Nationalities in Spain - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

History of Spain

The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain...

, the modern country of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

was formed after the process known as Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

.

Several independent Christian Kingdoms and political entities mostly independent (Asturias

Kingdom of Asturias

The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...

, León

Kingdom of León

The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...

, Galicia

Kingdom of Galicia

The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...

, Castile

Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...

, Navarre

Kingdom of Navarre

The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....

, Aragon

Kingdom of Aragon

The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...

, Catalonia) were formed by their own inhabitants efforts under aristocrat leadership and coexisted with the Muslim Iberian states

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...

and had their own identities and borders.

Eventually, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon grew in power and size through conquest or by dynastic inheritance and their Crowns holders merged in 1469 with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs

Catholic Monarchs

The Catholic Monarchs is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with...

.
After this, the Muslim kingdom of Granada was conquered in 1492 and Navarre was invaded and forced into the union in 1512 through a combined effort of conquest and collaboration of the local elites.

Portugal, formerly part of León, gained independence in 1128 after a split in the Royal inheritance of the daughters of Alfonso VI and remained independent through all of the reconquista process.

For a short time starting with Philip II

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

of the House of Habsburg, Portugal was reunited along all the other realms under the same Head of State, in the Iberian Union

Iberian Union

The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...

. However the Portuguese will revolt as the Dutch provinces and other Habsburg dominions and became officially independent again from their Sovereigns in 1640.

These kingdoms sometimes collaborated when they fought against the Muslim Spain and sometimes allied with the Muslims against rival Christian neighbors.
This common enemy of a different Faith has been usually considered the single crucial catalyst in the union of the different Christian realms. However, it was effective only for conquered territories and resettlement that never returned or restituted terrain to become permanently Christian again. Very few times Christians returned territory or populations conquered from the Muslim people. The Unions that came later were and are a whole different subject, as some of them happened long after the departure of the last Muslim Monarchs.

All these different kingdoms were ruled together and separetly by personal union

Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...

of their title holders, but maintained their particular ethnic differences regardless of similarities from common origins or through borrowed customs.

Since the reign of Phillip V, there has been a process of uniformization

Nueva Planta decrees

The Nueva Planta decrees were a number of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V—the first Bourbon king of Spain—during and shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession which he won....

by the central authorities.
Simultaneously, this uniformization has been repelled by some of the local elites that had their own national conscience based on traditional, historical, linguistical and cultural traits.

Some Kingdom

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

s, like Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

and the Lordships of the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

, maintained certain constitution

Constitution

A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

s based on their historical rights, and laws while other Kingdom

Monarchy

s revolted to this process of centralism demanding also a return of their derogated laws and better conditions (Revolt of the Comuneros, Revolt of the Brotherhoods, Catalan Revolt

Catalan Revolt

The Catalan Revolt affected a large part of the Catalan Principality of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring effect in the Treaty of the Pyrenees , which ceded the county of Roussillon and the northern half of the county of Cerdanya to France , thereby splitting the...

).
The nationalisms as a movement with significant support appears by the end of the 19th century, coinciding with the loss of the last parts of the Spanish Empire

Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

, the abolition of privileges, and the continued high mercantile traditions with later industrial developments of some regions in comparison to others.

Following the Spanish civil war

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, the francoist

Spanish State

Francoist Spain refers to a period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975 when Spain was under the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco....

imposition of Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

as the only official language and the persecution of all remaining historical languages and identities had the strong effect in pushing these nations own survival into an extreme must question, leading to many exalted expressions of nationalism.

Since the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy

Spanish transition to democracy

The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...

, after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

, there have been many movements towards more autonomy in certain regions of the country in order to achieve full independence in some cases, and to achieve their own autonomous "community" in others. It is a controversial topic in Spain and references about it can be found almost everyday on the press, specially in the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

and Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

.

Currently, the 2 most voted parties in Spain have different views about the topic. The People`s Party

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

supports a more centralized Spain, with an unitary market, and usually doesn't support movements which lead to a greater autonomy of the regions. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

supports a federal state, with greater autonomy of the regions, but is also contrary to the total independence of one of them.

The structure of the article is determined by social support and thoughts of the claims, so that even if there are political parties claiming independence from Spain for Castile, Cantabria, Valencia, Andalusia or Murcia they hardly get any vote and thus do not represent the popular identitary and national sentiment (percentages of nationalist and regionalist votes are given in parentheses according to figures of the elections held at municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

level in May 2007).

Note that the only two autonomous communities

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

not mentioned in this article are Madrid (capital of the State, traditionally part of Castilla-la Nueva [New Castile in English], most of its population identifies itself primarily just with Spain) and La Rioja

La Rioja (Spain)

La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...

, there are few supported cultural movements to bring it nearer to the Basque Country (see Laminiturri).

Andalusia

(Nationalism-Regionalism: 2.79% PA)

Andalusia first Statute of Autonomy could not be enacted during the Republican government

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

because of the Spanish Civil War, and, although it is not considered an historical community in the literal sense, it expanded the autonomy after a referendum (1981).

The Andalusians also speak varieties of southern Spanish that collectively are the most different from standard Spanish in Spain. There is no dialectal discontinuity with neighbouring regions, though. In its extreme form the speech may be difficult to understand by those who are not familiar with Southern Spanish. Andalusian Spanish

Andalusian Spanish

The Andalusian varieties of Spanish are spoken in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar. They include perhaps the most distinct of the southern variants of peninsular Spanish, differing in many respects from northern varieties, and also from Standard Spanish...

may be considered a dialect.

Its old Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

. In the new Statute of Autonomy, approved in referendum on February 18, 2007, Andalusia is defined as a national entity in the preamble ('Andalusian manifesto of Cordoba described Andalusia as a national reality in 1919...') and as a historic nationality in its first section.

