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Catalonia (/ ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l oʊ n i ə /; Catalan: Catalunya [kətəˈluɲə]; Spanish: Cataluña [kataˈluɲa] ⓘ; Occitan: Catalonha [kataˈluɲa]) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.
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Origin and history King Alfons the Chaste riding a horse...
- Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn
Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn is a photographic artwork created...
- Catalan Independence Movement
A Catalan independence protest in July 2010. The Catalan...
- Ranked Lists of Spanish Autonomous Communities
Rank Autonomous community Average income (€) ; 1 Basque...
- Pere Aragonès
Pere Aragonès i Garcia (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpeɾə...
- Val d'Aran
Aran (Occitan:; Catalan:; Spanish:) (often known as the Aran...
- Province of Girona
The Province of Girona is a province in the northeastern...
- Province of Tarragona
Tarragona (Spanish: [taraˈɣona], Catalan: [tərəˈɣonə]) is a...
- Carles Puigdemont
Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (Catalan pronunciation:...
- Province of Lleida
Language. The province of Lleida has a characteristic...
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Cataluña (en catalán: Catalunya; en aranés: Catalonha) es una región española constituida en comunidad autónoma y considerada nacionalidad histórica en su Estatuto de Autonomía. 1 Situada en el noreste de la península ibérica, ocupa un territorio de unos 32 000 km² que limita al norte con Andorra y la región francesa de Occitania ( Alto Garona...
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Contemporary. By topic. Timeline. v. t. e. The lands of what today is known as Catalonia, in Spain, were first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. Like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula, the area was occupied by the Iberians and several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest.
Catalonia ( Catalan: Catalunya; Spanish: Cataluña: Occitan: Catalonha) is a Spanish autonomous community. It is south of the eastern Pyrenees, and has a northern border with France . Catalonia is made up of four provinces: Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona ( Spanish: Gerona) and Lleida ( Spanish: Lérida ).
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- Geography
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- Catalonia from ancient Rome to the War of the Spanish Succession
- Renaixença, the Spanish Civil War, and the autonomous community of Catalonia
- The Catalonian independence movement in the 21st century
Catalonia, comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) and historic region of Spain, encompassing the northeastern provincias (provinces) of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Lleida. The autonomous community of Catalonia occupies a triangular area in the northeastern corner of Spain. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranea...
The provinces of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Girona have a Mediterranean shoreline, and the low-lying Catalanides range separates the coastal plain from the Ebro river basin. The Catalanides have historically separated the industrial towns of the coast from the predominantly agricultural settlements of the hinterlands. North of the Catalanides is a high tableland that comprises most of Lleida province. The principal rivers in Catalonia are the Ter, Llobregat, and Ebro, all of which flow into the Mediterranean. A Mediterranean climate prevails throughout most of Catalonia, with hot, dry summers and mild, relatively rainy winters.
The towns of the Catalan coast have dominated the development of the region, with the result that the population is heavily concentrated along the Mediterranean, increasingly depopulating the hinterland. In the 20th century there was additional concentration of population in the city of Barcelona and its satellite towns.
Catalonia’s traditional agriculture was centred on the production of wine, almonds, and olive oil for export, as well as rice, potatoes, and corn (maize) as staples. Slightly more than one-third of Catalonia remains under cultivation, and the traditional crops of olives and grapes are being supplanted by fruits and vegetables for consumption in the cities. The raising of pigs and cows is the dominant agricultural activity. Agriculture accounts for only a tiny fraction of Catalonia’s domestic product, however.
The autonomous community of Catalonia is the richest and most highly industrialized part of Spain. The Catalan textile industry first achieved prominence between 1283 and 1313 and long remained the region’s premier industry. The manufacturing sector underwent rapid expansion and diversification since the 1950s, however, and metalworking, food-processing, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries had overtaken textiles in importance by the 21st century. Textile, papermaking and graphic arts, chemicals, and metalworking industries are concentrated in Barcelona; Sabadell and Terrassa are also textile centres. One of Barcelona’s plants produces electric automobiles for Nissan. Catalonia’s growing demand for petroleum products led to the expansion of Tarragona’s petroleum refineries. Services, particularly those of tourism and transportation, are highly developed.
