Before the Moslem occupation at the beginning of the 8th century, the Iberian Peninsula was characterized by a variety of independent kingdoms. In the 9th century, the Reconquista started in the North of the country with the Christian kingdoms. It lasted until 1492 and the defeat of the Muslims in Granada: meanwhile, different kingdoms had been created and enlarged, moving a part of their population southward. This had been the beginning of a historical division of the Iberic Peninsula.

But modern claims started in the 19th century, when the Romanticism raised nationalism in Europe. From that time, they have played a very important role in Spanish political evolution. Franco’s dictatorship put an end to their influence, by banning them. He wanted to unify Spain under his power: regional languages and particularities had to disappear. As a consequence, clandestine separatist movements started to fight for their peoples' rights.

Democracy returned in 1975, with Franco’s death: all the separatists that had fought him were then able to obtain an important place in Spanish political life. The new Constitution, voted in 1978, created the juridical statute permitting more autonomy, even if the latter doesn't always correspond to cultural frontiers. Nowadays, Spain is composed of 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla, on the Coast of Morocco).

Today, almost every region in Spain has autonomist parties, even the two cities of Ceuta y Melilla. The most famous separatist parties are mainly in the Basque Country and Catalonia, where separatist claims are the strongest.

The number of separatist parties shows that Spanish diversity has not only geographical or cultural forms: this web review aims at highlighting this part of the Spanish politics.

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