Castilla y León, Castile and León, in English, is the largest of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain. This northern part of Spain’s central plateau, rising to between 880 and 1,000 m (2,900–3,300 ft) above sea level, takes up about a fifth of the entire country. Centred on its capital, the university city of Valladolid, most of Castilla y León is thinly populated table land almost encircled by mountains. It is separated from the hub of Spain (madrid and castilla-la mancha or New Castile) by the central mountain range which rises to over 2,000 m near Avila and Segovia (see map under spain). To the north, the Cordillera Cantabrica, which peaks at over 2,600 m, deflects the maritime influence of the Bay of Biscay.
