent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rledbh92a0QC&pg=PA75|year=1827|page=75}}</ref> According to [[Strabo]],<ref name="III.4.19">Geography III.4.19.</ref> prior historians used {{transliteration|grc|Iberia}} to mean the country "this side of the {{lang|grc|Ἶβηρος}} ({{transliteration|grc|Ibēros}}, the [[Ebro]]) as far north as the [[Rhône]], but in his day they set the [[Pyrenees]] as the limit. [[Polybius]] respects that limit,<ref>III.37.</ref> but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as [[Gibraltar]], with the Atlantic side having no name. Elsewhere<ref>III.17.</ref> he says that [[Sagunto|Saguntum]] is "on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia."

===Roman names===
{{main|Hispania}}
According to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use ''Hispania'' and ''Hiberia'' (Greek: ''Iberia'') as synonyms. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political and geographic perspectives. The Latin word ''Hiberia'', similar to the Greek ''Iberia'', literally translates to "land of the Hiberians". This word was derived from the river ''Hiberus'', now called [[Ebro]] or Ebre. ''Hiber'' (Iberian) was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro.<ref name="Ebel1976" /><ref name="Gaffiot1934">{{cite book|author=Félix Gaffiot|title=Dictionnaire illustré latin-français|url=https://archive.org/stream/FelixGaffiotDictionnaireIllustr.LatinFrancais/DictionnaireIllustr-Latin-Franais#page/n773/mode/2up|year=1934|publisher=Hachette|page=764}}</ref> The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet [[Ennius]] in 200 BCE.<ref name="Woolf2012">{{cite book|author=Greg Woolf|title=Rome: An Empire's Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wb13HpLmecgC&pg=PA18|date=8 June 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-997217-3|page=18|author-link=Greg Woolf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Berkshire Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJ4xAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Quintus%20Ennius%22|year=1965|publisher=Williams College|page=7}}</ref><ref name="Vega2003">{{cite book|author=Carlos B. Vega|title=Conquistadoras: Mujeres Heroicas de la Conquista de America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60n1RxTE94EC&pg=PA15|date=2 October 2003|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8208-5|page=15}}</ref> [[Virgil]] wrote ''impacatos (H)iberos'' ("restless Iberi") in his [[Georgics]].<ref name="Virgil1846">{{cite book|author=Virgil|title=The Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil|url=https://archive.org/details/ecloguesandgeor02virggoog|year=1846|publisher=Harper & Brothers|page=[https://archive.org/details/ecloguesandgeor02virggoog/page/n342 377]|isbn=9789644236174}}</ref> 

Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late [[Roman Republic]] called the entire peninsula ''[[Hispania]]''. In Greek and Roman antiquity, the name ''Hesperia'' was used for both the Italian and Iberian Peninsula. For the Iberian Peninsula, ''Hesperia Ultima'', referring to its position in the far west, appears as form of disambiguation from the former among Roman writers.{{Sfn|Vernet Pons|2014|p=307}} Since Roman antiquity, Jews gave the name ''[[Sepharad]]'' to the peninsula.{{Sfn|Vernet Pons|2014|p=297}}

As they became politically interested in the former Carthaginian territories, the Romans began to use the names ''Hispania Citerior'' and ''Hispania Ulterior'' for 'near' and 'far' Hispania. At the time Hispania was made up of three [[Roman province]]s: [[Hispania Baetica]], [[Hispania Tarraconensis]], and [[Hispania Lusitania]]. Strabo says<ref name="III.4.19"/> that the Romans use ''Hispania'' and ''Iberia'' synonymously, distinguishing between the ''near'' northern and the ''far'' southern provinces. The name ''Iberia'' was ambiguous, being also the name of the [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]] in the Caucasus.

Whatever languages may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the [[Vascones]], which was preserved as a [[language isolate]] by the barrier of the Pyrenees.

=== Modern name ===
The modern phrase "Iberian Peninsula" was coined by the French geographer [[Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent]] on his 1823 work ''"Guide du Voyageur en Espagne"''. Prior to that date, geographers had used the terms 'Spanish Peninsula' or 'Pyrenaean Peninsula'.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://age.ieg.csic.es/hispengeo/documentos/quirosbory.pdf |title=La contribución de Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846) al conocimiento geográfico de la Península Ibérica |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925133710/http://age.ieg.csic.es/hispengeo/documentos/quirosbory.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Prehistory==
{{Main|Prehistoric Iberia}}

===Palaeolithic===
The Iberian Peninsula has been inhabited by members of the ''[[Homo]]'' genus for at least 1.2&nbsp;million years as remains found in the sites in the [[Atapuerca Mountains]] demonstrate. Among these sites is the cave of [[Gran Dolina]], where six [[hominini|hominin]] skeletons, dated between 780,000 and one million years ago, were found in 1994. Experts have debated whether these skeletons belong to the species ''[[Homo erectus]]'', ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'', or a new species called ''[[Homo antecessor]]''.

Around 200,000 [[Before Present|BP]], during the [[Lower Paleolithic]] period, Neanderthals first entered the Iberian Peninsula. Around 70,000 BP, during the [[Middle Paleolithic]] period, the last glacial event began and the Neanderthal [[Mousterian]] culture was established. Around 37,000 BP, during the [[Upper Paleolithic]], the Neanderthal [[Châtelperronian]] cultural period began. Emanating from [[Southern France]], this culture extended into the north of the peninsula. It continued to exist until around 30,000 BP, when Neanderthal man faced extinction.

About 40,000 years ago, [[anatomically modern humans]] entered the Iberian Peninsula from across the Pyrenees. On the Iberian Peninsula, modern humans developed a series of different cultures, such as the [[Aurignacian]], [[Gravettian]], [[Solutrean]] and [[Magdalenian]] cultures, some of them characterized by the complex forms of the [[art of the Upper Paleolithic]].

===Neolithic===
During the [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic expansion]], various [[megalithic]] cultures developed in the Iberian Peninsula.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Rubricatum/article/viewFile/270071/357640 |title=Redes y expansión del Neolítico en la Península Ibérica |first=Bernat |last=Martí Oliver |year=2012 |access-date=1 September 2018 |journal=Rubricatum. Revista del Museu de Gavà |issue=5 |issn=1135-3791 |pages=549–553 |language=es |publisher=Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert}}</ref> An open seas navigation culture from the east Mediterranean, called the [[Cardium pottery|Cardium culture]], also extended its influence to the eastern coasts of the peninsula, possibly as early as the 5th millennium BCE. These people may have had some relation to the subsequent development of the [[Iberians|Iberian civilization]].

As is the case for most of the rest of Southern Europe, the principal ancestral origin of modern Iberians are [[Early European Farmers]] who arrived during the Neolithic. The large predominance of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R1b, common throughout [[Western Europe]], is testimony to a considerable input from various waves of (predominantly male) [[Western Steppe Herders]] from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] during the Bronze Age. Iberia experienced a significant genetic turnover, with 100% of the paternal ancestry and 40% of the overall ancestry being replaced by peoples with steppe-related ancestry.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olalde |first1=Iñigo |last2=Mallick |first2=Swapan |display-authors=1 |date=15 March 2019 |title=The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |volume=363 |issue=6432 |pages=1230–1234 |doi=10.1126/science.aav4040  |pmc=6436108 |pmid=30872528 |bibcode=2019Sci...363.1230O |ref={{harvid|Olalde et al.|2019}}}}</ref>

===Chalcolithic===
<!--[[File:Peña Escrita Fuencaliente (Ciudad Real).jpg|thumb|[[Iberian schematic art]] in Peña Escrita]]-->
[[File:Los Millares recreacion cuadro.jpg|thumb|A model recreating the Chalcolithic settlement of Los Millares]]
In the [[Chalcolithic]] ({{circa}}&nbsp;3000 BCE), a series of complex cultures developed that would give rise to the peninsula's [[first civilization]]s and to extensive exchange networks reaching to the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]], [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]. Around 2800 – 2700 BCE, the [[Beaker culture]], which produced the ''Maritime Bell Beaker'', probably originated in the vibrant copper-using communities of the [[Tagus]] estuary and spread from there to many parts of western Europe.<ref name=case>{{cite book|last=Case|first=H|title='Beakers and Beaker Culture' Beyond Stonehenge: Essays on the Bronze Age in honour of Colin Burgess|year=2007|publisher=Oxbow|location=Oxford|pages=237–254}}</ref>

===Bronze Age===
The Bronze Age began on the Iberian Peninsula in 2100 cal. BC according to radiocarbon datings of several key sites.

[[Bronze Age]] cultures developed beginning {{circa}}&nbsp;1800 BCE,<ref>{{cite book |title=Caminos hacia la complejidad: el Calcolítico en la región cantábrica |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSmCsApcrw8C&pg=PA72 |first=Roberto |last=Ontañón Peredo |publisher=[[Universidad de Cantabria]] |year=2003 |page=72 |isbn=9788481023466}}</ref> when the culture of [[Los Millares]] was followed by that of [[El Argar]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://gredos.usal.es/jspui/bitstream/10366/127681/1/Del_Calcolitico_al_Bronce_antiguo_en_el_.pdf |title=Del Calcolítico al Bronce antiguo en el Guadalquivir inferior. El cerro de San Juan (Coria del Río, Sevilla) y el 'Modelo de Reemplazo' |issn=0514-7336 |doi=10.14201/zephyrus2015761538 |first1=Daniel |last1=García Rivero |first2=José Luis |last2=Escacena Carrasco |date=July–December 2015 |access-date=1 September 2018 |journal=Zephyrus |volume=76 |publisher=[[Universidad de Salamanca]] |pages=15–38 |language=es|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www2.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/NOTICIAS/Recreacion_de_los_Millares.htm |first=Dra. Ana Mª |last=Vázquez Hoys |date=15 May 2005 |access-date=1 September 2018 |journal=Revista Terrae Antiqvae |language=es |title=Los Millares |publisher=[[UNED]] |editor-first=José Luis |editor-last=Santos |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522084636/https://www2.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/NOTICIAS/Recreacion_de_los_Millares.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the Early Bronze Age, southeastern Iberia saw the emergence of important settlements, a development that has compelled some archeologists to propose that these settlements indicate the advent of state-level social structures.<ref>{{Cite book|year=2019|title=The Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula. From the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age|page=227<!--227–292-->|doi=10.1017/9781316286340.007|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|first=Katina T.|last=Lillios|chapter=The Emergence of Ranked Societies. The Late Copper Age To Early Bronze Age (2,500 – 1,500 BCE)|series=Cambridge World Archaeology |isbn=978-1-107-11334-3 |s2cid=240899082}}</ref> From this centre, bronze metalworking technology spread to other cultures like the [[Bronze of Levante]], [[South-Western Iberian Bronze]] and [[Las Cogotas]].

