From the Latin Terrum, territory is the portion of the earth’s surface that belongs to a city, province, region, country, etc. The concept is also used to name the land that an organization or person controls or owns.
National, on the other hand, is what belongs to or is relative to a nation (the constituent sovereignty of a state or human community whose members share common cultural characteristics). From this term we can also establish that it also has its etymological origin in Latin. More exactly, it can be said that it emanates from the word “I was born”, which can be translated as “I was born”.
Therefore, the notion of national territory refers to the portion of the surface that belongs to a given country and over which a State exercises sovereignty. It is not only a terrestrial space, but also air and sea, if the country has coasts. The national territory is divided into several subnational entities. These political-administrative divisions usually have a local administration that, in one way or another, responds to the national administration. A locality, a city, a province and a region are examples of subnational entities within a national territory. The degree of autonomy of these divisions depends on the legislation of each country. In the case of Mexico, for example, it must be clear that its national territory is made up of the waters of the seas that have been granted to it, by the parts of its federation, the islands of Guadalupe and Revillagigedo, the reefs and keys of the adjacent seas, the space located in its national territory, the continental shelf of its islands and keys… In Spain, for example, the national territory is divided into autonomous communities. These communities are nations (such as Catalonia or the Basque Country) that are part of a unit (Spain) but have their own culture and language. Autonomous communities or other subnational entities often seek independence from the national state and, in this way, cease to be part of the national territory of the country to become a free state. The 1978 Constitution determined that there was an autonomous state in Spain, specifically we can currently say that it has a total of seventeen autonomous communities: Galicia, Principality of Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarra, Aragon, Catalonia, Castile and León, Community of Madrid, Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha, Andalusia, Region of Murcia, Valencian Community, Canary and Balearic Islands.
However, in the national territory of this country it is also worth mentioning that there are two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, as well as other areas that would become smaller sovereign enclaves found in the northern part of Africa. Specifically, among the latter are the Chafarinas Islands, the Alborán Islands or the Alhucemas Islands. All these spaces are those that make up the Spanish national territory, which is governed by various principles such as autonomy, democratic participation or economic unity.
