Rivers have been crucial to us humans throughout history. They have made it possible to build civilizations, but have also been useful to those who want to tear them down. Rivers have given us opportunities to explore new and remote areas and to keep in touch with familiar ones. Spain has a number of waterways that have played a central role in where and how the people of the Iberian Peninsula have lived and are living. Join Find Your Spain in a short quiz, which is also an ever so small river cruise through Spanish geography and history.
You will find more comprehensive information to each answer below. Just scroll down below the map and learn more about related geography, history and more.
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Results
#1. What is the name of Spain's longest river?
#2. What is the name of the river that flows through Madrid?
#3. By which river lies the city boasting Spain's only river port?
#4. In 1982, Spain experienced its biggest flooding disaster ever. Which Spanish River caused this flood?
You will find more comprehensive information to each answer below. Just scroll down below the map and learn more about related geography, history and more.
Answer to question #1: What is the name of Spain’s longest river?
Duero: Wrong
Duero is one of the large and important rivers on the Iberian Peninsula, but not Spain’s longest. Duero originates in Castile and León in northern Spain and meets the Atlantic Ocean in the Portuguese port city of Porto. The name has roots in Old Celtic, where “dur” means “water”. Celtic tribes inhabited the area around the river before the Romans made their entrance on the Iberian Peninsula from about 200 BC. The Romans also valued Duero, which they by the way called Durius, and they referred to it as a deity. The river flows through five Spanish provinces in Castile and León with major population centers: Soria, Burgos, Valladolid, Zamora and Salamanca. On the banks of the Duero, grapes have been grown since long. In modern times, fifteen dams have been built along the river course that regulate water flow and are used for power production.
Ebro: Correct
Río Ebro is with its 910 kilometers quite correctly Spain’s longest river. In Latin, the language the Romans brought with them, Ebro is called either Iberus or Hiberus, but it was probably the ancient Greeks who first gave the name Iberians to the Bronze Age “Spaniards”. In the middle of the fifth century BC, the Greek Herodotus refers to Iberians as a term for the people who at that time lived between the rivers Ebro and Huelva. The Iberians were displaced from the northern and central parts of the peninsula when the Celts made their entrance. The Celts came in “waves of immigration” between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. In the 200s BC, Ebro formed the front line between Roman forces in the north and Carthaginians led by the legendary Hannibal – he who brought the elephants – in the south.
Wars and skirmishes have taken place on the banks of the Ebro a number of times throughout history. Between July and November of 1938, they were the scene of the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War, the “Batalla del Ebro”.
Ebro originates in the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain and follows a south-easterly course towards the outlet near Tortosa on the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Tarragona (Catalunya) – about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia. Along the banks of the Ebro you can find several of Spain’s most famous vineyards as it runs through areas of La Rioja and Zaragoza.
Tajo: Wrong
But if you answered Tajo or Tagus as the river is also called, you are not completely off the tee. The Tajo is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. Although most of it is located in Spain (716 km and 47 km as a border river between Spain and Portugal), it continues its course in Portugal (276 km) and is therefore not considered Spain’s longest river. Tajo originates in Aragón’s mountain landscape about 150 kilometers inland from the shores of the Mediterranean. It is a full 1,007 kilometers long (i.e. longer than the Ebro) and crosses the border into Portugal before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon. Almost 11 million people, both in Portugal and Spain, get their drinking water from the Tajo. More than five million of them live in Madrid and the surrounding area. In addition, about two million people in Alicante and Murcia in southeastern Spain have their water supply from the Tajo.
The river was important to the Carthaginians and a number of later populations in the area. The name of the river has Celtic origins. In 220 BC a Carthaginian army was attacked by Celtic tribes as they tried to cross the Tajo – somewhat atypical as the two groups throughout history were more often allies than enemies. The two parties frequently joined forces against the advancing Roman Empire, which came to dominate the region for a long time.
Answer to question #2: What is the name of the river that flows through Madrid?
Jarama: Wrong
Jarama is admittedly a river in central Spain, but it passes Madrid at some distance east of the capital. During the Spanish Civil War, the banks of the Jarama were the scene of fierce fighting. In 1937, forces from the Franco-led nationalists crossed the river in an attempt to cut off the main road between Madrid and the Republican headquarters in Valencia. Nationalist forces, which also included infamous Moroccan mercenaries, were confronted by Republican soldiers, including the 15th International Brigade. The brigade consisted mainly of volunteers from the United States, Great Britain and other nations, including the Scandinavian countries. Few of them had any military training. The Republicans managed, against all odds, to stop the Franco forces at Jarama, but the battle of Madrid developed into a civil war that cost 45,000 lives, including the casualty figures on both sides of the conflict. Jarama is a tributary of Spain’s longest river, the Tajo / Tagus.
Manzanares: Correct
Manzanares passes through the Spanish capital. From the source in the Sierra de Guadarrama, Manzanares empties into the Jarama River. In the city center, Spanish authorities have directed the river through canals and ponds. You can see Madrid from the river, with a rented canoe as one option. Manzanares was an important line of defense for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). If you want to see what Manzaneres looked like in the 18th and 19th centuries, take a look at works by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). A number of his paintings show motifs from people’s lives along the Manzanares River, often the city’s residents dressed in folk costumes on excursions or dancing.
