Iberian Peninsula

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Iberia redirects here. For other uses of Iberia, see Iberia (disambiguation).
Iberian Peninsula
Native names[show]
Espaa y Portugal.jpg
Satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula.
Iberia (orthographic projection).svg
Geography
Location Southwest Europe
Coordinates 40N 4WCoordinates 40N 4W
Area 582,000 km2 (225,000 sq mi)
Highest elevation 3,478 m (11,411 ft)
Highest point Mulhacn
Administration
Andorra
Largest settlement Andorra la Vella
Area covered 468 km2 (181 sq mi; 0.1%)
Portugal
Largest settlement Lisbon
Area covered 89,015 km2 (34,369 sq mi; 15.3%)
Spain
Largest settlement Madrid
Area covered 492,175 km2 (190,030 sq mi; 84.6%)
Gibraltar ( United Kingdom)
Largest settlement Gibraltar
Area covered 7 km2 (2.7 sq mi; 0%)
France
Largest settlement Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via
Area covered 33,563 km2 (12,959 sq mi; 5.8%)
Demographics
Demonym Iberian
Population Over 57 million
Ethnic groups Andorran, France, Gibraltarian, Portuguese and Spanish
(Andalusian, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Cantabrian, Castilian, Catalan,
Extremaduran, Galician, Leonese, Valencian, etc.)
The Iberian Peninsula a?'b??ri?n p?'n?nsj?l?,[a] also known as Iberia a?'b??ri?,[b]
is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is principally divided
between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory. It also includes
Andorra and a small part of France along the peninsula's northeastern edge, as well
as Gibraltar on its south coast, a small peninsula that forms an overseas territory
of the United Kingdom. With an area of approximately 582,000 km2 (225,000 sq mi),
it is the second largest European peninsula, after the Scandinavian.

Contents [hide]
1 Name
1.1 Greek name
1.2 Roman names
2 Etymology
3 Prehistory
3.1 Palaeolithic
3.2 Neolithic
3.3 Chalcolithic
3.4 Bronze Age
4 Proto-history
5 History
5.1 Roman rule
5.2 Germanic kingdoms
5.3 Islamic Caliphate
5.4 Reconquest
5.5 Post-reconquest
6 Geography and geology
6.1 Coastline
6.2 Rivers
6.3 Mountains
6.4 Geology
6.5 Climate
7 Major modern countries
7.1 Major urban areas
7.2 Major cities
8 Ecology
8.1 Forests
8.2 East Atlantic flyway
9 Languages
10 Economy
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
Name[edit]

Iberian Peninsula and southern France, satellite photo on a cloudless day in March
2014
Greek name[edit]
The English word Iberia was adapted from the use of the Ancient Greek word ????a
(Ibera) by Greek geographers under the rule of the Roman Empire to refer to what
is known today in English as the Iberian Peninsula.[1] At that time, the name did
not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people.[2]
Strabo's 'Iberia' was delineated from Keltike (Gaul) by the Pyrenees[3] and
included the entire land mass southwest (he says west) of there.[4]

The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the
Phoenicians, by voyaging westward on the Mediterranean.[5] Hecataeus of Miletus was
the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC.[6]
Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that it was they who made the
Greeks acquainted with... Iberia.[7] According to Strabo,[8] prior historians used
Iberia to mean the country this side of the ????? (Iberos) as far north as the
river Rhne in France, but currently they set the Pyrenees as the limit. Polybius
respects that limit,[9] but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far
south as Gibraltar, with the Atlantic side having no name. Elsewhere[10] he says
that Saguntum is on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and
Celtiberia.

Strabo[11] refers to the Carretanians as people of the Iberian stock living in the
Pyrenees, who are distinct from either Celts or Celtiberians.

Roman names[edit]
Main article 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 Ebro, which the Romans called Hiberus. Hiber
(Iberian) was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro.[3][12]
The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet Ennius in 200 BC.
[13][14][15] Virgil refers to the Ipacatos Hiberos (restless Iberi) in his
Georgics.[16] The Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the
late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania.
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 provinces
Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania. Strabo says[8] 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 in the Caucasus.)

Whatever language 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.