Tagus

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River in Spain and Portugal; length 1,007 km/626 mi. It rises in the Sierra de Albarracín, Spain, on the border between the provinces of Cuenca and Teruel. It flows west past Toledo and Alcántara, then follows the Spanish-Portuguese frontier for 50 km/31 mi, and crosses Portugal to the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon.

The Tagus is crossed at Lisbon by the April 25 (formerly Salazar) Bridge, so named in honour of the 1974 revolution. The Tagus-Segura irrigation scheme diverts some of the headwaters of the Tagus to serve the rainless Murcia/Alicante region for early fruit and vegetable growing.

Red, white, and blue recall the French tricolour. Red, yellow, and green are the pan-African colours. Red represents the common blood of mankind which links African and European nations. Effective date: 1 December 1958. >>