Provinces of Spain

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

Formerly of greater importance, since the arrival of the autonomous community system 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 sooner than as being in Castile-Leon, for example.)

Most of the provinces are named after their principal town with the exception of Araba/Álava, Asturias, Bizkaia/Vizcaya, Cantabria, Gipuzkoa/Gipúzcoa, Illes Balears, 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: Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarre.

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.

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