Its earliest statutes are dated February 2nd, 1876, the year when the Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid was created. Later on, in 1901, when its name was changed to Real Sociedad Geográfica, other new statutes were adopted which continue nowadays after being modified and adapted to present academic and scientific structures.

The Board of Directors is the body that manages and represents the Sociedad in whatever events it holds or attends. It is made up by a President, four Vice-presidents, a Secretary-General, two Deputy Secretaries, a Treasurer, a Librarian and twenty-four Directors. All its members act in different commissions and carry out the activities. The Board holds ordinary meetings every month and an Ordinary General Meeting in June. Other extraordinary meetings can be called in the appropriate statutary manner.

Every Board of Directors' ordinary meetings, as well as the yearly Ordinary General Meeting and every extraordinary meetings held, are reported in the Proceedings drawn by the Secretary-General, which are approved by the following meeting after its public reading.

Among its faculties (article 4th), the Real Sociedad Geográfica has to draw reports at the request of different public or private entities. It is required to issue reports on topics related to local entities wishing to change their seat, change their boundaries, aggregate or dis-aggregate its territory, etc.

To this object, the Board will appoint a committee to make the necessary enquiry on the request, which later on is discussed and decided on by the Board.

Although the large discoveries of modern times took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, the scientific societies that were to travel and explore any new lands underwent, in the last third of the 19th century, an important expansion because of the political or commercial needs generated by the colonialism of the old European nations over lands unknown until then. It is within this line of geographical knowledge that the Real Sociedad Geográfica was born in 1876.