Preceded by the Chalcolithic sites of Los Millares, the [[Argaric culture]] flourished in southeastern Iberia in from 2200 BC to 1550 BC,<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=From systems of power to networks of knowledge: the nature of El Argar culture (southeastern Iberia, c. 2200–1500 BC)|first=Borja|last=Legarra Herrero|pages=47–48|editor-first=Lin|editor-last=Foxhall|publisher=[[Oxbow Books]]|year=2021|location=Oxford|title=Interrogating Networks Investigating networks of knowledge in antiquity|isbn=978-1-78925-627-7}}</ref> when depopulation of the area ensued along with disappearing of copper–bronze–arsenic metallurgy.{{Sfn|Carrión|Fuentes|González-Sampériz|Sánchez-Quirante|2007|p=1472}} The most accepted model for El Argar has been that of an early state society, most particularly in terms of class division, exploitation, and coercion,<ref>{{Cite journal|pages=209–210|last=Chapman|first=R|year=2008|title=Producing Inequalities: Regional Sequences in Later Prehistoric Southern Spain|journal=[[Journal of World Prehistory]]|volume=21|issue=3–4|doi=10.1007/s10963-008-9014-y|s2cid=162289282 }}</ref> with agricultural production, maybe also human labour, controlled by the larger hilltop settlements,{{Sfn|Chapman|2008|pp=208–209}} and the elite using violence in practical and ideological terms to clamp down on the population.{{Sfn|Legarra Herrero|2021|p=52}} Ecological degradation, landscape opening, fires, pastoralism, and maybe tree cutting for mining have been suggested as reasons for the collapse.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]]|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.03.013|volume=26|year=2007|page=1472|title=Holocene environmental change in a montane region of southern Europe with a long history of human settlement|first1=J.S.|last1=Carrión|first2=N.|last2=Fuentes|first3=P.|last3=González-Sampériz|first4=L.|last4=Sánchez-Quirante|first5=J.C.|last5=Finlayson|first6=S.|last6=Fernández|first7=A.|last7=Andrade|issue=11–12 |bibcode=2007QSRv...26.1455C }}</ref>

The culture of the ''[[motillas]]'' developed an early system of groundwater supply plants (the so-called ''motillas'') in the upper [[Guadiana]] basin (in the southern ''meseta'') in a context of extreme aridification in the area in the wake of the [[4.2-kiloyear event|4.2-kiloyear climatic event]], which roughly  coincided with the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age. Increased precipitation and recovery of the water table from about 1800 BC onward should have led to the forsaking of the ''motillas'' (which may have flooded) and the redefinition of the relation of the inhabitants of the territory with the environment.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The hydrogeological and paleoclimatic factors in the Bronze Age Motillas Culture of La Mancha (Spain): the first hydraulic culture in Europe|first1=Luis Benítez de|journal=[[Hydrogeology Journal]]|year=2017|volume=25|doi=10.1007/s10040-017-1607-z|last1=Lugo Enrich|first2=Miguel|last2=Mejías|issue=7 |issn=1435-0157|page=1933; 1946|bibcode=2017HydJ...25.1931B |hdl=20.500.12468/512 |s2cid=134088522 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==Proto-history==
{{Main|Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[File:Iberia 300BC-en.svg|thumb|Iberia before the Carthaginian conquests {{circa|300 BCE}}.]]
[[File:Escrita sudoeste by Henrique Matos 002A.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.6|An instance of the [[Southwest Paleohispanic script]] inscribed in the Abóbada I stele.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Origin and development of the Paleohispanic scripts. the orthography and phonology of the Southwestern alphabet|first=Miguel|last=Valério|journal=Revista portuguesa de arqueologia|issn=0874-2782|volume=11|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3339686.pdf|issue=2|year=2008<!--|pages=107-138-->|pages=108–109}}</ref>]]

By the [[Iron Age]], starting in the 8th century BCE, the Iberian Peninsula consisted of complex agrarian and urban civilizations, either [[Pre-Celtic]] or Celtic (such as the [[Celtiberians]], [[Gallaeci]], [[Astures]], [[Celtici]], [[Lusitanians]] and others), the cultures of the [[Iberians]] in the eastern and southern zones and the cultures of the [[Aquitanian language|Aquitanian]] in the western portion of the Pyrenees.

As early as the 12th century BCE, the [[Phoenician civilization|Phoenicians]], a [[thalassocratic]] civilization originally from the Eastern Mediterranean, began to explore the coastline of the peninsula, interacting with the metal-rich communities in the southwest of the peninsula, contemporarily known as the semi-mythical [[Tartessos]].{{Sfn|Cunliffe|1995|p=15}} Around 1100 BCE, Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day [[Cádiz]]). Phoenicians established a permanent trading port in the Gadir colony {{Circa|800 BCE}} in response to the increasing demand of silver from the [[Assyrian Empire]].{{Sfn|Cunliffe|1995|p=16}}

The seafaring Phoenicians, [[ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]] successively settled along the Mediterranean coast and founded trading colonies there over several centuries. In the 8th century BCE, the first [[Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies|Greek colonies]], such as Emporion (modern [[Empúries]]), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the east, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians.

Together with the presence of Phoenician and Greek epigraphy, several [[paleohispanic scripts]] developed in the Iberian Peninsula along the 1st millennium BCE. The development of a primordial paleohispanic script antecessor to the rest of paleohispanic scripts (originally supposed to be a non-redundant [[semi-syllabary]]) derived from the [[Phoenician alphabet]] and originated in Southwestern Iberia by the 7th century BCE has been tentatively proposed.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/36/49/05ferrer.pdf|journal=Palaeohispanica|volume=17|year=2017|<!--55-94-->issn=1578-5386|title=El origen dual de las escrituras paleohispánicas: un nuevo modelo genealógico|first=Joan|last=Ferrer i Jané|page=58}}</ref>

In the sixth century BCE, the Carthaginians arrived in the peninsula while struggling with the Greeks for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova, modern-day [[Cartagena, Spain]].

==History==
===Roman rule===
{{See also|Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[File:Conquista Hispania.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula|Roman conquest]]: 220 BCE – 19 BCE]]

In 218 BCE, during the [[Second Punic War]] against the Carthaginians, the first [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] troops occupied the Iberian Peninsula, known to them as [[Hispania]]. After 197, the territories of the peninsula most accustomed to external contact and with the most urban tradition (the Mediterranean Coast and the Guadalquivir Valley) were divided by Romans into [[Hispania Ulterior]] and [[Hispania Citerior]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=A companion to the archaeology of the Roman Republic|editor-first=Jane =DeRose|editor-last=Evans|page=526|year=2013|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]]|isbn=978-1-4051-9966-7|chapter=Hispania: From the Roman Republic to the Reign of Augustus|first=Isabel|last=Rodá}}</ref> Local rebellions were quelled, with a 195 Roman campaign under Cato the Elder ravaging hotspots of resistance in the northeastern Ebro Valley and beyond.{{Sfn|Rodá|2013|p=526}} 

The threat to Roman interests posed by Celtiberians and Lusitanians in uncontrolled territories lingered on.{{Sfn|Rodá|2013|p=527}} Further wars of indigenous resistance, such as the [[Celtiberian Wars]] and the [[Lusitanian War]], were fought in the 2nd century. Urban growth took place, and population progressively moved from [[hillfort]]s to the plains.<ref>{{Cite web|page=197|title=Hispania en las provincias occidentales del imperio durante la república y el alto imperio: una pespectiva arqueológica|year=2009|first=Isabel|last=Rodá de Llanza|publisher=Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica|url=https://www.recercat.cat/bitstream/handle/2072/232531/icac_art_71.pdf?sequence=1}}</ref>

An example of the interaction of [[slaving]] and [[ecocide]], the aftermath of the conquest increased mining extractive processes in the southwest of the peninsula, which required a massive number of forced laborers, initially from Hispania and latter also from the [[Gaul|Gallic borderlands]] and other locations of the Mediterranean. This caused far-reaching environmental outcomes, vis-à-vis long-term global pollution records, with levels of [[atmospheric pollution]] from mining across the Mediterranean during Classical Antiquity having no match until the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gosner|first=L.|title=Extraction and empire: multi-scalar approaches to Roman mining communities and industrial landscapes in southwest Iberia|journal=[[Archaeological Review from Cambridge]]|volume=31|issue=2|year=2016|pages=125–126}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|first=Dan-el|last=Padilla Peralta|journal=Classica|issn=2176-6436|volume=33|issue=2|year=2020|title=Epistemicide: the Roman Case|author-link=Dan-el Padilla Peralta|pages=161–163}}</ref>

In addition to mineral extraction, of which the region was the leading supplier in the early Roman world, with production of the likes of gold, silver, copper, lead, and [[cinnabar]], Hispania also produced manufactured goods, such as [[Terra sigillata|sigillata]] pottery, [[glass|colourless glass]], [[linen]] garments. Rural products included fish and fish sauce ([[garum]]), and dry crops such as [[wheat]] and, more importantly, [[esparto]], [[olive oil]], and [[wine]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Roman Spain. Conquest and Assimilation|first=Leonard A.|last=Curchin|year=2014|orig-year=1991|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-74031-9|pages=136–153}}</ref>

The process of [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]] spurred on throughout the first century BC.{{Sfn|Rodá|2013|p=535}} The peninsula was also the battleground of civil wars between rulers of the Roman republic; such as the [[Sertorian War]], and the [[Caesar's civil war|conflict between Caesar and Pompey]] later in the century.{{Sfn|Rodá|2013|p=533; 536}}

During their 600-year occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, the Romans introduced the Latin language which developed into the languages of the Iberian peninsula today, with the exception of Basque.
{{see also|Lusitania|Hispania Tarraconensis|Hispania Baetica}}

=== Pre-modern Iberia ===
{{See also|Visigothic Kingdom|Al-Andalus|Spania|Kingdom of the Suebi}}
[[File:Iberia 560.svg|thumb|Germanic and Byzantine rule {{circa}}&nbsp;560]]
In the early fifth century, [[Germanic peoples]] occupied the peninsula, namely the [[Suebi]], the [[Vandals]] ([[Silingi]] and [[Hasdingi]]) and their allies, the [[Alans]]. Only the kingdom of the Suebi ([[Quadi]] and [[Marcomanni]]) would endure after the arrival of another wave of Germanic invaders, the [[Visigoths]], who occupied all of the Iberian Peninsula and expelled or partially integrated the Vandals and the Alans. The Visigoths eventually occupied the Suebi kingdom and its capital city, Bracara (modern day [[Braga]]), in 584–585. They would also occupy the [[Roman province|province]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] (552–624) of [[Spania]] in the south of the peninsula{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}. However, [[Balearic Islands]] remained in Byzantine hands until Umayyad conquest, which began in 703 CE and was completed in 902 CE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zavagno- |first=Luca |date=2020 |title="No Island is an Island": The Byzantine Mediterranean in The Early Middle Ages (600s-850s) |url=https://legendsjournal.com/files/legendsjournal_makale/a7e261f5-6105-4bd5-9fb3-3f0e163e7cad.pdf |journal=The Legends Avrupa Tarihi Çalışmaları Dergisi |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=57–80 |doi=10.29228/legends.44375 |s2cid=226576363 |issn=2718-0190}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cau Ontiveros |first1=Miguel Ángel |last2=Fantuzzi |first2=Leandro |last3=Tsantini |first3=Evanthia |last4=Mas Florit |first4=Catalina |last5=Chávez-Álvarez |first5=Esther |last6=Gandhi |first6=Ajay |date=2020-12-16 |title=Archaeometric characterization of water jars from the Muslim period at the city of Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca, Balearic Islands) |url=https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/7155 |journal=ArcheoSciences. Revue d'archéométrie |volume=44-1 |language=en |issue=44 |pages=7–17 |doi=10.4000/archeosciences.7155 |s2cid=234569616 |issn=1960-1360}}</ref>

