The Medieval church of
Sant Climent in
Taüll, located at the foothills of the Pyrenees.
The quaint town of
Cadaqués, a popular tourist destination, is located on the Mediterranean coast.
(; ;
Aranese;
Catalonha) is one of the seventeen
Autonomous Communities of the
Kingdom of Spain. Its capital city is
Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders
France and
Andorra to the north,
Aragon to the west, the
Valencian Community to the south, and the
Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are
Catalan,
Spanish and
Aranese.
Etymology
The name
Catalunya (Catalonia) began to be used in the 12th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the
Marca Hispanica, which gradually became independent from the French. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. An theory suggests that
Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles", having evolved from the term
castlà, the ruler of a castle (see
castellan). This theory, therefore, suggests that the term
castellà ("
Castilian") would have been synonymous. Though critics usually consider it rather limited.
Another theory suggests that
Catalunya derives from
Gothia, "Land of the
Goths", since the
Spanish March was one of the places known as
Gothia, whence
Gothland and
Gothlandia theoretically derived,
Yet another theory less accepted, points to the
Lacetani, an
Iberian tribe that lived in the area, and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved to
Katelans and then
Catalans.
Climate
thumb|left|[[Montserrat (mountain)|Montserrat mountain range in Catalonia.]]
The climate of Catalonia is diverse. The populated areas lying by the coast in
Tarragona,
Barcelona and
Girona feature a
Mediterranean climate. The inland part (including the
Lleida province and the inner part of Barcelona) show a mostly
continental Mediterranean climate. The
Pyreneean peaks have a
mountain or even
Alpine climate at the highest summits.
In the Mediterranean area, summers are dry and hot with sea breezes, and the maximum temperature is around 25-30 °C. Winter is cool or cold depending on the location. It snows frequently in the Pyrenees, and it occasionally snows at lower altitudes, even by the coastline. Spring and autumn are typically the rainiest seasons, except for the Pyrenean valleys, where summer is typically stormy.
The inland part of Catalonia is hotter and drier in summer. Temperature may reach 35 °C, some days even 40 °C. Nights are cooler there than at the coast with the temperature of around 14° to 16 °C. Fog is not uncommon in valleys and plains, it can be especially resilient and with
freezing drizzle episodes during winter by the
Segre and other river valleys.
Legal status within Spain
The
Spanish Constitution of 1978 declares that Spain is an indissoluble nation that recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the
nationalities and regions that constitute it. Catalonia, alongside
Basque Country and
Galicia was set apart from the rest of Spain as a
Historical nationality and given the ability to accede to autonomy automatically, which resulted in the 1979
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The rest of Spain, in a process spearheaded by
Andalusia and completed by 1985, carved itself into 14 additional
Autonomous Communities by drafting their own Statutes of Autonomy. After 2003 there has been a round of amendments to the various Statutes of Autonomy (notably, alongside Catalonia's, those of
Aragon, the
Valencian Community, the
Balearic Islands and the
Canary Islands)
Both the 1979 Statute of Autonomy and the current one, approved in 2006, state that
Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an autonomous community in accordance with the Constitution and with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which is its basic institutional law.The Preamble of the 2006
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states the
Parliament of Catalonia defined Catalonia as a
nation, but that
the Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia's national reality as a nationality. The Preamble of the Statute lacks legal value, thus the constitutional status is the same as it was in 1979, which is an Autonomous Community. While this Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and the Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been legally contested by the surrounding
Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, as well as by the
Partido Popular. The objections are based on various issues such as disputed
cultural heritage but, especially, on the Statute's alleged breaches of the principle of "solidarity between regions" enshrined by the
Constitution in fiscal and educational matters. As of November 2008, the
Constitutional Court of Spain is assessing the constitutionality of the challenged articles; its binding conclusion is expected in 2009.
History
Catalan Court.
Carrer del Bisbe (Bishop Street) in Barcelona's
Barri Gòtic.
Like some other parts in the rest of the
Mediterranean coast of the
Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia was colonised by
Ancient Greeks, who settled around the
Roses area. Both Greeks and
Carthaginians (who, in the course of the
Second Punic War, briefly ruled the territory) interacted with the main
Iberian substratum. After the Carthaginian defeat, it became, along with the rest of
Hispania, a part of the
Roman Empire,
Tarraco being one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula
It then came under
Visigothic rule for four centuries after Rome's collapse. In the eighth century, it came under
Moorish al-Andalus control. Still, after the defeat of Emir
Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi's troops at
Tours in 732, the
Franks conquered former Visigoth states which had been captured by the Muslims or had become allied with them in what today is the northernmost part of Catalonia.
