Looking further south, the region of Murcia, with a population of only 660,000, was directly merged into Valencia State. Valencia State also received a part of the protruding land of La Mancha, which brought the population of the new Valencia State infinitely close to the threshold of 3 million, surpassing both Catalonia, which lost Barcelona, and Galicia, which remained unchanged, thus becoming the third most populous state in Spain.
The reason why Valencia acquired so much land is actually due to Carlo's emphasis on this area.
The states in Spain with larger populations are mostly coastal states. Apart from the second-ranking Castilla y León, which is an inland area, the most populous Andalusia, currently third place Valencia, fourth place Catalonia, and fifth place Galicia are all coastal regions.
Valencia can be said to be Spain's most important port on the Mediterranean coast, second only to Barcelona.