{{Main|Al-Andalus|Reconquista}}
In 711, a [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Muslim army]] conquered the [[Visigoths|Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania]]. Under [[Tariq ibn Ziyad]], the Islamic army landed at Gibraltar and, in an eight-year campaign, occupied all except the northern kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula in the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]]. [[Al-Andalus]] ({{langx|ar|الإندلس}}, tr. ''al-ʾAndalūs'', possibly "Land of the Vandals"),<ref>{{cite book|title=Abraham Ibn Daud's Dorot 'Olam (Generations of the Ages): A Critical Edition and Translation of Zikhron Divrey Romi, Divrey Malkhey Yisra?el, and the Midrash on Zechariah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqNR6MqN8csC&pg=PA57|access-date=10 August 2013|date=7 June 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-24815-1|page=57}}</ref><ref name="Samsó1998">{{cite book|author=Julio Samsó|title=The Formation of Al-Andalus: History and society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3k9pAAAAMAAJ|access-date=10 August 2013|year=1998|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-86078-708-2|pages=41–42}}</ref> is the Arabic name given to Muslim Iberia. The Muslim conquerors were [[Arabs]] and [[Berbers]]; following the conquest, conversion and arabization of the Hispano-Roman population took place,{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=41–42}} (''muwalladum'' or ''[[Muladí]]'').{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=43}}<ref name="Fernández-Morera2016">{{cite book|author=Darío Fernández-Morera|title=The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJNgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT286|date=9 February 2016|publisher=Intercollegiate Studies Institute|isbn=978-1-5040-3469-2|page=286}}</ref> After a long process, spurred on in the 9th and 10th centuries, the majority of the population in Al-Andalus eventually converted to Islam.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=47}} The Muslims were referred to by the generic name ''[[Moors]]''.<ref name="Peters2009">{{cite book|author=F. E. Peters|title=The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume I: The Peoples of God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsafPfUjC6EC&pg=PA182|date=11 April 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2570-7|page=182}}</ref> The Muslim population was divided per ethnicity (Arabs, Berbers, Muladí), and the supremacy of Arabs over the rest of group was a recurrent causal for strife, rivalry and hatred, particularly between Arabs and Berbers.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=43–44}} Arab elites could be further divided in the Yemenites (first wave) and the Syrians (second wave).{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=45}} Christians and Jews were allowed to live as part of a stratified society under the [[Dhimmi|''dhimmah'' system]],{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=46}} although Jews became very important in certain fields.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=49}} Some Christians migrated to the Northern Christian kingdoms, while those who stayed in Al-Andalus progressively arabised and became known as ''musta'arab'' ([[mozarab]]s).{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=48}} The slave population comprised the ''[[Saqaliba|Ṣaqāliba]]'' (literally meaning "slavs", although they were slaves of generic European origin) as well as [[Sudan (region)|Sudanese]] slaves.{{Sfn|Marín-Guzmán|1991|p=50}}
[[File:Al Andalus & Christian Kingdoms.svg|thumb|Islamic rule: [[al-Andalus]] {{circa}}&nbsp;1000]]
The Umayyad rulers faced a major [[Berber Revolt]] in the early 740s; the uprising originally broke out in North Africa (Tangier) and later spread across the peninsula.{{Sfn|Flood|2019|p=20}} Following the [[Abbasid]] takeover from the Umayyads and the shift of the economic centre of the Islamic Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad, the western province of al-Andalus was marginalised and ultimately became politically autonomous as independent emirate in 756, ruled by one of the last surviving Umayyad royals, [[Abd al-Rahman I]].{{Sfn|Constable|1994|p=3}}
Al-Andalus became a center of culture and learning, especially during the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]]. The Caliphate reached the height of its power under the rule of [[Abd-ar-Rahman III]] and his successor [[al-Hakam II]], becoming then, in the view of [[Jaime Vicens Vives]], "the most powerful state in Europe".{{Sfn|Vicens Vives|1970|p=37}} Abd-ar-Rahman III also managed to expand the clout of Al-Andalus across the Strait of Gibraltar,{{Sfn|Vicens Vives|1970|p=37}} waging war, as well as his successor, against the [[Fatimid Empire]].{{Sfn|Safran|2000|p=38–42}}

Between the 8th and 12th centuries, Al-Andalus enjoyed a notable urban vitality, both in terms of the growth of the preexisting cities as well as in terms of founding of new ones: [[Córdoba (Spain)|Córdoba]] reached a population of 100,000 by the 10th century, [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] 30,000 by the 11th century and [[Seville]] 80,000 by the 12th century.{{Sfn|Ladero Quesada|2013|p=167}}

During the Middle Ages, the North of the peninsula housed many small Christian polities including the [[Kingdom of Castile]], the [[Kingdom of Aragon]], the [[Kingdom of Navarre]], the [[Kingdom of León]] or the [[Kingdom of Portugal]], as well as a number of counties that spawned from the Carolingian [[Marca Hispanica]]. Christian and Muslim polities fought and allied among themselves in variable alliances.{{efn|Christian forces were usually better armoured than their Muslim counterparts, with noble and non-noble ''milites'' and ''cavallers'' wearing [[Chain mail|mail]] [[hauberk]]s, separate [[mail coif]]s and metal helmets, and armed with [[Mace (bludgeon)|maces]], cavalry axes, sword and lances.<ref>{{cite book |title=Warfare in the Medieval World |date=2006 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=9781848846326}}</ref>}} The Christian kingdoms progressively expanded south taking over Muslim territory in what is historiographically known as the "[[Reconquista]]" (the latter concept has been however noted as product of the claim to a pre-existing Spanish Catholic nation and it would not necessarily convey adequately "the complexity of centuries of warring and other more peaceable interactions between Muslim and Christian kingdoms in medieval Iberia between 711 and 1492").{{Sfn|Cavanaugh|2016|p=4}}

[[File:Warriors embrace CSM 185 panel 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Two warriors embrace before the siege of Chincoya Castle (''[[Cantigas de Santa Maria]]'').]]

The Caliphate of Córdoba was subsumed in a period of upheaval and civil war (the [[Fitna of al-Andalus]]) and collapsed in the early 11th century, spawning a series of ephemeral statelets, the ''[[taifa]]s''. Until the mid 11th century, most of the territorial expansion southwards of the Kingdom of Asturias/León was carried out through a policy of agricultural colonization rather than through military operations; then, profiting from the feebleness of the taifa principalities, [[Ferdinand I of León]] seized Lamego and Viseu (1057–1058) and Coimbra (1064) away from the [[Taifa of Badajoz]] (at times at war with the [[Taifa of Seville]]);<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/3477507/la-reconquista-une-entreprise-geopolitique-complexe-carlos-laliena-corbera-philippe-senac|date=12 August 2018|title=La Reconquista, une entreprise géopolitique complexe|website=Atlantico.fr|first1=Laliena|last1= Corbera|first2=Philippe|last2=Sénac}}</ref>{{Sfn|García Fitz|Ayala Martínez|Alvira Cabrer|2018|p=83–84}} Meanwhile, in the same year Coimbra was conquered, in the Northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Aragon [[Crusade of Barbastro|took Barbastro]] from the Hudid [[Taifa of Lérida]] as part of an international expedition sanctioned by Pope Alexander II. Most critically, [[Alfonso VI of Castile|Alfonso VI of León-Castile]] conquered Toledo and its [[Taifa of Toledo|wider taifa]] in 1085, in what it was seen as a critical event at the time, entailing also a huge territorial expansion, advancing from the [[Sistema Central]] to [[La Mancha]].{{Sfn|García Fitz|Ayala Martínez|Alvira Cabrer|2018|p=84}} In 1086, following the siege of Zaragoza by Alfonso VI of León-Castile, the [[Almoravid]]s, religious zealots originally from the deserts of the Maghreb, landed in the Iberian Peninsula, and, having inflicted a serious defeat to Alfonso VI at the [[battle of Zalaca]], began to seize control of the remaining taifas.{{Sfn|Flood|2019|pp=87–88}}

The Almoravids in the Iberian peninsula progressively relaxed strict observance of their faith, and treated both Jews and Mozarabs harshly, facing uprisings across the peninsula, initially in the Western part.{{Sfn|O'Callaghan|1983|p=228}} The [[Almohad]]s, another North-African Muslim sect of Masmuda Berber origin who had previously undermined the Almoravid rule south of the Strait of Gibraltar,{{Sfn|O'Callaghan|1983|p=227}} first entered the peninsula in 1146.{{Sfn|O'Callaghan|1983|p=229}}

Somewhat straying from the trend taking place in other locations of the Latin West since the 10th century, the period comprising the 11th and 13th centuries was not one of weakening monarchical power in the Christian kingdoms.{{Sfn|Buresi|2011|p=5}} The relatively novel concept of "frontier" (Sp: ''frontera''), already reported in Aragon by the second half of the 11th century become widespread in the Christian Iberian kingdoms by the beginning of the 13th century, in relation to the more or less conflictual border with Muslim lands.{{Sfn|Buresi|2011|pp=2–3}}
[[File:MoorandChristianBattle.png|thumb|Moorish and Christian [[Reconquista]] battle, taken from ''The Cantigas de Santa María'']]
By the beginning of the 13th century, a power reorientation took place in the Iberian Peninsula (parallel to the Christian expansion in Southern Iberia and the increasing commercial impetus of Christian powers across the Mediterranean) and to a large extent, trade-wise, the Iberian Peninsula reorientated towards the North away from the Muslim World.{{Sfn|Constable|1994|p=2–3}}

During the Middle Ages, the monarchs of Castile and León, from [[Alfonso V of León|Alfonso V]] and [[Alfonso VI of León and Castile|Alfonso VI]] (crowned ''Hispaniae Imperator'') to [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso X]] and [[Alfonso XI of Castile|Alfonso XI]] tended to embrace an imperial ideal based on a dual Christian and Jewish ideology.{{Sfn|Rodrigues|2011|p=7}} Despite the hegemonic ambitions of its rulers and the consolidation of the union of Castile and León after 1230, it should be pointed that, except for a brief period in the 1330s and 1340s, Castile tended to be nonetheless "essentially unstable" from a political standpoint until the late 15th century.{{Sfn|Ruiz|2021|pp=88; 99}}

Merchants from Genoa and Pisa were conducting an intense trading activity in Catalonia already by the 12th century, and later in Portugal.{{Sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=49}} Since the 13th century, the [[Crown of Aragon]] expanded overseas; led by [[Catalans]], it attained an overseas empire in the Western Mediterranean, with a presence in Mediterranean islands such as the [[Balearics]], [[Sicily]] and [[Sardinia]], and even conquering Naples in the mid-15th century.{{Sfn|Gillespie|2000|p=1}} Genoese merchants invested heavily in the Iberian commercial enterprise with Lisbon becoming, according to [[Virgínia Rau]], the "great centre of Genoese trade" in the early 14th century.{{Sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=49–50}} The Portuguese would later detach their trade to some extent from [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] influence.{{Sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=49}} The [[Nasrid Kingdom of Granada]], neighbouring the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] and founded upon a [[Vassal state|vassalage]] relationship with the Crown of Castile,{{Sfn|Fábregas García|2006|p=1616}} also insinuated itself into the European mercantile network, with its ports fostering intense trading relations with the Genoese as well, but also with the Catalans, and to a lesser extent, with the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Portuguese.{{Sfn|Fábregas García|2006|p=16–17}}

Between 1275 and 1340, Granada became involved in the "crisis of the Strait", and was caught in a complex geopolitical struggle ("a kaleidoscope of alliances") with multiple powers vying for dominance of the Western Mediterranean, complicated by the unstable relations of Muslim Granada with the [[Marinid Sultanate]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gillespie|2000|p=4}}; {{Harvnb|Albarrán|2018|p=37}}</ref> The conflict reached a climax in the 1340 [[Battle of Río Salado]], when, this time in alliance with Granada, the Marinid Sultan (and Caliph pretender) [[Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman]] made the last Marinid attempt to set up a power base in the Iberian Peninsula. The lasting consequences of the resounding Muslim defeat to an alliance of Castile and Portugal with naval support from Aragon and Genoa ensured Christian supremacy over the Iberian Peninsula and the preeminence of Christian fleets in the Western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Muñoz Bolaños|2012|p=154}}
[[File:FraMauroMapSpainPortugalNorthenAfrica.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Map of the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa (inverted) by [[Fra Mauro]] (ca. 1450)]]
The [[Black Death|1348–1350 bubonic plague]] devastated large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, leading to a sudden economic cessation.{{sfn|Ruiz|2017|p=18}} Many settlements in northern Castile and Catalonia were left forsaken.{{Sfn|Ruiz|2017|p=18}} The plague marked the start of the hostility and downright violence towards religious minorities (particularly the Jews) as an additional consequence in the Iberian realms.{{Sfn|Ruiz|2017|p=19}}

