Tagus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Tagus
Tajo, Tejo
River
View over the Tagus River from Almourol Castle in Portugal
Countries	Spain, Portugal

Tributaries
- left	Guadiela, Algodor, Gévalo, Ibor, Almonte, Salor, Sever
- right	Jarama, Guadarrama, Alberche, Tiétar, Alagón


Source	Fuente de García
- location	Albarracín Mountains, Teruel, Spain
- elevation	1,593 m (5,226 ft)
Mouth	Stuary of the Tagus
- location	Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon, Portugal
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)

Length	1,038 km (645 mi)
Basin	80,100 km² (30,927 sq mi)
Discharge
- average	500 m³/s (17,657 cu ft/s)

Path of the Tagus through the Iberian Peninsula
Wikimedia Commons: Tagus
Website: Confederación Hidrográfica del Tajo

The Tagus (Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo, pron. IPA: ['tɛʒʊ], Ancient greek Tàghos, Ταγος) is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It measures 1,038 kilometers in length, 716 km of which are in Spain, 47 km as border between Portugal and Spain and the remaining 275 km in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic at Lisbon. It drains an area of 80,100 km² (the second largest in the Iberian peninsula after the Douro). It follows a very constricted course for much of its length, but after Almourol it enters a vast alluvial valley prone to flooding. Today the Alcantara Dam regulates much of the river's flow.

The source of the Tagus is the Fuente de García, in the Albarracín mountains. All its major tributaries enter the Tagus from the right (north) bank. The main cities it passes through are Aranjuez, Toledo and Talavera de la Reina in Spain, and Abrantes, Santarém, Almada and Lisbon in Portugal.

[edit] Course of the Tagus

The first notable town on the Tagus is Sacedón. Below Aranjuez it receives the combined flow of the Henares and the Tajuña. Below Toledo it receives the Gundarram. Above Talavera de la Reina it receives the Alberche. At Valdeverdeja is the upper end of the long upper reservoir, the Embalse de Valdecañas, beyond which is the lower reservoir, the Embalse de Alcántara behind the dam, into which flow the Tiétar at the upper end and the Alagón at the lower end.

After the stretch where the Tagus forms the border, it enters Portugal, passing by Vila Velha de Ródão, Abrantes, Constância, Entroncamento, Santarém and Vila Franca de Xira at the head of the long narrow estuary, which has Lisbon at its mouth. There is the largest bridge across the river, the Vasco da Gama Bridge (in Lisbon) with a total length of 17.2 km. It is also the longest bridge in Europe. The Pepper Wreck is the name of a shipwreck located and excavated at the mouth of the Tagus River between 1996 and 2001.

The Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Ribatejo take their names from the river. Alentejo, from Além-Tejo ("beyond the Tagus"), and Ribatejo, from Arriba-Tejo (on the banks of the Tagus). There is a canal and aqueduct between the Tagus and the river.

[edit] Trivia

A popular fado song in Lisbon notes that while people get older, the Tagus remains young ("My hair getting white, the Tagus is always young").

[edit] Gallery

Alcantara bridge (illuminated of the night)	The Tagus River in Toledo, Spain	Puente de San Martín in Toledo, Spain	Puente de Hierro at night, Talavera de la Reina, Spain
Lisbon's seaport by the Tagus