The popular dish known as sofrito, a puree of Catalonian origin involving sautéed vegetables (such as onion, green pepper, and carrots), has become a staple of Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Latin American cuisine. It is used as the foundation and flavour base of tomato sauces, paella, and other dishes.
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Catalonia was formerly a principality of the crown of Aragon, and it has played an important role in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. From the 17th century it was the centre of a separatist movement that sometimes dominated Spanish affairs.
Catalonia was one of the first Roman possessions in Spain. Occupied during the 5th century ce by the Goths, it was taken by the Moors in 712 and at the end of the 8th century by Charlemagne, who incorporated it into his realm as the Spanish March, ruled by a count. Frankish suzerainty over Catalonia was merely nominal, however, and was completely rejected during the reign of Count Borrell (died 991).
From 1137, when Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona was betrothed to Petronila, queen of Aragon, Catalonia and Aragon were united under the same ruler. Catalonia monopolized trade in the western Mediterranean in the 13th and 14th centuries, and Catalan interests dominated the union with Aragon until 1410, when the male line of the counts of Barcelona became extinct. Dissatisfaction in Catalonia with the new Trastámara dynasty of Aragon increased after 1412, and during the reign of John II it developed into a full-scale but unsuccessful rebellion (1462–72).
Catalan separatism reemerged in the 19th century in the support given to Carlism. The resurgence really began in the 1850s, however, when serious efforts were made to revive Catalan as a living language with its own press and theatre—a movement known as the Renaixença (“Rebirth”). Catalan nationalism became a serious force after 1876, when the defeat of the Carlists led the church to transfer its support to the movement for autonomy. Catalan nationalism had two major strands: a conservative, Roman Catholic one and a more liberal, secular one. The former was initially predominant, particularly in the first decades of the 20th century. By 1913 Catalonia had won a slight degree of autonomy, but the legislation conferring it was repealed in 1925 by Miguel Primo de Rivera, who attacked all manifestations of Catalan nationalism.
Primo de Rivera’s policy led to the formation of a left-wing coalition party in Catalonia, the Esquerra Republicana. The Esquerra won a sweeping victory in the municipal elections of 1931, and two days later its leader proclaimed a Catalan Republic. A compromise was worked out with the central government, and in September 1932 the statute of autonomy for Catalonia became law. Catalonia played a prominent role in the history of Republican Spain and in the Civil War (1936–39). The Nationalists’ victory in 1939 meant the loss of autonomy, however, and Gen. Francisco Franco’s government adopted a repressive policy toward Catalan nationalism.
Many Catalans, frustrated at the management of the Spanish economy throughout the euro-zone debt crisis, continued to push for increased fiscal independence from the central government. In 2013 the Catalonian regional parliament passed a measure calling for a referendum on independence from Spain to be held in 2014. Scotland’s referendum on independence from the United Kingdom in September 2014, although ultimately unsuccessful, galvanized the independence movement in Catalonia. Convergence and Union leader Artur Mas called for the long-promised, albeit nonbinding, independence referendum to be held on November 9, 2014. The move was immediately challenged by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the independence campaign was suspended while the Constitutional Court considered the legality of the vote. Ultimately, Mas proceeded with the referendum but framed it as an informal poll of Catalan opinion. With more than one-third of registered voters participating in the balloting, over 80 percent expressed a desire for independence.
With Madrid continuing to oppose his efforts, Mas called for snap regional parliamentary elections to be held in September 2015. Framing the contest as a de facto plebiscite on independence, Mas led the Junts pel Sí (“Together for Yes”) alliance that won 62 of the 135 seats in the Catalan parliament. The antiausterity Popular Unity Candidacy, which won 10 seats, entered into a coalition with Junts pel Sí to give pro-independence parties a narrow parliamentary majority. Those who favoured independence interpreted the result as a victory, while those who opposed it emphasized the fact that pro-independence parties received just 48 percent of the popular vote. On November 9, 2015, the Catalan parliament narrowly approved a measure to implement a “peaceful disconnection from the Spanish state.” Rajoy immediately reiterated the central government’s position that any such move would be illegal and opposed by Madrid.
