It was created in November 1833, with the name of its capital, the city of Oviedo, within the territorial division of 1833, which divided Spain into provinces.

These municipalities previously belonged to Asturias de Santillana and, since 1778, to the province of Cantabria [es].

[3] With Law 1/1983, of 5 April 1983, on the change of name of the current province of Oviedo to the province of Asturias,[4] the eighth transitory provision of the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias was complied with, changing its name to the current one.

[7] This coat of arms was maintained, with minor variations, until its officialisation in 1984 as the coat of arms of the autonomous community, with a royal crown at the helm [es], according to Jovellanos' description, due to “the very condition of the territory of Asturias, always a land of royalty”.

[8] The Spanish territory in the Peninsula and adjacent islands is henceforth divided into forty-nine provinces, which shall take the name of their respective capitals, except those of Navarra, Álava, Guipúzcoa and Biscay, which retain their current names‘’.