page_title: National and regional identity in Spain
section_title: Unification
hierarchical_section_title: National and regional identity in Spain / Aspects of unity and diversity within Spain / Historical / Unification
context_page_description: Both the perceived nationhood of Spain, and the perceived distinctions between different parts of its territory are said to 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 Cuba, 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.
context_section_description: The common non-Christian enemy has been usually considered the single crucial catalyst for the union of the different Christian realms. However, it was effective only for permanently reconquered territories. Much of the unification happened long after the departure of the last Muslim rulers. Just as Christians remained in Arab Spain after the Muslim conquest, so too did Muslims and Arab culture remain after Christian conquest.
  Eventually, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon eclipsed the others in power and size through conquest and dynastic inheritance. The process of amalgamation can be summed up thus: From the west, Galicia and Asturias merged into León, which itself was incorporated in the Crown of Castile; from the east, Catalonia and Valencia merged into the Crown of Aragon. The Crowns of Castile and Aragon finally united in 1469 with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs. After this, the Muslim Emirate of Granada was conquered in 1492, and Navarre was invaded and forced into the union in 1512, through a combination of conquest and collaboration of the local elites. Castile and Aragon remained in many ways distinct territories: Philip II and his Castilian officials marked the occasion of crossing into Aragon with a ceremony of laying down their symbols of authority.
  During the Bourbon monarchy of the 18th century, the central authorities in Spain made various efforts towards centralisation, notably the Nueva Planta decrees extinguishing most of the ‘’fueros’’ – long-standing privileges and institutions of different territories. Some kingdoms, like Navarre and the Lordships of the Basque Country, did maintain constitutions based on their historical rights and laws, while other kingdoms revolted against this process of centralisation demanding a return of their derogated laws as well as better living conditions (Revolt of the Comuneros, Revolt of the Brotherhoods, Catalan Revolt).
caption: Former Kingdoms within Spain