Comarcas Of Spain

In Spain, a '' comarca'' (, sing. ''comarca'')
is either a traditional territorial division without any formal basis, or a group of municipalities, legally defined by an autonomous community for the purpose of providing common local government services.
In English, a comarca is equivalent to a district, county, area or zone.

Legally defined comarcas

The large majority of legally defined comarcas are in Catalonia (42) and Aragon (33)), 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 in Castile and León. In Andalusia and Asturias, comarcas are defined by law but lack any defined 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 (e.g. La Carballeda) 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 (e.g. Ilercavonia).

In such comarcas or natural regions municipalities have resorted to organizing themselves in '' mancomunidad'' (commonwealth), 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 (autonomous community) 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 (and not the province) has been the traditional territorial organisation.

List of comarcas of Spain by autonomous communities

Comarcas of

Andalusia

Comarcas of the province of Almería

* Alto Almanzora
* Poniente Almeriense
* Comarca Metropolitana de Almería
* Los Vélez
* Los Filabres-Tabernas
* Levante Almeriense
* Alpujarra Almeriense

Comarcas of the province of Cádiz

* Bahía de Cádiz
* Bajo Guadalquivir, also called Costa Noroeste
* Campo de Gibraltar
* La Janda
* Campiña de Jerez, also called Marco de Jerez
* Sierra de Cádiz

Comarcas of the province of

Córdoba

* Alto Guadalquivir
* Campiña de Baena
* Campiña Este - Guadajoz
* Campiña Sur
* Los Pedroches
* Subbetica
* Valle del Guadiato
* Valle Medio del Guadalquivir

Comarcas of the province of

Granada

* Alpujarra Granadina
* Comarca de Alhama
* Comarca de Baza
* Comarca de Guadix
* Comarca de Huéscar
* Comarca de Loja
* Costa Granadina
* Los Montes
* Valle de Lecrín
* Vega de Granada

Comarcas of the province of Huelva

* Andévalo
* Condado de Niebla
* Cuenca Minera de Riotinto
* Costa Occidental de Huelva
* Metropolitana de Huelva
* Sierra de Aracena