a peninsula in Southwest Europe. With an area of 582,000 sq km, it is the second largest peninsula in Europe after the Scandinavian Peninsula.
The Iberian Peninsula is washed in the north by the Bay of Biscay, in the west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean, and in the northeast, east, and southeast by the Mediterranean Sea; in the south it is separated from Africa by the Strait of Gibraltar. The peninsula is mountainous, its outline is simple, and its coastline relatively smooth. Only in the northwest are there deeply indented ria-type coasts. The land surface is occupied chiefly by the Meseta and Galician plateaus and by linearly extending mountain ranges: the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian, Catalonian, and Iberian ranges, and the Andalusian Mountains. The highest point is Mount Mulacén in the Sierra Nevada range (3,478 m). There are small lowland areas along the peninsula’s boundaries.
The climate of the Iberian Peninsula is primarily Mediterranean. In the peninsula’s continental regions it is arid, while in the western regions it is more humid and closer to an oceanic climate. The chief rivers are the Tagus, Guadiana, Douro, Ebro, and Guadalquivir. Vegetation is primarily scrub of the maquis and garigue types. The Iberian Peninsula is occupied by Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and the British crown colony of Gibraltar.