Cities of Spain Educational Geography Posters
for social studies classrooms and homeschoolers.

Avila, located in central Spain and surrounded by mountains, has been a fortess since pre-Roman times.

Avila is noted for its harsh climate, archeologically significant medieval city walls, and churches of Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Notable people associated with Avila include: Teresa of Avila, Isabella of Castile, St. John of the Cross, George Santayana.

Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain (after Madrid), is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea.

The city was likely founded by Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, in the 3rd century BC. Another legend has the city founded by the Roman god Hercules.

Notable people associated with Barcelona: Carmen Amaya, Francisco Ferrer, Joan Miro, Antoni Gaudi, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Pablo Casals, Xavier Cugat, Jose Carreras, Montserrat Caballe.

Bilboa is situated in north central Spain, just south of the Bay of Biscay and on the Bilboa Estuary.

In 1997 the Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bilboa opened.

Cádiz, a city is southwestern Spain, is an important port on the Atlantic coast, just northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Cadiz, the most ancient city of western Europe, began as a Phoenician outpost. The city has been under the control of the Carthagians, the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Moors. Archeological evidence leads to the theory that Tartessos, an ancient culture in the area of Andalusia, lost its harbor city to flooding of the Guadalquiver River, and Cadiz served as the new trading center.

Christopher Columbus began his second and fourth voyages from Cadiz, as did the doomed Spanish Armada.

Most Ancient European Towns Network: Argos, Beziers, Cadiz, Colchester, Cork, Evora, Maastricht, Roskilde, Tongeren, Worms.

Because Cadiz is built on a narrow spit of land its the population growth is limited.

Cordoba, in Andalusia, Spain, was both an Iberian and Roman city before becoming the capital of and Islamic caliphate in the Middle Ages. There are archeological traces of Neaderthals dating to c. 32,000 BC.

Famous people associated with Cordoba: Seneca, Averroes, Maimonides.

Granada is situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, in southern Spain.

The Alhambra, a palace, fortress, courtyards and garden complex built by the Moorish rulers during the mid-14th century, is Granada's most famous landmark. The word Alhambra means “the red”, referring to the reddish clay of the area. It is Spain's best known Islamic architecture and a major tourist attraction.

Notable people associated with Granada: Leo Africanus, Isabella of Castille, Federico Garcia Lorca.

Guernica, a town in the Basque country of Spain, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.

Guerica (the Basque spelling is Gernika) is best known as the scene of the April 26, 1937 aerial bombing attack commemorated by Pablo Picasso in a painting. It was one of the first aerial bombings by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe.

León, located in northwest Spain, was founded as a Roman military encampment around 29 BC.

León is located on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

The site of Madrid, Spain, along the Manzanares River on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe, has been occupied since prehistoric times.

The motto of Madrid is “Fui sobre agua edificada, mis muros de fuego son. Esta es mi insignia y blasón”. (On water I was built, my walls are made of fire. This is my ensign and escutcheon.)

FYI - the Strawberry tree, known in Spanish as the madroño, is a symbol of Madrid, along with the bear.

Notable people associated with Madrid include: Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Jacinto Benavente y Martinez.

Málaga

Pamplona, Spain is best remembered for the Running of the Bulls through the streets during the festival of San Fermin, brought to the world's attention by author Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises.

The Roman general Pompey is considered to be the founder of Pamplona, and the composer Pable de Sarasate was born in Pamplona.

Segovia

Seville, in the southern Andalusia area of Spain, is an inland port located on the Guadalquivir River 50 miles from the Atlantic coast.

Seville was the capital of Moors from the 8th to 13th centuries, the architecture of the city is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Seville was granted La Casa de Contratacion (House of Trade), bringing all trade with the New World through Seville.

Residents of the city are known as sevillanos (feminine form: sevillanas) or hispalenses, following the Roman name of the city, Hispalis. The Moorish name was Isbiliya. The oldest name known for Seveille is Spal.

Famous people associated with Seville include: Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian (b. Italica), historian Bartolome de Las Casas, artist Diego Velazquez, composer Joaquin Turina, Christopher Columbus' remains were interred in the Seville Cathedral.

Seville is noted as a center for flamenco dance.

Toledo, located on the Tagus River 40 miles southwest of Madrid, has had human settlement since the Bronze Age.

Toledo was name a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 for “its extensive cultural and monumental heritage and place of coexistence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures.”

Notable people associated with Toledo include Alfonso X of Castile, Eleanor of Toledo, El Greco, and the poet & soldier Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 1501–1536).

Valencia, the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, is located on the banks of the Turia River, on the east coast of the Iberian peninsula on the Gulf of Valencia of the Mediterranean Sea.

Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC and occupied by the Visigoths, the Moors and the Catalan and Aragonese.

Valencia is famous for its cuisine which includes paella – a simmered rice dish that includes seafood or meat (chicken and rabbit), fartons, buñuelos, Spanish omelette, rosquilletas and squid (calamares). The primary oranges developed and grown in Southern California are named after the city of Valencia.

Notable people associated with Valencia include Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Lucrezia Bori.

Valladolid is located within the winegrowing regions of Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers in northwest Spain.

Notable people associated with Valladold are Isabella and Ferdinand (married 1469, and making it their capital), Christopher Columbus (died 1506), Cervantes working on Don Quiojote (

Zaragoza is situated on the Ebro River in northeastern Spain. An Iberian tribe were habitating the area before the Romans arrived between 25-12 BC.

The city was taken over by the Goths in the 5th century and in 714 the Moors arrived.

The filmmaker Luis Buñuel was raised in Zaragoza.