Basque Country

(~55% PNV
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

+EA
Eusko Alkartasuna
Eusko Alkartasuna is a Basque nationalist political party operating in Spain and France. The Basque language name means Basque Solidarity and abbreviated as EA. The party describes itself as a Basque nationalist, democratic, popular, progressive and non-denominational party...

+Aralar
Aralar Party
Aralar is a Basque socialist and separatist political party in Spain. The party is led by Patxi Zabaleta. It is opposed to the violent struggle of ETA....

+Ezker Batua+D3M
D3M
Demokrazia Hiru Milioi was an electoral platform which was formed to participate in the Basque Parliament elections in 2009. It was declared illegal on February 8, 2009, as the Supreme Court of Spain considered that it was linked with the separatist organization ETA....

+Askatasuna
Askatasuna
Askatasuna is a Basque political party registered on the 31st August, 1998, outlawed in 2009....

Counting the D3M/Askatasuna votes that were declared void)

Basque nationalism

Basque nationalism is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or, chiefly, full independence of the Basque Country in the wider sense...

runs the range from full independence to further devolution to the Basque government.

For instance, the Basque Nationalist Party

Basque Nationalist Party

The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

(PNV) regularly wins elections at municipal, regional or Spanish levels in the Basque Country autonomous community, but the fact that it achieves a mere plurality and that electors of PNV do not unanimously support (full) independence, counters the belief that independence is generally supported by the Basque population. This is not true for two of the three biggest cities in the Basque country (San Sebastian and Vitoria). In Alava, one of the three basque provinces, nationalist parties are a minority. In fact, in Alava Basque language is used only by a minority, being Castillian Spanish the most common language.

According to recent studies (see Euskobarómetro

Euskobarómetro

The Euskobarómetro is a sociological statistical survey in the Basque Country , an autonomous community of Spain...

http://www.ehu.es/cpvweb/paginas/ultimoeusko/ultimoeusko_04.html, http://servicios.elcorreodigital.com/vizcaya/pg060828/actualidad/politica/200608/28/ECD_sociometromayo.html), a plurality (38%) of the population in the Basque Country autonomous community would vote YES, 31% NO, 13% not voting in a hypothetic independence referendum, and 19% did not answer (Voter turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

would be 68-69%, when taking that figure as the whole 100%, 55% of the voters would answer YES and 45% NO). Different results appear when the options are independence, further devolution or the current status. The option for a restoration of centralization is barely recorded.

The nationalists consider Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

and the Northern Basque Country

Northern Basque Country

The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....

as part of the same nation, the Basque Country. In the current Basque Statute of Autonomy it is stated that Navarre has the legal right to belong to the autonomous community of the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

, and the Spanish Constitution has a transitory provision allowing it to join at any time, but Navarrese politicians chose not to enter the agreement and became a Foral Community instead.

The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country

Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country

The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country is the legal document organizing the political system of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country' which includes the historical territories of Alava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. It forms the region into one of the autonomous communities envisioned in...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

.

In 2003, Lehendakari

Lehendakari

The President of the Basque Government , usually known in English as the Basque regional president, is the head of government of Basque Country. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....

Juan José Ibarretxe

Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu is a Basque politician of Spain. A leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party , he was President of Spain's Basque Country autonomous community from January 2, 1999 to May 7, 2009....

proposed a plan that would have changed the current status of the Basque Country as an autonomous community to a "status of free association" (see Associated state

Associated state

An associated state is the minor partner in a formal, free relationship between a political territory with a degree of statehood and a nation, for which no other specific term, such as protectorate, is adopted...

and Free State

Free state (government)

Free state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states.In principle the title asserts and emphasises the freedom of the state in question, but what this actually means varies greatly in different contexts:...

). It was approved 39-35 by the Basque Parliament

Basque Parliament

The Basque Parliament is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible....

, but the Spanish Congress of Deputies

Spanish Congress of Deputies

The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...

rejected it 29-313 in 2005, thus halting the progress of the reform.

The President of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

, has stated that he will support any reform to the Statute of Autonomy which is supported by 2/3 of the Basque Parliament (a verbal condition not legally written anywhere, for the only condition needed for a statute to be approve is the half of the total plus one votes in the Basque Parliament).

On 29 September 2007 Juan José Ibarretxe

Juan José Ibarretxe

declared that an autonomic referendum

Basque referendum, 2008

The proposed 2008 referendum was a poll intended to occur in the Basque Country in that year, but prevented by the Spanish government. The poll was to be a consultative referendum, in which two questions were put to the electorate, concerning self-determination from Spain...

or a popular poll about the will of the population of the Basque Country on independence would be held on 25 October 2008, but it was declared illegal and forbidden by the Constitutional Court

Constitutional Court of Spain

thumb|300px|The [[Domenico Scarlatti]] Building located in [[Madrid]], seat of the Constitutional Court of Justice of Spain.The Constitutional Court of Spain is the highest judicial body with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes of the Spanish Government. It is...

Catalonia

("Regionalism" + Nationalism: 82,15% CiU+PSC-CpC
Socialists' Party of Catalonia
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is...

+ERC+ICV
Initiative for Catalonia Greens
Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia...

)

Historically Catalan nationalism

Catalan nationalism

Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....

has supported a federal system that includes a Catalan nation within Spain. Most nationalist parties in Catalonia do not openly call for an independent state - only the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the Independence Party do.

The Catalan nationalists usually consider the Catalan-speaking regions (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, the independent state of Andorra, Roussillion and some adjacent strips) as part of the same "nation", the Països Catalans.

The inhabitants of the Aran Valley still speak their own dialect

Aranese language

Aranese is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in north western Catalonia on the border between Spain and France, where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish...

of the Occitan language in addition to Catalan and Spanish.

