La divisió provincial del Regne de València de 1833: antecedents, criteris i modificacions posteriors.

Abstract

The provincial division of 1833 subdivided the Kingdom of Valencia into three provinces, although it kept the territorial limits of the Old Regime. This is explained because the provincial division project was carried out by the Ministry of Grace and Justice directed by Francisco T. Calomarde, minister of the penultimate absolutist government of Fernando VII, between 1825 and 1832. It was a reformist project with the aim of improving the administration of justice, for which it was based on the territorial divisions of the Chanceries and Courts, although dividing its territory into provinces and judicial districts. After the death of the monarch, in November 1833, the Minister of Public Works, Javier de Burgos, limited himself to approving the project. This contrasts with the first liberal projects and those that were proposed later, which were torn between the “provincialism” of the reformists and moderates and the uniformity of radical politicians, who sought to erase all memory of the kingdoms and territories of the Old Regime and consolidate a new “nation”. The provincial division of 1833, which is still in force, by respecting the old territorial limits, has allowed the continuity of the collective consciousness of the historical territories and explains the consolidation of the current autonomous state.