The 14th century was a period of great upheaval in the Iberian realms. After the death of [[Peter of Castile|Peter the Cruel of Castile]] (reigned 1350–69), the [[House of Trastámara]] succeeded to the throne in the person of Peter's half brother, [[Henry II of Castile|Henry II]] (reigned 1369–79). In the kingdom of Aragón, following the death without heirs of [[John I of Aragon|John I]] (reigned 1387–96) and [[Martin of Aragon|Martin I]] (reigned 1396–1410), a prince of the House of Trastámara, [[Ferdinand I of Aragon|Ferdinand I]] (reigned 1412–16), succeeded to the Aragonese throne.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekH7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT417|title=A History of Europe: From 1378 to 1494|first=W. T.|last=Waugh|date=14 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=9781317217022}}</ref> The [[Hundred Years' War]] also spilled over into the Iberian peninsula, with Castile particularly taking a role in the conflict by providing key naval support to France that helped lead to that nation's eventual victory.{{Sfn|Phillips|1996|p=424}} After the accession of [[Henry III of Castile|Henry III]] to the throne of Castile, the populace, exasperated by the preponderance of Jewish influence, perpetrated a massacre of Jews at Toledo. In 1391, mobs went from town to town throughout Castile and Aragon, killing an estimated 50,000 Jews,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zese2C-fDTEC&pg=PA118|title=Teaching Jewish History|first1=Julia Phillips|last1=Berger|first2=Sue Parker|last2=Gerson|date=30 September 2006|publisher=Behrman House, Inc|isbn=9780867051834|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6uK5pa3R4d8C&pg=PA205|title=Codex Judaica: Chronological Index of Jewish History, Covering 5,764 Years of Biblical, Talmudic & Post-Talmudic History|first=Máttis|last=Kantor|date=30 September 2005|publisher=Zichron Press|isbn=9780967037837|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXq3AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA222|title=Why Me God: A Jewish Guide for Coping and Suffering|first=Lisa|last=Aiken|date=1 February 1997|publisher=Jason Aronson, Incorporated|isbn=9781461695479|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA166|title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume I: Overviews and Topics; Volume II: Diaspora Communities|first1=Melvin|last1=Ember|first2=Carol R.|last2=Ember|first3=Ian|last3=Skoggard|date=30 November 2004|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780306483219|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Gilbert|2003|p=46}}; {{Harvnb|Schaff|2013}}</ref> or even as many as 100,000, according to [[Jane Gerber]].{{Sfn|Gerber|1994|p=113}} Women and children were sold as slaves to Muslims, and many synagogues were converted into churches. According to [[Hasdai Crescas]], about 70 Jewish communities were destroyed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Anti-Jewish Riots in the Crown of Aragon and the Royal Response, 1391–1392 |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107164512 |page=19}}</ref>

During the 15th century, Portugal, which had ended its southwards territorial expansion across the Iberian Peninsula in 1249 with the conquest of the Algarve, initiated an overseas expansion in parallel to the rise of the [[House of Aviz]], [[Conquest of Ceuta|conquering Ceuta]] (1415) arriving at [[Porto Santo Island|Porto Santo]] (1418), [[Madeira Island|Madeira]] and the [[Azores]], as well as establishing additional outposts along the North-African Atlantic coast.{{Sfn|Gloël|2017|p=55}} In addition, already in the Early Modern Period, between the completion of the Granada War in 1492 and the death of Ferdinand of Aragon in 1516, the [[Hispanic Monarchy (political entity)|Hispanic Monarchy]] would make strides in the imperial expansion along the Mediterranean coast of the Maghreb.{{Sfn|Escribano Páez|2016|pp=189–191}}
During the Late Middle Ages, the [[History of the Jews in Spain|Jews]] acquired considerable power and influence in Castile and Aragon.{{sfn|Llorente|1843|p=19}}

Throughout the late Middle Ages, the Crown of Aragon took part in the mediterranean slave trade, with [[Barcelona]] (already in the 14th century), [[Valencia]] (particularly in the 15th century) and, to a lesser extent, [[Palma de Mallorca]] (since the 13th century), becoming dynamic centres in this regard, involving chiefly eastern and Muslim peoples.{{Sfn|González Arévalo|2019|pp=16–17}} Castile engaged later in this economic activity, rather by adhering to the incipient atlantic slave trade involving sub-saharan people thrusted by Portugal (Lisbon being the largest slave centre in Western Europe) since the mid 15th century, with Seville becoming another key hub for the slave trade.{{Sfn|González Arévalo|2019|pp=16–17}} Following the advance in the conquest of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, the seizure of [[Málaga]] entailed the addition of another notable slave centre for the Crown of Castile.{{Sfn|González Arévalo|2019|p=16}}

By the end of the 15th century (1490) the Iberian kingdoms (including here the Balearic Islands) had an estimated population of 6.525&nbsp;million (Crown of Castile, 4.3&nbsp;million; Portugal, 1.0&nbsp;million; Principality of Catalonia, 0.3&nbsp;million; Kingdom of Valencia, 0.255&nbsp;million; Kingdom of Granada, 0.25&nbsp;million; Kingdom of Aragon, 0.25&nbsp;million; Kingdom of Navarre, 0.12&nbsp;million and the Kingdom of Mallorca, 0.05&nbsp;million).{{Sfn|Ladero Quesada|2013|p=180}}

For three decades in the 15th century, the ''Hermandad de las Marismas'', the trading association formed by the ports of Castile along the Cantabrian coast, resembling in some ways the [[Hanseatic League]], fought against the latter,{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} an ally of England, a rival of Castile in political and economic terms.{{Sfn|González Sánchez|2013|p=350}} Castile sought to claim the [[Gulf of Biscay]] as its own.{{Sfn|González Sánchez|2013|p=347}} In 1419, the powerful Castilian navy [[Battle of La Rochelle (1419)|thoroughly defeated a Hanseatic fleet in La Rochelle]].{{Sfn|Phillips|1996|p=424}}{{Sfn|González Sánchez|2013|p=347}}

In the late 15th century, the imperial ambition of the Iberian powers was pushed to new heights by the [[Catholic Monarchs]] in Castile and Aragon, and by [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] in Portugal.{{Sfn|Rodrigues|2011|p=7}}

{{See also|Massacre of 1391}}
[[File:Reinos Antiguo Régimen.svg|thumb|Iberian Kingdoms in 1400]]
The last Muslim stronghold, [[Emirate of Granada|Granada]], was conquered by a combined Castilian and Aragonese force in 1492. As many as 100,000 Moors died or were enslaved in the military campaign, while 200,000 fled to North Africa.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religious Refugees in the Early Modern World: An Alternative History of the Reformation |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107024564 |page=108}}</ref> Muslims and Jews throughout the period were variously tolerated or shown intolerance in different Christian kingdoms. After the [[Granada War#Last stand at Granada|fall of Granada]], all Muslims and Jews were ordered to convert to Christianity or face expulsion—as many as 200,000 Jews were [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expelled from Spain]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia |isbn=9780753457849 |page=[https://archive.org/details/kingfisherhistor00edit/page/201 201] |url=https://archive.org/details/kingfisherhistor00edit/page/201 |year=2004 |publisher=Kingfisher }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gw8EZypTqekC&pg=PA180|title=True Jew: Challenging the Stereotype|first=Bernard|last=Beck|date=30 September 2012|publisher=Algora Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780875869032}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/expulsionofjews00stro|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/expulsionofjews00stro/page/9 9]|title=The Expulsion of the Jews: Five Hundred Years of Exodus|first=Yale|last=Strom|date=30 September 1992|publisher=SP Books|via=Archive.org|isbn=9781561710812}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAAjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT199|title=Dreams Deferred: A Concise Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Movement to Boycott Israel|first=CARY R.|last=NELSON|date=11 July 2016|publisher=Indiana University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780253025180}}</ref> Approximately 3,000,000 Muslims fled or were driven out of Spain between 1492 and 1610.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Islamic Encounters |url=https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/islamic/pages/spain.html |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=www.brown.edu |publisher=[[Brown University]] |quote=Between 1492 and 1610, some 3,000,000 Muslims voluntarily left or were expelled from Spain, resettling in North Africa. |archive-date=13 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713195143/https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/islamic/pages/spain.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Historian Henry Kamen estimates that some 25,000 Jews died en route from Spain.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PLKS69FKHkYC&pg=PA74|title=Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews|first=David Martin|last=Gitlitz|date=30 September 2002|publisher=UNM Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780826328137}}</ref> The Jews were also [[Expulsion of the Jews from Sicily|expelled from Sicily]] and Sardinia, which were under Aragonese rule, and an estimated 37,000 to 100,000 Jews left.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Jewish Time Line Encyclopedia: A Year-by-Year History From Creation to the Present |publisher=Jason Aronson, Incorporated |isbn=9781461631491 |page=178|date=December 1993 }}</ref>

In 1497, King [[Manuel I of Portugal]] forced all Jews in his kingdom to convert or leave. That same year he [[Persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of Portugal|expelled]] all Muslims that were not slaves,<ref>{{cite book |title=Latin America in Colonial Times |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108416405 |page=27}}</ref> and in 1502 the [[Catholic Monarchs]] followed suit, imposing the choice of [[Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain|conversion to Christianity]] or exile and loss of property. Many Jews and Muslims fled to [[North Africa]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]], while others publicly converted to Christianity and became known respectively as [[Marrano]]s and [[Morisco]]s (after the old term ''Moors'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eLFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|title=A Concise Survey of Western Civilization: Supremacies and Diversities throughout History|first=Brian A.|last=Pavlac|date=19 February 2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442237681|via=Google Books}}</ref> However, many of these continued to practice their religion in secret. The Moriscos revolted several times and were ultimately [[expulsion of the Moriscos|forcibly expelled]] from Spain in the early 17th century. From 1609 to 1614, over 300,000 Moriscos were sent on ships to North Africa and other locations, and, of this figure, around 50,000 died resisting the expulsion, and 60,000 died on the journey.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwAmCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA622|title=Notes on Entering Deen Completely: Islam as its followers know it|first=Talib|last=Jaleel|date=11 July 2015|publisher=EDC Foundation|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Majid |first=Anouar |url= |title=We are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities |title-link=We Are All Moors |date=30 September 2009 |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |isbn=9780816660797 }}</ref>

A series of case studies by the [[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] at [[Harvard University]] demonstrated that the change of relative supremacy from Portugal to the [[Hispanic Monarchy (political entity)|Hispanic Monarchy]] in the late 15th century was one of the few cases of avoidance of the [[Thucydides Trap]].<ref name="Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs 1939 l047">{{cite web | title=Special Initiative: Thucydides Trap | website=Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs | date=September 3, 1939 | url=https://www.belfercenter.org/thucydides-trap/case-file | access-date=January 12, 2024 | archive-date=5 July 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705234915/https://www.belfercenter.org/thucydides-trap/case-file | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Modern Iberia===
[[File:La Expulsión en el Puerto de Denia. Vicente Mostre.jpg|thumb|right|Expelling of the moriscos in the Port of Denia]]
Challenging the conventions about the advent of modernity, [[Immanuel Wallerstein]] pushed back the origins of the capitalist modernity to the Iberian expansion of the 15th century.{{sfn|el-Ojeili|2015|p=4}} During the 16th century Spain created a vast empire in the Americas, with a state monopoly in [[Seville]] becoming the center of the ensuing transatlantic trade, based on [[bullion]].{{Sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=169–170}} Iberian imperialism, starting by the Portuguese establishment of routes to Asia and the posterior transatlantic trade with the New World by Spaniards and Portuguese (along Dutch, English and French), precipitated the economic decline of the [[Italian Peninsula]].{{Sfn|O'Brien|Prados de la Escosura|1998|p=37–38}} The 16th century was one of population growth with increased pressure over resources;{{sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=116–117}} in the case of the Iberian Peninsula a part of the population moved to the Americas meanwhile Jews and Moriscos were banished, relocating to other places in the Mediterranean Basin.{{sfn|Wallerstein|2011|p=117}} Most of the Moriscos remained in Spain after the [[Morisco revolt]] in Las Alpujarras during the mid-16th century, but roughly 300,000 of them [[Expulsion of the Moriscos|were expelled from the country]] in 1609–1614, and emigrated ''en masse'' to North Africa.{{Sfn|Liang|Balbale|Devereux|Gómez-Rivas|2013|p=23}}
[[File:Chafariz d’El-Rey, c. 1570-80 (Colecção Berardo).png|thumb|right|An anonymous picture depicting Lisbon, the centre of the slave trade, by the late 16th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Halikowski Smith|first=Stefan|year=2018|title=Lisbon in the sixteenth century: decoding the Chafariz d'el Rei|journal=[[Race & Class]]|volume=60|issue=2|doi=10.1177/0306396818794355|pages=1–19|s2cid=220080922|url=https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa45477}}</ref>]]
In 1580, after the political crisis that followed the 1578 death of King [[Sebastian of Portugal|Sebastian]], Portugal became a dynastic composite entity of the Hapsburg Monarchy; thus, the whole peninsula was united politically during the period known as the [[Iberian Union]] (1580–1640). During the reign of [[Philip II of Spain]] (I of Portugal), the Councils of Portugal, Italy, Flanders and Burgundy were added to the group of counselling institutions of the Hispanic Monarchy, to which the Councils of Castile, Aragon, Indies, Chamber of Castile, Inquisition, Orders, and Crusade already belonged, defining the organization of the Royal court that underpinned the [[Polysynodial System]] through which the empire operated.{{Sfn|Barrios|2015|p=52}} During the Iberian union, the "first great wave" of the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]] happened, according to [[Enriqueta Vila Villar]], as new markets opened because of the unification gave thrust to the slave trade.{{sfn|Nemser|2018|p=117}}

