Historical regions in Spain

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Historical nationalities (Spanish: Nacionalidades históricas) in Spain is the term most commonly used to refer to regions that are granted by the 1978 Constitution a special status as autonomous communities. Other terms may also be employed in the particular Statute of Autonomy of each autonomous community. These regions are: Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and Andalusia, all of them officially recognized as nationalities. The other 13 autonomous communities were granted less devolved powers and became autonomous communities by the so-called slow track^[1].

They were intended to recognize the regions that had their statutes of autonomy in an advanced stage during the Second Spanish Republic. The term nationality was a consensus solution trying to conciliate the centralist and old-regime positions, who consider this regions part of the indivisible unity of Spain, with the nationalists, who consider this territories as nations (see also "Nationality" vs. "nation").

Actually, only the Catalan statute was active before the Spanish Civil War. Andalusia statute of autonomy was drawn and submitted by Blas Infante at the same time ^[2], then approved by parliament in June 1936, to be voted in referendum in September 1936. However the start of the Civil War in July and the assassination of Infante by Franco's rebels in August of the same year put an end to the autonomist project for Andalusia.

The Basque statute was approved during the war and was effective only on the limited part of the region under the control of the Basque Government.

As of 2007, the autonomous communities which are defined in their statutes of autonomy as nationalities ^[3], therefore legally recognised as such are:

Andalucía (1981 and 2006 statutes), Aragón (1996), Balearic Islands (1983 and 2007), Canary islands (1996), Catalonia (1979 and 2006), Valencia (1982 and 2006), Galicia (1981) and Basque Country (1979).