page_title: National and regional identity in Spain
section_title: Geographical
hierarchical_section_title: National and regional identity in Spain / Aspects of unity and diversity within Spain / Geographical
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Topographie Spaniens (deutsch). English: Topographic map of Spain (german description).
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 Peninsula strongly asserts a fundamental unity comprising considerable variety
  — Madariaga, p. 177–8
  Mainland Spain has been characterised historically by relative inaccessibility from outside and by difficult communication between different parts of it. "[W]alls and battlements divide within itself the territory which walls and battlements separate from other countries". In contrast to the "vast monotony" of the central plateau, the surrounding peripheral areas "present to the traveler every possible landscape". Diversity in forms of agriculture and its productivity are conditioned by the contrasts in rainfall between "wet" and "dry" Spain, and to the extent that irrigation has been introduced. In the past the peripheral regions benefited from cheap coastal transport, whereas transport costs and distance hindered the development of the central regions.
caption: Topography of Spain
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