Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. With an area of 504,030 square kilometers (194,460 square miles), it is the second largest country in Western Europe after France. Spain shares land borders with Portugal to the west, France and Andorra to the north, and Morocco to the south. The Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia and Navarre border France and Portugal respectively. The Pyrenees mountain range forms Spain’s northeastern border with France and Andorra.
The country’s mainland is bordered to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north bythe Bay of Biscay;andto theeastbythePyreneesMountainRange. With an area of 2.7 million km2 (1 million mi2), Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe,the second largest countryin Western EuropeafterFrance,andthe fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Including its islands ( Baleares: Mallorca, Menorca e Ibiza; Canarias: Tenerife, Fuerteventura , Gran Canaria , Lanzarote e La Palma ), Spain has a total surface area of 505 thousand km2 which makes it slightly larger than Italy (301 thousand km2) but smaller than Great Britain (243 thousand km2).
Spain lies between latitudes 27° N and 43° N,and longitudes 19° Wand 5° E. Its Atlantic coast consists of more than 8500 kilometers (5300 mi) in length, while its distance from east to west measures only 1250 kilometers (780 mi). At its narrowest point along this axis — between Tarifa(Andalusia)andHendaye(France)—it measures not more than 150 kilometers (93 mi). On account of its great extent from north to south — 486 kilometers(302 mi)- Spain is often referred as “a large peninsula attached to Southwest Europe”.