Its Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

.

In 2005, in a vote to pass a draft of a new Statute of Autonomy

Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005

The Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005 was a reform proposal regarding Catalonian self-government. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia is in the northeast corner of Spain....

, 88.9% of the members of the Parliament of Catalonia

Parliament of Catalonia

The Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...

declared Catalonia a nation

Nation

A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...

, but this was finally changed back to 'nationality' by the decision of the Spanish Parliament and approved in a referendum; however, this statute mentions the word "nation", referring to Catalonia, in its preamble (with declaratory, but not legal value) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4860244.stm.

Aragon

(Nationalism: CHA; "Regionalism": PAR
Aragonese Party
The Aragonese Party is a political party which advocates the interests of Aragon within Spain. The party was founded in 1978 under the name Aragonese Regionalist Party, but changed its name in 1990, keeping the initials PAR....

)

In the past it was an independent kingdom

Kingdom of Aragon

The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...

that, along with others, created the Crown of Aragon

Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...

, that later merged with the Crown of Castile

Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

to forge Spain. While there is some pro-independence support, most of Aragon's population does not seek an independent state but to be fully recognized as a distinct and important region in Spain. There is also a claim for the Aragonese language

Aragonese language

Aragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...

, spoken in the northernmost area, to enjoy full official support. Its Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

Galicia

(18% BNG+FPG+NOS-UP
Nós-Unidade Popular
Nós-Unidade Popular is a Galician nationalist political party. It was formed by the merger of Assembleia da Mocidade Independentista, Primeira Linha, and other organizations. It currently lacks any institutional representation.-Activities:...

) (Galician general elections, 2005)

From 2005 to 2009 Galicia was ruled by a coalition government between the Socialist Party of Galicia

Socialist Party of Galicia

The Socialist Party of Galicia is a centre-left political party in Galicia, Spain. It is the Galician affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . It defines itself as a Galicianist and social democratic party.-External links:Official*...

(PSdeG-PSOE) and the nationalist Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG). Unlike in other Spanish autonomous communities, the conservative Galician People's Party

Galician People's Party

The Galician People's Party was a Galician political party in the first years of the Spanish democracy.-History:It was founded in July 1976 as a result of the union of the Democratic Union of Galicia, led by Xaime Illa Couto, and the Galician Democratic Left, led by Fernando García Agudín...

includes "Galicianism

Galicianism (Galicia)

Galicianism is a political ideology of nationalist character whose objective is the defence of Galicia and its culture by the means of the establishment and strengthening of its own institutions.-Origins:...

" (strong regionalism) as one of its ideological principles http://books.google.ie/books?id=u8gZklxHTMUC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=fraga+galeguista&source=web&ots=T7IhdKog-Y&sig=KF1lF-rg8wVcNMijs7ouMrRY8pk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA160,M1. Even the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

has a quite strong regional flavour in Galicia http://www.anosaterra.org/index.php?p=nova&id_nova=5941 http://www.xornal.com/article.php?sid=20071227071914. This issue somehow explains electoral behaviour in Galicia and why nationalist parties have a reduced representation when compared to Catalonia or the Basque Country, as voters in Galicia may choose to go for Spanish parties promoting Galicianism depending on the circumstances. Spanish parties in Catalonia and Basque Country, namely the People's Party, do not have such a strong regional identity.

The BNG is itself a coalition of parties, neither of which endorses independence, although some individual members support that idea. At present, BNG claims for further devolution, federalization and strong promotion of Galician culture and language. Other nationalist parties stand for outright independence, but they only have representatives in local councils and not in the Parliament of Galicia

Parliament of Galicia

The Galician Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is formed by 75 deputies . Deputies are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of the Xunta of Galicia, by...

.

The present Galician Statute of Autonomy of 1981

Galician Statute of Autonomy of 1981

The Galician Statute of Autonomy of 1981 is the current basic institutional norm of Galicia. The Galician Government, Parliament and High Court of Galicia are regulated by it.-Genesis of the 1981 Statute:...

defines Galicia as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

. The former (2005–2009) Galician Government

Xunta de Galicia

The Xunta de Galicia is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President and the specialized ministers ....

tried to draft a new Statute of Autonomy where Galicia would most probably have been defined as a nation

Nation

(with declaratory, but not legal value) http://www.parlamentodegalicia.es/sites/ParlamentoGalicia/ContenidoGal/pargal_ReformaEstatutoGalicia.aspx. This was put on halt after the 2009 elections, following the win of the conservative People's Party.

Asturias

(Nationalism: 1.25% URAS
Uras
For the Sumerian goddess see UrasUras is a comune in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 60 km northwest of Cagliari and about 25 km southeast of Oristano...

PAS
Partíu Asturianista
Partíu Asturianista is a nationalist political party from Asturias, Spain,founded in 1985 by Xuan Xosé Sánchez Vicente.-Ideology:...

, 0.65% Unidá
Unidá
Unidá is an Asturian federation of parties formed by Izquierda Asturiana, members coming from Andecha Astur , and by the local parties Andecha por Carreño, Asturianistes por Nava and Asturianistes por Piloña, forming a local series of groups with the name of Unidá such as Unidá-Avilés or...

, 0.46% Andecha Astur
Andecha Astur
thumb|"[[Asturina cola estrella bermeya]]". A [[Red star|socialist]] and nationalist flag of [[Asturias]] used by Andecha AsturAndecha Astur is an Asturian nationalist leftist political party of Spain.-History:The party was founded in 1990...

)

Nationalist parties (e.g., Andecha Astur

Andecha Astur

thumb|"[[Asturina cola estrella bermeya]]". A [[Red star|socialist]] and nationalist flag of [[Asturias]] used by Andecha AsturAndecha Astur is an Asturian nationalist leftist political party of Spain.-History:The party was founded in 1990...

