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Northern Catalonia
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Northern Catalonia is a term which is sometimes used,
particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to
the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
in 1659.
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Encyclopedia
| | | | The map at right shows the location of the département of the Pyrénées-Orientales, which roughly corresponds to the territory known as Northern Catalonia but also includes the district of Fenouillèdes ; the map at left shows Roussillon and Catalonia. | |
Northern Catalonia is a term which is sometimes used,
particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to
the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
in 1659. The equivalent term in French,
Catalogne du Nord, is only rarely used: the term
Roussillon (in reference to the
pre-Revolutionary
province) is
usually preferred. Both Northern Catalonia and Roussillon
correspond approximately to the modern French
département of the
Pyrénées-Orientales.
Geography
Northern Catalonia forms a triangle between the Pyrenees to the south, the Corbières to the north-west and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The Roussillon plain in the east, by far the most populated area, is formed by the flood plains of the Tech, Têt and Agly rivers . The districts of Vallespir and Conflent cover the upper valleys of the Tech and the Têt respectively. The
massif of the Canigou , 2785 m, dominates much of the territory.
The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with hot, dry summers and winters which are relatively mild, at least on the Roussillon plain where snow is rare.
The city of Perpignan accounts for over a quarter of the population, over one-third of its urban area is taken into account, and is the only major administrative and service centre. Major road and rail links run north–south through Northern Catalonia between France and Spain, while a railway line also links Perpignan to Latour-de-Carol (Catalan: La Tor de Querol) via Prades (Catalan: Prada de Conflent or Prada).
Cerdagne
Haute-Cerdagne is geographically distinct from the rest of Northern Catalonia, lying to the south of the Pyrenean watershed in the upper valley of the Segre. It is a mountainous and sparsely-populated district, even taking into account the town of Llívia (pop. 1252 (2005)) which forms an enclave resting under Spanish sovereignty.
The district lies on the most direct route between Toulouse and Barcelona (via Foix and Ripoll), and a railway line still links the two cities via Latour-de-Carol .
Administrative history
Eighth to twelfth centuries
Northern Catalonia formed part of the Spanish Marches, established by Charlemagne as a buffer territory against
the Moorish forces. As such, it was divided into feudal counties, Rosselló, Vallespir,
Conflent north of the Pyrenees and Cerdanya to the south. By the end of the
ninth century, these counties had gained de facto independence from the Carolingian kings and operated
as princely states (whose rulers nevertheless retained the title of count).
As the seigneury of the counties became hereditary, the total number of Catalan counts fell steadily. One individual often
had the charge of several counties, but these were not always transmitted on the basis of primogeniture. Hence Count
Miró II the Young, third son of Wilfred I the Hairy, inherited the counties of Cerdanya and Conflent from his father in 897, and the counties of Besalú and Vallespir from his elder brother Sunyer I when the latter became Count of Barcelona in 911.
The Counts of Rosselló, in alliance with their cousins the Counts of Empuriés,
tried to resist this dilution of their power. However the Counts of Barcelona steadily gain suzerainty over the
other Catalan counts, a process which was virtually complete by the twelfth century. The last Count of Rosselló, Girard II, left his title to the
Crown of Aragon on his death in 1172 to prevent the territory passing to his illegitimate half-brothers.
Under the Crown of Aragon
Royal administration in Catalonia under the Crown of Aragon was organised on the basis of vegueries,
under the charge of a veguer appointed by the King of Aragon as Count of Barcelona. In Northern Catalonia, the vegueries
followed closely the boundaries of the old counties. The district of Capcir was a sotsvegueria, based around
the castle of Puigbalador (French: Puyvalador) but subordinate to the vegueria of Conflent.
The Treaty of Corbeil of 1258 confirmed the frontier between France and Aragon as the Cerbères,
leaving the Occitan district of Fenolheda to France.
On the death of King James I the Conqueror in 1276, Northern Catalonia was combined with the Balearic Isles to
form a new Kingdom of Majorca, which passed to James II while the rest of the
territory of the Crown of Aragon passed to his brother Peter III. This division satisfied
neither branch of the family, and the Kingdom of Majorca was retaken militarily by the Crown of Aragon in 1344.
After the Treaty of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 ceded Northern Catalonia to France, where it became the province of Roussillon. The French provinces were abolished at the Revolution (Law of 1789-12-22), and Roussillon was joined with the district of Fenouillèdes
(Occitan: Fenolheda) to form the département of the Pyrénées-Orientales, with Perpignan (Perpinyà) as its administrative centre.
Present day
The département of the Pyrénées-Orientales is divided into the arrondissements of Céret (Catalan: Ceret), Perpignan (Perpinyà) and Prades (Prada de Conflent), which are further divided into cantons and communes. Perpignan and sixteen surrounding communes are also associated in the Communauté d'agglomération Têt Méditerranée, created in 2001. Enclaved in the southwest of the département there is the Spanish (Catalonia) exclave of Llívia.
| Arondissement | Cantons | Communes | Population (1999) | Area | Population
density (1999) |
|---|
| Céret (Ceret) | 5 | 40 | 66,624 | 954 km² | 69.8 /km² | | Perpignan (Perpinyà) | 20 | 86 | 287,272 | 1317 km² | 218 /km² | | Prades (Prada) | 6 | 100 | 38,907 | 1845 km² | 21.1 /km² | | TOTAL | 31 | 226 | 392,803 | 4116 km² | 95.4 /km² |
|---|
| All figures include the district of Fenouillèdes. |
As is common, the present-day arrondissements do not correspond to pre-Revolutionary boundaries. The arrondissement of Prades (Prada) covers the whole of Haute-Cerdagne (Alta Cerdanya) and Conflent (including
Capcir), as well as about a third of Fenolheda (not part of the province of Roussillon).
The arrondissement of Céret covers the whole of Vallespir but also the Côte Vermeille (Costa Vermella), which was historically under the control of the counts and veguers of Rosselló at Perpinyà (Perpignan).
Catalan writers sometimes speak of the "comarques of Northern Catalonia".
Unlike the autonomous community of Catalonia, these comarques have no administrative significance, although
they usually correspond to a certain historical and geographical unity. A commonly used division is that of Joan Becat in his
1977 work Atles de Catalunya Nord, which follows closely the boundaries of the former vegueries except insofar as
it promotes the former sotsvegueria of Capcir (177 km²,
pop. 1532 (1990)) to a full comarca.
Languages
French is the official language in these municipalities. Catalan, in its Northern Catalan variety, is estimated to be spoken by a quarter of the population, but understood by a higher percentage.
Its public usage was forbidden by means of a Louis XIV royal decree in 1700 prohibitting the usage of Catalan language in official documents. Then in the 1950s, after centuries of being forbidden in education, Catalan language could be taken 1 hour per week in secondary school. In the 1970s, the Arrels Association and la Bressola network of private schools started to offer complete bilingual French/Catalan classes from nursery up to secondary education.
On December 10, 2007, the General Council of Pyrénées-Orientales proclaimed Catalan as one of the languages of the department, alongside French and Occitan language (in Fenouillèdes), with the goal to further promote it in public life and education.
See also
External links
- from the Enciclopèdia catalana
Media
- radio station
- radio station
- radio station
- magazine in Catalan & French
- magazine
- publishing house
- Catalan bookstore in Perpinyà (Perpignan)
Associations
- – organises primary education in Catalan
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Essays
- (Who are we Northern Catalans?)
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Miscellaneous sites
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