Levante, Spain
The Levante is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former Xarq Al-Andalus, but has no modern geopolitical definition. Rather, it broadly includes the autonomous communities of Valencia, Murcia, Catalonia, the eastern part of Castile-La Mancha, eastern Andalusia, southern Aragon and the Balearic Islands.
However, in its normal usage, the Levante specifically refers to the Valencian Community, Murcia, Almería, the Balearics and the coast of Catalonia.
Among inhabitants of the Levante, the term is rarely used. Its literal meaning is "the east", and thus makes sense only from the perspective of those who live to the west of Valencia, Catalonia, or the Balearics. However, the Levante does lend its name to a popular regional beer, Estrella Levante, owned by S. A. Damm and produced in Murcia as well as Levante UD, a Spanish football club team based in Valencia.