) do not get much support from the population, but they clearly have an identity.

A wish for independence is stated sometimes by those parties, but as the independent and pre-Spanish Kingdom of Asturias

Kingdom of Asturias

was the initial core of the Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

, most of the people do not feel that there is any incompatibility in being Asturian and Spanish. Moreover, Asturian nationalist and regionalist claims are divided among independence, regionalism itself, conforming an autonomous community with Leon. Their sign of identity is the Asturian language

Asturian language

Asturian is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish Region of Asturias by the Asturian people...

.

The most important regionalist

Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...

(not nationalist) party is Unión Renovadora Asturiana (Asturian Renewal Union, URAS), which split from the national centre-right People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

in the 90s.

Canary Islands

(23.27% CC
Canarian Coalition
The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

)

Canarian nationalism has its roots in a number of events in the 19th century. Wars for independence in South America, self government during the Napoleonic invasions, and the crisis of 1898 were the catalyst for figures such as Nicolás Estévanez

Nicolás Estévanez

Nicolás Estévanez was a Spanish military officer, politician and poet.Born in Las Palmas on 17 February 1838 the son of captain Francisco Estévanez and of Isabel Murphy...

or Secundino Delgado. After a pause of several decades, a new nationalist movement has emerged there.

Its insularity requires several specific treatments. Over history the Canary Islands acquired special competences and privileges. In former times they even had the right to issue currency and their inhabitants were only obliged to perform military service milicias insulares within the Islands. The Islands were also governed by unique institutions called Cabildos insulares.

Franco's government continued this tradition and conceded several privileges to the islands to compensate for their remoteness.

Its Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

.

The Canarian Government is drafting a new Statute of Autonomy where the Canary Islands will be defined as a nation

Nation

. However this nationalism is mild in its formulation; thus independence is not even in the nationalist agenda. Historically, the Canarian Coalition

Canarian Coalition

The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

can be deemed more as a lobby in order to favour Canarian interests within Spain rather than a nationalist movement like the ones formulated in other areas.

Regionalism

In most of these following regions people do not sense a conflict between Spanish nationality and their own claimed national or regional identity.

There are two main political streams in regionalism: Nationalism-Regionalism, which supports the definition of the region as a nationality or nation but usually within Spain, and "Regionalism", which originally supported the creation of an autonomous community for its region, and now acts only as a promoter of its region but within Spain and respecting the current status of autonomous community, and these "regionalist" parties are commonly associated with People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

in its region (or acting as its substitute or branch, as in the Navarrese People's Union

Navarrese People's Union

The Navarrese People's Union , abbreviated to UPN, is a regional conservative political party in Navarre, Spain. Until 2008, it was a fraternal party of the People's Party , acting as the latter's Navarrese branch....

(UPN)), see Federation of Regionalist Parties and Regionalist Party of Cantabria

Regionalist Party of Cantabria

The Regionalist Party of Cantabria , is the second oldest political party in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The PRC originated in the Association in Defense of the Interests of Cantabria , founded on May 14, 1976, with the objective of promoting Cantabrian autonomy.-History:The PRC...

(that currently rules Cantabria supported by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

(PSOE)).

Castile

(Nationalism-Regionalism: Castile-León 0.81% + Castile La Mancha 0.12% TC
Tierra Comunera
Tierra Comunera is a nationalist political party in the Spanish historical region of Castile. It is modelled after the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties but does not advocate full independence for Castile, instead favoring cooperation or unification among what they call the five Castilian...

)

Regionalists and nationalists in Castile (such as Tierra Comunera

Tierra Comunera

Tierra Comunera is a nationalist political party in the Spanish historical region of Castile. It is modelled after the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties but does not advocate full independence for Castile, instead favoring cooperation or unification among what they call the five Castilian...

) usually want to unify the traditional provinces

Castile (historical region)

A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...

mentioned in the Castilian Federal Pact signed by the Partido Republicano Federal in 1869, and that would include the modern communities of Castile and León

Castile and León

Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...

, Cantabria

Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...

, La Rioja

La Rioja (Spain)

, Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...

and Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, and sometimes even some areas in the provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Murcia (since Tierra Comunera makes no mention of those once Castilian possessions in its ideological bases). The territory claimed by Castilian regionalists or nationalists contains both areas from the Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile

(both Old Castile

Old Castile

Old Castile is a historic region of Spain, which included territory that later corresponded to the provinces of Santander , Burgos, Logroño , Soria, Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid, Palencia....

and New Castile) and areas from the Kingdom of León

Kingdom of León

. Their claims are not usually based on the territory of the historical Crown of Castile

Crown of Castile

, as it included the Basque or the Galician nations, they just hold a claim over the provinces that can be identified with Castilian identity according to them. They don't usually hold any claim over Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

, Extremadura

Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...

, or Murcia

Murcia

-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...

.

In the map shown above it is visible that Castilla has the shape of a wedge from a bird's perspective, the way the Castilian language spread to other parts of the peninsula (from the province of Burgos).

León

(Former Leonese Provinces 8,74%: León 12.74%, Zamora 1.76%, Salamanca 4.85% UPL
Leonese People's Union
The Leonese People's Union is a regional political party in Castilla y León, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community for the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca , now in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.UPL was founded in 1986 by a group of people...

+ZU+UPS
Union of the Salamancan People
The Union of the Salamancan People is a Spanish political party established in 2002 based in Salamanca which is aligned with Libertas. It was founded by José María Moreno Balmisa, a former DSC and People's Party member.- External links :*...

)

Regionalists and nationalists from León fight for an independent autonomous community for the Leonese Country, the Spanish provinces of León

León (province)

León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....

