A province in Spain is a territorial division defined as a collection of municipalities . The current provinces of Spain correspond by and large to the provinces created under the purview of the 1833 territorial re-organization of Spain , with a similar predecessor from 1822 (during the Trienio Liberal ) and an earlier precedent in the 1810 Napoleonic division of Spain into 84 prefectures. There are many other groupings of municipalities that comprise the local government of Spain .
23-510: Almanzora is a small city in the province of Almería , Andalusia , Spain. Its name, derives from the Arabic al-Mansura (المنصورة), "place of victory", and has been passed on from the city to which is shared with a river and to the surrounding Comarca of Almanzora . The area has been settled at least since Roman times . In 1436, during the Reconquista , an expedition of Murcians conquered
46-573: A residential bishopric, Álava is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see since the diocese was nominally restored in 1969 as Titular bishopric of Álava. It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank: At the start of the Spanish Civil War Álava and Vitoria were easily captured by the rebel Nationalists led by General Angel García Benítez, assisted by Colonel Camilo Alonso Vega . Vitoria
69-559: Is also noted for its artisanal breads. Recent immigration from the UK has caused something of a construction boom. There is also a rise in rural tourism (farm stays, etc.) Provinces of Spain The boundaries of provinces can only be altered by the Spanish Parliament, giving rise to the common view that the 17 autonomous communities are subdivided into 50 provinces . In reality the system
92-523: Is also the seat of the political main institutions of the Basque Autonomous Community . It borders the Basque provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa to the north, the community of La Rioja to the south, the province of Burgos (in the community of Castile and León ) to the west and the community of Navarre to the east. The Enclave of Treviño , surrounded by Alavese territory, is however part of
115-607: Is an inland territory and features a largely transitional climate between the humid, Atlantic neighbouring northern provinces and the dry and warmer lands south of the Ebro River. According to the relief and landscape characteristics, the territory is divided into five main zones: Unlike Biscay and Gipuzkoa, but for Ayala and Aramaio , the waters of Álava pour into the Ebro and hence to the Mediterranean by means of two main waterways, i.e.
138-565: Is given, together with an indication of the autonomous community to which it belongs and a link to a list of municipalities in the province. The names of the provinces and their capitals are ordered alphabetically according to the form in which they appear in the main Misplaced Pages articles describing them. Unless otherwise indicated, their Spanish-language names are the same; locally valid names in Spain's other co-official languages ( Basque , Catalan , which
161-573: Is not hierarchical but defined according to jurisdiction ( Spanish : competencias ). The body charged with government and administration of a province is the Provincial council , but their existence is controversial . As the province is defined as a "local entity" in the Constitution, the Provincial council belongs to the sphere of local government . The layout of Spain's provinces closely follows
184-620: Is officially called Valencian in the Valencian Community , Galician ) are also indicated where they differ. Province of %C3%81lava Álava ( Spanish: [ˈalaβa] ) or Araba ( Basque pronunciation: [aˈɾaba] ), officially Araba/Álava , is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country , heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava , former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see . Its capital city, Vitoria-Gasteiz ,
207-523: The Zadorra (main axis of Álava) and Bayas Rivers. In addition, the Zadorra Reservoir System harvests a big quantity of waters that supply not only the capital city but other major Basque towns and cities too, like Bilbao. While in 1950 agriculture and farming shaped the landscape of the territory (42.4% of the working force vs 30.5% in industry and construction), the trend shifted gradually during
230-624: The "building-blocks" from which the autonomous communities were created following processed defined in the 1978 Constitution . Consequently, no province is divided between these communities. The importance of the provinces has declined since the adoption of the system of autonomous communities in the period of the Spanish transition to democracy . They nevertheless remain electoral districts for national elections. Provinces are also used as geographical references: for instance in postal addresses and telephone codes. National media will also frequently use
253-537: The 60s and 70s on the grounds of a growing industrial activity in the Alavese Plains ( Llanada Alavesa ), with the main focus lying on the industrial estates of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Gamarra, Betoño and Ali Gobeo) and, to a lesser extent, Salvatierra-Agurain and Araia . At the turn of the century, only 2% of the working Alavese people was in agriculture, while 60% was in the tertiary sector and 32% in manufacturing. Industry associated with iron and metal developed earlier in
