Madrid economic, cultural, industrial, educational, and technological centre on the European continent. Madrid lies on the southern Meseta Central, 60 km south of the Guadarrama mountain range and straddling the Jarama and Manzanares river sub-drainage basins, in the wider Tagus River catchment area. There is a considerable difference in altitude within city limits ranging from in the Manzanares riverbanks in the southeast of the municipality to above sea level in the highest part of the Fuencarral-El Pardo district. Over a quarter of the Madrid municipal area is covered by the largely forested protected area of El Pardo. Madrid has an inland
New Madrid County, Missouri located in the region. This area was under Spanish rule following France's cession of Louisiana after being defeated in the Seven Years' War. The Spanish named the district after Madrid, the capital of Spain. The county includes a large part of the New Madrid Fault that produced the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. This zone remains geologically active, and had continued to produce smaller earthquakes with some frequency. French Canadians from New France landed in this area in 1781 and established the first European settlement in the present county at New Madrid along the Mississippi River. Later France ceded this area