, Zamora

Zamora (province)

Zamora is a Spanish province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.The present-day province of Zamora province was one of three provinces formed from the former Kingdom of León in 1833, when Spain was re-organised into 49 provinces.It is bordered by...

and Salamanca

Salamanca (province)

Salamanca is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila, and Cáceres; and by Portugal....

.

Nationalists from León claims too for the Unity, Selfgovernment and Officiality for the Leonese language

Leonese language

The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...

in the Bragança District in Portugal and other irredent territories like Valdeorras in Galicia or other ones in the border with Castile.

Leonesism is the third political force in this territory after the autonomous electionships (2007), with more than 300 city councillors in the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca.
Leonesist party UPL (Leonese People's Union

Leonese People's Union

The Leonese People's Union is a regional political party in Castilla y León, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community for the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca , now in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.UPL was founded in 1986 by a group of people...

), the biggest one, reached three seats in the Leonese City Council, where they govern with the PSOE; one deputy in the Diputación de León (provincial council) and two autonomical seats in the Castile and León's Parliament.

Eastern Andalusia

There is a regionalist movement in the eastern part of Andalusia

Andalusia

(mainly Granada

Granada (province)

Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea . Its capital city is also called Granada.The province covers an area of 12,635 km²...

, Almería

Almería (province)

-History:The rich customs and Fiestas of the denizens retain links deep into the past, unto the Moors, the Romans, the Greeks, and the Phoenicians.During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia , then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih...

and Jaén, but with also some support in Málaga

Málaga (province)

The Province of Málaga is located on the southern coast of Spain, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the South, and by the provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada.Its area is 7,308 km²...

) which seeks to create an own autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

separated from western Andalusia. Historically, Granada was the last Arab kingdom inside the Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

, and had its own administrative region until 1933 when Blas Infante

Blas Infante

Blas Infante Pérez de Vargas . Blas Infante was an andalusist politician, writer, historian and musicologist, known as the "Father" of Andalusian fatherland ....

unified the Andalusian provinces. The Platform for Eastern Andalusia

Platform for Eastern Andalusia

The Platform for Eastern Andalusia is a Spanish organization with regionalist character, set up juridically as an association, created from a civic initiative in the provinces of Jaén, Granada and Almería, with the objective of forming an autonomous community including these three...

has contributed to expand the movement. Among the reasons for the movement, the most important are economical, like benefiting from Spanish decentralization, as opposed to Sevilian

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

centralism, but also historical. The movement is not associated to a particular political thought, and there is not a particular political party aiming to create the new autonomous community.

Identity ambiguous regions in Spain

The following regions have belonged to different kingdoms, realms, states or regions for a time, and their population regularly consider themselves differently mostly depending on the part of the region.
Some of these want to be identified with their own regional identity (such as Navarre, Cantabria or Valencia), but in fact they are the outcome of different cultural and linguistical adjacent streams.

For instance, people in the South of Navarra have never felt Basque, and if some of them are thinking that way nowadays, it is because of cultural-political influence or immigration from adjacent Basque areas. The same goes for the people in the Spanish monolingual areas in Valencia (who have never felt Catalan in any way), and people in eastern or southern parts of Cantabria (who will never feel they are related to Astur-Leonese people).

So, generally speaking, these regions are constantly trying to forge its unitary identity (through "regionalist parties"), but in fact they are composed of opposing identities with more or less well established inner frontiers. Although mutual influence on both sides of those imaginary borders is common and may eventually lead to a common identity, it is highly unlikely to happen in regions like Navarre (where the vast majority of its northern population does not even want to be Spanish, but they only represent actually a minority when taking into account the whole population of Navarre). In Valencia it seems that their opposition to both Catalan and Castilian influences has managed to create a unique, distinct (and controversial) identity.

Navarre

("Regionalism": 42.2% UPN
Navarrese People's Union
The Navarrese People's Union , abbreviated to UPN, is a regional conservative political party in Navarre, Spain. Until 2008, it was a fraternal party of the People's Party , acting as the latter's Navarrese branch....

; Basque nationalism: 28.8% NaBai (Aralar
Aralar Party
Aralar is a Basque socialist and separatist political party in Spain. The party is led by Patxi Zabaleta. It is opposed to the violent struggle of ETA....

, EA
Eusko Alkartasuna
Eusko Alkartasuna is a Basque nationalist political party operating in Spain and France. The Basque language name means Basque Solidarity and abbreviated as EA. The party describes itself as a Basque nationalist, democratic, popular, progressive and non-denominational party...

, PNV
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

, Batzarre
Batzarre
Batzarre is a political party in Navarre, Spain. It has a branch in the Basque Autonomous Community known as Zutik....

) + EAE
Eusko Abertzale Ekintza
Basque Nationalist Action is a Basque nationalist party based in Spain. Founded in 1930, it was the first Basque nationalist political party to exist running on a socialist program. On 16 September 2008, the party was outlawed by the Spanish Supreme Court based on ties with ETA...

"Ambiguous" moderated: CDN )

Its people may feel to be either Basque or Spanish, and their culture is more akin to either Aragon or La Rioja in the southern and eastern parts, but in the northern part lies the original homeland of the Basque people

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

, where Basque language

Basque language

Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

is still spoken and is better preserved than in western and southern parts of the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

As stated by the Basque Statute of Autonomy, if approved by the Navarrese Parliament and popular referendum by majority, Navarre can join the autonomous community of the Basque Country at any time when its government and population so desires; no further actions are required. Navarre is not an Autonomous Community de iure (although it is de facto) because a Statute of Autonomy was not made nor approved by popular referendum (as happened in each Autonomous Community). Instead, it is ruled by a document called "Amejoramiento del Fuero" (Improvement of the Fuero

Fuero

Fuero , Furs , Foro and Foru is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place...

