Andorra la Vella is the capital of the Co-principality of
AndorraAndorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of ...
, and is located high in the east
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
between
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. It is also the name of the
parishAndorra consists of seven communities known as parishes . Until relatively recently, it had only six parishes; the seventh, Escaldes-Engordany, was created in 1978.Some parishes have a further territorial subdivision...
that surrounds the capital.
The principal industry is tourism, although the country also earns foreign income from being a tax-haven. Furniture and brandies are local products.
Andorra la Vella is located in the south west of Andorra, at .
Andorra la Vella is the capital of the Co-principality of
AndorraAndorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of ...
, and is located high in the east
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
between
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. It is also the name of the
parishAndorra consists of seven communities known as parishes . Until relatively recently, it had only six parishes; the seventh, Escaldes-Engordany, was created in 1978.Some parishes have a further territorial subdivision...
that surrounds the capital.
The principal industry is tourism, although the country also earns foreign income from being a tax-haven. Furniture and brandies are local products.
Geography and climate
Andorra la Vella is located in the south west of Andorra, at . , at the confluence of two mountain streams, the Valira del Nord and the Valira del Orient, which join to form the
Valira RiverThe Valira is the biggest river in Andorra. It is a tributary to the Segre, which in turn is a tributary to the Ebre . It flows into the Segre in La Seu d'Urgell....
. Located at an elevation of , it is the highest capital city in Europe and a popular
ski resortA ski area is a developed recreational facility, usually on a mountain or large hill, containing ski trails and vital supporting services. It is common for a ski area to have food, rental equipment, parking facilities and a ski lift system catering to the sports of skiing and snowboarding...
. It has a temperate climate with cold winters and warm, drier summers. Temperatures range from an average of around in January to around in July; there is of precipitation a year.
History
The site of Andorra la Vella (literally, "Andorra the Old") has been settled since prior to the Christian era — notably by the Andosin tribe from the late
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
. The state is one of the
Marca HispanicaThe Marca Hispanica was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
created and protected by
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
in the eighth century as a buffer from the
MoorishThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
settlers in the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
.
The settlement has been the principal city of Andorra since 1278 when the French and the Episcopal co-princes agreed to joint suzerainty. Andorra La Vella's old town — the
Barri Antic — includes streets and buildings dating from this time. Its most notable building is the
Casa de la Vall — constructed in the early sixteenth century — which has been the state's parliamentary house since 1707. Andorra la Vella was, during this period, the capital of a largely isolated and feudal state, which retained its independence due to this principle of co-sovereignty.
Well into the twentieth century, the area around Andorra La Vella remained largely forgotten; indeed the state was not part of the
Treaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, simply because it was not noticed. After political turmoil in the 1930s and an attempted coup by
King Boris IBoris Skossyreff was an adventurer who attempted to seize power in the European state of Andorra during the early 1930s. Russian sources give his name in Cyrillic as Борис Скосырев, for which the modern English transliteration would be Skosyrev.In January 1919, a Boris Skossyreff - aged 22 and a...
, an informal democracy developed.
In 1993, the country's first constitution formalised this parliamentary
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
with executive, legislative, and judicial branches located in Andorra la Vella.
During this period, Andorra also developed as a
tax havenA tax haven is a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all.Individuals and/or Corporate entities can find it attractive to move themselves to areas with reduced or nil taxation levels. This creates a situation of tax competition among governments...
, resulting in the construction of modern banking offices in Andorra La Vella. The city also developed its skiing facilities, to the extent that Andorra la Vella was Andorra's applicant city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games, the
2010 Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held February 12-28 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler nearby...
. However, Andorra la Vella was not selected by the IOC as a candidate city, following the evaluation report of an IOC commission. It also hosted both the 1991 and
2005The 2005 Games of the Small States of Europe, or the XIth Games of the Small States of Europe, were held in Andorra la Vella, Andorra from May 30 to June 4, 2005. Andorra la Vella previously hosted the games in 1991. Administration of the games was done jointly by the Andorran government and the...