By 1600, the percentage of urban population for Spain was roughly 11.4%, while for Portugal the urban population was estimated as 14.1%, which were both above the 7.6% European average of the time (edged only by the Low Countries and the Italian Peninsula).{{Sfn|Gelabert|1994|p=183}} Some striking differences appeared among the different Iberian realms. Castile, extending across a 60% of the territory of the peninsula and having 80% of the population was a rather urbanised country, yet with a widespread distribution of cities.{{Sfn|Gelabert|1994|p=183–184}} Meanwhile, the urban population in the [[Crown of Aragon]] was highly concentrated in a handful of cities: [[Zaragoza]] ([[Kingdom of Aragon]]), [[Barcelona]] ([[Principality of Catalonia]]), and, to a lesser extent in the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], in [[Valencia]], [[Alicante]] and [[Orihuela]].{{Sfn|Gelabert|1994|p=183–184}} The case of Portugal presented an hypertrophied capital, [[Lisbon]] (which greatly increased its population during the 16th century, from 56,000 to 60,000 inhabitants by 1527, to roughly 120,000 by the third quarter of the century) with its demographic dynamism stimulated by the Asian trade,{{sfn|Miranda|2017|p=75–76}} followed at great distance by [[Porto]] and [[Évora]] (both roughly accounting for 12,500 inhabitants).{{sfn|Miranda|2017|p=76}} Throughout most of the 16th century, both Lisbon and [[Seville]] were among the Western Europe's largest and most dynamic cities.{{Sfn|O'Flanagan|2008|p=18}}
[[Image:Francisco rizi-auto de fe.jpg|thumb|right|[[Spanish Inquisition]]'s ''[[auto-da-fé]]'' held in the [[Plaza Mayor, Madrid]] in 1680]]
[[File:Balaca-Battle of Almansa.jpg|thumb|The [[battle of Almansa]] was the decisive battle in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]]]

The 17th century has been largely considered as a very negative period for the Iberian economies, seen as a time of recession, crisis or even decline,{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|p=418}} the urban dynamism chiefly moving to Northern Europe.{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|p=418}} A dismantling of the inner city network in the Castilian plateau took place during this period (with a parallel accumulation of economic activity in the capital, [[Madrid]]), with only [[New Castile (Spain)|New Castile]] resisting recession in the interior.{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|pp=421; 423}} Regarding the Atlantic façade of Castile, aside from the severing of trade with Northern Europe, inter-regional trade with other regions in the Iberian Peninsula also suffered to some extent.{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|p=424}} In Aragon, suffering from similar problems than Castile, the expelling of the Moriscos in 1609 in the Kingdom of Valencia aggravated the recession. Silk turned from a domestic industry into a raw commodity to be exported.{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|p=425–426}} However, the crisis was uneven (affecting longer the centre of the peninsula), as both Portugal and the Mediterranean coastline recovered in the later part of the century by fuelling a sustained growth.{{Sfn|Yun Casalilla|2019|p=428–429}}

The aftermath of the intermittent [[Portuguese Restoration War|1640–1668 Portuguese Restoration War]] brought the [[House of Braganza]] as the new ruling dynasty in the Portuguese territories across the world (bar [[Ceuta]]), putting an end to the Iberian Union.

{{See also|History of Andorra|History of Gibraltar|History of Portugal|History of Spain|History of France}}

Despite both Portugal and Spain starting their path towards modernization with the liberal revolutions of the first half of the 19th century, this process was, concerning structural changes in the geographical distribution of the population, relatively tame compared to what took place after World War II in the Iberian Peninsula, when strong urban development ran in parallel to substantial [[rural flight]] patterns.{{Sfn|Silveira|Alves|Painho|Costa|2013|p=172}}

==Geography and geology==
{{Main|Geography of Spain|Geography of Portugal|Geography of Andorra}}

[[File:MapaTopográficoPenínsulaIbérica.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|A topographic map of the Iberian Peninsula]]
The Iberian Peninsula is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, [[Italian Peninsula|Italian]], and [[Balkans|Balkan]].{{sfn|Sánchez Blanco|1988|pp=21–32}} It forms the westernmost portion of the larger [[Eurasia]]n landmass. It is bordered on the southeast and east by the [[Mediterranean Sea]], and on the north, west, and southwest by the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The [[Pyrenees]] mountains are situated along the northeast edge of the peninsula, where it adjoins the rest of Europe. Its southern tip, located in [[Tarifa]] is the southernmost point of the European continent and is very close to the northwest coast of Africa, separated from it by the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] and the [[Mediterranean Sea]].

The Iberian Peninsula encompasses 583,254&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> and has very contrasting and uneven topograph.{{Sfn|Lorenzo-Lacruz|Vicente-Serrano|López-Moreno|González-Hidalgo|2011|p=2582}} The mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula are mainly distributed from west to east, and in some cases reach altitudes of approximately 3,000 [[Height above sea level|mamsl]], resulting in the region having the second highest mean altitude (637 mamsl) in [[Western Europe]].{{Sfn|Lorenzo-Lacruz|Vicente-Serrano|López-Moreno|González-Hidalgo|2011|p=2582}}

The Iberian Peninsula extends from the southernmost extremity at [[Punta de Tarifa]] to the northernmost extremity at [[Punta de Estaca de Bares]] over a distance between lines of latitude of about {{convert|865|km|mi|abbr=on}} based on a [[Latitude#Degree length|degree length]] of {{convert|111|km|mi|abbr=on}} per degree, and from the westernmost extremity at [[Cabo da Roca]] to the easternmost extremity at [[Cap de Creus]] over a distance between lines of longitude at [[40th parallel north|40° N latitude]] of about {{convert|1155|km|mi|abbr=on}} based on an estimated degree length of about {{convert|90|km|mi|abbr=on}} for that latitude. The irregular, roughly octagonal shape of the peninsula contained within this spherical [[Quadrangle (geography)|quadrangle]] was compared by the ancient geographer [[Strabo]] to an ox-hide.<ref>III.1.3.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" width ="60%" border = 2 align="center" style="margin: auto;"
|-
| width ="30%" align="center" |
| width ="40%" align="center" | [[Punta de Estaca de Bares]]<br />{{small|({{Coord|43|47|38|N|7|41|17|W|display=inline}})}}
| width ="30%" align="center" |
|-
| width ="30%" align="center" | [[Cabo da Roca]]<br />{{small|({{Coord|38|46|51|N|9|29|54|W|display=inline}})}}
| width ="40%" align="center" | [[File:Compass rose simple.svg|75px]]
| width ="30%" align="center" | [[Cap de Creus]]<br />{{small|({{Coord|42|19|09|N|3|19|19|E|display=inline}})}}
|-
| width ="30%" align="center" |
| width ="40%" align="center" | [[Punta de Tarifa]]<br />{{small|({{Coord|36|00|15|N|5|36|37|W|display=inline}})}}
| width ="10%" align="center" |
|}

About three quarters of that rough octagon is the [[Meseta Central]], a vast plateau ranging from 610 to 760 m in altitude.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fischer|first=T|year=1920|contribution=The Iberian Peninsula: Spain|editor-last=Mill|editor-first=Hugh Robert|title=The International Geography|location=New York and London|publisher=D. Appleton and Company|pages=368–377|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyUbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA368}}</ref> It is located approximately in the centre, staggered slightly to the east and tilted slightly toward the west. The conventional centre of the Iberian Peninsula has long been considered [[Getafe]] just south of [[Madrid]]. It is ringed by mountains and contains the sources of most of the rivers, which find their way through gaps in the mountain barriers on all sides.

===Coastline===
[[File:Iberia Europe satfoto 2014067.jpg|thumb|The Iberian Peninsula and Southern France, satellite photo on a cloudless day in March 2014]]
The coastline of the Iberian Peninsula is {{convert|3313|km|mi|abbr=on}}, {{convert|1660|km|mi|abbr=on}} on the Mediterranean side and {{convert|1653|km|mi|abbr=on}} on the Atlantic side.<ref>These figures sum the figures given in the Wikipedia articles on the geography of Spain and Portugal. Most figures from Internet sources on Spain and Portugal include the coastlines of the islands owned by each country and thus are not a reliable guide to the coastline of the peninsula. Moreover, the length of a coastline may vary significantly depending on where and how it is measured.</ref> The coast has been inundated over time, with sea levels having risen from a minimum of {{convert|115|-|120|m|ft|abbr=on}} lower than today at the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] (LGM) to its current level at 4,000 years [[Before Present|BP]].<ref>{{cite book|page=305|contribution=Evolution of groundwater systems at the European coastline|first=WM|last=Edmunds|author2=K Hinsby |author3=C Marlin |author4=MT Condesso de Melo |author5=M Manyano |author6=R Vaikmae |author7= Y Travi |title=Palaeowaters in Coastal Europe: Evolution of Groundwater Since the Late Pleistocene|editor1-first=W. M.|editor1-last=Edmunds|editor2-first=C. J.|editor2-last=Milne|publisher=Geological Society|year=2001|location=London|isbn=1-86239-086-X}}</ref> 

The coastal shelf created by sedimentation during that time remains below the surface. It was never very extensive on the Atlantic side, as the continental shelf drops rather steeply into the depths. An estimated {{convert|700|km|mi|abbr=on}} length of Atlantic shelf is only {{convert|10|-|65|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide. At the {{convert|500|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[isobath]], on the edge, the shelf drops off to {{convert|1000|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite book| contribution=Iberian Peninsula – Atlantic Coast|title=An Atlas of Oceanic Internal Solitary Waves| date=February 2004|publisher=Global Ocean Associates|url=http://www.internalwaveatlas.com/Atlas2_PDF/IWAtlas2_Pg087_IberianPeninsula.pdf|access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

The submarine topography of the coastal waters of the Iberian Peninsula has been studied extensively in the process of drilling for oil. Ultimately, the shelf drops into the [[Bay of Biscay]] on the north (an abyss), the Iberian abyssal plain at {{convert|4800|m|ft|abbr=on}} on the west, and Tagus abyssal plain to the south. In the north, between the continental shelf and the abyss, is an extension called the Galicia Bank, a plateau that contains the Porto, Vigo, and Vasco da Gama [[seamount]]s, which form the Galicia interior basin. The southern border of these features is marked by [[Nazaré Canyon]], which splits the continental shelf and leads directly into the abyss.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

===Rivers===
[[File:Douro estuary.jpg|thumb|Discharge of the [[Douro]] into the Atlantic Ocean near Porto]]
{{Main|List of rivers of Spain|List of rivers of Portugal}}

The major rivers flow through the wide valleys between the mountain systems. These are the [[Ebro]], [[Douro]], [[Tagus]], [[Guadiana]] and [[Guadalquivir]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://listas.20minutos.es/lista/los-10-rios-mas-largos-de-espana-362085/ |title=Los 10 ríos mas largos de España |date=30 May 2013 |access-date=1 September 2018 |newspaper=[[20 Minutos]] |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://agrega.juntadeandalucia.es/repositorio/07072011/3c/es-an_2011070713_9100548/ODE-e318b0ac-67b1-3aa6-a5a1-26cdd2886095/2_el_territorio_y_la_hidrografa_espaola_ros_cuencas_y_vertientes.html |title=2. El territorio y la hidrografía española: ríos, cuencas y vertientes |access-date=1 September 2018 |work=[[Junta de Andalucía]] |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409133130/http://agrega.juntadeandalucia.es/repositorio/07072011/3c/es-an_2011070713_9100548/ODE-e318b0ac-67b1-3aa6-a5a1-26cdd2886095/2_el_territorio_y_la_hidrografa_espaola_ros_cuencas_y_vertientes.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> All rivers in the Iberian Peninsula are subject to seasonal variations in flow.

