Canovelles
Encyclopedia
Canovelles is a municipality
situated in the comarca
of Vallès Oriental
, in the province of Barcelona
, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia
in northeastern Spain
. It is located about two kilometers from the local capital of Granollers
, with which it forms a conurbation
.
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. Because of this explosion in population, much of Canovelles’ economy stems from the service sector.
Another major source of regional economy comes from the weekly market held every Sunday, comprised by more than 500 shops. This market focus on the distribution of clothing, electronic devices and fruit.
have been found in Canovelles. One representative is the “Menhir
”, a replica of which is displayed at the Can Palots Theater exhibition hall.
The first time the term Canovelles appears in a document is in 1008 AD, in a document pertaining to the Abbot of Sant Cugat
.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, many families from Extremadura
and Andalusia
arrived to the municipality, increasing the population by a factor of twenty. Since the end of the 1990s people from Morocco
, Sub-Saharan Africa
, and Latin America
have been arriving to Canovelles in great numbers.
During the 1970s, clandestine groups of Marxists
organized against the Franquist dictatorship, some of them comprised by more than a hundred militants.
In 2007, Socialists' Party of Catalonia
(PSC) gained an absolute majority in the municipal government under the leadership of José Orive. In 2008, this government approved a thirty percent increase in pay for the mayor and local councillor
s. This pay increase marked José Orive as an object of controversy when hundreds of stickers criticizing the decision were posted on lampposts and other public objects throughout the municipality. After these stickers had been up for two days, the municipal government paid a cleaning company to remove them.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
situated in the comarca
Comarca
A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...
of Vallès Oriental
Vallès Oriental
Vallès Oriental is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Granollers. Along with Vallès Occidental it forms the grand comarca of Vallès.- Municipalities :*Aiguafreda - pop. 2,308*L'Ametlla del Vallès - pop. 7,319...
, in the province of Barcelona
Barcelona (province)
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia.-Overview:It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea....
, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
in northeastern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It is located about two kilometers from the local capital of Granollers
Granollers
Granollers is a city near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and most densely populated city of the comarca of Vallès Oriental.Granollers is a bustling business centre, and many industries are located there...
, with which it forms a conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
.
Population by district
| District | Pop. (2007) |
|---|---|
| Àligues, les | 125 |
| La Barriada Nova | 11,786 |
| Bellulla | 225 |
| Can Castells | 696 |
| Can Comas | 17 |
| Can Diviu | 1,327 |
| Can Duran | 668 |
| Can Quana | 58 |
| La Quinta Avinguda | 111 |
| La Serra | 31 |
| Sanaüja | 486 |
| Sant Feliu | 45 |
| Tibel | 149 |
Population distribution
The vast majority of the immigrants of the last decade and their descendants live in the Barriada Nova (New Quarters). However, the members of the immigrant wave in the 1960s and 1970s are gradually moving further into the peripheral districts. Public housing shortages and the high price of private housing are driving young people out of the area, and into municipalities in the same region.Demographic evolution
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!1497 !! 1515 !! 1553 !! 1717 !! 1787 !! 1857 !! 1877 !! 1887 !! 1900
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| 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1981 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 330 | 337 | 505 | 665 | 631 | 3,061 | 8,100 | 12,093 | 13,165 |
| 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,324 | 13,603 | 13,287 | 13,106 | 13,016 | 13,375 | 14,001 | 15,012 | 15,704 |
Economy
During the 1950s and 1960s, Canovelles saw a dramatic increase and immigration from other parts of Spain – namely from the nearby region of BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Because of this explosion in population, much of Canovelles’ economy stems from the service sector.
Another major source of regional economy comes from the weekly market held every Sunday, comprised by more than 500 shops. This market focus on the distribution of clothing, electronic devices and fruit.
History
Numerous archeological finds from the Neolithic Period and the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
have been found in Canovelles. One representative is the “Menhir
Menhir
A menhir is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can vary considerably; but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top...
”, a replica of which is displayed at the Can Palots Theater exhibition hall.
The first time the term Canovelles appears in a document is in 1008 AD, in a document pertaining to the Abbot of Sant Cugat
Sant Cugat del Vallès
Sant Cugat del Vallès is a town and municipality north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. In antiquity known as Castrum Octavianum, it is named after Saint Cucuphas, who is said to have been martyred on the spot now occupied by its medieval monastery.Sant Cugat has seen its population increase in...
.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, many families from Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
and Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
arrived to the municipality, increasing the population by a factor of twenty. Since the end of the 1990s people from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
have been arriving to Canovelles in great numbers.
During the 1970s, clandestine groups of Marxists
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
organized against the Franquist dictatorship, some of them comprised by more than a hundred militants.