Games of the Small States of EuropeThe Games of the Small States of Europe is a biennial multi-sport event that has been organized by the National Olympic Committees of eight European small states since 1985.-Members:...
.
Subdivisions
The parish of Andorra la Vella is divided into the villages of Andorra la Vella itself,
La Margineda-See also:*Santa Coloma...
and
Santa ColomaSanta Coloma of Andorra or Santa Coloma is an Andorran town in the parish of Andorra la Vella, located near the Valira River and 2 km away from the capital, Andorra la Vella....
.
Transportation
Surprisingly for a capital city, it is three hours' drive from the nearest airports at
ToulouseToulouse Blagnac Airport or Aéroport de Toulouse - Blagnac is an airport located west northwest of Toulouse, just south of Blagnac, both communes of the Haute-Garonne département in the Midi-Pyrénées région of France....
,
GironaGirona-Costa Brava Airport is an airport located southwest of the city of Girona, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of Catalonia, Spain. It is well connected to the Costa Brava, Barcelona and the Pyrenees....
, Perpignan and
BarcelonaBarcelona Airport , commonly known as El Prat Airport, is located southwest from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, among the municipal terms of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi....
. This is a result of its small population size and highly mountainous
terrainTerrain, or relief, is the third or vertical dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
. It also has no train station, although there is a bus service linking the city to the French train station at
L'Hospitalet-près-l'AndorreL'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre is a commune in the Ariège department in south-western France.The commune has a history of vulnerability to avalanches in winter. Avalanches hit the commune in 1895 killing 12, and again in 1906 and 1929. Avalanches have also closed the RN-20 road.-References:*...
, which has mainline services to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and also to the airport of El Prat of
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
.
Demographics and language
Native Andorrans account for only 33% of the population, with the plurality being Spanish (43%), and notable minorities of
PortuguesePortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
(11%) and
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
(7%).
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
is the official language, although
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
,
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
and
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
are also spoken. Most of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, with a high life expectancy of over 80 years .
Sights and culture
The city's old town is characterized by old stone streets and houses. The central
Església de Sant Esteve (Saint Stephen) church is part of the area that guidebooks often label as a picturesque part of the city. This was built in a
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
style in the eleventh century. As mentioned earlier, the old town also includes the country's historic parliament building. Probably the oldest building in the city is another church, dating from the ninth century, of
Santa ColomaSanta Coloma of Andorra or Santa Coloma is an Andorran town in the parish of Andorra la Vella, located near the Valira River and 2 km away from the capital, Andorra la Vella....
.
The city is the country's cultural centre, with the Government Exhibition Hall acting as a main theatre and museum. The
piazzaA piazza is a city square, found in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...
outside the parliament building is also the location of a number of events, and the town hosts a music festival every winter.
Economy
Andorra la Vella is the country's commercial centre. In the country as a whole, 80% of the GDP is derived from the 10 million tourists who visit annually. The city is also the centre for the many
bankA bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include borrowing and lending money.Many other financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds...
s and businesses that thrive from its
tax havenA tax haven is a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all.Individuals and/or Corporate entities can find it attractive to move themselves to areas with reduced or nil taxation levels. This creates a situation of tax competition among governments...
status. The state is not a member of the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
, but has a customs arrangement with the EU, and uses the
EuroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
.
Notable people
- The Andorran ski mountaineers Joan Vilana Díaz
Joan Vilana Díaz is an Andorran ski mountaineer.Vilana was born in Andorra la Vella. He started ski mountaineering in 2000 and competed first in the Trofeu CTP Boí Taüll race in 2003.- Selected results :* 2004:...
and Sophie Dusautoir BertrandSophie Dusautoir Bertrand is an Andorran ski mountaineer.Dusautoir was born in Andorra la Vella. She started ski mountaineering in 2002 and competed first in the Cronoescalada Pas de la Casa race in 2005.- Selected results :...
were born in Andorra la Vella.
External links