Regional Nationalism and Cultural Revival in Spain

Evolution of Regional Autonomy

The political landscape was evolving toward autonomy. Internal dissension within the vessel of nationalism persisted, with the Carlist movement acting as a primary rival in the defense of identity, demanding the return of historical charters.

Galician Nationalism: A Cultural Awakening

Galician nationalism was primarily cultural in nature. While the Galician language was used mostly in rural areas, intellectuals and writers transformed it into a literary language. This movement, known as the Rexurdimento, was most influenced by the poet Rosalia de Castro.

A cultured minority began to blame the economic backwardness and political subordination of Galicia for the mass emigration of its people. While political in character, the movement remained a minority. A key figure was Vicente Risco, who became the primary theoretician and leader of Galician nationalism.

Regional Movements: Valencia, Andalusia, and Aragon

Cultural revival movements that later transitioned into the political sphere also emerged in Valencia, Aragon, Andalusia, and Castile.

Valencianism

The most significant was the Valencian movement, which began as a cultural claim to its own language and culture. Key representatives included Constantí Llombart and Teodor Llorente. The birth of political Valencianism is linked to the creation of Valencia Nova (1904), which sponsored the First Regional Assembly of Valencia to engage political parties in a regional project.

Aragonese Identity

In Aragon, an emerging middle class led the defense of civil law, cultural values, and the romantic recovery of the kingdom's medieval institutions. Joaquín Costa, while not a nationalist, championed the rights of the Aragonese peasantry in his writings. However, formal autonomist policy formulations did not appear until the Second Republic.

Andalucismo

The apostle of Andalucismo was Blas Infante. In 1916, he founded the first Centro Andaluz in Seville to express the cultural and social reality of Andalusia. He later helped establish the foundations of Andalusian particularism and proposed autonomy. During the Second Republic, the movement drafted a Statute of Autonomy, though it achieved little popular support until the end of the Franco regime.