Valencian regionalism

Valencian regionalism is a cultural and political movement that advocates the revival of the identity (language, history, traditions and other distinctive features) of the region now within the Valencian Community in eastern Spain. Politically, the regionalists support the administrative decentralisation of the Spanish state and, for some, the recognition of Valencian foral law and increased autonomy for the Valencian Community. The movement emerged during the early years of the Bourbon restoration in the last third of the 19th century. It took political shape during the early 20th century, and persisted in a controlled and attenuated form through the Franco regime. After the restoration of democracy, the regionalist tendency was challenged by a Valencian nationalism with some left-wing and pan-Catalanist associations. Regionalism took on a right-wing and anti-Catalanist outlook which became known as Blaverism, and was represented politically by the Valencian Union until the absorption of that party into the People's Party in 2011.

After 1808, supporters of Liberalism, who were very influential in the Valencian region, started to disseminate a new view of Spanish identity. Breaking with all previous conceptions, this view was of marked nationalist character: it was argued that the disappearance of the Kingdom of Valencia one hundred years before had initiated the development of ethno-symbolic markers among the Valencian people, shaped by a shared memory of uneven scope, a language different from the official one, and a common demonym—"Valencian"—which officially referred only to the inhabitants of the Province of Valencia as defined in the territorial division of Spain of 1833. This was the context for the emergence of the basic features of what has been conceived as Valencian identity: features that have remained central to that identity up to the present day.

...
Wikipedia