The Tagus is the longest river on the peninsula and, like the Douro, flows westwards with its lower course in Portugal. The Guadiana river bends southwards and forms the border between Spain and Portugal in the last stretch of its course.

===Mountains===
The terrain of the Iberian Peninsula is largely [[mountainous]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/centros-tic/04005041/helvia/sitio/upload/tema_8.pdf |title=Tema 8.- El Relieve de España |first=José Antonio |last=Manzano Cara|language=es |publisher=[[Junta de Andalucía]] |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> The major mountain systems are:
* The [[Pyrenees]] and their foothills, the [[Pre-Pyrenees]], crossing the isthmus of the peninsula so completely as to allow no passage except by mountain road, trail, coastal road or tunnel. [[Aneto]] in the [[Maladeta]] massif, at 3,404 m, is the highest point
[[File:Mulhacen north face.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Mulhacén]], the highest peak in the Iberian Peninsula]]
* The [[Cantabrian Mountains]] along the northern coast with the massive [[Picos de Europa]]. [[Torre de Cerredo]], at 2,648 m, is the highest point
* The [[Galician Massif|Galicia/Trás-os-Montes Massif]] in the Northwest is made up of very old heavily eroded rocks.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Silurian graptolite biostratigraphy of the Galicia – Tras-os-Montes Zone (Spain and Portugal) |last1=Piçarra |first1=José Manuel |last2=Gutiérrez-Marco |first2=J. C. |last3=Sá |first3=Artur A. |last4=Meireles |first4=Carlos |last5=González-Clavijo |first5=E.|journal=[[Geologiska föreningen|GFF]]|date=1 June 2006|volume=128 |issue=2 |page=185 |doi=10.1080/11035890601282185 |bibcode=2006GFF...128..185P |hdl = 10261/30737 |s2cid=140712259 |issn=1103-5897}}</ref> [[Pena Trevinca]], at 2,127 m, is the highest point
* The [[Sistema Ibérico]], a complex system at the heart of the peninsula, in its central/eastern region. It contains a great number of ranges and divides the watershed of the Tagus, Douro and Ebro rivers. [[Moncayo]], at 2,313 m, is the highest point
* The [[Sistema Central]], dividing the [[Iberian Plateau]] into a northern and a southern half and stretching into Portugal (where the highest point of [[Continental Portugal]] (1,993 m) is located in the [[Serra da Estrela]]). [[Pico Almanzor]] in the [[Sierra de Gredos]] is the highest point, at 2,592 m
* The [[Montes de Toledo]], which also stretches into Portugal from the [[La Mancha]] natural region at the eastern end. Its highest point, at 1,603 m, is [[La Villuerca]] in the [[Sierra de Villuercas]], [[Extremadura]]
* The [[Sierra Morena]], which divides the watershed of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir rivers. At 1,332 m, [[Bañuela]] is the highest point
* The [[Baetic System]], which stretches between [[Cádiz]] and Gibraltar and northeast towards [[Alicante Province]]. It is divided into three subsystems:
** [[Prebaetic System]], which begins west of the [[Sierra Sur de Jaén]], reaching the [[Mediterranean Sea]] shores in [[Alicante Province]]. [[La Sagra (peak)|La Sagra]] is the highest point at 2,382 m.
** [[Subbaetic System]], which is in a central position within the Baetic Systems, stretching from [[Cape Trafalgar]] in [[Cádiz Province]] across Andalusia to the [[Region of Murcia]].<ref>Edited by W Gibbons & T Moreno, ''Geology of Spain'', 2002, {{ISBN|978-1-86239-110-9}}</ref> The highest point, at {{convert|2027|m|abbr=on}}, is Peña de la Cruz in [[Sierra Arana]].
** [[Penibaetic System]], located in the far southeastern area stretching between Gibraltar across the Mediterranean coastal Andalusian provinces. It includes the highest point in the peninsula, the 3,478 m high [[Mulhacén]] in the [[Sierra Nevada (Spain)|Sierra Nevada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spanishnature.com/birds/63-general-information/12-introduction-to-the-birds-of-spain.html?ml=5&mlt=system&tmpl=component|title=Introduction to the Birds of Spain|first=Peter|last=Jones|website=Spanishnature.com|access-date=11 April 2013|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808143555/https://www.spanishnature.com/birds/63-general-information/12-introduction-to-the-birds-of-spain.html?ml=5&mlt=system&tmpl=component|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Geology===
{{Main|Geology of the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[File:Geological units of the Iberian Peninsula EN.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Major Geologic Units of the Iberian Peninsula]]
The Iberian Peninsula contains rocks of every geological period from the [[Ediacaran]] to the [[Holocene|Recent]], and almost every kind of rock is represented. World-class [[mineral deposit]]s can be found there. The core of the Iberian Peninsula consists of a [[Variscan orogeny|Hercynian]] [[craton]]ic block known as the [[Hesperian Massif|Iberian Massif]]. On the northeast, this is bounded by the Pyrenean fold belt, and on the southeast it is bounded by the [[Baetic System]]. These twofold chains are part of the [[Geology of the Alps|Alpine belt]]. 

To the west, the peninsula is delimited by the continental boundary formed by the [[magma]]-poor opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The Hercynian Foldbelt is mostly buried by Mesozoic and Tertiary cover rocks to the east, and outcrops through the [[Sistema Ibérico]] and the [[Catalan Mediterranean System]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The Iberian Peninsula features one of the largest [[lithium]] deposits belts in Europe, an otherwise relatively scarce resource in the continent, scattered along the Iberian Massif's {{ill|Central Iberian Zone|es|Zona Centroibérica}} and {{ill|Galicia Tras-Os-Montes Zone|es|Zona de Galicia Tras-Os-Montes}}.<ref>{{Cite journal<!--|pages=1–14-->|journal=[[Environmental Earth Sciences]]|year=2019|issue=78|page=1|doi=10.1007/s12665-019-8541-4|title=Evaluation of the impact of lithium exploitation at the C57 mine (Gonçalo, Portugal) on water, soil and air quality|first=Pedro M. S. M.|last=Rodrigues|first2=Ana Maria M. C.|last2=Antão|first3=Ricardo|last3=Rodrigues}}</ref> Also in the Iberian Massif, and similarly to other Hercynian blocks in Europe, the peninsula hosts some [[uranium]] deposits, largely located in the Central Iberian Zone unit.{{Sfn|Dahlkamp|1991|pp=232–233}}

The [[Iberian Pyrite Belt]], located in the SW quadrant of the Peninsula, ranks among the most important [[Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposit|volcanogenic]] massive sulphide districts on Earth, and it has been exploited for millennia.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.igme.es/patrimonio/GEOSITES/Chapter_04_SGFG.pdf|title=Contextos geológicos españoles: una aproximación al patrimonio geológico de relevancia internacional|publisher=[[Instituto Geológico y Minero de España]]|year=2008|chapter=The Iberian Pyrite Belt|first1=F.|last1=Tornos|first2=E.|last2=López Pamo|first3=F.J.|last3=Sánchez España<!--|pages=56–64-->|page=57}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Climate===
{{Main|Climate of Portugal|Climate of Spain}}
[[File:Tossa de Mar View.jpg|thumb|The Mediterranean coast of Spain]]
The Iberian Peninsula's location and topography, as well as the effects of large [[atmospheric circulation]] patterns induce a NW to SE gradient of yearly precipitation, roughly from 2,000&nbsp;mm to 300&nbsp;mm.{{Sfn|Lorenzo-Lacruz|Vicente-Serrano|López-Moreno|González-Hidalgo|2011|pp=2582–2583}}

The Iberian Peninsula has three dominant climate types. One of these is the [[oceanic climate]] seen in the northeast, in which precipitation has barely any difference between winter and summer. Most of Portugal and Spain have a [[Mediterranean climate]]. The [[Mediterranean climate#Warm-summer Mediterranean climate|warm-summer Mediterranean climate]] and the [[Mediterranean climate#Hot-summer Mediterranean climate|hot-summer Mediterranean climate]], with differences in precipitation and temperature depending on latitude and position versus the sea. This applies greatly to the Portuguese and Galician Atlantic coasts where, due to [[upwelling]]/[[downwelling]] phenomena, average temperatures in summer can vary by as much as 10&nbsp;°C (18&nbsp;°F) in only a few kilometers. For example, [[Peniche, Portugal|Peniche]] vs [[Santarém, Portugal|Santarém]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aemet.es/documentos/es/conocermas/recursos_en_linea/publicaciones_y_estudios/publicaciones/Atlas-climatologico/Atlas.pdf |title= IBERIAN CLIMATE ATLAS |website=Aemet.es |access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref>

There are more localized [[steppe climate]]s in central Spain, with temperatures resembling a more continental Mediterranean climate. In other extreme cases, there are highland alpine climates such as in [[Sierra Nevada (Spain)|Sierra Nevada]]. There are areas with extremely low precipitation and [[desert climate]]s or [[semi-desert climate]]s, such as the [[Almería]] area, [[Murcia]] area and southern [[Alicante]] area.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aemet.es/documentos/es/conocermas/recursos_en_linea/publicaciones_y_estudios/publicaciones/Atlas-climatologico/Atlas.pdf |title= IBERIAN CLIMATE ATLAS |website=Aemet.es |access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref> 

In the southwestern interior of the Iberian Peninsula the hottest temperatures in Europe are found, with [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]  averaging around {{convert|37|C|F}} in July and August.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aemet.es/en/serviciosclimaticos/datosclimatologicos/valoresclimatologicos?l=5402&k=and|title=Standard climate values for Córdoba|publisher=Aemet.es|access-date=7 March 2015}}</ref> The Spanish Mediterranean coast usually averages around {{convert|30|C|F}} in summer. In sharp contrast [[A Coruña]] at the northern tip of [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] has a summer daytime high average at just below {{convert|23|C|F}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aemet.es/en/serviciosclimaticos/datosclimatologicos/valoresclimatologicos?l=1387&k=gal|title=Standard climate values for A Coruña|publisher=Aemet.es|access-date=7 March 2015}}</ref> 

This cool and wet summer climate is replicated throughout most of the northern coastline. Winters in the Peninsula are for the most part, mild, although frosts are common in higher altitude areas of central Spain. The warmest winter nights are usually found in [[downwelling]] favourable areas of the west coast, such as on capes. Precipitation varies greatly between regions on the Peninsula, in December for example the northern west coast averages above {{convert|200|mm|abbr=on}} whereas the southeast can average below {{convert|30|mm|abbr=on}}. [[Insolation]] can vary from just 1,600 hours in the [[Bilbao]] area, to above 3,000 hours in the [[Algarve]] and [[Gulf of Cádiz]].

== Political divisions ==
[[File:Iberian Peninsula at Night - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg|thumb|Satellite image of Iberia at night]]

The current political configuration of the Iberian Peninsula comprises the bulk of [[Portugal]] and [[Spain]], the whole [[landlocked country|landlocked microstate]] of [[Andorra]], a small part of the [[departments of France|French department]] of [[Pyrénées-Orientales]] ([[French Cerdagne]]), and the [[British Overseas Territories|British Overseas Territory]] of [[Gibraltar]].

French Cerdagne is on the south side of the [[Pyrenees]] mountain range, which runs along the border between France and Spain.{{Sfn|Sahlins|1989|p=49}}<ref name="Wilstach1931">{{cite book|author=Paul Wilstach|title=Along the Pyrenees|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dpw-AAAAYAAJ&q=%22stretches%20off%20southwest%22|year=1931|publisher=Robert M. McBride Company|page=102}}</ref><ref name="Murray1837">{{cite book|author=James Erskine Murray|title=A Summer in the Pyrenees|url=https://archive.org/details/asummerinpyrene01murrgoog|year=1837|publisher=J. Macrone|page=[https://archive.org/details/asummerinpyrene01murrgoog/page/n118 92]}}</ref> For example, the [[Segre (river)|Segre]] river, which runs west and then south to meet the [[Ebro]], has its source on the [[France|French]] side. The Pyrenees range is often considered the northeastern boundary of Iberian Peninsula, although the French coastline curves away from the rest of Europe north of the range, which is the reason why [[Perpignan]], which is also known as the capital of [[Northern Catalonia]], is often considered as the entrance to the Iberian Peninsula.

