19th Century Spanish Nationalism: Catalonia and Basque Country
**Carlism**
One of the most important developments of the 19th century was the emergence of nationalist political movements on the periphery of the Iberian Peninsula. Until the Restoration, nationalist claims were channeled through federal republicanism and Carlism. With both of these movements weakened, new movements emerged, claiming historical rights for Catalonia, the Basque Country, Valencia, Galicia, and Andalusia.
This movement has three defining characteristics:
- The cultural-historical aspect, linked to the existence of Romance languages used by medieval political institutions: Galician, Catalan, Portuguese, and Castilian.
- The social aspect, represented by a bourgeoisie whose economic interests led them to differentiate their regions from the rest of Spain.
- The political aspect, aiming to achieve an autonomous system through institutional reform, fully developing the regionalist movement.
The movement emerged most prominently in Catalonia and the Basque Country, distinguished by their unique languages, which formed the basis of their nationalist sentiment. Additionally, a developed bourgeoisie in these regions fostered a nationalist ideology. In the absence of a strong middle class, the nationalist movements in Galicia, Valencia, and Andalusia were weaker, although they did have their advocates in the late 19th century.
Catalan Nationalism
In Catalonia, the first nationalist groups emerged around intellectuals. In 1892, these groups merged to form the Unio Catalanista, whose founding program, the Bases de Manresa, constituted the foundational document of the new Catalan nationalism. This was essentially a bourgeois movement, proposing a federal system in which regions would obtain self-government with their own institutions.
The movement spread throughout the 1890s, but in 1898, it remained a minority trend. Catalan nationalism was reinforced after the Barcelona International Exposition of 1888, which combined linguistic, cultural, and economic interests. From this moment, bourgeois intellectuals laid down the basics of Catalan nationalism: the claim for Catalan autonomy within a federal Spanish state, with Catalan as the official language, and public offices reserved for Catalans, among other demands. These points were reflected in the Bases de Manresa, which can be considered the beginning of Catalan nationalism.
Following the disaster of 1898, the Bases de Manresa served as the starting point for the founding of a political party: The Regionalist League. Prat de la Riba and Cambo led this effort, shifting the movement from the hands of intellectuals to conservative politicians. Cambo made the Lliga a monarchist, conservative, and bourgeois party that aspired to political and cultural autonomy for Catalonia within the Spanish state: “a large Catalonia, a large Spain.”
The creation of the Catalan Solidarity coalition in 1906 served to reinforce Catalan nationalism. From that moment on, it played a very important role in opposing the central government in Madrid.
Basque Nationalism
In 1895, Sabino Arana founded the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) around a group advocating for the historical rights of Foral Bizkaia. Although initially his positions were radical, he gradually moderated his stance, renouncing separatism and connecting with Christian ideals to justify a rather conservative nationalist option.