León (/leɪˈɒn, -ˈoʊn/; Spanish: León [leˈon]; Galician: León [le'oŋ] ; Leonese: Llión [ʎiˈoŋ]) is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.
About one quarter of its population of 500,200 (2008) lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter.
There are Roman Catholic cathedrals at León and Astorga. The province shares the Picos de Europa National Park (in the Picos de Europa mountain range) with Cantabria and Asturias. It has 211 municipalities.
The province of León was established in 1833 with the new Spanish administrative organisation of regions and provinces to replace former kingdoms. The Leonese Region was composed of the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora.
Until 1833, the independently administered Kingdom of León, situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula, retained the status of a kingdom, although dynastic union had brought it into the Crown of Castile. The Kingdom of León was founded in 910 A.D. when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León. The Atlantic provinces became the Kingdom of Portugal in 1139.