The Popular Unity Candidacy had opposed the retention of Mas as Catalan president, and the survival of the coalition hinged on an agreement between the pro-independence parties regarding a compromise candidate. On January 9, 2016, just hours before a deadline that would have triggered a fresh round of elections, the two groups settled on Carles Puigdemont, the mayor of Girona. Mas stepped aside, although he remained a member of the Catalan parliament, and Puigdemont vowed to continue the efforts to establish an independent Catalan state.
In March 2017 a Spanish court found Mas guilty of contempt for calling the 2014 referendum, and he was barred from holding public office for two years. Undeterred, a defiant Puigdemont announced in June 2017 that Catalonia would hold a binding referendum on independence on October 1, 2017. As the date of the referendum approached, tensions mounted between Barcelona and Madrid, and Spanish authorities took increasingly dramatic steps to avert the vote. In late September, Spanish police seized nearly 10 million ballot forms from a warehouse outside Barcelona, and more than a dozen pro-independence Catalan officials were arrested. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest, and the Spanish interior ministry responded by moving to assert central control over the regional Catalan police force. On the eve of the vote, opinion polls found that Catalans were roughly evenly split on the issue of independence, but an overwhelming majority favoured putting the issue to a fair and legal vote.
The day of the vote was marred by widespread violence as riot police fired rubber bullets into crowds and used fists and batons to physically prevent people from entering polling places. More than 900 prospective voters and dozens of police were injured, and members of the Spanish national police and the Civil Guard seized ballot boxes from polling stations. Catalan officials stated that turnout was around 42 percent, with 90 percent of voters voicing their support for independence; the chaotic nature of the vote and the confiscation of ballots by Spanish authorities meant that such figures had to be regarded as approximations at best. Puigdemont addressed both the violence and the result by saying, “On this day of hope and suffering, Catalonia’s citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic.” Rajoy countered by stating that the referendum was a “mockery” of democracy, and Spanish officials blamed police violence on the “irresponsibility of the Catalan government.” International human rights organizations condemned the violence against voters, but the response from EU leaders was largely muted, with most characterizing it as an internal matter for the Spanish government.
On October 3 a general strike was called to protest Madrid’s heavy-handed response to the referendum, and an estimated 700,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona. King Felipe VI held a televised public address to urge unity, and he accused Catalonia’s leaders of recklessness that jeopardized the economic and social stability of all of Spain. Indeed, in light of the unrest in Catalonia, analysts scaled back growth projections for the Spanish economy, and observers characterized the situation as Spain’s gravest domestic crisis since a coup attempt in 1981 that had threatened to derail the country’s young democracy. Perhaps emboldened by the events in Catalonia, on October 22 voters in the northern Italian regions of Veneto and Lombardy overwhelmingly backed referenda that called for greater local autonomy. As Puigdemont hinted that he would make a formal declaration of independence, Rajoy threatened to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy and impose direct rule on the region. On October 27 the Catalan parliament voted to declare independence from Spain. Stating that he had been left with “no alternative,” Rajoy responded by asking members of the Spanish Senate to approve the invocation of Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, empowering the central government to take control of Catalonia’s police, finances, and publicly owned media. The Senate voted 214 to 47 to grant Rajoy the extraordinary powers over Catalonia, where lawmakers who had voted for independence faced the possibility of criminal charges of sedition.
Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, Spanish: Cataluña, Occitan: Catalonha) is an autonomous community in the east of Spain. Roman ruins stand as a testament to Catalonia's long history, and the Mediterranean beaches and spectacular mountains draw visitors from around the world.
Barcelona ( / ˌbɑːrsəˈloʊnə / ⓘ BAR-sə-LOH-nə, Catalan: [bəɾsəˈlonə] ⓘ, Spanish: [baɾθeˈlona] ⓘ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city ...
