Madrid

Madrid serves as the capital and largest city of Spain. As of 2025, the city proper had a population exceeding 3.4 million, while its metropolitan area was home to roughly 6.8 million people. Within the European Union, Madrid ranks as the second-largest city proper, trailing only Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the second-largest as well, behind Paris. The municipality spans 605.77 square kilometers. Situated on the River Manzanares in the central Iberian Peninsula, the city sits at an elevation of about 660 meters above sea level. As the capital of both Spain and the autonomous community of Madrid, it functions as the nation’s political, economic, and cultural hub.

The earliest settlement on the site was a walled military outpost built in the late 9th century under the Emirate of Córdoba. Christians captured it in 1083 or 1085, and during the Late Middle Ages it grew into a substantial town within the Crown of Castile. Madrid’s role as an administrative center was cemented after 1561, when it became the permanent seat of the court of the Hispanic Monarchy. In the centuries that followed, its status was reinforced as part of a centralized state-building process.

The Madrid urban agglomeration boasts the second-largest GDP in the European Union. It is classified as an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Major Spanish companies such as Iberia, BBVA, and FCC are based in the metropolitan area, which also handles the bulk of Spain’s banking operations. Madrid is the Spanish-speaking city that generates the most webpages. It hosts the headquarters of UN Tourism, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB). Thanks to the Royal Spanish Academy’s standard-setting role, Madrid is a center for Spanish linguistic prescriptivism. The city organizes fairs including FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, and Madrid Fashion Week. It is also home to the football clubs Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.

Madrid is a leading destination for international tourism in Spain. In 2023, it ranked second among Spanish tourist destinations, welcoming 5,757,815 international visitors. Its main source markets are the United States, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Notable landmarks include the Plaza Mayor; the Royal Palace of Madrid; the Royal Theatre, featuring its restored 1850 Opera House; the Buen Retiro Park, founded in 1631; the 19th-century National Library building, which holds some of Spain’s historical archives; numerous national museums; and the UNESCO World Heritage “Golden Triangle of Art” along the Paseo del Prado. This triangle comprises three art museums: the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía Museum (a modern art museum), and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which complements the holdings of the other two. The mayor is José Luis Martínez-Almeida of the People’s Party.

The origin of the name “Madrid” is unknown. Several theories exist, each facing problems in fully explaining the toponym’s phonetic evolution. The Latin theory—deriving Madrid from Matrice or Matrix—has gained support in recent decades. Other possibilities include a Celtic origin from Magetoritum, with the root “-ritu” meaning “ford”; an Arabic origin from maǧrà or majrā, meaning “water stream”; or a Mozarabic variant of the Latin matricis, also meaning “water stream.” Nicknames for Madrid include the plural forms Madriles and Madriz.

The site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times. Archaeological remains include a Celtic Carpetani settlement, Roman villas, a Visigoth basilica near the church of Santa María de la Almudena, and three Visigoth necropolises near Casa de Campo, Tetuán, and Vicálvaro.

The first historical document referencing an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim period. In the second half of the 9th century, Umayyad Emir Muhammad I built a fortress on a headland near the Manzanares River. It was one of many fortresses erected on the border between Al-Andalus and the kingdoms of León and Castile, intended to protect Toledo from Christian attacks and serve as a launch point for Muslim offensives. After the Caliphate of Córdoba dissolved in the early 11th century, Madrid became part of the Taifa of Toledo.

During the broader campaign to conquer the Taifa of Toledo, which began in 1079, Alfonso VI of León and Castile seized Madrid in 1083. He aimed to use the town as an offensive outpost against Toledo, which fell in 1085. After the conquest, Christians occupied the city center, while Muslims and Jews were moved to the suburbs. Madrid remained a borderland for a time—nearby Alcalá stayed under Muslim control until 1118—and suffered several raids during the Almoravid period. Its walls were destroyed in 1110.

In 1123, under Alfonso VII, Madrid was confirmed as a villa de realengo (a town directly linked to the Crown). The Charter of Otorgamiento that year established the first explicit boundaries between Madrid and Segovia, specifically the Puerto de El Berrueco and the Puerto de Lozoya. Starting in 1188, Madrid earned the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. Alfonso VIII granted Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council in 1202, which Ferdinand III expanded in 1222. In January 1346, Alfonso XI changed the town’s government system to a regimiento of 12 regidores.

From the mid-13th century to the late 14th century, the concejo (council) of Madrid competed with the concejo of Segovia for control of the Real de Manzanares territory. Segovia, a powerful town north of the Sierra de Guadarrama, was known for its repopulation efforts and an economy based on animal husbandry, in contrast to Madrid’s more agricultural and less repopulated character.