Comarcas of Spain


In Spain, a comarca
is a traditional informal territorial division, comprising several municipalities sharing geographical, economic or cultural traits, typically with not well defined limits. Modernly, they have been formally defined for all the autonomous communities of Spain, as territorial entities intermediate between the municipality and the province, although their status ranges from official and with administrative functions in some communities, to unofficial and based on mere preliminary studies in other communities.
In English, a comarca is equivalent to an area, county, district, or zone.

Legally defined comarcas

In 1985, a law was passed permitting territorial division into comarcas by each autonomous community. Because comarcas are subdivisions created by autonomous regions and not the state, their boundaries may overlap the boundaries of provinces within their respective autonomous community, creating instances in which a comarca has territory in more than one province.
The large majority of legally defined comarcas are in Catalonia and Aragon, and are regulated by law and are governed by a comarcal council with specified powers. There are seven comarcas formally registered in Basque Country and one, El Bierzo, in Castile and León. In Andalusia, Galicia, Valencia and Asturias, comarcas are defined by regional law but lack any specific function.

Informal comarcas

In other regions, comarcas are traditional or historical or in some cases, contemporary creations designed for tourism promotions. In some other cases a comarca may correspond to a natural area, like a valley, river basin and mountainous area, or even to historical regions overlapping different provinces and ancient kingdoms.
In such comarcas or natural regions municipalities have resorted to organizing themselves in mancomunidad, like the Taula del Sénia, the only legal formula that has allowed those comarcas to manage their public municipal resources meaningfully.
There is also a comarca, the Cerdanya that is divided between two states, the southwestern half being counted as a comarca of Spain, while the northeastern half is part of France.

Relationship to other groups of municipalities

There are also other groupings of municipalities in Spain including provinces, mancomunidades, metropolitan areas and the major islands of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
Legally defined comarcas have their boundaries and functions defined by the relevant regional government and so do not necessarily have boundaries consistent with provinces which are defined by the State. The remit of comarcas is very similar to that of the provinces and has been criticised for duplication.
However in Catalonia, the comarca has been the traditional territorial organisation.

List of comarcas of Spain by autonomous communities

Comarcas of [Andalusia]

Comarcas of the province of Almería">Almería (province)">Almería

Comarcas of the province of Huesca/Uesca">Huesca (province)">Huesca/Uesca

Mallorca

  • Palma de Mallorca
  • Serra de Tramuntana
  • Es Raiguer
  • Es Pla
  • Migjorn
  • Llevant

    Menorca

  • Menorca

    Pitiüses

  • Eivissa
  • Formentera

    Eskualdeak / ''Comarcas'' of the Basque Country">Basque Country (autonomous community)">Basque Country

Eskualdeak / ''Cuadrillas'' of the province of [Álava-Araba]

  • Añana
  • Aiara / Ayala
  • Llanada Alavesa / Arabako Lautada
  • Vitoria-Gasteiz
  • Gorbeialdea
  • Arabako Mendialdea / Montaña Alavesa
  • Arabako Errioxa / Rioja Alavesa

    Eskualdeak / ''Comarcas'' of the province of [Biscay]

  • Arratia-Nerbioi
  • Busturialdea
  • Durangaldea
  • Enkarterri
  • Gran Bilbao
  • Lea-Artibai
  • Mungialdea

    Eskualdeak / ''Comarcas'' of the province of [Gipuzkoa]

  • Bidasoa-Txingudi
  • Debabarrena
  • Debagoiena
  • Goierri
  • Donostialdea
  • Tolosaldea
  • Urola Kosta
  • Urola Erdia
  • Urola Garaia

    Comarcas of the [Canary Islands]

Comarcas of the province of Las Palmas">Las Palmas (province)">Las Palmas

Reference:

Comarques of the province of Barcelona">Barcelona (province)">Barcelona

Comarcas of the province of Albacete">Albacete (province)">Albacete