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Provinces of Spain

In addition to its seventeen autonomous communities, Spain is divided into fifty provinces.

Formerly of greater importance, since the arrival of the autonomous community system, the provinces have fewer powers. They are still used as electoral districts, in postal addresses, and as geographical referents. (A small town would be identified as being in Valladolid province sooner than as being in Castile-Leon, for example.)

Most of the provinces are named after their principal town. 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: Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarre.

Here is a list of the provinces:

Name Capital Autonomous
community
Munici-
palities
Álava/Araba Vitoria/Gasteiz Basque Country List
Albacete Albacete Castile-La Mancha List
Alicante/Alacant Alicante/Alacant Valencia List
Almería Almería Andalusia List
Asturias Oviedo Asturias List
Ávila Ávila Castile-Leon List
Badajoz Badajoz Extremadura List
Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca Balearic Islands List
Barcelona Barcelona Catalonia List
Burgos Burgos Castile-Leon List
Cáceres Cáceres Extremadura List
Cádiz Cádiz Andalusia List
Cantabria Santander Cantabria List
Castellón/Castelló Castellón/Castelló de la Plana Valencia List
Ciudad Real Ciudad Real Castile-La Mancha List
Córdoba Córdoba Andalusia List
A Coruña A Coruña Galicia List
Cuenca Cuenca Castile-La Mancha List
Girona Girona Catalonia List
Granada Granada Andalusia List
Guadalajara Guadalajara Castile-La Mancha List
Guipúzcoa/Gipuzkoa San Sebastián/Donostia Basque Country List
Huelva Huelva Andalusia List
Huesca Huesca Aragon List
Jaén Jaén Andalusia List
La Rioja Logroño La Rioja List
León León Castile-Leon List
Lleida Lleida Catalonia List
Lugo Lugo Galicia List
Madrid Madrid Madrid List
Málaga Málaga Andalusia List
Murcia Murcia Murcia List
Navarra/Nafarroa Pamplona Navarre List
Ourense Ourense Galicia List
Palencia Palencia Castile-Leon List
Las Palmas Las Palmas Canary Islands List
Pontevedra Pontevedra Galicia List
Salamanca Salamanca Castile-Leon List
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife Canary Islands List
Segovia Segovia Castile-Leon List
Sevilla Seville Andalusia List
Soria Soria Castile-Leon List
Tarragona Tarragona Catalonia List
Teruel Teruel Aragon List
Toledo Toledo Castile-La Mancha List
Valencia/València Valencia/València Valencia List
Valladolid Valladolid Castile-Leon List
Vizcaya/Bizkaia Bilbao Basque Country List
Zamora Zamora Castile-Leon List
Zaragoza Zaragoza Aragon List