It flows north to south[citation needed] and passes east of Madrid[1] where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River.

[3] The Jarama was the scene of fierce fighting in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

Nationalist forces crossed the river in an attempt to cut the main road from Madrid to the Republican capital at Valencia.

[1] The song Jarama Valley, with lyrics referencing the battle, became popular among the Republican battalions.

El Jarama is a 1955 novel by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio about a group of working-class youngsters from Madrid meeting for a picnic by the river on a summer day.