) and the region is considered a "Foral Community".

According to the Ley Foral del Vascuence ("Foral

Fuero

Fuero , Furs , Foro and Foru is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place...

Law regarding Basque Language") of the Navarrese Parliament is divided in three linguistical areas (Basque speaking area, Bilingual area and Spanish speaking area). See map.

Valencia

(Nationalism: 9.29% BNV
Valencian Nationalist Bloc
The Valencian Nationalist Bloc is a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It is the largest party in the Coalició Compromís....

+EV
Valencian Left
Valencian Left is a nationalist Valencian leftist party founded in the Valencian Community, founded in April, 1998 a group of ex-members of Unitat del Poble Valencià formed left this party and went to form a new political group using the vacant name of the historical Esquerra Valenciana.EV's...

+ERPV
Republican Left of the Valencian Country
Republican Left of the Valencian Country is a Valencian left nationalist and republican party.The original ERPV was founded in 1933, then disbanded in 1935...

+ONV; "Regionalism": 0.79% UV+CV)

Valencian

Valencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...

is spoken in most of the territory of the Valencian Community

Valencian Community

The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

, however the nationalist sentiment is not widespread and most of the population consider themselves as much Valencian as Spanish.

The nationalist sentiment is not significantly higher in any province (electoral results show that just about 8% of the votes in Castellon, the closest province to Catalonia, are nationalist, higher in the provinces of Valencia with 10.43% and Alicante with 9.06%, according to municipal elections held in May 2007).

Notwithstanding, their electoral stronghold yielding most favourable results is an area split in two provinces: the southernmost end of the Valencia province and the northernmost end of Alicante province. The fact that this area is split between two provinces reduces relative percentages in both provinces.

It is in the local elections that the nationalists obtain their best results; thus they hold several town councils and significant representation - mostly in the areas mentioned above. Conversely, it is in the general elections to the Spanish Parliament where they score worst (approximately 2% of the votes). In the regional elections to the Autonomous Parliament, the main nationalist party Valencian Nationalist Bloc

Valencian Nationalist Bloc

The Valencian Nationalist Bloc is a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It is the largest party in the Coalició Compromís....

(BNV) usually gets around 4% of the votes, not having yet achieved the 5% threshold which grants representation in the regional Parliament.

There are territories in the Valencian autonomous community which are solely Spanish-speaking areas, where Valencian either was never spoken (roughly the inner 1/3 of the territory) or was historically sparsely spoken and finally disappeared (the southernmost part of the autonomous community, around the city of Orihuela

Orihuela

Orihuela is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 32,472 inhabitants in the beginning of 2006...

). These territories comprise approximately 25% of the whole autonomous community. Since Valencian nationalism is primarily built around the Valencian

Valencian

language, this political option is virtually non-existent in these areas.

In contrast to the Valencian Union, the BNV and its forebears favour cooperation and ties with the other Catalan speaking territories and greater autonomy - if not independence itself - from Spain.

Esquerra Valenciana

Valencian Left

Valencian Left is a nationalist Valencian leftist party founded in the Valencian Community, founded in April, 1998 a group of ex-members of Unitat del Poble Valencià formed left this party and went to form a new political group using the vacant name of the historical Esquerra Valenciana.EV's...

is a party "of national, republican and transforming left of the Valencian Country; that fights for the political sovereignty and defends the free confederation of this territory with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands". It has not so far achieved electoral representation of any kind.

Its Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

defines this region as a nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

Balearic Islands

("Balearic" nationalism: 6.88% PSM - Entesa Nacionalista; Majorcan Regionalism: 7.45% Unió Mallorquina)

Catalan

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

is the co-official language in the region. It is very used in rural zones and a little less in the capital and in places with a high density of tourists. Balearic Catalan has developed into various dialectal variants that take their names from the names of the islands ("mallorquí", "menorquí", "eivissenc" and "formenterenc"). Though there are more Catalan nationalistic sympathizers than in Valencia, Spanish nationalism is highly present on the islands and it is considered a traditionally right-winged territory.

Cantabria

(National-"Regionalism": 28.87% PRC
Regionalist Party of Cantabria
The Regionalist Party of Cantabria , is the second oldest political party in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The PRC originated in the Association in Defense of the Interests of Cantabria , founded on May 14, 1976, with the objective of promoting Cantabrian autonomy.-History:The PRC...

, main governing party in coalition with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

)

This region founded the Kingdom of Asturias and later formed part of the Kingdom of Castile. However Cantabria kept its old culture due to its geographic peculiarities and isolation from Castile, relating more naturally to the northern peoples of Asturias and Biscay. Note that the eastern coast (Castro Urdiales

Castro Urdiales

Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the bay of Biscay.Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date from the Middle Ages. Its chief industries are...

, Laredo

Laredo, Cantabria

Laredo is a town in the Northern Spanish province and autonomous community of Cantabria.Located between the cities of Santander and Bilbao, Laredo is known in the region and nationally for "La Salvé", its 5 km long beach and for the historic part of town dating back to Roman times...

) is a residential area for Basques of Biscay. Its Statute of Autonomy could not be enacted during the Republican government (1931–39) because of the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

. In its current Statute of Autonomy, Cantabria is named a 'Historic Community'.

Extremadura

("Regionalism": 0.06% EU)

This region was conquered

Reconquista

partly by the Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile

, partly by the Kingdom of León

Kingdom of León

and partly by the united Crown of Castile

Crown of Castile

, but it was repopulated by many Leonese people as well as by people from other places . Historically, Extremadura

Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...

grew to become what it is now when some Extremaduran towns united to buy the right to vote in the Cortes

Cortes Generales

The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...

for 80.000 ducat

Ducat

The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...

s.

