Aragon stretches from Pyrenean glaciers to a desert-dry steppe and an inland sea
One Spanish region packs in the highest summit of the Pyrenees, summers above 40 degrees Celsius, a fierce northwest wind with its own name and a reservoir locals call the Sea of Aragon. Aragon covers the ground of the medieval kingdom that once bore its name.
Aragon is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain made up of three provinces, Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel, and 33 comarcas or counties. Its 47,720 square kilometres, about 9.43 percent of the country, make it Spain's fourth-largest community. In January 2024 it had 1,351,591 residents, slightly over half of them in the capital, Zaragoza. Its 2023 output of 46,674 million euros was 3.1 percent of national GDP. Before becoming a kingdom its lands passed through Celtic and Roman hands and roughly four centuries of Islamic rule.
The terrain is a giant trough. The Ebro, Spain's largest river by volume, runs west to east through the middle at heights of roughly 150 to 300 metres, with the Sistema Ibérico rising on its southern side and the Pyrenees on its northern one. Aragon holds the highest point of each range: the Aneto at 3404 metres and the Moncayo at 2314. Small glacial lakes called ibones dot the mountains, usually above 2000 metres, and on the Ebro near Catalonia the Mequinenza Reservoir stretches about 110 kilometres.
Being walled off from maritime air leaves much of the region dry, with rain falling mostly on high ground and wet and dry years alternating unpredictably. Winters bring frequent frosts, while summers in central areas can pass 40 degrees. Two winds dominate: the cold, dry cierzo that barrels down the Ebro valley from the northwest, and the warmer, gentler bochorno from the southeast. Mountain winters can average 10 degrees colder than the valley.
Conservation has deep roots. Ordesa y Monte Perdido, created in 1918 as Spain's second national park, covers 15608 hectares in the comarca of Sobrarbe. The Red Natural de Aragón, set up in 2004, now coordinates it along with four natural parks, including Sierra y Cañones de Guara at 47453 hectares, plus reserves, monuments and protected landscapes.
Source: Aragon
