Provinces of Spain Information & Provinces of Spain Links at HealthHaven.com

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

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

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

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

Spanish provincial map

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

Province name	Capital	Autonomous community	Lists of municipalities
Álava (in Spanish); Araba (in Basque)	Vitoria (in Spanish); Gasteiz (in Basque)	Basque Country	Municipalities
Albacete	Albacete	Castile-La Mancha	Municipalities
Alicante (in Spanish); Alacant (in Catalan)	Alicante (in Spanish); Alacant (in Catalan)	Valencian Community	Municipalities
Almería	Almería	Andalusia	Municipalities
Asturias	Oviedo	Asturias	Municipalities
Ávila	Ávila	Castile and León	Municipalities
Badajoz	Badajoz	Extremadura	Municipalities
Baleares (in Spanish); Illes Balears (in Catalan) Balearic Islands is the English name for this province	Palma	Balearic Islands	Municipalities
Barcelona	Barcelona	Catalonia	Municipalities
Vizcaya (in Spanish); Bizkaia (in Basque); Biscay is the English name for this province	Bilbao (in Spanish); Bilbo (in Basque)	Basque Country	Municipalities
Burgos	Burgos	Castile and León	Municipalities
Cáceres	Cáceres	Extremadura	Municipalities
Cádiz	Cádiz	Andalusia	Municipalities
Cantabria	Santander	Cantabria	Municipalities
Castellón (in Spanish); Castelló (in Catalan)	Castellón de la Plana (in Spanish); Castelló de la Plana (in Catalan)	Valencian Community	Municipalities
Ciudad Real	Ciudad Real	Castile-La Mancha	Municipalities
Córdoba	Córdoba	Andalusia	Municipalities
Cuenca	Cuenca	Castile-La Mancha	Municipalities
Gerona (in Spanish); Girona (in Catalan)	Gerona (in Spanish); Girona (in Catalan)	Catalonia	Municipalities
Granada	Granada	Andalusia	Municipalities
Guadalajara	Guadalajara	Castile-La Mancha	Municipalities
Guipúzcoa (in Spanish); Gipuzkoa (in Basque); Guipuscoa is the English name for this province	San Sebastián (in Spanish); Donostia (in Basque)	Basque Country	Municipalities
Huelva	Huelva	Andalusia	Municipalities
Huesca	Huesca	Aragon	Municipalities
Jaén	Jaén	Andalusia	Municipalities
La Coruña (in Spanish); A Coruña (in Galician); Corunna is also used in English	La Coruña (in Spanish); A Coruña (in Galician); Corunna is also used in English	Galicia	Municipalities
La Rioja	Logroño	La Rioja	Municipalities
León	León	Castile and León	Municipalities
Lérida (in Spanish); Lleida (in Catalan)	Lérida (in Spanish); Lleida (in Catalan)	Catalonia	Municipalities
Lugo	Lugo	Galicia	Municipalities
Madrid	Madrid	Madrid	Municipalities
Málaga	Málaga	Andalusia	Municipalities
Murcia	Murcia	Region of Murcia	Municipalities
Navarra (in Spanish); Nafarroa (in Basque); Navarre is the English name for this province	Pamplona (in Spanish); Iruña (in Basque)	Navarre	Municipalities
Orense (in Spanish); Ourense (in Galician)	Orense (in Spanish); Ourense (in Galician)	Galicia	Municipalities
Palencia	Palencia	Castile and León	Municipalities
Las Palmas	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	Canary Islands	Municipalities
Pontevedra	Pontevedra	Galicia	Municipalities
Salamanca	Salamanca	Castile and León	Municipalities
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz	Canary Islands	Municipalities
Segovia	Segovia	Castile and León	Municipalities
Sevilla (in Spanish); Seville is the English name for this province	Sevilla (in Spanish); Seville is the English name for this city	Andalusia	Municipalities
Soria	Soria	Castile and León	Municipalities
Tarragona	Tarragona	Catalonia	Municipalities
Teruel	Teruel	Aragon	Municipalities
Toledo	Toledo	Castile-La Mancha	Municipalities
Valencia (in Spanish); València (in Catalan)	Valencia (in Spanish); València (in Catalan)	Valencian Community	Municipalities
Valladolid	Valladolid	Castile and León	Municipalities
Zamora	Zamora	Castile and León	Municipalities
Zaragoza (in Spanish); Saragossa is also used in English	Zaragoza (in Spanish); Saragossa is also used in English	Aragon	Municipalities

[edit] See also

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