Regarding Portugal and Spain, this chiefly excludes the [[Macaronesia]]n archipelagos (the [[Azores]] and [[Madeira]] of Portugal, and the [[Canary Islands]] of Spain), the [[Balearic Islands]] (Spain), and the [[plazas de soberanía|Spanish overseas territories]] in [[North Africa]] (most conspicuously the cities of [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]], as well as unpopulated islets and rocks).

The countries and territories on the Iberian Peninsula:<ref>{{Cite web |title=População residente (Série longa, início 1991 - N.º) por Local de residência (NUTS - 2013), Sexo e Idade; Anual |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&contecto=pi&indOcorrCod=0012903&selTab=tab0 |access-date=18 June 2025 |publisher=[[Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Portugal)|Instituto Nacional de Estatística]] |date=18 June 2025 |language=pt }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736177095&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735572981|title=INEbase / Continuous Population Statistics (CPS). 1 January 2025. Provisional data|website=ine.es|access-date=21 June 2025}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:center; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;"
|-
! class="unsortable" | [[Coat of arms|Arms]]
! class="unsortable" | [[National flag|Flag]]
! [[List of sovereign states|Country]] / [[Dependent territory|Territory]]
! [[List of national capitals|Capital]]
! [[List of countries and dependencies by area|Area]]<br />(mainland)<!-- DO NOT change numbers. -->
! [[List of countries and dependencies by population|Population]]<br />(mainland)<!-- DO NOT change numbers. -->
! % of area
|-
| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Andorra}}
| {{flagg|pxx|Andorra|size=45}}
| [[Andorra]]
| [[Andorra la Vella]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|468|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|3}}{{Nts|85863}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1
|-
| {{flagicon image|Arms of the Pyrénées-Orientales.svg|size=25x25px|link=Pyrénées-Orientales}}
| {{flagg|pxx|Pyrénées-Orientales|size=45}}
| [[French Cerdagne]]<br />([[France]]) 
| [[Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|539|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|5}}{{nts|12035}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1
|-
| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Gibraltar}}
| {{flagg|pxx|Gibraltar|size=45}}
| [[Gibraltar]]<br />([[United Kingdom]])
| [[Gibraltar]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|7|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|4}}{{nts|32688}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
|-
| {{flagicon image|Portuguese shield.svg|size=25x25px|link=Portugal}}
| {{flagg|pxx|Portugal|size=45}}
| [[Portugal]]<br />([[Continental Portugal|mainland]])
| [[Lisbon]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|89015|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|2}}{{Nts|10248477}}<!-- ONLY RESIDENTS ON MAINLAND PORTUGAL, excluding the residents of the Azores and Madeira. -->
| style="text-align:right;"| 15.3
|-
| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Spain}}
| {{flagg|pxx|Spain|size=45}}
| [[Spain]]<br />([[Peninsular Spain|mainland]])
| [[Madrid]]
| style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|493515|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
| style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|1}}{{Nts|45404858}}<!-- ONLY RESIDENTS ON MAINLAND SPAIN, excluding the residents of the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. -->
| style="text-align:right;"| 84.5
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan="4" | Total
! style="text-align:right;"| {{cvt|583544|km2|disp=br()|sortable=on}}
! style="text-align:right;"| {{Hs|1}}{{Nts|55783921}}
! style="text-align:right;"| 100
|}

== Cities ==
{{Multiple image
| direction = vertical
| image1 = Madrid ESA354454 (cropped).jpg
| caption1 = Madrid
| image2 = Barcelona, Spain ESA22069155.jpeg
| caption2 = Barcelona
| image3 = Lisbon, Portugal ESA24382662.jpeg
| caption3 = Lisbon
}}

The Iberian city network is dominated by three international metropolises ([[Barcelona]], [[Lisbon]], and [[Madrid]]) and four regional metropolises ([[Bilbao]], [[Porto]], [[Seville]], and [[Valencia]]).{{Sfn|Sánchez Moral|2011|p=312}} The relatively weak integration of the network favours a competitive approach vis-à-vis the inter-relation between the different centres.{{Sfn|Sánchez Moral|2011|p=312}} Among these metropolises, Madrid stands out within the global urban hierarchy in terms of its status as a major service centre and enjoys the greatest degree of connectivity.{{Sfn|Sánchez Moral|2011|p=313}}

===Major metropolitan regions===
According to [[Eurostat]] (2019),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and metropolitan regions|publisher=[[Eurostat]]|url=https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do}}</ref> the metropolitan regions with a population over one million are listed as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Metropolitan region
!State
!Population (2019)
|-
| [[Madrid metropolitan area|Madrid]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|6641649}}
|-
| [[Barcelona metropolitan area|Barcelona]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|5575204}}
|-
| [[Lisbon metropolitan area|Lisbon]]
| Portugal
| align="right" | {{nts|3035332}}
|-
| [[Valencia]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|2540588}}
|-
| [[Seville]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|1949640}}
|-
| [[Alicante|Alicante-Elche-Elda]]
| Spain
| align = "right" | {{nts|1862780}}
|-
| [[Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto|Porto]]
| Portugal
| align="right" | {{nts|1722374}}
|-
| [[Málaga|Málaga-Marbella]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|1660985}}
|-
| [[Murcia|Murcia-Cartagena]]
| Spain
| align= "right" | {{nts|1487663}}
|-
| [[Cádiz]]
| Spain
| align="right" | {{nts|1249739}}
|-
| [[Bilbao metropolitan area|Bilbao]]
| Spain
| align = "right" | {{nts|1137191}}
|-
| [[Oviedo|Oviedo-Gijón]]
| Spain
| align = "right" | {{nts|1022205}}
|}

{{See also|Cities of Spain|Cities of Portugal}}

==Ecology==

===Forests===
{{Main|Forests of the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[File:Lince Ibérico Doñana.jpg|thumb|upright|An [[Iberian lynx]]]]
The woodlands of the Iberian Peninsula are distinct [[ecosystem]]s. Although the various regions are each characterized by distinct vegetation, there are some similarities across the peninsula.

While the borders between these regions are not clearly defined, there is a mutual influence that makes it very hard to establish boundaries and some species find their optimal habitat in the intermediate areas.

The endangered [[Iberian lynx]] (''Lynx pardinus'') is a symbol of the Iberian mediterranean forest and of the fauna of the Iberian Peninsula altogether.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://metode.cat/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bookexsituvargas2009_3.pdf|pages=XI & 527|title=Conservación Ex situ del Lince Ibérico: Un Enfoque Multidisciplinar|publisher= Fundación Biodiversidad|year=2009}}</ref>

A new ''[[Podarcis]]'' lizard species, ''[[Podarcis virescens]]'', was accepted as a species by the Taxonomic Committee of the ''Societas Europaea Herpetologica'' in 2020. This lizard is native to the Iberian Peninsula and found near rivers in the region.

===East Atlantic flyway===
The Iberian Peninsula is an important stopover on the East Atlantic [[flyway]] for birds migrating from northern Europe to Africa. For example, [[curlew sandpiper]]s rest in the region of the [[Bay of Cádiz]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Migration pattern of Curlew Sandpipers Calidris ferruginea on the south-western coastline of the Iberian Peninsula|first=Francisco|last=Hortas|author2=Jordi Figuerols|url=http://www.ebd.csic.es/jordi/Hortas06.pdf|access-date=7 December 2008|year=2006|journal=International Wader Studies|volume=19|pages=144–147|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217014308/http://www.ebd.csic.es/jordi/Hortas06.pdf|archive-date=17 December 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In addition to the birds migrating through, some seven million wading birds from the north spend the winter in the estuaries and wetlands of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly at locations on the Atlantic coast. In [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] are [[Ría de Arousa]] (a home of [[grey plover]]), Ria de [[Ortigueira]], Ria de Corme and Ria de Laxe. In Portugal, the [[Aveiro Lagoon]] hosts [[pied avocet]], the [[common ringed plover]], grey plover and [[little stint]]. [[Ribatejo Province]] on the [[Tagus]] supports pied avocet, grey plover, [[dunlin]], [[bar-tailed godwit]] and [[common redshank]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jesus|last=Dominguez|title=Distribution of estuarine waders wintering in the Iberian Peninsula in 1978–1982|journal=Wader Study Group Bulletin|year=1990|volume=59|pages=25–28|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/iwsgb/n059/p00025-p00028.pdf}}</ref>

The [[Sado River|Sado Estuary]] holds dunlin, [[Eurasian curlew]], grey plover and common redshank. The [[Algarve]] hosts [[red knot]], [[common greenshank]] and [[Ruddy turnstone|turnstone]]. The [[Guadalquivir Marshes]] region of [[Andalusia]] and the Salinas de [[Cádiz]] are especially rich in wintering wading birds: [[Kentish plover]], common ringed plover, [[sanderling]], and [[black-tailed godwit]] in addition to the others. The Ebro delta is home to all the species mentioned above.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jesus|last=Dominguez|title=Distribution of estuarine waders wintering in the Iberian Peninsula in 1978–1982|journal=Wader Study Group Bulletin|year=1990|volume=59|pages=25–28|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/iwsgb/n059/p00025-p00028.pdf}}</ref>

==Languages==
{{main|Languages of Iberia}}
{{further|Languages of Andorra|Languages of Gibraltar|Languages of France|Languages of Spain|Languages of Portugal}}

[[File:Spanish dialects in Spain-en.png|thumb|250px|A map of languages and dialects in Spain.]]
{{CSS image crop
|Image = Portugal portuguese dialects.png
|bSize = 250
|cWidth = 250
|cHeight = 200
|oTop = 50
|oLeft = 0
|Location = right
|Description = A map of dialects in Portugal.
}}
With the sole exception of [[Basque language|Basque]], which is of [[Language isolate|unknown origin]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.semana.com/educacion/articulo/el-idioma-mas-extrano-de-europa-la-lengua-vasca/540862 |title=El misterioso origen del euskera, el idioma más antiguo de Europa |date=18 September 2017 |access-date=1 September 2018 |journal=[[Semana]] |language=es}}</ref> all modern Iberian languages descend from [[Vulgar Latin]] and belong to the [[Western Romance languages]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-latn-en-hispania-la-romanizacin-de-la-pennsula-ibrica-el-latn-vulgar-particularidades-del-latn-hispnico-0/html/00f48998-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html |title=El latín en Hispania: la romanización de la Península Ibérica. El latín vulgar. Particularidades del latín hispánico |first=Jorge |last=Fernández Jaén |work=[[Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes]] |language=es |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> Throughout history and pre-history, many different languages have been spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, contributing to the formation and differentiation of the contemporaneous languages of Iberia. Most of them have become extinct or fallen into disuse. Basque is the only [[Pre-Indo-European languages|non-Indo-European surviving language]] in Iberia and Western Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cervantes.es/imagenes/file/biblioteca/situacion_espanol/lengua_%20vasca_vs_espanola.pdf |title=Lengua española y lengua vasca: Una trayectoria histórica sin fronteras |first=M.ª Teresa |last=Echenique Elizondo |journal=Revista de Filología |issue=34 |date=March 2016 |access-date=1 September 2018 |pages=235–252 |issn=0212-4130 |language=es |publisher=[[Instituto Cervantes]] }}</ref>

In modern times, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (the official language of Spain, spoken by the entire 45&nbsp;million population in the country, the native language of about 36&nbsp;million in Europe),{{Sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|pp=289–290}} [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] (the official language of Portugal, with a population over 10&nbsp;million), [[Catalan language|Catalan]] (over 7&nbsp;million speakers in Europe, 3.4&nbsp;million with Catalan as first language),{{Sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|p=293}} [[Galician language|Galician]] (understood by the 93% of the 2.8&nbsp;million Galician population){{Sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|p=293}} and [[Basque language|Basque]] (cf. around 1&nbsp;million speakers)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.euskara.euskadi.eus/r59-738/es/contenidos/noticia/inkesta_soziol_2012/es_berria/berria.html |title=El Gobierno Vasco ha presentado los resultados más destacados de la V. Encuesta Sociolingüística de la CAV, Navarra e Iparralde |work=[[Eusko Jaurlaritza]] |language=eu|date=18 July 2012 |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref> are the most widely spoken languages in the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish and Portuguese have expanded beyond Iberia to the rest of world, becoming [[world language|global languages]].

