Even if Spain is a highly decentralized state, being composed, in terms of administrative, by 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, is, in accordance with the constitution of 1978, a unitary state, not a federation. In other words, the Spanish nation is the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards, which is integrated by nationalities and regions to which the constitution recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government. The terms "nationalities", though never defined officially, are territories whose inhabitants have a strong historically constituted sense of identity. Andalusia, which occupies the south of the Iberian peninsula, is one of those nationalities, and its official motto clearly reflects its position relative to the unitary state: "Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad" (Andalusia by herself, for Spain and for Humankind).
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