Geography of Spain Geography of Spain Spain is a country located in southwestern Europe occupying most (about 85 percent) of the Iberian Peninsula and includes a small exclave inside France called Llívia as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off northwest Africa, and five places of sovereignty ("plazas de soberanía") on and off the coast of North Africa: Ceuta, Melilla, Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. The Spanish mainland is bordered to the south and east almost entirely by the Mediterranean Sea (except for a small land boundary
La Gomera giant lizard falls within its restricted range. The species is protected by international legislation, and a species recovery plan is in place. On La Gomera, a captive breeding programme has been established in order to increase the number of individuals. To ensure the survival of the remaining populations and facilitate eventual reintroductions, the feral cat population around the species' range needs to be controlled. In his scientific description, the German zoologist R. Hutterer referred the subfossil remains from La Gomera to two subspecies of "Gallotia simonyi" with the differences being size related. He named these "Gallotia simonyi bravoana" and "Gallotia simonyi gomerana".