Tagus River

Tagus River, longest waterway of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises in the Sierra de Albarracín of eastern Spain, at a point about 90 miles (150 km) from the Mediterranean coast, and flows westward across Spain and Portugal for 626 miles (1,007 km) to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon. Its drainage basin of 31,505 square miles (81,600 square km) is only exceeded on the peninsula by that of the Ebro River, to the northeast. The Tagus covers the heart of Portugal and Spain and has been of vital importance to the modern economic development of the two nations. The Vasco da Gama Bridge that crosses over the Tagus River estuary in Lisbon, spanning 17.2 km (10.7 miles), was the longest bridge in Europe at the time of its inauguration in 1998.

The upper Tagus cuts into limestone rocks and flows generally southwestward through narrow, sinuous valleys with deep canyons and abundant ravines. Near Trillo (Guadalajara province) it runs more peacefully, and just before the town of Bolarque it is held back by the dams of Entrepeñas and Buendía, forming an artificial lake known as the Sea of Castile, which covers an area of 51 square miles (132 square km).

Again flowing southwestward, the river irrigates the fertile lands of Aranjuez and the areas around Toledo and Talavera de la Reina until it reaches the province of Cáceres. Here it again flows through narrow, steep-edged trenches formed by quartzites and shales. At Puente de Alcántara another dam on the river has formed one of the greatest artificial lakes in Europe, with a length of 57 miles (92 km). Less than 10 miles (16 km) downstream the river becomes the frontier between Spain and Portugal for 27 miles (43 km). It enters Portugal at Beira and the Sierra de Carbajo, then crosses the fertile region of Abrantes. After flowing across Portugal for 111 miles (179 km), it forms at Vila Franca de Xira the Tagus (or Lisbon) estuary, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Toledo is the only large Spanish city that lies along the river, which flows past the cities of Santarém and Lisbon in Portugal and supplies the latter with a fine natural harbor. Only the lower portion of the river is used for navigation of any importance.

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Water and its Varying Forms

The Tagus flows mostly through semiarid lands, and government efforts have been dedicated to increasing land irrigation and creating hydroelectric power in its basin. Major efforts to harness the Tagus and its tributaries for these purposes were undertaken from the 1960s, and by 1980 more than 60 dams had been built with a total installed power capacity of more than 1,200,000 kilowatts. In the highlands of the Tagus basin, coniferous trees are numerous, supporting a well-developed timber industry. About one-third of the basin’s cultivated land is devoted to cereal farming, and everywhere are olive trees and vineyards. In Extremadura, in western Spain, only oaks and cork trees break the monotony of a rolling and rocky landscape.

Animal life near the river is abundant and diverse, with both European and North African species. Fishing for royal carp, luces, and black bass is possible in the artificial lakes of Entrepeñas and Buendía, and trout, barbels, and many other kinds of fish are caught in the Tagus and its tributaries. There is big-game hunting in Gredos, noted for its Pyrenean, or Spanish, ibex; in the ridges of Cuenca and Guadalajara fallow deer and chamois are found.