The Guadalix is a river of Spain located in the centre of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, a right-bank tributary of the

Jarama Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jaram ...

. It springs out of the

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...

, in the valley flanked by the , el , the Alto de la Genciana and the Cordal de la Vaqueriza. Featuring a total length of 42 km, it runs southeastwards through the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

until discharging in the Jarama near the Santo Domingo housing development (

Algete Algete () is a town and municipality in central Spain. It lies in the comarca de Alcalá in the autonomous community of the Community of Madrid. It had a population of 20,767 in 2022. Algete is northeast of the capital. Sights include the church ...

), next to the Jarama Circuit. Its waters are impounded by the . Regarding the etymology of the hidronym ''Guadalix''; the prefix comes from the Arabic ''

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

'' ("river") while the suffix ''-alix'' has been identified either as an alleged Arab anthroponym or as possibly pre-Arab.

References

{{reflist Tributaries of the Jarama Rivers of the Community of Madrid