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