"In 1469, the crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon." Castile, in turn, is a result of the union of Galicia, Leon, Castille, and Navarra. The kingdom of Aragon was made up of Aragon and Catalan (Catalonia). In addition to these, Granada was a Muslim state which corresponds to today's Andalusia.
Besides these there is also La Mancha, Murcia, and Valencia. La Mancha, which has as its capital Toledo, was part of the kingdom of Castile. Murcia became part of Castile in 1243. Valencia was an independent country within the crown of Aragon.
Today, Spain is has the following autonomous communities: Catalonia, Galicia, Basque Country, Valencia, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Navarre, and Aragon. It would be easier to mention the non-autonomous communities: Asturias (part of historic Leon), Castile and Leon, La Rioja, Cantabria (part of historic Castille), Madrid and La Mancha.
The autonomous communities have their own parliaments and regional governments. They are similar in some respects as Scotland is to the United Kingdom, and how Quebec is in regards to Canada. The autonomous communities may decide to secede from Spain and become independent members of the EU on their own. This process has advanced the most in Basque Country and Catalonia.
Basque is a separate language from Spanish, and is not based on Latin. The Basque country collects its own taxes and has a credit rating better than Spain. The Basque country, however, has only 3 million people and comprises only 21,000 sq. km., making it a very small country, but bigger than Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, which are EU countries. The Basques have been granted almost all the attributes of self-government, and they would gain little by completely separating from Spain.
Catalonia has Barcelona as its capital. Catalan is a romance language and thus is based on Latin, like French or Italian. Catalonia has a population of 7.5 million and an area of 32,000 sq. km., which is almost big enough to stand on its own. It is about the size of Belgium, but with less people. Unlike the Basques, Catalonia has not been given true autonomy by Spain, and thus continue to press the case for independence.
See: http://independentcatalonia.blogspot.com/ for more information.
Catalonia already has an internet domain name ".cat". The economic crisis may provide an opportunity for Catalonia to become independent in the near future.
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