The Spanish spoken in Extremadura is typically southern, but it also has its own distinctive features which are more prominent in the North-West area, where the local rural dialect is even considered a language of its own, the Extremaduran language

Extremaduran language

Extremaduran is a Romance language, spoken by several hundred thousand people in Spain, in an area covering the north-western part of the autonomous community of Extremadura and adjoining areas in the province of Salamanca....

; it has common points with the Astur-Leonese linguistic group.

There are a few border areas where varieties close to Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

are spoken, for example near Olivenza

Olivenza

Olivenza or Olivença is a town in the autonomous community of Extremadura, situated on a disputed section of the border between Portugal and Spain...

, town over which the Portuguese Republic holds a claim.

Regionalist movements also exist here.

La Mancha

(>0% PRM)

Mancheguian regionalism proposes that La Mancha is a region with its own identity, in the territories of the four provinces; Albacete

Albacete (province)

Albacete is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Granada, Murcia, Alicante, Valencia, Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Jaén....

, Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real (province)

The province of Ciudad Real is a province of South-central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. Its extent is effectively that of the old province of La Mancha...

, Cuenca

Cuenca (province)

Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...

, and Toledo

Toledo (province)

Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....

. It has his its origins Mancheguismo that opposed the pan-Castilian thesis manifested foremost in Castilian nationalism.

Murcia

(>0%)

This Mediterranean region belonged to the Taifa kingdoms

Taifa

In the history of the Iberian Peninsula, a taifa was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, usually an emirate or petty kingdom, though there was one oligarchy, of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.-Rise:The origins of...

of Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus

, Aragon

Crown of Aragon

, and Castile

Kingdom of Castile

; therefore, it shares many similarities with Andalusia, Valencia - due to relatively recent immigration a dialect of Valencian-Catalan is spoken among some of the 697 inhabitants (INE 2006) of Carche

Carche

El Carche is a mountainous, sparsely populated area in Region of Murcia, Spain, lying between the municipalities Jumilla and Yecla. The mountains reach an altitude of 1,371 metres at the Pico de la Madama and part of the region has the status of regional park...

- and Castile-La Mancha.

There have been and there are some regionalist movements too. Their goal is to restore the traditional region of Murcia (including Albacete

Albacete

Albacete is a city and municipality in southeastern Spain, 258 km southeast of Madrid, the capital of the province of Albacete in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The municipality had a population of c. 169,700 in 2009....

and maybe Almería

Almería

Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...

, and to create the province of Cartagena

Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...

).

The haven of Cartagena declared itself an independent canton in 1868.

Murcian and Manchegue identity are related by historical links.

Ceuta and Melilla

There are two identities in these African cities.
The Spanish-speaking Christians feel similar to Andalusians, a minority of Christians (around 25% in Ceuta) also having Catalan roots, but Ceuta also has a bit of Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

essence and Melilla was in close contact with the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

in the 19th century.

The bilingual Muslims speak Arabic and mainly Berber besides Spanish and have familiar, commercial and cultural relations with neighbour Morocco, although they generally maintain their political allegiance to Spain, despite the Moroccan claim on the two cities. This Berber language is used sometimes between the Spanish People of the city (Muslims, Christians, Jews, others), specially of Melilla like the Franco-Moroccan language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. (lingua franca), many words are adapted by daily trade with Morocco and Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

during the French

French Algeria

French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...

colonial period from 1830 to 1962.

Sephardic

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

minorities evidently feel more strongly Spanish and many have emigrated or changed their work home as business headquarters to other towns in Southern Spain, especially Málaga

Málaga

Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

. Nevertheless, they too have strong cultural ties with Morocco. Also there is an Indostai (South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

n) minority from two centuries when the Spaniards, Portuguese and French had colonies in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

Conflicts with "nationality" and "nation" and related controversy in Spain

The two terms do not have the same meaning, but are used indistinctively by nationalist parties when justifying their political plans within the Spanish Constitution (nationality is regarded as a euphemism of nation).

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

government under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

has promoted the concept of Spain as a "Nation of nations" to integrate nationalist claims within Spain, despite the ambiguous statement in the Spanish Constitution of 1978
Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...

. It is non-constitutional for a region or nationality to declare itself a nation while inside the Spanish Nation.

Apparently, it is stated that an autonomous community of Spain can be either a nationality or a region, thus composing Spain of nationalities (Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Aragon, Valencia, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands) and regions (the rest of Spain), but this is not explicitly specified anywhere in the constitution.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978
Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...

makes Spain a decentralized state, which functions almost as a federation of states in fact.

Even if an autonomous community declares itself a nationality (and it does have the constitutional right to do that) that does not actually mean anything radically different from a region, since the degree of autonomy is determined both by historical identity, i.e., whether they received a Statute of Autonomy
Statute of Autonomy
Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country, and over any other form of legislation...

during the Second Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

or not, and by the will of the people. In the 1980s, the statutes of the "historic nationalities" were approved in a "fast track" before those of the rest of the regions.

The Spanish Government does not recognize the right of self-determination for the hypothetical underlying nationalities or nations and will not respect the outcome of an eventual regional referendum regarding the subject of self-determination or independence. However, the Basque Parliament
Basque Parliament
The Basque Parliament is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible....

voted for recognizing this right in its region.

The term nationality refers only to the "autonomous community", and not to its citizens. That is, an autonomous community can be a nationality, but that does not imply that their citizens (also) have the nationality of that community, but only Spanish nationality. There is only a Spanish citizenship officially recognized.

Nationalities and hypothetical nations in Spain are not always based on ethnic criteria (as in the case of Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia) but on historical, linguistic and cultural facts which any person in those regions can assume and become identified with, regardless of his origin, family homeland or the fact that his ancestors belonged to different nationalities.

