Spain, together with Portugal, forms the westernmost of the three major peninsulas of southern Europe, an enormous octagonal promontory, at the extreme southwest of the continent. It is situated in a temperate area, between latitudes 43 47' 24''N. (Estaca de Bares) and 36 00' '3'' S. (Punta de Tarifa) and between longitudes 7 00' 29'' E. (Cabo de Creus) and 5 36' 40'' W. (Cabo Tourinan). Out of a total of 580,825 square kilometres, Spain occupies four fifths of the Peninsula. It borders to the North on the Bay of Biscay, France and Andorra; to the East, on the Mediterranean; to the South, on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and to the West on the Atlantic and Portugal.

Ancient historians gave Spain manu different names in the remote past. For some it was Ophiusa, for others Edetania, Sacania, Tartessos, Hesperia ... It was the Romans who hit on the name of Hispania, a word which is apparently of Phoenician origin, derived from shepham which probably means 'coast or island of rabbits'. Professor Garcia y Bellido believes that the name of Hispania dates from two centuries B.C. Strabo considered the terms Iberia and Hispania to be synonymous. 'The Romans have called this whole region', he wrote, 'Iberia or Hispania, dividing it into two parts, Ulterior and Citerior, and reserving the right to change them yet again, should circumstances call for a further administrative division' (subsequently the division would be Baetica, Lusitania and Tarraconense).

Peninsular Spain has a total area of 493,486 sq kilometres, to which must be added 4,992 sq km for the Balearics, 7,447 for the Canary archipelago and 32 for the Spanish towns situated in North Africa: Ceuta, with 18 sq km, and Melilla, with 14 sq km.

The perimeter of peninsular Spain totals 5,849 kilometres. Of this distance, 3,904 are coastline and 1,945 land frontiers. The French and Andorran frontier account for 712 kilometres; the Portuguese frontier extends for 1,232 kilometres, while the border with Gibraltar is just a kilometre.

The most important part of insular Spain is the Balearic and Canary archipelagoes. The first of these, situated at one side of the Peninsula, in the western Mediterranean, consists of the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera and other similar ones, while the Canary Islands to the south in the Atlantic, off the African coast, comprise Lanzarote, Ferteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera, Palma, Hierro and a few islets.