Tagus

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (April 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 5,021 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Tajo]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|es|Tajo}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Tagus Tajo (Spanish) Tejo (Portuguese)
View of Tagus River in Toledo, Spain
Path of the Tagus through the Iberian Peninsula
Etymology	Vulgar Latin taliāre, "to cut through"
Location
Country	Spain, Portugal
Physical characteristics
Source	Fuente de García, Montes Universales
• location	Frías de Albarracín, Spain
• coordinates	40°19′16″N 1°41′49″W / 40.321°N 1.697°W / 40.321; -1.697
• elevation	1,593 m (5,226 ft)
Mouth	Estuary of the Tagus, Atlantic Ocean
• location	Lisbon, Portugal
• coordinates	38°41′28″N 9°10′16″W / 38.691°N 9.171°W / 38.691; -9.171
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	1,007 km (626 mi)
Basin size	80,100 km2 (30,900 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	500 m3/s (18,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Gallo, Jarama, Guadarrama, Alberche, Tiétar, Alagón, Zêzere

The Tagus (/ˈteɪɡəs/ TAY-gəs; Spanish: Tajo [ˈtaxo]; Portuguese: Tejo [ˈtɛʒu]; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows 1,007 km (626 mi), generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon.^[1]

Name

The river's Latin name is Tagus. While the etymology is unclear, the most probable etymological origin for the

The lower Tagus region in Portugal is a seismically active area. Major earthquakes in the Lower Tagus include those of 1309, 1531, and 1909.^[3][4]

Inverted Delta

Tagus river is one of the few rivers in the world to have an inverted delta. Its delta is wider at the beginning and narrows down as it approaches the sea, contrary to a typical delta. This is because it flows into the sea through a small opening in a valley. Although due to sedimentation this delta is now only very partially inverted, with the valley now mostly filled with sediment. The delta is about 15 km wide and 25 km long, but its exit into the sea is only 2 km wide. It thus forms a large lagoon with large and very shallow sand banks which go uncovered during low tides. The delta used to be even bigger thousands of years ago.

History

The Pepper Wreck, properly the wreck of the

The Tagus river basin comprises 42 River Nature Reserves ^[es] and is the river basin with the most protected areas in Spain.^{[1]: Prefacio}

See also

• List of rivers of Spain
• List of rivers of Portugal
• Media related to Tagus River at Wikimedia Commons

References