Our series on Territorial Formation takes us to Spain, which underwent major transformation in the early 1980s.
Modern administration of Spain started in 1833, with a major reform that suppressed the former feudal units and created 49 provinces under direct control of the central government in Madrid. This aimed at erasing the historical and cultural differences between various regional entities, which were often much larger than the new provinces.
The 1833 reform outlined historical regions, without any effective degree of local control. Political turmoil in Spain over the following 150 years would be, in many ways, a struggle between centralism and regionalism.
The end of the Franco autocracy in 1975 opened a new era in Spanish history, with the establishment of democratic institutions and stronger ties with their European neighbours. Regional aspirations that had been muzzled for many years came back to the forefront and the new constitution built a mechanism that led to the creation of Autonomous Communities. While those were meant at first to join provinces into entities with common linguistic or historical ties (Catalunya, the Bask Country and Galicia), they were extended to the entire country, in such a way that, as of 2022, the Autonomous Community is the most recognizable subdivision of Spain. The last 6 provinces that were not part of a community were able to form their own single-province community. There are currently 17 Autonomous Communities in Spain.
Spain in 1983
