Geography of Spain

Spain is a transcontinental country located in southwestern Europe and northern Africa, occupying about 84.6% of the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory includes a small exclave inside France called Llívia, the Balearic Islands in the , the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and several territories on or near the North African coast, including the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the plazas de soberanía (Islas Chafarinas, Isl, Isla Perejil, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera).

The Spanish mainland is bordered to the south and east almost entirely by the (except for the small British territory of Gibraltar); to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. With a land area of 504,782 square kilometres (194,897 mi) in the Iberian Peninsula, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France), and the fourth largest country in the European continent (behind Russia, Ukraine, and France). It has an average altitude of 650 m.

Its total area including Spanish island territories is 505,370 km (195,124 sq mi) of which 499,542 km (192,874 sq mi) is land and 5,240 km (2,023 sq mi) is water. It has the 30th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,039,233 km (401,250 mi). Spain lies between latitudes 27° and 44° N, and longitudes 19° W and 5° E. Its Atlantic coast is 710 km (441 mi) long. The Pyreneesmountain range extends 435 km (270 mi) from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay. In the extreme south of Spain's mainland lie the Straits of Gibraltar, which separate the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe from Ceuta and Morocco in North Africa.