PROVINCES

Each Autonomous Community is divided into one, or several, provinces.
A province is larger than a comarca and consists of many municipalities.
Each province has a provincial capital.

AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES

Each Autonomous Community is an area with its own capital city and its own government institutions.
It also has its own symbols: a coat of arms and a flag.

SPAIN'S TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

Spain is divided into seventeen Autonomous Communities.
It also has two Autonomous Cities, Ceuta and Melilla, in North Africa.
Fifteen Autonomous Communities are on the peninsula: Andalusia, Aragon, Basque Country, Cantabria, Castile - Leon, Castile - La Mancha, Catalonia, Chartered Community of Navarre, Community of Madrid, Community of Valencia, Extremadura, Galicia, Principality of Asturias, Region de Murcia and Rioja.
Two are insular communities: the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMARCAS

The municipalities in a comarca share a similar landscape.
There are different types: mountain comarcas, coastal comarcas and comarcas on the plains.

HOW MUNICIPALITIES ARE GROUPED

In Spain, municipalities are grouped into comarcas.
A comarca consists of several municipalities in the same region.
The municipalities in each comarca share similar characteristics: the landscape, traditions and economic activities.
The inhabitants share similar types of jobs: agriculture, stockbreeding, fishing, industry or tourism.
All the inhabitants of a comarca share basic services such as hospitals, markets and schools.

MUNICIPALITIES

We all live in a municipality.
A municipality consists of one or more cities, towns or villages governed by a local council.
Some municipalities are very big.
Others are very small.

REMEMBER

CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
People live in different places; either in a city town or village.

DESCRIBING WHERE YOU LIVE
People live on the coast or inland, in the mountains or on the plains, in the north, south, east or west of a country.
It is important to know how to describe where you live in relation to other towns, cities and villages.