Iberia is located in southern Europe. Historical region located on the Iberian Peninsula. Iberia, lying on the Iberian Peninsula, is separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. Both Portugal and almost all of Spain for a long time, much longer than other European countries, were under Arab influence. Both countries are better known for their agricultural products than for their technological achievements, but their long and unusual history has managed to assemble a wealth of cultural and historical landmarks, from the Roman and Arab periods to remarkable modern architecture. Gibraltar, which has belonged to Great Britain for three hundred years, differs significantly from Spain and Portugal, while Andorra, a small Pyrenean state, on the contrary, is similar to the neighboring regions of Spain. The Pyrenees in the north and the Sierra Nevada in the south of the peninsula guarantee a sufficient amount of natural beauty, and, in addition, the region includes the islands in the Atlantic Ocean - Madeira, Azores and Canaries.
Andorra
Gibraltar
Spain
Portugal
The geology of the Iberian Peninsula is closely related to the genesis and nature of its relief. Its main core, which occupies about 60% of the entire area, is Meseta, the ancient residual Hercynian highlands. It constitutes the central and western part of the peninsula, falling directly to the sea in the northwestern region. For most of its length, the Meseta is bordered by either folded mountain ranges or tectonic depressions. Tertiary folded mountains, in turn, play a large role in the structure and relief of the Iberian Peninsula, especially its eastern and southern parts. Remarkable in length and straightness, fault and fault lines limit Meseta from the south and west. The southern edge of the Meseta rises as a steep slope above the Andalusian lowland stretching at its foot. To the south of the lowland stretches (from southwest to northeast) the powerful system of mountains of the Cordillera Betica, at the foot of which lies the southern and southeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain. To the east, the Andalusian lowland wedges out, and the Betsky mountains closely merge with the southeast corner of the Meseta. Further northeast, the Andalusian Mountains end at Cape Nao. Their tectonic continuation is the group of the Pitius and Balearic Islands stretched from the southwest to the northeast.
The
relief of the Iberian Peninsula is dominated by mountains and
plateaus: lowlands are located only in places in the marginal
(coastal) zone and occupy a relatively small area. The average
height of the peninsula is significant - about 600 m above sea
level. A feature of the peninsula are vast high-lying inland
plateaus - a type of relief rarely found in southern and western
Europe. These are the plateaus of the Meseta: the northern - Old
Castile and the southern - New Castile; the first lies at an
altitude of about 800 m, the second - about 600 m (on average). They
are separated by a chain of mountains that crosses the Meseta (in
the direction from west-southwest to east-northeast), known as the
Cordillera Central. These plateaus have a closed character,
bordering on mountains for most of their length; along their
periphery, at the foot of the mountains, even higher leveled
surfaces (up to 900-1100 m) are observed.
Along with the
significant development of plateaus, a sharply dissected and rocky
mountain landscape is also widely represented in the relief of the
peninsula; mountains are often steep-sided, with deeply incised
river valleys and gorges. The Alpine type of landscape is clearly
expressed in the Pyrenean Range, which bears groups of small
glaciers, and in the Pleistocene was subjected to significant
glaciation. High-mountain relief features are also inherent in other
mountain ranges (in their highest sections) - such as the Cantabrian
Mountains, the Central Cordillera, the Andalusian Mountains.
In contrast, the landscapes of medium-altitude mountains and hilly
areas, so typical of Italy, are much less developed in Spain. In
general, the Iberian Peninsula is a country of rather sharp
contrasts in relief, climate and landscapes, which makes it
noticeably different from the rest of Western Europe. To emphasize
this feature of the peninsula, it is sometimes called "Little
Africa" or compared with the highlands of Western and Central Asia,
in particular with Asia Minor. Differences in the landscapes of
individual regions of the Iberian Peninsula are due to the isolation
of its inner parts, with a continental shade of climate, which
creates other features of nature compared to coastal areas. In
addition, due to the significant height of mountains and plateaus,
the role of vertical climatic and landscape zonality is quite
pronounced on the Iberian Peninsula. Despite these features and
originality of the Iberian Peninsula, in general, in terms of
nature, it is still close to the rest of Southern Europe, belonging
together with it to a single Mediterranean large geographical area,
remarkable for the vividness of its typical landscapes.
The
bay type of coast is generally relatively undeveloped on the Iberian
Peninsula, but still occurs in a number of places with excellent
natural harbors: in the northwest - in Galicia, in the west - at the
mouth of the Tagus River (Lisbon harbor), in the south - in the bay
with the ancient port of Cartagena.