Charlemagne created in 795 what came to be known as the
Marca Hispanica, a
buffer zone beyond the province of
Septimania made up of locally administered separate
petty kingdoms which served as a defensive barrier between the
Umayyad Moors of
Al-Andalus and the
Frankish Kingdom.
The Catalan culture started to develop in the
Middle Ages stemming from a number of these petty kingdoms organised as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The
counts of Barcelona were Frankish
vassals nominated by the emperor then the king of France, to whom they were feudatories (801–987).
In 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognize the French king
Hugh Capet and his new dynasty which put it effectively out of the Frankish rule. Two years later, in 989, Catalonia declared its independence. Then, in 1137,
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona married Queen
Petronila of Aragon establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with the
Kingdom of Aragon which was to create the
Crown of Aragon.
It was not until 1258, by means of the
Treaty of Corbeil, that the king of France formally relinquished his feudal lordship over the counties of the
Principality of Catalonia to the king of Aragon
James I, descendant of Ramon Berenguer IV. This Treaty transformed the region's
de facto independence into a
de jure direct transition from French to Aragonese rule. It also solved a historic incongruence. As part of the
Crown of Aragon, Catalonia became a maritime power, helping expand the Crown by trade and conquest into the
Kingdom of Valencia, the
Balearic Islands, and even
Sardinia,
Sicily,
Corsica,
Naples,
Athens,
Canary Islands and
America.
In 1410, King
Martin I died without surviving descendants. As a result, by the
Pact of Caspe,
Ferdinand of Antequera from the Castilian dynasty of
Trastamara, received the Crown of Aragon as
Ferdinand I of Aragon.
His grandson, King
Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen
Isabella I of Castile in 1469; retrospectively, this is seen as the dawn of the
Kingdom of Spain. At that point both
Castile and
Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, Parliaments and laws. Political power began to shift away from Aragon toward Castile and, subsequently, from Castile to the
Spanish Empire.
For an extended period, Catalonia, as part of the former Crown of Aragon, continued to retain its own usages and laws, but these gradually eroded in the course of the transition from
feudalism to a modern state, fueled by the kings' struggle to have more
centralized territories. Over the next few centuries, Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of local conflicts that led steadily to more centralization of power in Spain, like the
Reapers' War (1640–1652).
The most significant conflict was the
War of the Spanish Succession, which began when
Charles II of Spain (the last Spanish
Habsburg) died without a successor in 1700. Catalonia, as the other territories which used to form the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages, mostly rose up in support of the Habsburg pretender
Charles of Austria, while the rest of Spain mostly adhered to the French
Bourbon claimant,
Philip V. Following the
fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, the 'special status' of the territories belonging to the former Crown of Aragon and its institutions were abolished by the
Nueva Planta decrees, under which all its lands were incorporated to
Crown of Castile, as provinces, into a united Spanish administration, as
Spain moved towards a
centralised government under the new
Bourbon dynasty.
In the latter half of the 19th century Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains one of the most industrialised parts of Spain. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times, receiving its first statute of autonomy during the
Second Spanish Republic (1931). This period was marked by political unrest and the preeminence of the
Anarchists during the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). They were also active throughout the early 20th century, achieving the first eight-hour workday in the world in 1919. After the defeat of the Republic in the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) which brought General
Francisco Franco to power, his regime suppressed any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism,
Anarchism,
Socialism,
Democracy or
Communism, such as publishing books on the matter or simply discussing them in open meetings. As part of this suppression the use of
Catalan in government-run institutions and in public events was banned. During later stages of the
Francoist régime certain folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the
mass media was forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s in the theatre. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the dictatorship.
After Franco's death (1975) and with the adoption of
a democratic Spanish constitution (1978), Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy. Today, Catalonia is one of the most economically dynamic regions of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city,
Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourist destination.
Languages
Originating in the historic territory of Catalonia,
Catalan is one of the three official languages and has enjoyed special status since the approval of the
Statute of Autonomy of 1979 which declares it to be the language "proper to Catalonia". The other languages with official status are
Spanish, which has official status throughout Spain, and
Aranese, a
dialect of
Gascon Occitan spoken in the
Aran Valley.
Under the Franco dictatorship Catalan was, until the 1970s, excluded from the state education system and all other official and public use, including the prohibition of giving children Catalan names.
Rural-urban migration originating in other parts of Spain also reduced the social use of the language in urban areas, while increasing the use of Spanish. Lately, a similar
sociolinguistic phenomenon has occurred with foreign immigration.