Modern "peripheral" (opposed to "central" nationalism) nationalist movements in Spain (such as Basque nationalism, Catalan nationalism, Galician nationalism, Canarian nationalism, etc.) do not regard their "nations" as superior or better in any sense than any other one (although the founder of Basque nationalism
Sabino Arana
Sabino Arana Goiri, self-styled as Arana ta Goiri'taŕ Sabin, , was a Spanish and Basque writer. He was the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party and father of Basque nationalism....

thought so), just as distinct from the Spanish one.

This is further complicated by the fact that while in most countries nationalism at a local level equals separatism, in Spain, nationalists are not necessarily separatists (although admittedly many are). As an example, there are clearly defined nationalist parties that support separation from the Spanish state, like Esquerra. But, there are nationalist parties that purposefully do not state clearly their position on independence (as to maximize electoral success) and sway repeatedly between greater descentralization of the Spanish state and outright separation, like Convergence and Union, Basque Nationalist Party

Basque Nationalist Party

, and Galician Nationalist Bloc.

Spanish peoples

Andalusian people
Andalusian people
The Andalusians are the people of the southern region in Spain approximated by what is now called Andalusia. They are generally not considered an ethnically distinct people because they lack two of the most important markers of distinctiveness: their own language and an awareness of a presumed...
Asturian people
Asturian people
The Asturians are one of the nationalisms of Spain, issuing from the historical country of the Principality of Asturias. They have Celtiberian heritage, related to its historical and cultural links with neighbouring Galicia, as well as Visigothic cultural influences most notably found in the...
Aragonese people
Aragonese people
The Aragonese are an ethnic group or nation living in the historical region of Aragon, between the centre and the north-east of Spain. Their native Aragonese language, which might have been spoken in the whole of the Kingdom of Aragon in the Middle Ages, is nowadays a seriously endangered language,...
Basque people
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
Canarian people
Canarian people
The Canarians are an ethnic group living in the archipelago of the Canary Islands , near the coast of Western Africa...
Cantabrian people
Cantabrian people
The Cantabrians are an ethnic group living in the historical region of Cantabria, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Sometimes they are referred to as "montañeses" in English "Highlander"...
Castilian people
Castilian people
The Castilian people are the inhabitants of those regions in Spain where most people identify themselves as Castilian. They include Castile-La Mancha, Madrid, and the major part of Castile and León. However, not all regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile think of themselves as Castilian...
Catalan people
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
Extremaduran people
Extremaduran people
Extremadurans are an ethnic group living in Extremadura, between the centre and the south-west of Spain.Extremadura has usually been, and still is, the poorest part of Spain, although the gap between Extremadura and other places in Spain has been reduced...
Galician people
Galician people
The Galicians are an ethnic group, a nationality whose historical homeland is Galicia in north-western Spain. Most Galicians are bilingual, speaking both their historic language, Galician, and Castilian Spanish.-Political and administrative divisions:...

Official languages

Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

(see also its dialects and varieties)
Catalan/Balearic/Valencian
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
Occitan (Aranese
Aranese language
Aranese is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in north western Catalonia on the border between Spain and France, where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish...

)

Recognised languages

Aragonese
Aragonese language
Aragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...

in Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

http://www.boa.aragon.es/cgi-bin/BOAE/BRSCGI?CMD=VERDOC&BASE=BOLE&PIECE=BOLE&DOCR=3&SEC=FIRMA&RNG=200&SEPARADOR=&&PUBL=20091230
Asturian in Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

http://wikisource.org/wiki/Llei_d'Usu_y_Promoci%C3%B3n_del_asturianu/bable_de_1998
Leonese
Leonese language
The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...

in Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...

Unofficial languages

Cantabrian
Extremaduran
Extremaduran language
Extremaduran is a Romance language, spoken by several hundred thousand people in Spain, in an area covering the north-western part of the autonomous community of Extremadura and adjoining areas in the province of Salamanca....
Eonavian
Eonavian
Eonavian or Galician-Asturian, is a term used to refer a set of Romance dialects or falas whose linguistic dominion extends in the zone of Asturias between the Eo and Navia rivers , and which have been variously classified as the...
Fala
Fala language
Fala is a Romance linguistic variety commonly classified in the Portuguese-Galician subgroup, with some traits from Leonese, spoken in Spain by about 10,500 people, of whom 5,500 live in a valley of the northwestern part of Extremadura near the border with Portugal...

Others

Autonomous communities of Spain
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
Provinces of Spain
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
Historical regions of Spain
Historical regions of Spain
Historical regions of Spain can refer to:*"Nationalities" or "historical nationalities" , a constitutional term used to refer to autonomous communities in Spain that are granted special status .*The "historical regions" identified in the text of the 1833...
Autonomist and secessionist movements in Spain
The nationality debate in Spain
Identities in Spain
Coconstitutionalism
Coconstitutionalism
Coconstitutionalism is where two institutional cultures exist in a complex semi-autonomous relationship to each other. The model of asymmetrical devolution that has emerged in democratic Spain has been called "coconstitutional" in that it is neither a federal nor a unitary model of government:...
Languages of Iberia
Fuero
Fuero
Fuero , Furs , Foro and Foru is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place...

s
Ethnic groups of Spain
Demographics of Spain
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Spain, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Andalusia

Basque Country

Catalonia

Aragon

Galicia

Asturias

Canary Islands

Regionalism

Castile

León

Eastern Andalusia

Identity ambiguous regions in Spain

Navarre

Valencia

Balearic Islands

Cantabria

Extremadura

La Mancha

Murcia

Ceuta and Melilla

Conflicts with "nationality" and "nation" and related controversy in Spain

Spanish peoples

Official languages

Recognised languages

Unofficial languages

Others

Further reading

External links