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Catalonia (; Aranese: Catalonha; ;), is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain.
Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,210,508. 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). Official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.
The capital city is Barcelona. Catalonia is divided into forty-one comarques that are part, in turn, of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona.
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Encyclopedia
Catalonia (; Aranese: Catalonha; ;), is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain.
Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,210,508. 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). Official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.
The capital city is Barcelona. Catalonia is divided into forty-one comarques that are part, in turn, of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its territory corresponds to most of the historical territory of the former Principality of Catalonia.
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. The prevalent 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.
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, though critics usually consider it rather simplistic.
Yet another theory 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
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, hot and humid with sea breezes, and the maximum temperature is around 30 °C. Summer is the rainiest season in the Pyreneean valleys with frequent storms. 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. Overall, spring and autumn are typically the rainiest seasons.
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, Galicia and Andalusia self-ascribed as nationalities in the elaborations of their Statutes of Autonomy – the first three acceding to autonomy automatically – and more recently in their new Statutes or recent amendments Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands also did.
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. 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 for 2008.
History
Like some other parts in the rest of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia was colonized 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 became 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 which 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 organized 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 country'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 great maritime power, helping to expand the Crown by trade and conquest into the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and even Sardinia or Sicily.
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, as provinces, into a united Spanish administration, as Spain moved towards a centralized 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 politic unrest and the preeminence of the Anarchists during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). 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 regime, certain folkoric or religious celebrations in Catalan were resumed and tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media was forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s in the theater. 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 tourism 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 is the official language throughout Spain, and Aranese (a dialect of 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. Lately, a similar sociolinguistic phenomenon has occurred with foreign immigration. In an attempt to reverse this, the re-established self-government 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 other, 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 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 three hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) 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. Even though the Generalitat usually uses Catalan in its communications and notifications addressed to the general population, citizens can also receive information from the Generalitat in Spanish if they so desire.
According to the most recent linguistic census elaborated by the Government of Catalonia, a plurality claims Catalan as "their own language" (48.8% Catalan compared to 44.3% Spanish), and in most everyday uses, people who use exclusively Catalan or both languages equally are in the majority. 53.4% 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.
Economy
The Catalan economy is distinguished in the Spanish context by a more industrial profile. 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
Catalonia is the first tourist destination of Spain. The main tourist destinations of 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.
Savings banks have a great implantation in Catalonia. 10 of the 46 Spanish savings banks are Catalan and "La Caixa" is the first savings bank of Europe The first private bank originated in Catalonia is Banc Sabadell ranking fourth of the Spanish private banks.
The stock market of Barcelona, which in 2004 traded almost 205,000 million euros, is the second most important of Spain after the Stock market of Madrid and Fira de Barcelona organizes samples and congresses of international character on varied sectors of the economy.
The main economic cost for the Catalan families is the purchase of a house. According to data of the Society of Appraisal on the 31 of December 2005 Catalonia is, after Madrid, the second community of Spain where the price of the house is more expensive: 3,397 euros for a square meter are paid by average. By cities, nevertheless, Barcelona is the most expensive city of Spain, with an average price of 3,700 euros for a square meter (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 granted in the statute of autonomy of 1932 it had lost with the fall of the Second Spanish Republic at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
The historical region has gradually achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in various matters including culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments while it shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice.
There is significant Catalan nationalist sentiment present in a part of the population of Catalonia, which ranges from the desire for independence from Spain expressed by Catalan independentists, to a more generic demand of further autonomy.
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 through the return of democracy in Spain, the presidents of Catalonia have been Jordi Pujol (1980-2003), Pasqual Maragall (2003-2006) and incumbent José Montilla Aguilera.
Catalonia is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Local governments include comarques (roughly equivalent to counties), as well as smaller forms of municipal administration.
Security forces
Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, whose origins trace back to the eighteenth century. Since 1980 they are under the commandment of the Generalitat, and since 1994 it is expanding in order to replace the Spain-wide Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional, which report directly to the Homeland Department of Spain. These corps are to retain a certain number of agents within Catalonia to exercise specific functions such as overseeing ports, airports, coasts, international borders, custom offices, identification documents, control of armament amongst others.
Most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called "civil law", which 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 persons 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.
Apart from Barcelona, there are other important cities, like Sabadell, Tarragona, Lleida, Girona, Mataró or Reus.
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
Commercial and passenger ports
Roads
- see also List of autopistes and autovies in Catalonia
There are 12,000 km of roads throughout Catalonia.
The principal highway is AP-7 know 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 French Railways at Portbou on the coast.
The railroad companies operating in Catalonia are FGC and RENFE.
High speed AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) services from Madrid currently reach Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona. The official opening between Barcelona and Madrid was on 20 February 2008. The journey between Barcelona and Madrid lasts about 2 and a half hours. Construction has commenced to extend the high speed line northwards to connect with the French high speed network. This new line passes through Girona and a rail tunnel through the Pyrenees.
Some symbols of Catalonia
Catalonia has its own representative and distinctive symbols such as:
*The flag of Catalonia or Senyera (flag in Catalan), is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a golden background. It is an official symbol since the Statute of Catalonia of 1932.
- The National Day of Catalonia is on 11 September, and it is commonly called La Diada. It commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession.
- 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 the February 25 of 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:
Popular culture
Castellers are one of the main manifestations of the Catalonian 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 Catalonian 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 Catalonian 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 of November of 2005.
In addition to the traditional local Catalonian culture, people can enjoy traditions from other parts of Spain as a result of sizeable migration from other regions.
Gallery of images
See also
External links
- : Encyclopedia with information about Catalonia in English
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- . Digital edition of the 1946 book by Oxford Professor Dr. Josep Trueta, in English.
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