Asturias (original) (raw)

Comunidad Autónoma del Principado de Asturias

(In Detail)
Capital Oviedo
Area - total - % of Spain Ranked 10th 10 604 km² 2,1%
Population - Total (2003) - % of Spain - Density Ranked 12th 1 073 971 2,6% 101,28/km²
Demonym - English - Spanish Asturian_astur_, asturiano/a
Statute of Autonomy January 11, 1982
ISO 3166-2 O
Parliamentary representation Congress seats Senate seats 92
President Vicente Alberto �lvarez Areces (PSOE)
Gobierno del Principado de Asturias

The Principality of Asturias (Asturian: Asturies) is a province and an autonomous community of Spain on the north coast facing the Bay of Biscay (Spanish: Golfo de Vizcaya).

The capital is Oviedo; Asturias was formerly called the province of Oviedo. Other noteworthy cities are the major seaport Gijón and the industrial city of Avilés. Other cities include Cangas de On�s, Cangas del Narcea, Grado, Langreo, Mieres, Villaviciosa. See also List of municipalities in Asturias.

The autonomous community is bordered on the east by Cantabria, on the south by Castile-Leon (Castilla-Le�n) (province of León), on the west by Galicia (province of Lugo), and on the north by the Bay of Biscay.

At one point, Asturias was one of the last remnants of Christian Spain; for this reason, the heir to the Spanish throne automatically takes the title of Prince of Asturias, much as the heir to the British throne is the Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay.

Asturias shares the Parque Nacional Picos de Europa (in the Picos de Europa mountain range) with Cantabria and with Le�n province.

See also

Kingdom of Asturias

Government of Asturias (in Spanish)

Autonomous communities of Spain
Andalusia Aragon Asturias Balearic Is Basque Country Canary Is
Cantabria Castile-La Mancha Castile-Leon Catalonia Extremadura Galicia
La Rioja Madrid Murcia Navarre Valencia Plazas de soberanía