Leonesism (; ) is a social and political regionalist movement in the geographical

Region of León The Region of León (; ), also known as the Leonese Country (; ) is a historic territory defined by the 1833 territorial division of Spain, 1833 Spanish administrative organisation. The Leonese region encompassed the provinces of Spain, provinc ...

, composed by the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of León, Zamora and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, with the aim of giving greater relevance to the Region of León within

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and to protect the historic identity of the region. One of the main objectives of Leonesism is to establish an

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

of its own for the Region of León and to separate it from the region of

Old Castile Old Castile ( ) is a historic region of Spain, which had different definitions across the centuries. Its extension was formally defined in the 1833 territorial division of Spain as the sum of the following provinces: Santander (now Cantabria ...

() with which it forms the already existing autonomous community of

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

. Leonesism enjoys strong support from the inhabitants of the Region of León. According to a 2020 poll, 81.0% of the inhabitants of the Province of León, 59.0% of those of the Province of Zamora and 55.7% of those of the Province of Salamanca would support the initiative. In the rest of Castile and León, the movement is largely unpopular; only 17.7% of people there would support the separation of the Region of León. The aforementioned poll was also conducted at a national level, and it turned out that 54.9% of Spaniards supported establishing a new autonomous community for the Region of León while 45.1% rejected this. Furthermore, as of 2021, up to 50 municipalities of Castile and León have approved a motion advocating for the splitting of the autonomous community. Although this motion was proposed by the

Leonese People's Union The Leonese People's Union (, Leonese: ''Unión del Pueblu Llionés'', UPL) is a regional political party in Castilla y León, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community ( Comunidad Autónoma de León or ''Autonomous Communit ...

, members of various parties in Spain, such as the People's Party, the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

, Podemos,

Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

and Vox, have also expressed their support for this.

References

External links

* * {{Wiktionary-inline, leonesismo Region of León Politics of Castile and León Regionalism (politics) Nationalism in Spain

See also

References

External links