The rivers of Galicia form part of a dense

hydrographical Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary ...

network in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

of Galicia and has been described by

Otero Pedrayo Otero is a Spanish surname, and an occasional given name, derived from the Spanish word for height, and indicating a family history of having come from a geographically high place.Richard Donovon Woods, Grace Alvarez-Altman, ''Spanish surnames in ...

as “the land of a thousand rivers”. Most rivers are not deep enough to be navigable, although small boats are sailed in the lower courses of the River Minho and several others, as well as at many of the

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

. The rivers flowing into the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

(Cantabrian Sea) tend to be very short, and those flowing into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

are only a little longer, except for the Minho (340 km) and the

Sil SIL, Sil and sil may refer to: Organizations * Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan * Smithsonian Institution Libraries * SIL International, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics * Apex Silver Mines (former American Stock Exchange ticker symb ...

(225 km), whose lengths are several hundred kilometres. There are numerous

rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

s, due to the steep gradients of many river courses. In addition to

river fishing Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...

, rivers have been used to power mills, and dams have been constructed both to provide

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power and for storage of water.

Alphabetical list of Galician rivers

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

Alphabetical list of Galician rivers

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

X

See also

References

Further reading