Tagus
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Image:Tejo do Castelo Almourol.JPG
Tagus (Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo, pron. IPA: ['tɛʒu]) is the largest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It measures 1,038 kilometers in length, 716 km of which are in Spain, 47 km as border between Portugal and Spain and the remaining 275 km in Portugal. It drains an area of 80,100 Km² (the second largest in the iberian peninsula after the Douro). It follows a very constricted course for much of its length, but after Almorol it enters a vast alluvian valley prone to flooding. Today the Alcantara Dam regulates much of the river's flow.
The source of the Tagus is the Fuente de García, in the Albarracín mountains. It ends in the Atlantic Ocean by Lisbon. The largest bridge across the river is Vasco da Gama bridge (in Lisbon) with a total length of 17.2 km. It was at the time also the largest bridge in Europe.
The main cities it passes through are Aranjuez, Toledo, Talavera de la Reina and Alcántara in Spain, and Constância, Santarem and Lisbon in Portugal.
The Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Ribatejo take their names from the river. Alentejo, from Além-Tejo (beyond the Tagus), and Ribatejo, from Arriba-Tejo (on the banks of the Tagus).
See also: Transvasement.be:Таґус ca:Tajo de:Tajo es:Tajo eo:Taĵo eu:Tajo fr:Tage gl:Río Texo id:Tagus is:Tagus it:Tago he:טחו lmo:Tago hu:Tajo lt:Tachas nl:Taag ja:タホ川 pl:Tag (rzeka) pt:Rio Tejo ru:Тахо (река) fi:Tagus sv:Tajo
