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
Siege of Madrid as part of the Nationalist's campaign to take the capital: in March, at Guadalajara and at the end of December at Teruel, both north east of Madrid. In the first of these battles, in early 1937 Franco tried to cross the river Jarama to cut off the road between Madrid and Valencia, where the Republicans had moved their government. The battle's results were inconclusive. Franco's troops managed to get onto the east bank of the Jarama but failed to sever communications between Madrid and Valencia. Casualties on both sides were heavy, estimates of their losses ranging from 6,000 to 20,000