Blank physical map of Spain

The mountain ranges

The map shows 11 mountain ranges: the nine first-category systems in the IGN’s list plus the Basque Mountains and the Serra de Tramuntana, which Spanish textbooks teach separately. The highest on the mainland is the Baetic System, topped by Mulhacén (3,479 m / 11,414 ft); Spain’s highest peak, Mount Teide (3,715 m / 12,188 ft), is on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands inset.

Each range’s highest peak is marked with a triangle; the labeled version adds its name and elevation: Mulhacén (3,479 m), Aneto (3,404 m), Torre Cerredo (2,649 m), Almanzor (2,591 m), Moncayo (2,314 m), and Teleno (2,183 m) and 5 more.

The rivers

The map shows 35 rivers: the 8 that Spain’s national mapping agency (IGN) ranks as first-order (Minho, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquivir, Ebro, Júcar, and Segura) plus the tributaries and coastal rivers taught in school. The longest is the Tagus, at 1,113 km / 691 mi (867 km in Spain), and the longest that runs entirely through Spain is the Ebro, at 953 km / 592 mi.

By the sea they flow into, they fall into three drainage slopes: 4 Cantabrian, 18 Atlantic and 13 Mediterranean. Cantabrian rivers are short, since they rise in the mountains close to the coast; Atlantic ones, the longest, cross the central plateau westward; and the Ebro dominates the Mediterranean side.

The Tagus has the most tributaries on the map: Jarama, Alberche, Tiétar, and Alagón.

How the map is made

River courses come from the IGN’s reference hydrography (IGR Hidrografía); the Portuguese stretches of the Douro, Tagus and Guadiana, from Natural Earth. Lengths are those in the IGN’s table of main rivers: the total, including the part in Portugal, and the Spanish part (national and border stretches).

Mountain range outlines come from the IGN’s digital terrain model (1 km): an area counts as mountainous if it meets the UNEP-WCMC world mountain map criterion (Kapos et al., 2000), based on elevation, slope and relief within 7 km, and each area goes to the system of the peaks and ranges the IGN assigns to it. Elevations are from the IGN’s table of main summits.

River key (numbers)

Numbers follow alphabetical order. Each length is from that river’s source.

Mountain range key (letters)

Mountain ranges carry a letter, in alphabetical order, with their highest peak.