National and regional identity in Spain

The Reconquista, ending with the Fall of Granada in 1492, was followed by a contested process of religious and linguistic unification and political centralisation, which began under the Catholic Monarchs and continued intermittently into the 20th century.

In the north: Galicia, León, Cantabria, Asturias, the Basque Country and Navarre; and the east: Aragon, Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencia distinguish themselves through claims of historical independence and, often, the presence of a native minority language.

... the Peninsula strongly asserts a fundamental unity comprising considerable varietyMainland Spain has been characterised historically by relative inaccessibility from outside and by difficult communication between different parts of it.

Over the next couple hundred years, the rulers of Muslim Spain, especially the Caliphate of Cordoba, were consolidating power and patronizing the arts and sciences, as well as experiencing relative religious tolerance.

In the mountainous, rural northern regions to the north, the Christian rulers were regaining their footing, despite numerous internal conflicts, and they slowly expanded their control throughout the Reconquista, between the Battle of Covadonga c. 720 CE and the Fall of Granada in 1492.

[12] During the Bourbon monarchy of the 18th century, the central authorities in Spain made various efforts towards centralisation, notably the Nueva Planta decrees extinguishing most of the ‘’fueros’’ – long-standing privileges and institutions of different territories.

In the 1833 territorial division of Spain, the nation was divided into 49 provinces – most of which have remained unchanged since then – which were grouped into 15 "historic regions", many of whose boundaries bear a strong resemblance to those of the present-day Autonomous Communities.

[44] By the time of the dynastic union between Ferdinand and Isabella, the Crown of Aragon encompassed many different territories, including ones in other parts of the Mediterranean Sea, though only four remain within Spain's borders now.

The parliaments claimed representative authority for the people of their region, initiated new legislation (though the king retained veto power), and needed to approve any expenditures by the crown.

[59] Under the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939) Catalonia obtained a Statute of Home Rule in 1932, with a regional administration given the old name of Generalitat,[60] led by the left-wing nationalist party Esquerra Republicana instead of the conservative Lliga.

[64] The ethnolinguistic composition of the population has been heavily affected by extensive immigration from non-Catalan speaking parts of Spain, much of it associated with rapid growth in industry, since the late 19th century and more particularly between 1950 and 1975.

[69] Before the Civil War, followers of the Catalanist Lliga were largely of the middle class, while industrial workers (many of whom did not speak Catalan) were more likely to support either socialism, represented by different political parties and the UGT union, or anarcho-syndicalism (CNT and FAI).

The Compromís coalition focuses on fighting corruption, and has significantly reduced its nationalist discourse in order to gain wider appeal among Valencian voters and has been often accused of camouflaging its ideology.

The movement's outlook at that time was strongly Catholic and anti-liberal, but distinct from Carlism, which was strongest in Navarre and sought to change the whole Spanish state:[105] Basque nationalism then was "more explicitly racial" than its Catalan counterpart,[115] as a response to the large numbers of incomers then arriving from elsewhere in Spain to join the growing industrial workforce.

Up to the 20th century the Basque country supported a "stable traditional rural society" with small farms kept as a single unit within families, often living non the land rather than in agrarian villages as in other parts of Spain.

[134] Traditionally Navarre has been a "conservative, stable rural society", staunchly Catholic, a main base of 19th-century Carlism, and the only province to have supported Franco's rising in 1936, after which it was again allowed some special status.

During the formation of Autonomous Communities, Cantabria based its claim to autonomy on the constitutional precept that made provision for self-government for "provinces with a historic regional character".

[143] The development of a regional identity for Cantabria is said to have been impelled by the creation of autonomous institutions, building on geography, a specific Cantabrian dialect, and distinct traditions, local legends and symbols.

Historically agriculture has not brought prosperity and for long was subordinated to the powerful guild of sheep owners, while industrial development has been hampered by distance and difficult terrain raising transport costs.

[178] The southern region of Andalusia, the most populous and second largest Autonomous Community in Spain, comprises eight provinces (Seville, Cádiz, Cordoba, Málaga, Granada, Almería, Jaén, and Huelva).

[179] Andalusia saw many waves of invaders and settlers: the ancient Iberians were followed by Celts, Phoenicians and other Eastern Mediterranean traders, Romans, migrating Germanic tribes, North African Muslims, and the Castilians and other Spanish of the Reconquista.

In 1980, following the collapse of the Franco regime, the region petitioned in a referendum to be granted a "fast track" to a fuller degree of autonomy on the same basis as the "historical nations" of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Since the Romans, land ownership has been concentrated to a greater degree than elsewhere in Spain into large estates, called latifundia, worked by numerous landless labourers.

These dialects share some common features; among these is the retention of more Arabic words than elsewhere in Spain,[187][188] as well as some phonological differences compared with Standard Spanish, but there is no clear border for the linguistic region.

[190] Nevertheless, Andalusia has maintained a relatively shared identity, based upon similar economies, foods, customs, and lesser formality than the rest of the historical region of Castile.

Despite the expulsion edicts, several aspects of Arab culture remained for a good part of the early modern period: in art, architecture (e.g. having interior-facing homes), social practices, and types of dress and dances.

In the words of Ortega y Gasset: Andalusia, which has never shown the swagger nor petulancy of particularism; that has never pretended to the status of a State apart, is, of all the Spanish regions, the one that possesses a culture most radically its own.

[194]Politically, the Alianza Socialista de Andalucía (ASA) was founded in 1971 and campaigned for Andalusian autonomy through the Transition period, based on economic rather than historical or cultural factors.

[201] A political party, Partido Regionalista por Andalucía Oriental, aims at a new Autonomous Community for the region, without rejecting the wider unity of Spain.

[206] The Canaries acquired various special competences and privileges (fueros),[207] including a tier of local government called cabildos insulares (island councils), which still exists and is now unique in Spain.