Regarding Prehistory, the Iberian Peninsula has been populated in all
prehistoric periods: Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Upper
Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze
Age and Iron Age. Human bone remains have been dated to the sites of the
Sierra de Atapuerca with more than 1,000,000 years old. According to
archaeopaleontological investigations in the caves of the Sierra de
Atapuerca (Burgos), to date there are human bone remains of four
different species: Homo antecessor (Lower Pleistocene), Homo
heidelbergensis (Middle Pleistocene), Homo neanderthalensis (Upper
Pleistocene) and Homo sapiens (Holocene).
Iberia was the name
given by the Greeks to the peninsula, although the part they knew best
was the southern part of the eastern part of the peninsula, around the
Iber River. "Hispania" was the name used by the Romans to designate the
Iberian Peninsula, possibly of Punic origin (see Origin of the name of
Hispania).
After the Muslim conquest it received the name
al-Andalus, becoming part of the North African province of the Umayyad
Caliphate (711 to 1492) and later becoming the emirate of Córdoba and
later the Caliphate of Córdoba independent of the Abbasid Caliphate.
With the dissolution of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, the territory
was divided into the first Taifa kingdoms, a period followed by the
Almoravid stage, the second Taifa kingdoms, the Almohad stage and the
third Taifa kingdoms.
Later, after the dynastic union of the
crowns of Castile and Aragon and the conquests of Granada and most of
the Kingdom of Navarra, the resulting territories began to be called
Spain, for simplification among non-Spanish people, although the legal
unification of all these kingdoms was not consolidated until the 18th
century, with the Bourbons.
Until the end of the 17th century,
beginning of the 18th century, all the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
considered themselves Spanish, just as currently the various peoples of
Scandinavia consider themselves Scandinavian, or those of the Balkan
Peninsula consider themselves Balkan.[citation needed] With difficulty
the Portuguese felt forced to stop also calling themselves Spanish, in
order not to be taken for Castilian, as the Castilianization of other
kingdoms of ancient Hispania developed.
Due to the manifest
historical, political and cultural impossibility of continuing to call
the Portuguese "Spanish", without them being confused with the
Castilians by other peoples who ruled inside and outside the Hispanic
peninsula, since then the term began to be used. expression "Iberian" to
designate the "two peoples" of the Hispanic peninsula, now preferably
called by the neologism Iberian Peninsula. This process was parallel and
similar to the one that arose abroad of calling Spanish the Castilian
language, made the only official language by the Spanish government,
until they changed the official designation of the State, with the
creation of the official name: Kingdom of Spain in the 18th century, and
the change of the title of the kings of León, Castile, Aragon, Sicily,
etc. for the kings of Spain for symbolic purposes of administrative
unification and for the new international presentation of the monarchy
of the plateau.
The following main climatic regions can be distinguished
on the Iberian Peninsula:
northern oceanic, with a very even maritime
climate, mild winters and cool summers, high cloudiness and relative
humidity, frequent and heavy precipitation in all months of the year,
but with a noticeable summer minimum;
the Iberian region, of the same
type in general, but distinguished by a pronounced vertical zonality and
the presence of a zone of high mountain climate;
southwestern region
adjacent to the ocean and under its moderating influence, but having hot
and dry summers, rainy and very mild winters;
the southeastern
region, with the maximum dryness of the climate, with a very long hot
and cloudless summer (with the greatest use of artificial irrigation in
agriculture - irrigation facilities);
inland areas (plateaus of Old
and New Castile, the Aragon Basin with a dry, temperate continental
climate, hot summers and cool winters, with frequent slight frosts in
winter (especially in Old Castile);
mountainous regions of inner
Spain, with a moderately humid and rather severe climate, with cold
snowy winters.
The pronounced dryness of the climate, characteristic
of most of the Iberian Peninsula, is further enhanced by the extremely
uneven precipitation over the seasons. In the southern half of the
peninsula, winter precipitation prevails, in the middle lane -
precipitation in the transitional seasons: autumn and spring. Summer
almost everywhere is characterized by prolonged dryness. Moreover,
precipitation often has the character of showers. These climate features
are reflected in the hydrographic network and vegetation.
The geology of the Iberian Peninsula responds to a long geological history, from Proterozoic times to the present, reflecting fusions and breakups of continents, opening of oceans and important orogenic episodes. The traces and scars of this history shape the continental crust, the structure and nature of the igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks that make up the peninsula as well as the current reliefs.
Its geographical isolation has allowed the development of
characteristic flora and fauna that include a significant number of
endemic taxa. As an interesting fact, it should be noted that in Spain
there are 17,804 million trees and that an average of 284 million more
grow each year, according to a study prepared by the Spanish Society of
Forest Sciences in September 2009.
Spain is the second country in
the European Union with the largest forest area, a total of 26.27
million hectares or 57% of its territory, with the wooded area,
according to the third forest inventory, being 14.73 million hectares
and the rest of the Mediterranean scrub.
