Provinces of Spain

Provinces of Spain
Category	Province
Location	Spain
Found in	Autonomous community
Created by	Royal Decree (30/11/1833)
Created	1833
Number	50
Populations	95,258–6,458,684
Areas	1,980–21,766 km²
Government	Provincial council
Subdivisions	Municipality

A province in Spain is a territorial division defined as a collection of municipalities. The current provinces of Spain correspond by and large to the provinces created under the purview of the 1833 territorial re-organization of Spain, with a similar predecessor from 1822 (during the Trienio Liberal) and an earlier precedent in the 1810 Napoleonic division of Spain into 84 prefectures. There are many other groupings of municipalities that comprise the local government of Spain.

The boundaries of provinces can only be altered by the Spanish Parliament, giving rise to the common view that the 17 autonomous communities are subdivided into 50 provinces. In reality the system is not hierarchical but defined according to jurisdiction (Spanish: competencias).

The body charged with government and administration of a province is the Provincial council, but their existence is controversial. As the province is defined as a "local entity" in the Constitution, the Provincial council belongs to the sphere of local government.

Provincial organization

The layout of Spain's provinces closely follows the pattern of the territorial division of the country carried out in 1833. The only major change of provincial borders since that time has been the division of the Province of Canary Islands into the provinces of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Historically, the provinces served mainly as transmission belts for policies enacted in Madrid, as Spain was a highly centralised state for most of its modern history. The provinces were the "building-blocks" from which the autonomous communities were created following processed defined in the 1978 Constitution. Consequently, no province is divided between more than one of these communities.

The importance of the provinces has declined since the adoption of the system of autonomous communities in the period of the Spanish transition to democracy. They nevertheless remain electoral districts for national elections.

Provinces are also used as geographical references: for instance in postal addresses and telephone codes. National media will also frequently use the province to disambiguate small towns or communities whose names occur frequently throughout Spain. A small town would normally be identified as being in, say, Valladolid province rather than the autonomous community of Castile and León. In addition, organisations outside Spain use provinces for statistical analysis and policy making and in comparison with other countries including NUTS, OECD, FIPS, CIA World Factbook, ISO 3166-2 and the UN's Second Administrative Level Boundaries data set project (SALB).

Most of the provinces—with the exceptions of Álava, Asturias, Biscay, Cantabria, Gipuzkoa, the Balearic Islands, La Rioja, and Navarre—are named after their principal town. Only two capitals of autonomous communities—Mérida in Extremadura and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia—are not also the capitals of provinces.

Seven of the autonomous communities comprise no more than one province each: Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarre. These are sometimes referred to as "uniprovincial" communities. Ceuta, Melilla, and the plazas de soberanía are not part of any province.

A map of Spain's provinces. Names are shown in Spanish. Ceuta and Melilla are not part of any province.

The table below lists the provinces of Spain. For each, the capital city is given, together with an indication of the autonomous community to which it belongs and a link to a list of municipalities in the province. The names of the provinces and their capitals are ordered alphabetically according to the form in which they appear in the main Wikipedia articles describing them. Unless otherwise indicated, their Spanish-language names are the same; locally valid names in Spain's other co-official languages (Basque, Catalan, which is officially called Valencian in the Valencian Community, Galician) are also indicated where they differ.

Provinces

Province name	Capital	Autonomous community	Lists of municipalities
A Coruña A Coruña (Galician); La Coruña (Spanish)	A Coruña (Galician); La Coruña (Spanish)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Galicia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Álava (Spanish); Araba (Basque)	Vitoria (Spanish); Gasteiz (Basque)	Basque Country	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Albacete	Albacete	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castilla-La Mancha	Municipalities
Province of Alicante Alicante (Spanish); Alacant (Valencian)	Alicante; Alacant (Valencian)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Valencian Community	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Almería	Almería	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Asturias	Oviedo	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Asturias	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Ávila	Ávila	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Badajoz Badajoz	Badajoz	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Extremadura	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Balearic Islands (English); Illes Balears (Catalan); Islas Baleares (Spanish)	Palma	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Balearic Islands	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Barcelona	Barcelona	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Catalonia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Biscay (English); Vizcaya (Spanish); Bizkaia (Basque)	Bilbao	Basque Country	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Burgos	Burgos	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Cáceres	Cáceres	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Extremadura	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Cádiz	Cádiz	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Cantabria	Santander	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Cantabria	Municipalities
Province of Castellón Castellón (Spanish); Castelló (Valencian)	Castellón de la Plana; Castelló de la Plana (Valencian)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Valencian Community	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Ciudad Real	Ciudad Real	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castilla-La Mancha	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Córdoba	Córdoba	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Cuenca	Cuenca	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castilla-La Mancha	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Guipúzcoa (Spanish); Gipuzkoa (Basque)	San Sebastián (Spanish); Donostia (Basque)	Basque Country	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Girona (Catalan); Gerona (Spanish)	Girona (Catalan); Gerona (Spanish)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Catalonia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Granada	Granada	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Guadalajara	Guadalajara	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castilla-La Mancha	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Huelva	Huelva	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Huesca	Huesca (Spanish language)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Aragon	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Jaén	Jaén	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found La Rioja	Logroño	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found La Rioja	Municipalities
Las Palmas Las Palmas	Las Palmas	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Canary Islands	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found León	León	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Lleida (Catalan); Lérida (Spanish)	Lleida (Catalan); Lérida (Spanish)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Catalonia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Lugo	Lugo	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Galicia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Madrid	Madrid	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Community of Madrid	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Málaga	Málaga	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Murcia	Murcia	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Region of Murcia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Navarre; Navarra (Spanish); Nafarroa (Basque)	Pamplona; Iruña (Basque)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Navarre	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Ourense (Galician); Orense (Spanish)	Ourense (Galician); Orense (Spanish)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Galicia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Palencia	Palencia	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Pontevedra	Pontevedra	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Galicia	Municipalities
Salamanca Salamanca	Salamanca	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Canary Islands	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Segovia	Segovia	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Seville; Sevilla (Spanish)	Seville; Sevilla (Spanish)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Andalusia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Soria	Soria	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Tarragona Tarragona	Tarragona	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Catalonia	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Teruel	Teruel	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Aragon	Municipalities
Toledo Toledo	Toledo	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castilla-La Mancha	Municipalities
Province of Valencia Valencia; València (Valencian)	Valencia; València (Valencian)	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Valencian Community	Municipalities
Valladolid Valladolid	Valladolid	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Province of Zamora Zamora	Zamora	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Castile and León	Municipalities
Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Zaragoza	Zaragoza	Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/local/bin/rsvg-convert: not found Aragon	Municipalities

See also

• Political divisions of Spain
• Local government in Spain
• Autonomous communities of Spain
• Comarcas of Spain
• ISO 3166-2:ES
• List of provincial flags of Spain
• List of Spanish provinces by area
• List of Spanish provinces by population
• Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces

External links

• Maps of the provinces of Spain
• List of municipalities of Spain listed by province from the Spanish INE (National Statistics Institute)