After the Franco dictatorship, in an attempt to reverse this, the re-established self-government democratic institutions of Catalonia embarked on a long term
language policy to increase the use of Catalan and has, since 1983, enforced laws which attempt to protect, and extend, the use of Catalan. Some groups consider these efforts a way to discourage the use of Spanish, while some others, including the Catalan government and the European Union consider the policies respectful, or even as an example which "should be disseminated throughout the Union".
Today, Catalan is the main language of the Catalan autonomous government and the other public institutions that fall under its jurisdiction. Basic public education is given in Catalan except for two hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) at least in Catalan under penalty of fines; there is no obligation to display this information in either Aranese or Spanish, although there is no restriction on doing so in these or other languages and this is often done, in particular in Spanish. The use of fines was introduced in a 1997 linguistic law that aims to increase the use of Catalan. The law ensures that both Catalan and Spanish – being official languages – can be used by the citizens without prejudice in all public and private activities, but primary education can only be taken in Catalan language. The Generalitat uses Catalan in its communications and notifications addressed to the general population, but citizens can also receive information from the Generalitat in Spanish if they so desire.
According to the most recent linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia , a plurality claims Spanish as "their own language" (37.26% Catalan compared to 46.53% Spanish), and in most everyday uses people who use exclusively Spanish or both languages equally are in the majority. 57.83% of citizens declared Spanish as a native language, either exclusively or along with Catalan.
Also, starting with the
Statute of Autonomy of 1979,
Aranese (a dialect of
Gascon) has been official and subject to special protection in the
Aran Valley. This small area of 7,000 inhabitants was the only place where a dialect of
Occitan has received full official status. Then, on 9 August 2006, when the new Statute came into force, Occitan became official throughout Catalonia.
Due to the
intense immigration which Spain in general and Catalonia in particular experienced in the first decade of the twentyfirst century, many foreign languages are spoken in various cultural communities in Catalonia, of which
Arabic and
Urdu are the more common.
Economy
The Catalonia is more industrialised than other parts of Spain. The distribution of sectors is the following one:
In 2007 the regional
GDP of Catalonia was € 202,509 million and per capita GDP was € 24,445 in 2007. In this year, the GDP growth was 3.7%,. In the context of the
2008 financial crisis, Catalonia is expected to suffer a
recession amounting to almost a 2% contraction of its regional GDP in 2009
The main tourist destinations in Catalonia are the city of
Barcelona, the beaches of the
Costa Brava at
Girona and the
Costa Daurada at
Tarragona. In the
Pyrenees there are several ski resorts.
Many
savings banks are based in Catalonia: 10 of the 46 Spanish savings banks are Catalan and "
La Caixa" is Europe's premier savings bank The first
private bank in Catalonia is
Banc Sabadell, now fourth of the Spanish private banks.
The stock market of Barcelona, which in 2004 traded almost 205,000 million €., is the second largest of Spain after Madrid, and
Fira de Barcelona organizes international exhibitions and congresses to do with different sectors of the economy.
The main economic cost for the Catalan families is the purchase of a house. According to daof ta the Society of Appraisal on the 31 December 2005 Catalonia is, after Madrid, the second most expensive region in Spain for housing: 3,397 €/m² on average(See
Spanish property bubble).
Politics
After
Franco's death in 1975 and the adoption of
a democratic constitution in Spain in 1978, Catalonia recovered, and extended, the powers that it had gained in the statute of autonomy of 1932 but lost with the fall of the
Second Spanish Republic at the end of the
Spanish Civil War in 1939.
The region has gradually achieved more autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local government, and shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice.
There is some nationalist sentiment present in a part of the population of Catalonia,
which ranges from the desire for independence from Spain expressed by
Catalan separatists,
to a more generic demand for further autonomy.
Some non-binding referendums with local character, asking the population whether or not do they want to achieve the independence, have been undertaken.
Law and government of Catalonia
The
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia is the fundamental organic law, second only to the
Spanish Constitution from which the Statute originates. The Catalan Statute of Autonomy establishes that Catalonia is organized politically through the
Generalitat de Catalunya, conformed by the
Parliament, the Presidency of the Generalitat, the Government or Executive Council and the other institutions created by the Parliament.
The seat of the Executive Council is the city of
Barcelona. Since the restoration of the Generalitat on the return of democracy in
Spain, the
presidents of Catalonia have been
Jordi Pujol (1980-2003),
Pasqual Maragall (2003-2006) and
José Montilla Aguilera, incumbent .
Catalonia is divided into four
provinces:
Barcelona,
Girona,
Lleida, and
Tarragona, which are subdivided into
comarques (roughly equivalent to counties), and further into local municipalities.