The flora of the
peninsula, due to its biohistorical, geographical, geological,
orographic conditions, etc., is one of the richest and most varied in
all of Europe, comparable to that of Mediterranean countries such as
Greece and Italy and even of greater diversity; It is estimated that it
includes more than 8,000 plant species, many of them endemic.
In
the past, the Mediterranean has been subject to major changes in climate
and vegetation, together with variations, sometimes very large, in sea
level and variations in the relative positions of the continental masses
(European and African plates). With the introduction of plants and
isolation, due to marine fluctuations or periodic glaciations, a varied
diversity of plant species can be found.
The Iberian Peninsula,
located on an important passageway between Africa and Europe, was
enriched with the arrival, as the climate changed, of steppe,
thermophilic, xerophilous, orophilous and boreo-alpine plants, many of
which managed to survive later, thanks to the diversity of means that
exist in the mountain ranges, which allow them to rise in altitude if
the climate becomes warmer, or descend if it becomes colder. The
geological complexity of the majority of the Iberian mountains,
especially the Baetic mountains, the Iberian system and the Pyrenees,
greatly increased the number of new environments to which to adapt and
made possible the diversity and richness of the current flora.
The Euro-Siberian region is represented by the Atlantic zone, which
extends from the north of Portugal, most of Galicia, the Principality of
Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, northwest Navarra and the
western and central Pyrenees. However, its influence in the form of
specific communities or species extends in many places inland,
especially in the northern and western halves. It is characterized by a
humid climate, softened by the oceanic influence, with mild-cold winters
and a mild dry season.
The vegetation is represented by deciduous
forests of oaks (Quercus petraea) and oaks (Quercus robur), with ash
trees of Fraxinus excelsior and hazelnut groves in the cooler, deeper
soils at the bottom of the valley. The montane terrain is characterized
by the presence of beech forests and sometimes, in the Pyrenees, by
Abies alba fir forests; These beech and fir forests occupy the cool
slopes with deep soil of the not very high mountains. The Mediterranean
influence is felt in the presence of holm oak forests with laurel, which
are located on the warmest ridges and slopes, especially on limestone
soils, where the dryness is accentuated.
The use by man
throughout history has transformed many of these forests into meadows,
which preserve on their edges remains of the hedges or species of the
primitive forest. The natural border is formed by hedges and thorns that
are installed in the clearings and cleared parts; They are made up of
wild roses, brambles, blackthorns, hawthorns and other more or less
thorny shrubs; Piornales and brooms can also play this role. The
following are the main forests in this area.
The fauna of the Iberian Peninsula presents a wide diversity that is
largely due to two factors, the geographical position of the Iberian
Peninsula, between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and between Africa
and Eurasia, and the great diversity of habitats and biotopes, as a
consequence of a considerable variety of climates and
well-differentiated regions.
Among the large carnivores, two
species that have disappeared from much of Western Europe stand out: the
brown bear, which survives in the Cantabrian Mountains and in certain
Pyrenean enclaves, and the Iberian wolf, a subspecies endemic to the
Iberian Peninsula. Although the most emblematic carnivore is undoubtedly
the Iberian lynx, the most endangered felid on the entire European
continent. Much more numerous are the populations of wild cats, red
foxes and some mustelids: the badger, the polecat and the weasel;
Somewhat less numerous are those of otter, marten and marten. The
Viverrids are represented by the genet; and the herpestids, for the
mongoose.
Herbivores are represented by fairly widespread
species, such as some deer: the common deer, fallow deer and roe deer.
There are endemic populations of ibex and Pyrenean and Cantabrian
pockets of chamois. The wild boar is also widely spread.
The name of the Iberian Peninsula is derived from the ethnic or
tribal group of Iberians who, according to Greek tradition, inhabited
the peninsula in ancient times. Their name is derived from the river
Ebro (Latin Iberus), which flows from northeast Spain into the
Mediterranean.
Iberia (Ιβηρία) was the Greek name for this area.
In Latin, the region was called Hispania, from which España and
Spain are derived. The Roman province of Lusitania in the southwest of
the peninsula included most of today's Portugal and parts of
Extremadura. Lusitania therefore became the Latin name of Portugal,
Germanized Lusitanien.
In the spring of 711, Mūsā ibn Nusair,
Umayyad governor of the Maghreb since 700, sent the Berber Tāriq ibn
Ziyād with around 12,000 men across the strait to conquer the Visigoth
Empire on the Iberian Peninsula. In the Middle Ages, large parts of the
Iberian Peninsula belonged to the Islamic world. The Moorish influence
left a lasting mark on Hispanic culture. From the 8th century until
January 2, 1492 (victory over Boabdil), the gradual reconquista
(“reconquest”) of Al-Andalus by the Christian empires took place. The
remaining Muslims and also the Spanish Jews, the Sephardim, had to leave
Spain or convert to Christianity in the course of these wars of
conquest.