Galicia

Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain. It is located in the north west of the Iberian Peninsula. It borders with Portugal to the south, the Spanish regions of Castilla y León and Asturias to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west.

The spoken languages are Galician and Spanish.

Geographically, an important feature of Galicia is the presence of many fjord-like indentations on the coast, estuaries that were drowned with rising sea levels after the ice age. These are called 'rías' and are divided into the Rías Altas and the Rías Baixas. The rias are important for fishing, and make the coast an important fishing area. The coast of this green corner of the Iberian Peninsula is also known as the 'A Costa do Marisco' ('The Seafood Coast' in Galician). Inland, the region is less populated, there are few small cities (Ourense, Lugo, Verín, Monforte de Lemos and O Barco) and many small villages. The terrain is made up of several low mountain ranges crossed by many small rivers that are not navigable but have provided hydroelectric power from the many dams. Galicia has so many small rivers that it has been called the 'land of the thousand rivers'. The most important of the rivers are the Miño and the Sil, which has a spectacular canyon.

The mountains in Galicia are not particularly high but there is a ski resort in Cabeza de Manzaneda (1,700 metres) in the Ourense Province. The highest mountain is Trevinca (2,127 metres) on the Ourense eastern border with León and Zamora provinces (Castilla y León).