In Spain, an autonomous community (Spanish: comunidad autónoma, Basque: autonomia erkidego, Catalan: comunitat autònoma, Galician: comunidade autónoma) is a first-level political and administrative division, created in accordance with the Spanish constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy of the nationalities and regions that comprise the Spanish nation.Since sovereignty resides in the nation as a whole—and is represented in the state-wide or central institutions of government—and not in the communities, Spain is not a federation but a highly decentralized unitary state that has asymmetrically devolved power to the communities, which in turn exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and their autonomous statutes.There are 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities that are collectively known as "autonomies".