Main cities

The capital and largest city of Spain is Madrid (population in 1998, 2,881,506 inhabitants), which is also the capital of the autonomous community of Madrid. The second largest city, largest port and commercial center is Barcelona (1,505,581 inhabitants), capital of the province of Barcelona and of the autonomous community of Catalonia. Other major cities include Valencia (739 412 inhabitants), capital of the province of Valencia and Valencia, an industrial and rail center; Sevilla (701,927 inhabitants), capital of the province of Seville and the autonomous community of Andalusia, a leading tourist destination; Zaragoza (603,367 inhabitants), capital of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous community of Aragon, another industrial center and communications; Malaga (528,079 inhabitants), capital of the Costa del Sol tourist; and Bilbao (358,467 inhabitants), very active and capital of the province of Biscay port.