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#1732855767887276-504: The Atlantic area much in tune with Bilbao's economic dynamics, with droves of people flocking to and clustering in Amurrio and Laudio , which have since become the third and second main towns of Álava. The province numbers 51 municipalities , a population of 315,525 inhabitants in an area of 3,037 km (1,173 sq mi), with an average of 104.50 inhabitants/km . The vast majority of
299-806: The UN's Second Administrative Level Boundaries data set project (SALB). Most of the provinces are named after their capital town —with the exceptions of Álava , Asturias , Biscay , Cantabria , Gipuzkoa , the Balearic Islands , La Rioja , and Navarre , and a name reduction in Las Palmas and Castellón — and biggest town —with the exception of Pontevedra ( Vigo ), Asturias ( Gijón ) and Cádiz ( Jerez ). Only two capitals of autonomous communities— Mérida in Extremadura and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia —are not also
322-571: The adult population spoke Basque , an increase of six percentage points since 2011. The historical population is given in the following chart: List of rulers (modern Spanish names) : The title is attributed to the Castilian kings after 1332. The Arab invasion of the Ebro valley in the eighth century, many Christians of the Diocese of Calahorra sought refuge in areas further north free of Arab rule. The diocese called Álava or Armentaria
345-469: The capitals of provinces. Seven of the autonomous communities comprise no more than one province each: Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid , Murcia , and Navarre. These are sometimes referred to as "uniprovincial" communities. Ceuta , Melilla , and the plazas de soberanía are not part of any province. The table below lists the provinces of Spain. For each, the capital city
368-696: The city from Muslim rule. In 1753, the town was the administrative center of the Comarca of Almanzora, and in the 19th century Antonio Abellán y Peñuela was made Marquis of Almanzora. As in many rural areas of Andalusia, there was much emigration during the 20th century. Since roughly the 1990s, there has been an influx of people from the United Kingdom who have come for the sunny Almerían climate, as well as some return of earlier migrants. The economy has traditionally been mainly agricultural, especially citrus fruits , with lemons as an important export crop. The area
391-642: The name may stem from that landmark. However, according to the Royal Academy of the Basque Language , the origin may be another: The name is first found on Muslim chronicles of the eighth century referring to the Alavese Plains (Spanish Llanada Alavesa , Basque Arabako Lautada ), laua in old Basque (currently lautada ) with the Arab article added ( al + laua), developing into Spanish Álava and Basque Araba (a typical development of l to r between vowels). Álava
414-548: The pattern of the territorial division of the country carried out in 1833 . The only major change of provincial borders since that time has been the division of the Province of Canary Islands into the provinces of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife . Historically, the provinces served mainly as transmission belts for policies enacted in Madrid, as Spain was a highly centralised state for most of its modern history. The provinces were
437-504: The population clusters in the capital city of Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz , which also serves as the capital of the Autonomous Community, but the remainder of the territory is sparsely inhabited with population nuclei distributed into seven counties ( kuadrillak or cuadrillas ): Añana ; Ayala/Aiara ; Campezo/Kanpezu ; Laguardia ; Agurain/Salvatierra ; Vitoria-Gasteiz ; Zuia . A 2021 sociolinguistic survey found that 22.4% of
460-570: The province of Burgos, thus belonging to the autonomous community of Castile and León, not Álava. It is the largest of the three provinces in the Basque Autonomous Community in geographical terms, with 3,037 km , but also the least populated with 331,700 inhabitants (2019). Built around the Roman mansion Alba located on the road ab Asturica Burdigalam (possibly the current village of Albéniz near Agurain ), it has sometimes been argued
483-457: The province to disambiguate small towns or communities whose names occur frequently throughout Spain. A small town would normally be identified as being in, say, Valladolid province rather than the autonomous community of Castile and León . In addition, organisations outside Spain use provinces for statistical analysis and policy making and in comparison with other countries including NUTS , OECD , FIPS , CIA World Factbook , ISO 3166-2 and
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#1732855767887506-516: Was established in 870 on territory split off from the Diocese of Calahorra . From then until the 11th century the names of several bishops of this see are recorded, the best known being the last, Fortún, who in 1072 went to Rome to argue before Pope Alexander II in defence of the Mozarabic Rite , which King Alfonso VI of León and Castile had decreed should be replaced by the Roman Rite . The see
529-557: Was suppressed in 1088, when it was merged into the Diocese of Najéra , another suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tarragona . The territory of the diocese of Álava, which corresponded more or less to that of the present Diocese of Vitoria , was reabsorbed into that of Calahorra when Najéra was suppressed in 1170, when King Alfonso VIII of Castile conquered La Rioja . (For a list, see Antonio Rivera, ed., Historia de Álava (2003), pp. 599–600.) No longer
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