15 Questions: Autonomous Communities of Spain Multiple Choice Quiz | Geography

Answer: Madrid

Madrid became the capital of Spain in 1561. It is by far the largest city in Spain and contains half of the region's population. After placing third in the bid for the 2012 Olympics, the city announced it will bid again for the 2016 Olympics. It lost this bid to Rio de Janeiro.

Answer: Aragon

Aragon united with Castile in the late 1400s to form Spain when its King Ferdinand married Castile's Isabella. Previously, Aragon had gained its independence from Navarra (Pamplona) in 1035 and at one time stretched all the way to Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia.

Answer: Catalonia

Catalonians speak with what sounds like a lisp as part of their Catalan dialect. Barcelona, the capital, hosted the 1992 Summer Games. The region was encompassed into the Kingdom of Aragon in 1157.

Answer: Galicia

The capital of Galicia is Santiago de Compostela. The region's people were originally Celts, and it has historic ties to Portugal. Although Santiago de Compostela is the capital, La Coruna is the largest city in the region.

Answer: Extremadura

Merida is on the Guadiana River, which forms much of the Spain-Portugal border. It was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania and was one of the most important cities of the Roman Empire. The word "Extremadura" refers to the border between Christian and Muslim realms in the 1400s.

Answer: 2

The Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean Sea, contain three islands, the largest of which is Mallorca. The Canary Islands are an archipelago off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean; the largest island in the group is Tenerife.

Answer: Cordillera Cantabrica

The Cordillera Cantabrica is a major mining region in Spain. The Sierra Morena, in southern Spain, are in Andalusia, and the Pyrenees, in northeastern Spain, separate the country from France. The Cordillera Asturiana is nonexistent.

Answer: Valencia

The Balearic Sea is part of the Mediterranean and naturally separates the Balearic Islands from the rest of the country. Catalonia also has a border on this sea. The city of Valencia, however, is on the Gulf of Valencia. Valencia is one of the largest cities in Spain.

Answer: Basque Country

The Basques have used terrorism to push for independence, led by the separatist organization ETA. The Basques have occupied the region southwest of the Pyrenees since the Paleolithic period, or old Stone Age. They speak a language unrelated to any other in the world.

Answer: Andalusia

Andalusia contains the southernmost point in mainland Europe and borders the Strait of Gibraltar. Its city of Granada was the last Moor stronghold in Spain. The Moors, Muslims who once controlled all of Spain, suffered their final defeat in 1492.

Answer: La Rioja

The capital of La Rioja is Logrono. It is a relatively small region compared with the rest of the country and was conquered by the kingdom of Castile in 1179. The Ebro, the longest river entirely in Spain, flows through it.

Answer: Castile and Leon

This region was formerly the northern part of the kingdom of Castile. After their marriage, Ferdinand and Isabella helped make Spain a world power in the late 15th century. They expelled the last Moors in 1492 and subsequently sent Christopher Columbus, a Genovese explorer, on a "crazy" mission to reach Indonesia by sailing west. Of course, he discovered North America instead.

Answer: Murcia

There is another port city called Cartagena in Colombia, on the Caribbean Sea. It was named for the one in Murcia while Colombia was part of Spain's colony of New Granada, and lies near Barranquilla, Colombia's fourth-largest city. The Cartagena in Spain is on the Mediterranean Sea.

Answer: Castile La Mancha

The city, Toledo, is a port on the Tagus River, the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. The river flows through Portugal and reaches the Atlantic at Lisbon. Toledo is also the name of a well-known city in Ohio on Lake Erie.

Answer: Navarra

The Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona lasts nine days and is the most popular one in Spain. Other towns scattered across the country have their own festivals, but it is the one in Pamplona that garners international attention.