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Spain

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Spain

Constitution History Human rights King Juan Carlos I Spanish Royal Family Government Prime Minister Zapatero Council of Ministers Cortes Generales Senate Congress of Deputies Opposition Leader Judiciary Constitutional Court General Council Supreme Court Audiencia Nacional People's Defender Divisions Autonomous communities Reg. governments Reg. legislatures Provinces Comarcas Municipalities Elections Political parties General elections 1977 79 82 86 89 93 96 2000 04 08 Foreign policy Foreign relations European Union politics

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In addition to its autonomous communities, Spain is divided into fifty provinces. These closely follow the pattern of the 1833 territorial division of Spain; the only major change of provincial borders since that time has been the division of the Canary Islands into two provinces rather than one.

Formerly of greater importance, since the adoption of the system of autonomous communities during the Spanish transition to democracy, the provinces have had fewer powers. They are still used as electoral districts, in postal addresses, phone codes, and as geographical referents. (A small town would be identified as being in Valladolid province rather than as being in Castile and Leon, for example.) No province is divided between two or more autonomous communities. Provinces were the units for the self-determination underlying the creation of the autonomous communities.

Most of the provinces are named after their principal towns with the exception of Araba/Álava, Asturias, Bizkaia/Vizcaya, Cantabria, Gipuzkoa/Gipúzcoa, Illes Balears/Islas Baleares, La Rioja and Nafarroa/Navarra. There are only two cities that are capitals of autonomous communities without being capitals of provinces: Mérida in Extremadura and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

Seven autonomous communities are composed of only one province each: Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarre. These are sometimes referred to as "uniprovincial" communities.

Spanish provincial map

The table below lists the provinces of Spain. For each, the capital city is given, along with the autonomous community it is a part of, and a link to a list of
municipalities in the province. Where local place names differ from the Spanish, both are given (even if one of the names is not official), with the Spanish form first.

See also

• Autonomous communities of Spain
• 1833 territorial division of Spain, especially the section Later modifications, which discusses border adjustments and changes of provincial names
• Comarcas of Spain
• List of municipalities of Spain
• List of Spanish provinces by coastline
• ISO 3166-2:ES

Provinces of Spain A Coruña / La Coruña · Álava · Albacete · Alicante  · Almería · Asturias · Ávila · Badajoz · Balearic Islands · Barcelona · Biscay · Burgos · Cáceres · Cádiz · Cantabria · Castellón · Ceuta · Ciudad Real · Córdoba · Cuenca · Gerona / Girona · Granada · Guadalajara · Guipúzcoa / Gipuzkoa · Huelva · Huesca · Jaén · Las Palmas · León · Lérida / Lleida · Lugo · Madrid · Málaga · Melilla · Murcia · Navarre · Orense / Ourense · Palencia · Pontevedra · La Rioja · Salamanca · Segovia · Seville · Soria · Tarragona · Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Teruel · Toledo · Valencia · Valladolid · Zamora · Zaragoza