Aragon is an autonomous community in the northeast of Spain.
In the various dialects of Spain it is: in Aragonese: Aragón; in Spanish: Aragón; in Catalan: Aragó.
Aragon | |
---|---|
Anthem: Himno de Aragón (officially) | |
Coordinates: 41°00′N 1°00′W / 41.000°N 1.000°W | |
Country | Spain |
Capital | Zaragoza |
Provinces | Huesca, Teruel, and Zaragoza |
Government | |
• President | Javier Lambán (PSOE) |
• Legislature | Cortes of Aragon |
Area (9.4% of Spain; ranked 4th) | |
• Total | 47,720 km2 (18,420 sq mi) |
Population (1 January 2021) | |
• Total | 1,326,261 |
• Density | 28/km2 (72/sq mi) |
• Pop. rank | 11th |
• Percent | 2.82% of Spain |
Demonym | Aragonese |
ISO 3166 code | ES-AR |
Official languages | Spanish |
Recognised languages | Aragonese, Catalan |
Statute of Autonomy | 16 August 1982 18 April 2007 (current version) |
National day | 23 April |
Parliament | Cortes of Aragon |
Congress seats | 13 (of 350) |
Senate seats | 14 (of 265) |
HDI (2019) | 0.911 very high · 6th |
Website | Gobierno de Aragón |
Aragon covers the area of the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. It is named after the Aragón river, a tributary of the Ebro.
Aragon has three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza (sometimes called Saragossa in English).
Aragon is one of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities. It has a surface area of 47,719 square kilometres (18,424 sq mi), 9.4 percent of the territory of Spain. By area, it is the fourth largest Spanish autonomous community after Castile and León, Andalusia and Castile-La Mancha.
Aragon is bordered to the north by France (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). Within Spain, the community is bordered to the east by Catalonia (Lerida and Tarragona provinces), to the south by Valencian Community (Castellón and Valencia provinces) and Castile-La Mancha (Cuenca and Guadalajara provinces), and to the west by Castile and León (Soria province), La Rioja and Navarre.
Most of Aragon has an altitude of 201–3,404 m (659–11,168 ft). The highest point is the Aneto peak with 3,404 m (11,168 ft) high; it is the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.
The lowest point in Aragon is on the Ebro river, close to Zaragoza, with an altitude of 65 m (213 ft) high.
The three main geographical regions of Aragon are:
Most of the Aragonese rivers are tributaries of the Ebro, Spain's largest river in volume and which divides Aragon into two. Some important tributaries on the left side of the river (rivers that come from the Pyrenees) are the Aragón, born in Huesca but flows into the community of Navarre, the Gállego and Cinca, which joins the Segre just before ending up in the Ebro. Right tributaries are the rivers Jalón, Huerva and Guadalupe.
On the Ebro, near the border with Catalonia, lies the Mequinenza Reservoir, with a length of about 110 km, and that is popularly known as the Sea of Aragon.
Climatically, Aragon can be divided into three areas:
In the middle of Aragon, which is only 200 m (656 ft) above sea level, the annual average temperature is around 14 °C (57 °F). To the north and south of the Ebro valley, where the elevation rises to 500 m (1,640 ft) above sea level, the temperature drops by two degrees. In the mountains, between 600 and 1,000 m (1,969 and 3,281 ft), the temperatures are between 11 and 12 °C (52 and 54 °F).
Aragon consists of three provinces named after their capitals: Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza. Each province is divided in comarcas (a comarca is a local administrative division) and these are divided in municipalities.
Province | Capital | Population | Area (km2) | Municipalities |
---|---|---|---|---|
Huesca | Huesca | 226,329 | 15,626 | 202 |
Teruel | Teruel | 142,183 | 14,809 | 236 |
Zaragoza | Zaragoza | 978,638 | 17,274 | 292 |
Aragon has a population, in 2013, of 1,347,150, for a population density of 28.2 inhabitants/km2, one of the lowest in Spain. The most densely populated areas are around the valley of the Ebro river, particularly around Zaragoza, and in the Pyrenean foothills (the hills at the base of the Pyrenees), while the areas with the fewest inhabitants tend to be those that are higher up in the Pyrenean mountains, and in most of the southern province of Teruel.
The province of Zaragoza is the one with more inhabitants, with 978,638 people living there, representing 72.6% of the population of Aragon.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Zaragoza (620,419). The other provincial capitals Huesca and Teruel have, respectively, 47,923 and 31,506 inhabitants.
The 10 most important cities in the department are:
City | Population (2011) | Province |
---|---|---|
Zaragoza | 620,419 | Zaragoza |
Huesca | 47,923 | Huesca |
Teruel | 31,506 | Teruel |
Calatayud | 18,531 | Zaragoza |
Ejea de los Caballeros | 16,183 | Zaragoza |
Barbastro | 15,457 | Huesca |
Alcañiz | 13,708 | Teruel |
Fraga | 13,035 | Huesca |
Jaca | 12,322 | Huesca |
Spanish is the native language in most of Aragón. The only official language, it is understood and spoken by virtually everyone in the region.Also, Aragonese is still spoken, in several local varieties, in the mountainous northern counties of the Pyrenees, particularly in western Ribagorza, Sobrarbe, Jacetania and Somontano. In the easternmost areas of Aragón, along the border with Catalonia, varieties of Catalan are spoken, including the comarcas of eastern Ribagorza, La Litera, Bajo Cinca, Bajo Aragón-Caspe, Bajo Aragón and Matarraña.
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