Peninsular Spain is the part of the territory of Spain located within the Iberian Peninsula, excluding other parts of Spain: the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and several islets and crags off the coast of Africa known collectively as plazas de soberanía (places of sovereignty). In Spain, it is mostly known simply as la Península. It has land frontiers with France and Andorra to the north, Portugal to the west, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar to the south.
Characteristics
Peninsular Spain has an area of 492,175 km.2 In 2013, the population was 43,731,572. It contains 15 of the autonomous communities of Spain.
Occupying the central part of Spain, it possesses much greater resources and better interior and exterior communications than other parts of the country. To redress this imbalance, Spanish residents outside the peninsula receive a state subsidy for transport to and from the peninsula.
These are the municipalities with the highest population:
Madrid 3,207,247
Barcelona 1,611,822
Valencia 792,303
Seville 700,169
Zaragoza 682,004
Málaga 568,479
Murcia 438,246
Bilbao 349,356
Alicante 335,052
Córdoba 328,704