Other minority romance languages with some degree of recognition, include the several varieties of [[Astur-leonese]], collectively amounting to about 0.6&nbsp;million speakers,{{Sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|pp=290–291}} and [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]] (spoken by barely 8% of the 130,000 people inhabiting the [[High Aragon|Alto Aragón]]).{{Sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|p=291}}

[[English language|English]] is the official language of Gibraltar. [[Llanito]] is a unique language in the territory, an amalgamation of mostly English and Spanish.<ref name="Gibraltar Fact Sheets">{{Cite web |title=Gibraltar Fact Sheets |url=https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press/gibraltar-fact-sheets |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=Government of Gibraltar |language=en}}</ref> In Spain in 2019, 54.3% could speak a foreign language, below that of the EU-28 average. Portugal meanwhile achieved 69%, above the EU average, but still below the EU median. Spain ranks 25th out of 33 European countries in the English Proficiency Index.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zafra |first=Ignacio |date=2019-11-11 |title=Spain continues to have one of the worst levels of English in Europe |url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/11/08/inenglish/1573204575_231066.html |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=El País |language=en-us}}</ref>

== Transportation ==
Both Spain and Portugal have traditionally used a non-standard rail gauge (the 1,668&nbsp;mm [[Iberian gauge]]) since the construction of the first railroads in the 19th century. Spain has progressively introduced the 1,435&nbsp;mm [[Standard-gauge railway|standard gauge]] in its new high-speed rail network (one of the most extensive in the world),{{Sfn|Zembri|Libourel|2017|p=368}} inaugurated in 1992 with the [[Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line|Madrid–Seville line]], followed to name a few by the [[Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line|Madrid–Barcelona]] (2008), [[Madrid–Levante high-speed rail network|Madrid–Valencia]] (2010), an Alicante branch of the latter (2013) and the connection to France of the Barcelona line.{{Sfn|Zembri|Libourel|2017|p=371}} Portugal however suspended all the high-speed rail projects in the wake of the [[2008 financial crisis]], putting an end for the time being to the possibility of a high-speed rail connection between Lisbon, Porto and Madrid.{{Sfn|Zembri|Libourel|2017|p=382}}

Handicapped by the [[Pyrenees]] mountain range hindering the connection to the rest of Europe, Spain and subsidiarily Portugal only have two meaningful rail connections to France able for freight transport, located at both ends of the mountain range.{{sfn|Fernández de Alarcón|2015|p=45}} An international rail line across the Central Pyrenees linking [[Zaragoza]] and the French city of [[Pau (France)|Pau]] through a tunnel existed in the past. An accident in the French part destroyed a stretch of the railroad in 1970 and the [[Canfranc International railway station|Canfranc Station]] has been a [[Dead end (street)|cul-de-sac]] since then.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1983/01/10/economia/411001210_850215.html|journal=[[El País]]|date=10 January 1983|title=El Canfranc: un ferrocarril en vía muerta|first=Eduardo|last=Barrenechea}}</ref>

There are four points connecting the Portuguese and Spanish rail networks: [[Valença railway station|Valença do Minho]]–[[Tuy railway station|Tui]], [[Vilar Formoso railway station|Vilar Formoso]]–[[Fuentes de Oñoro railway station|Fuentes de Oñoro]], [[Marvão-Beirã railway station|Marvão-Beirã]]–[[Valencia de Alcántara railway station|Valencia de Alcántara]] and [[Elvas railway station|Elvas]]–[[Badajoz railway station|Badajoz]].{{Sfn|Palmeiro Piñeiro|Pazos Otón|2008|p=227}}

The prospect of the development (as part of a European-wide effort) of the Central, Mediterranean and Atlantic rail corridors is expected to be a way to improve the competitiveness of the ports of [[Port of Tarragona|Tarragona]], [[Port of Valencia|Valencia]], [[Port of Sagunto|Sagunto]], [[port of Bilbao|Bilbao]], [[Port of Santander|Santander]], [[Port of Sines|Sines]] and [[Port of Algeciras|Algeciras]] vis-à-vis the rest of Europe and the World.{{Sfn|Fernández de Alarcón|2015|p=50}}

In 1980, Morocco and Spain started a joint study on the feasibility of a fixed link (tunnel or bridge) across the [[Strait of Gibraltar]], possibly through a connection of {{ill|Punta Paloma|es}} with [[Cape Malabata]].{{Sfn|García Álvarez|1996|p=7; 11}} Years of studies have made no real progress thus far.<ref>{{citation |last=Leadbeater |first=Chris |contribution-url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/spain/articles/rail-tunnel-spain-morocco-strait-gibraltar-tarifa-tangier-casablanca/ |contribution=Will a Tunnel from Spain to Africa Ever Be Built—And Who Would Use It? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001219165200/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 December 2000 |title=The Telegraph |date=31 May 2018 }}.</ref>

A transit point for many submarine cables, the [[Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe]], [[Europe India Gateway]], and the [[SEA-ME-WE 3]] feature landing stations in the Iberian Peninsula.<ref name=cix /> The [[West Africa Cable System]], [[Main One]], [[SAT-3/WASC]], [[Africa Coast to Europe (cable system)|Africa Coast to Europe]] also land in Portugal.<ref name=cix>{{Cite web|url=https://www.de-cix.net/_Resources/Persistent/ae619c013d07fc207d4efe67f7a66bc662c78b8b/Whitepaper_Madrids%20position%20in%20the%20gloabl%20telecommunications%20landscape.pdf|title=Madrid΄s Position in the Global Telecommunications Landscape|page=2|publisher=[[DE-CIX]]|access-date=16 June 2020|archive-date=16 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616201113/https://www.de-cix.net/_Resources/Persistent/ae619c013d07fc207d4efe67f7a66bc662c78b8b/Whitepaper_Madrids%20position%20in%20the%20gloabl%20telecommunications%20landscape.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[MAREA]], a high capacity communication transatlantic cable, connects the north of the Iberian Peninsula (Bilbao) to North America (Virginia), whereas [[Grace Hopper (submarine communications cable)|Grace Hopper]] is an upcoming cable connecting the Iberian Peninsula (Bilbao) to the UK and the US intended to be operative by 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.expansion.com/economia-digital/companias/2021/09/09/6139f38e468aeba72b8b4594.html|website=[[Expansión (Spanish newspaper)|Expansión]]|title=Grace Hopper: el gran cable submarino de Google llega a España|date=9 September 2021}}</ref> [[EllaLink]] is an upcoming high-capacity communication cable expected to connect the Peninsula (Sines) to South America and the mammoth [[2Africa|2Africa project]] intends to connect the peninsula to the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa via Portugal and Barcelona by 2023–24.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eldiario.es/tecnologia/callejon-silicio-convertir-Madrid-Europa_0_975353201.html|website=[[Eldiario.es]]|title="El callejón del silicio": el plan para que 'la nube' del sur de Europa se instale en España|date=19 December 2019|first=Carlos del|last=Castillo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hipertextual.com/2020/06/cables-submarinos-espana-mundo-internet|website=Hipertextual|date=13 June 2020|title=Los cables submarinos que conectan España con el mundo a través de internet|first=José María|last=López}}</ref>

Two gas pipelines: the [[Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline|Pedro Duran Farell pipeline]] and more recently the [[Medgaz]] from, respectively, Morocco and Algeria link the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula, providing Spain with Algerian natural gas.{{Sfn|Ghilès|2008|pp=96–97}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vozpopuli.com/economia-y-finanzas/empresas/Argelia-Gas_natural-Medgaz-Jose_Manuel_Garcia-Margallo-Interconexiones-Francia_0_701929820.html|website=Voz Pópuli|title=Saltan las alarmas: la dependencia energética con Argelia roza el 60% en pleno conflicto en Ucrania|first=Baltasar|last=Montaño|date=30 May 2014}}</ref> The contract for the first pipeline expires on 31 October 2021 and—amidst a tense climate of [[Algeria–Morocco relations|Algerian–Moroccan relations]]—there are no plans to renew it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20210929/7754133/fatidico-triangulo-argelia-marruecos-espana.html|website=[[La Vanguardia]]|title=Fatídico triángulo: Argelia, Marruecos, España|date=29 September 2021|first=Enric|last=Juliana|author-link=Enric Juliana}}</ref>

== Economy ==
The official currency across Iberia is the [[Euro]], with the exception of Gibraltar, which uses the [[Gibraltar pound|Gibraltar Pound]] (at parity with [[Pound sterling|Sterling]]).<ref name="Gibraltar Fact Sheets"/>

Major industries include mining, tourism, small farms, and fishing. Because the coast is so long, fishing is popular, especially sardines, tuna and anchovies. Most of the mining occurs in the Pyrenees mountains. Commodities mined include: iron, gold, coal, lead, silver, zinc, and salt.

Regarding their role in the global economy, both the microstate of [[Andorra]] and the British Overseas Territory of [[Gibraltar]] have been described as [[tax haven]]s.{{Sfn|Cooley|2005|p=167}}

The Galician region of Spain, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, became one of the biggest entry points of [[cocaine]] in Europe, on a par with the Dutch ports.<ref name=drugs>{{Cite book|title=The World Geopolitics of Drugs, 1998/1999|year=2001|editor-first=Alain|editor-last=Labrousse|editor-first2=Laurent|editor-last2=Laniel|chapter=Europe|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-3505-6|isbn=978-94-017-3505-6|pages=117; 123 }}</ref> [[Hashish]] is smuggled from [[Morocco]] via the [[Strait of Gibraltar]].<ref name=drugs />

==See also==
* [[Iberism]]
* [[2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|30em}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|22em}}

===Bibliography===
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{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikivoyage|Iberian Peninsula}}
* {{cite web|first=Pāolā|last=Arioso|author2=Diego Meozzi|title=Iberian Peninsula•Links|url= http://www.stonepages.com/megalinks/01_megalithic_sites/iberian_peninsula/index.html|publisher= Stone Pages|access-date=5 December 2008}}
* {{cite journal |title=Reduced genetic structure of the Iberian Peninsula revealed by Y-chromosome analysis: implications for population demography |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |year=2004 |volume=12 |pages=855–863 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201225 |pmid=15280900 |issue=10 |last1=Flores |first1=Carlos |last2=Maca-Meyer |first2=Nicole |last3=González |first3=Ana M. |last4=Oefner |first4=Peter J. |last5=Shen |first5=Peidong |last6=Pérez |first6=Jose A. |last7=Rojas |first7=Antonio |last8=Larruga |first8=Jose M. |last9=Underhill |first9=Peter A. |s2cid=16765118 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite web|first=Nick|last=Loyd|url=http://www.iberianature.com|title=IberiaNature: A guide to the environment, climate, wildlife, geography and nature of Spain|year=2007|access-date=4 December 2008}}
* {{cite web|first=Luís Fraga |last= de Silva |url=http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |title=Ethnologic Map of Pre-Roman Iberia (circa 200 B.C.). NEW VERSION #10 |publisher=Associação Campo Arqueológico de Tavira, Tavira, Portugal |language=en, pt, la |access-date=4 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006160601/http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |archive-date=6 October 2008 }}
{{Portalbar|Andorra|France|Gibraltar|Portugal|Spain}}
{{Andorra topics}}
{{Gibraltar topics}}
{{Portugal topics}}
{{Spain topics}}
{{Mountain systems of the Iberian Peninsula}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Iberian Peninsula| ]]
[[Category:Geography of Andorra]]
[[Category:Geography of Europe]]
[[Category:Geography of France]]
[[Category:Geography of Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Geography of Portugal]]
[[Category:Geography of Spain]]
[[Category:Historic Jewish communities]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Europe]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of France]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Portugal]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Spain]]
[[Category:Regions of Europe]]
[[Category:Southwestern Europe]]