Recent history
A celebration was held in 2008 to celebrate the oldest document (written in 1008) in which a writer mentions the municipality's name.In 2007, Socialists' Party of Catalonia
Socialists' Party of Catalonia
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is...
(PSC) gained an absolute majority in the municipal government under the leadership of José Orive. In 2008, this government approved a thirty percent increase in pay for the mayor and local councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s. This pay increase marked José Orive as an object of controversy when hundreds of stickers criticizing the decision were posted on lampposts and other public objects throughout the municipality. After these stickers had been up for two days, the municipal government paid a cleaning company to remove them.
List of mayors since the democratic elections of 1979
| Term | Name of mayor | Political Party |
|---|---|---|
| 1979–1983 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is... |
| 1983–1987 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC |
| 1987–1991 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC |
| 1991–1995 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC |
| 1995–1999 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC |
| 1999–2003 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera | PSC |
| 2003–2007 | Francesc Martos i Aguilera / José Orive I Vélez | PSC |
| 2007–Present | José Orive I Vélez (incumbent) | PSC |
List of mayors from 1900 to 1979
| Term | Name of mayor | Political party |
|---|---|---|
| Restauración Borbónica | ||
| 1890–1906 | Francesc Espargaró i Planas | - |
| 1906–1910 | Joan Pous i Roger | - |
| 1910–1916 | Francesc Botines i Galitó | - |
| 1916–1918 | Esteve Grau i Montpart | - |
| 1918–1923 | Jaume Gispert i Cassà | - |
| 1923–1930 | Miquel Julià i Gorchs | - |
| 1930–1931 | Jaume Gispert i Cassà | - |
| Second Spanish Republic Second Spanish Republic The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... |
||
| 1931–1933 | Francesc Pous i Gorguí | Acció Catalana Republicana |
| 1933–1934 | Josep Gratacòs i Peicasat | ERC |
| 1934–1936 | Jaume Gispert i Cassà | - |
| 1936 | Amadeu Facundo i Vidal | Unió de Rebassaires-PSUC Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia , was formed on July 23, 1936 through the unification of four left-wing groups; the Catalan Federation of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , the Partit Comunista de Catalunya , the Unió Socialista de Catalunya and the... |
| 1936–1937 | Antoni Riera i Genevat | CNT-FAI de Canovelles Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT... |
| 1937–1938 | Nemesio Sanz i Barrachina | PSUC |
| 1938 | Francesc Pous i Gorguí | Acció Catalana Republicana |
| Franquism | ||
| 1939–1952 | Isidre Duran i Blanchart | - |
| 1952–1960 | Ignasi Julià i Argemí | - |
| 1960–1969 | Felip Argemí i Orriols | - |
| 1969–1979 | Joan Dordas i Vila | - |
1995
| |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| PSC-Progrés Municipal Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is... |
4.132 | 63,44 | 13 |
| Convergència i Unió | 788 | 12,10 | 2 |
| PP People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... |
525 | 8,06 | 1 |
| ICV Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia... |
474 | 7,28 | 1 |
| ERC | 272 | 4,18 | 0 |
| Canovelles Unida (EUiA) United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left is a political party from Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left .... |
194 | 3,40 | 0 |
1999
| |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| PSC-Progrés Municipal Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is... |
3.928 | 68,78% | 15 |
| Convergència i Unió | 518 | 9,07 | 1 |
| PP People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... |
491 | 8,60 | 1 |
| EUiA United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left is a political party from Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left .... |
258 | 4,52 | 0 |
| ERC | 243 | 4,25 | 0 |
| ICV Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia... |
194 | 3,40 | 0 |
2003
| |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| PSC-Progrés Municipal Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is... |
3.351 | 56,02 | 10 |
| Convergència i Unió | 808 | 13,51 | 2 |
| ICV Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia... -EUiA United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left is a political party from Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left .... |
624 | 10,43 | 2 |
| PP People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... |
624 | 10,43 | 2 |
| ERC | 495 | 8,27 | 1 |
2007
| |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| PSC-Progrés Municipal Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is... |
2.816 | 53,89 | 11 |
| Convergència i Unió | 705 | 13,49 | 2 |
| ICV Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia... -EUiA United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left is a political party from Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left .... |
540 | 10,33 | 2 |
| PP People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... |
512 | 9,80 | 1 |
| ERC | 337 | 6,45 | 1 |
| Ciutadans | 216 | 4,13 | 0 |
Highways
- C-17C-17 (highway)C-17 or Eix del Congost is a primary highway in Catalonia, Spain. According to the 2004's new coding for primary highways managed by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the first number indicates that is a south-northbound highway, whereas the second number indicates that is the seventh westernmost...
– Located on the exit by Ronda Nord and by the exit at Granollers-Canovelles BV1432 and BV1439
External links
- Canovelles Town Hall Website (Catalan)
- Information by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan)
- Information by the Institut de Estadística de Catalunya (Catalan)