Bidasoa: Wrong
Bidasoa can be found in northern Spain, in the Basque Country and in Navarre. The river also crosses into French territory, and a stretch of it forms the border line between France and Spain. In the parts of Bidasoa located in Navarre, there are great fishing opportunities: With a little luck you can catch trout, salmon and a number of other fish species, some of them specific to the region. However, there are also major “arteries” that cross Bidasoa, both highways and railways. Historians and linguists have concluded that the name Bidasoa is a Basque simplification of the Latin “Via ad Oiassonem”, i.e. the road that during Roman times in these parts connected the Basque city of Pampaelo (today known as Pamplona) and the Roman city of Oiasso, also in the Spanish Basque Country.
Answer to question #3: By which river lies the city boasting Spain’s only river port?
Miño: Wrong
Miño is with its 340 kilometers Galicia’s longest river, but has no commercial port city on its banks. Like the Duero, the Miño also crosses the Spanish-Portuguese border before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. And as is the case with the fields on the banks of the Duero, the area around Miño is also considered one of Spain’s best natural vineyards. The region is especially known for its white wines. The river provides fresh water for lush vineyards and other agriculture, but is also used for hydropower production. The Miño flows through mountainous areas of Galicia and Cantabria, some of the rainiest areas in Spain. By the way, Galician folk tales tell of the river being home to witches and a kind of fish people who can live both in water and on land.
Esla: Wrong
Esla is a river in northwestern Spain, but there are no commercial ports along the 275-kilometer-long waterway. The Romans called the river, which by the way is the longest tributary of the Duero, Astura. You may be familiar with the name Asturia and Asturians as the Romans designations of landscapes and people around the river Esla. These have survived to this day. In the 19th century, a canal, the Canal del Esla, was built to ensure a reliable water supply from the river to local agriculture. In the 1980s, the construction of a larger dam along with a power plant along the Esla, led to seven villages being submerged.
Guadalquivir: Correct
Seville is Spain’s only commercial port city located on a river and not a sea or ocean. With its 657 kilometers, the Guadalquivir River is Spain’s second longest (well, of the rivers that have their entire course within Spain’s borders). Guadalquivir originates in the Cazorla mountain range in Jáen, southeastern Spain, and flows out into the Atlantic Ocean off the Gulf of Cádiz.
The river has throughout history had different names, because many ethnic groups have been on the move here. The Phoenicians anchored here and established as early as 1100 BC the port city of Cádiz (Gadir, Gades) for trade in precious metals with the local Tartessians. The Romans called the river Baetis when they in the second century BC settled and built an important fortress city, Hispalis, in what is now Seville. They also established shipyards in the city. Today, ships can navigate this important route from the Gulf of Cádiz to Seville, but when the Romans had control of the area, it was possible to sail all the way up to Córdoba.
By the way, the Vikings also visited this river and Seville itself. They knew how to use and navigate rivers with their shallow draft longships. The river’s modern name Guadalquivir, comes from the Arabic al-wādi al-kabīr. Muslim rulers controlled the area between 712 and 1248 AD.
So important was the Guadalquivir for shipping and trade that by the time the Spaniards discovered the American continent in the late 15th century, the city of Seville soon gained a royal monopoly on transatlantic trade – despite not being located on the Atlantic Ocean. Seville grew into an economic powerhouse, but Guadalquivir was also to become the city’s “downfall”. Over time, it became more difficult to navigate the river for larger merchant ships. Seville lost its monopoly to Cádiz and its economy started a downward spiral.
Answer to question #4: In 1982, Spain experienced its biggest flood disaster ever. Which Spanish River caused these floods?
Júcar: Correct
You are absolutely right, in 1982 a dam burst and more than 16,000 cubic meters of water per second flowed into the river Júcar which quickly rose above its banks. More than 30 people lost their lives in the disaster. With its 509 kilometers, Júcar is one of Spain’s most significant rivers and flows in a southeasterly direction from its source east in the Montes Universales mountain range in Aragón. Júcar flows through several cities and provinces of Cuenca, Albacete and Valencia before finding its way into the Mediterranean.
Segre: Wrong
The River Segre is a tributary of the Ebro and runs through three countries: France, Andorra and Spain. Both the ancient Greeks and the Romans knew Segre, they called it Sicoris. The Romans were the ones who started growing olives at scale on the Iberian Peninsula, and then often in connection with the country’s many rivers. Olives and olive oil were highly valued goods in the Mediterranean. Later, Arab rulers also valued the olive trees in the areas around Segre: They named the river Nahr az-Zaytún, which translates into something like “the Olive River”. Victories flow right through the town of Lleida and have caused several floods there, the most recent in the 1970s.
Segura: Wrong
Segura is on a Spanish scale a medium-sized river. You can find it in southeastern Spain. It originates in the province of Jaén and flows through a number of famous population centers such as Calasperra, Murcia, Rojales and Oriuela before flowing into the Mediterranean Sea at Guardamar del Segura in the province of Alicante, a port city founded by the Phoenicians. If you take a trip along Segura, you will most often be greeted by what for a northerner is a rather confusing river. Drought notwithstanding, every six to nine years, Segura rises above its banks caused by heavy rainfall. The flood always occurs in either spring or fall.
By the 1990s, agriculture, urbanization and industrial activity (especially canning factories) had made Segura one of Europe’s most polluted rivers. The locals took action, and demonstrations gathered tens of thousands of people. As a result, a comprehensive clean-up plan was drawn up and implemented by local authorities. Between 2001 and 2010, 100 water treatment plants were built in the area around Segura and already in 2003, the water quality had improved noticeably. From 2010 the river is considered (almost) clean. That has resulted in improvements in both wildlife and fauna. Wetlands have become habitats for birds. Two of the wetlands are protected by the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance. They are especially important for migratory birds on their way to and from Africa. Today you can find both otters and eels in the Segura – these are species that are particularly sensitive to water pollution.
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