National and regional identity in Spain

Both the perceived nationhood of Spain, and the perceived distinctions between different parts of its territory derive from historical, geographical, linguistic, economic, political, ethnic and social factors.

Present-day Spain was formed in the wake of the expansion of the Christian states in northern Spain, a process known as the Reconquista. 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. Peripheral nationalism in its modern form arose chiefly in Catalonia and the Basque Country during the 19th century. The modern division of Spain into Autonomous Communities embodies an attempt to recognise nationalities and regional identities within Spain as a basis for devolution of power.

From the Reconquista onwards, in most parts of the peninsula, territories have identified themselves as distinct from the rest of Spain in one of three ways. 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. Many of these areas also identify with Christian kingdoms from the early Reconquista, before dynastic unions linked the provinces. In the south, some Andalusians claim a unique national identity, often based on the idea of a distinct Andalusian dialect of Spanish or, sometimes, because of the deeper impact of the Al-Andalus historical period there. In central Spain, entities have identities historically connected to the Kingdom of Castile.

Demands for greater autonomy or full independence remain in certain regions, conflicting with the view that decentralisation has already gone far enough.^[1] The most dramatic recent manifestations of separatism have been the violent campaign by the Basque ETA group in the late 20th century, and the unilateral Catalan declaration of independence in 2017.