What are the Provinces of Spain?

Spain is divided into 50 provinces, which are grouped into 17 autonomous communities. There are also two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, in North Africa. Each province has a provincial council (diputación) or equivalent body, and provinces also serve as constituencies in national elections. The provinces were created in 1833 by the minister Javier de Burgos, who divided Spain into 49 provinces, mostly named after their capital cities. The only change since then came in 1927, when the Canary Islands were split into two provinces, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The autonomous communities, created after the 1978 constitution, were built by grouping these existing provinces.