Security forces
Catalonia has its own police force, the
Mossos d'Esquadra, whose origins date back to the eighteenth century. Since 1980 they have been under the command of the Generalitat, and since 1994 they have expanded in number in order to replace the national
Guardia Civil and
Policía Nacional, which report directly to the Homeland Department of Spain. The national bodies retain personnel within Catalonia to exercise functions of national scope such as overseeing ports, airports, coasts, international borders, custom offices, the identification of documents and arms control amongst others.
Most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions. The
criminal justice system is uniform throughout Spain, while "
civil law" is administered separately within Catalonia.
After
Navarre and the
Basque Country, Catalonia is the Spanish region with the highest degree of autonomy.
Demographics
The autonomous community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,354,411 (2008) from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3%.
The
Urban Region of Barcelona includes 3,327,872 people and covers an area of 2.268 km² and about 1.7 million people live in a radius of 15 km from
Barcelona. The metropolitan area of the Urban Region includes cities like
l'Hospitalet de Llobregat,
Badalona,
Santa Coloma de Gramenet and
Cornellà.
In 1900 the population of Catalonia was 1,984,115 people and in 1970 it was 5,107,606. That increase was produced due to the demographic boom produced in Spain during the 60s and early 70s and also due to the large-scale internal migration produced from the rural interior of
Spain to its industrial cities. In Catalonia that wave of internal migration arrived from several regions of Spain, especially
Andalusia,
Murcia and
Extremadura.
Transport
Airports
- Reus Airport Reus/Tarragona/Costa Daurada (REU){Constanti/Reus/Tarragona};
Commercial and passenger ports
Roads
There are 12,000 km of roads throughout Catalonia.
The principal highway is
AP-7 known also as
Autopista del Mediterrani. It follows the coast from the French Border to
Valencia, located south of Tarragona. The main roads generally radiate from Barcelona. The A-2 and AP-2 connect inland and onward to Madrid.
Other major roads are:
Railways
Catalonia saw the first railway construction in
Iberian Peninsula in 1848, linking
Barcelona with
Mataró. Given the topography most lines radiate from
Barcelona. The city has both suburban and inter-city services. The main east coast line runs through the province connecting with the SNCF (French Railways) at
Portbou on the coast.
There are two publicly owned railway companies operating in Catalonia: the Catalan
FGC and the Spanish national
RENFE.
High speed
AVE (
Alta Velocidad Española) services from Madrid currently reach
Lleida,
Tarragona and
Barcelona. The official opening between
Barcelona and
Madrid took place 20 February 2008. The journey between
Barcelona and
Madrid now takes about 2 and a half hours. Construction has commenced to extend the high speed line northwards to connect with the French high speed TGV network. This new line passes through
Girona and there is a tunnel through the Pyrenees.
Some symbols of Catalonia
Catalonia has its own representative and distinctive symbols such as:
The flag of Catalonia
- The national anthem of Catalonia is Els Segadors and was written in its present form by Emili Guanyavents in 1899. The song is official by law from 25 February 1993. It is based on the events of 1639 and 1640 when Catalans fought for independence against Philip IV in the so called Catalan Revolt.
- La Diada de Sant Jordi is widely celebrated in all the towns of Catalonia on 23 April. It is a day where in addition to the exchange of books and roses, Catalans will proudly display their senyeres as a show of national pride.
- One of the most famous international symbols of Catalonia is FC Barcelona. The area's footballing branch is supported with a passion by the 'cules'. Each season they engage in one of Spanish football's most famous rivalries, the El Clásico with La Liga powerhouse and long-time rivals Real Madrid.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia
There are several
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia:
- Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, Tarragona
Popular culture
Castellers are one of the main manifestations of Catalan popular culture. The activity consists in constructing human towers by competing
colles castelleres (teams). This practice originated in the southern part of Catalonia during the 18th century.
The
sardana is the most characteristic Catalan popular dance, other groups also practice
Ball de bastons,
moixiganga or
jota in the southern part. Musically the
Havaneres are also characteristic in the marine localities of the
Costa Brava specially during the summer months when these songs are sung outdoors accompanied by a
cremat of burned rum. As opposed to other parts of Spain,
flamenco is not popularly performed, but rather the
rumba is a more prevalent dance style.
In the greater celebrations other elements of the Catalan popular culture are usually present: the parades of
gegants (giants) and
correfocs of devils and firecrackers. Another traditional celebration in Catalonia is
La Patum de Berga declared oral and immaterial patrimony of the Humanity by UNESCO in the
25 November 2005.
In addition to the traditional local Catalan culture, people can enjoy traditions from other parts of Spain as a result of sizeable migration from other regions.
See also
