Madrid

Capital of SpainMadrid stands on the high Meseta Central plateau in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, on the River Manzanares. The Guadarrama mountains rise about 60 km to the north.

Why it's the capital

In June 1561 King Philip II moved his royal court to Madrid and set it up in the old castle, the alcázar. Apart from a short period from 1601 to 1606, when the court moved to Valladolid, Madrid has been the capital of Spain ever since.

Fun facts

Madrid began in the second half of the 9th century as a fortress built by Muhammad I, an Umayyad emir.
With an average altitude of about 650 m, Madrid is the second-highest capital in Europe, after Andorra la Vella.
A statue of a bear reaching up to a strawberry tree, the picture on Madrid's coat of arms, stands in the Puerta del Sol square.

Finding it on the globe

Picture Spain as a square and tap close to its centre. Madrid is about as far from the north coast as from the south coast.

Sources: Wikipedia: Madrid, Wikipedia: Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree