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Catalonia
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{{Short description|Autonomous community and nationality in northeastern Spain}}{{About|the Spanish autonomous community|the historic political entity|Principality of Catalonia||Catalonia (disambiguation)|and|Catalunya (disambiguation)}}{{pp|small=yes}}{{pp-pc|small=yes}}{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
- it has been imported raw for GetWiki
| factoids | |
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| name | Catalonia| official_name = | native_name = {hide}unbulleted list |
|{{native name|es|Cataluña{edih}
|{{native name|oc|Catalonha}}
}}
| Autonomous communities of Spain>Autonomous community| image_flag = Flag of Catalonia.svg| flag_size = 125px| flag_alt = Senyera| image_seal = Seal of the Generalitat of Catalonia.svg| seal_size = 75px| seal_alt = | seal_type = Seal| seal_link = Seal of the Generalitat de Catalunya| motto = | ca | Els Segadors}} {{smaller>“The Reapers“}} (File:Els Segadors (Instrumental).ogg|center)| image_map = Cataluna in Spain (plus Canarias).svg| map_alt = Map of Catalonia in Spain| map_caption = Location of Catalonia (red) in Spain| image_map1 = E.U-Catalonia.png| mapsize1 = 270px| map_alt1 = Catalonia in Spain and Europe | location_color=dark green | region_color=dark grey | subregion_color=green}} | 41 | 15 | 01 | 16 | region:ES-CT_type:adm1st|display=inline,title}}| coor_pinpoint = | subdivision_type = Country | Spain}}| subdivision_type1 = Status | Autonomous communities of Spain>Autonomous community (styled as nationality) | History of Catalonia>Formation | County of Barcelona)1137 (Crown of Aragon>Dynastic union with Aragon) {{nowrap | Catalan constitutions)}}1516 (Habsburg Spain>Dynastic union with Castile under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor | )1716 (Nueva Planta decrees>Nueva Planta) | Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia>Statute of Autonomy | Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932>9 September 1932 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979 | Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia>9 August 2006 (in force)| established_title2 = | established_date2 = | Capital city>Capital{{nobold|and largest city}} | Barcelona{{Coord>41 | N | 11|E}}| government_footnotes = | Devolution>Devolved government in a constitutional monarchy | Generalitat de Catalunya>Generalitat of Catalonia| leader_party = | President of the Generalitat of Catalonia>President | Pere Aragonès (Republican Left of Catalonia>ERC) | List of presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia>Parliament Speaker | Anna Erra (Together for Catalonia (2020)>Junts)| leader_title2 = Legislature| leader_name2 = Parliament of Catalonia | PUBLISHER=STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF CATALONIA | ARCHIVE-DATE=26 APRIL 2020 | URL-STATUS=LIVE, | area_total_km2 = 32113.86 | Ranked lists of Spanish autonomous communities>6th in Spain | ACCESS-DATE=3 JANUARY 2024 | ARCHIVE-DATE=22 DECEMBER 2023 | URL-STATUS=LIVE, | population_as_of = 2023| population_footnotes = | population_density_km2 = 241 | Ranked lists of Spanish autonomous communities>2nd in Spain (16%) | Catalans>Catalan or Catalonian (Catalan language | ) (Spanish language>es) (oc)| population_note = | demographics_type2 = GDP | WEBSITE=WWW.DATOSMACRO.COM | ARCHIVE-DATE=31 DECEMBER 2015 | URL-STATUS=LIVE, | demographics2_title1 = Total| demographics2_info1 = €255.154 billion (2022)| demographics2_title2 = Per capita| demographics2_info2 = €32,550 (2022) | WEBSITE=HDI.GLOBALDATALAB.ORG | ACCESS-DATE=24 JUNE 2023 | ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20180923120638/HTTPS://HDI.GLOBALDATALAB.ORG/AREADATA/SHDI/ | darkgreen | List of Spanish autonomous communities by Human Development Index>4th | Central European Summer Time>CEST| utc_offset1_DST = +2| postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = +34 93 (Barcelona area) +34 97 (rest of Catalonia) | Telephone numbers in Spain>Area code| iso_code = ES-CT| blank_name_sec1 = Official languages | style=white-space:nowrap;
| Catalan
| Spanish{{efn|name=e|As “the official language of the State”, according with the Spanish Constitution.WEB, The Spanish Constitution,www.boe.es/legislacion/documentos/ConstitucionINGLES.pdf, Agencia Estatal BoletÃn Oficial del Estado, BOE, 26 July 2016, 4 March 2016,web.archive.org/web/20160304214738/https://www.boe.es/legislacion/documentos/ConstitucionINGLES.pdf, live, }} | Occitan (Aranese){{efn|name=f|Catalan and Occitan (Aranese in Aran) are the languages of Catalonia and Aran (respectively) and official languages of the autonomous community of Catalonia according with its Statute of Autonomy.WEB,www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm, Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, Gencat.cat, 13 September 2013, dead,www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20080528011550www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20080528011550www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm, 28 May 2008, }} | Catalan Sign Language{{efn|name=g|LSC was officially recognized as one of Catalonia’s official languages on 3 June 2010 when Law 17/2010 of the Catalan Sign Language (LSC) was approved by the government.WEB, Llei de la llengua de signes catalana,www.parlament.cat/document/nom/TL118.pdf, blogs.iec.cat, ca, 9 October 2022, 9 October 2022,web.archive.org/web/20221009070458/https://www.parlament.cat/document/nom/TL118.pdf, live, }} }}| blank1_name_sec1 = Patron saints | Saint George (), Virgin of Montserrat | web.gencat.cat/ca/inici|gencat.cat}} | Congress of Deputies (Spain)>Congress of Deputies| leader_name3 = 48 Deputies (of 350) | Senate of Spain>Senate| leader_name4 = 24 Senators (of 265)| unemployment_rate = | Central European Time>CET| utc_offset = +1 |
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Etymology and pronunciation
The name “Catalonia” (), spelled Cathalonia, began to be used for the homeland of the Catalans (Cathalanenses) in the late 11th century and was probably used before as a territorial reference to the group of counties that comprised part of the March of Gothia and the March of Hispania under the control of the Count of Barcelona and his relatives.Enciclopèdia Catalana online: Catalunya (“Geral de Cataluign, Raimundi Catalan and Arnal Catalan appear in 1107/1112“) (in Catalan) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206211826www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0016436 |date=6 February 2012 }} The origin of the name Catalunya is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence.One theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the name Gothia (or Gauthia) Launia (“Land of the Goths“), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, known as Gothia, whence Gothland > > > > Catalonia theoretically derived.BOOK, Ulick Ralph Burke, A history of Spain from the earliest times to the death of Ferdinand the Catholic,archive.org/details/ahistoryspainfr02burkgoog, 1900, Longmans, Green, and co., 154, During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the local medley of Goths with Alans, initially constituting a Goth-Alania.The Sarmatians: 600 BC-AD 450 (Men-at-Arms) by Richard Brzezinski and Gerry Embleton, 19 August 2002.Other theories suggest:- Catalunya derives from the term “land of castles”, having evolved from the term castlà or castlan, the medieval term for a castellan (a ruler of a castle).BOOK, Maximiano GarcÃa Venero, Historia del nacionalismo catalán: 2a edición,books.google.com/books?id=nUABAAAAMAAJ, 25 April 2010, 7 July 2006, Ed. Nacional, 11 March 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220311111242/https://books.google.com/books?id=nUABAAAAMAAJ, live, WEB,www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng/historia/historia2.htm, La formació de Catalunya, Gencat.cat, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng/historia/historia2.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20091215151546www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng/historia/historia2.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20091215151546www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng/historia/historia2.htm, 15 December 2009, This theory therefore suggests that the names Catalunya and Castile have a common root.
- The source is the Celtic catalauni, meaning “chiefs of battle”, similar to the Celtic given name Katuwalos;JOURNAL, Bonfante, Giuliano, 1948, Le nom de la “Catalogne”,www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_1948_num_4_2_1196, Études celtiques, 4, 2, 365–368, 10.3406/ecelt.1948.1196, 6 June 2020, 6 June 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200606104705/https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_1948_num_4_2_1196, live, although the area is not known to have been occupied by the Celtiberians, a Celtic culture was present within the interior of the Iberian Peninsula in pre-Roman times.WEB,www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Catalan&allowed_in_frame=0, Online Etymology Dictionary, Etymonline.com, 31 January 2014, 3 February 2014,www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Catalan&allowed_in_frame=0," title="web.archive.org/web/20140203040542www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Catalan&allowed_in_frame=0,">web.archive.org/web/20140203040542www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Catalan&allowed_in_frame=0, live,
- The Lacetani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved by metathesis to Katelans and then Catalans.WEB,www.mediterranees.net/vagabondages/divers/catalogne.html, La Catalogne: son nom et ses limites historiques, Histoire de Roussillon, Mediterranees.net, 22 March 2008, 1 February 2014, 18 December 2010,mediterranees.net/vagabondages/divers/catalogne.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20101218071954mediterranees.net/vagabondages/divers/catalogne.html,">web.archive.org/web/20101218071954mediterranees.net/vagabondages/divers/catalogne.html, live,
- Miguel Vidal, finding serious shortcomings with earlier proposals (such as that an original -t- would have, by normal sound laws in the local Romance languages, developed into -d-), suggested an Arabic etymology: {{transliteration|ar|qattÄl}} ({{wikt-lang|ar|قتال}}, {{abbr|pl.|plural}} {{transliteration|ar|qattÄlÅ«n}} ) – meaning “killer” – could have been applied by Muslims to groups of raiders and bandits on the southern border of the Marca Hispanica.Badia i Margarit, Antoni, 1981,
History
{{For timeline|Timeline of Catalan history}}Prehistory
File:Cogul HBreuil.jpg|thumb|right|The Roca dels Moros contains paintings protected as part of the Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, a World Heritage SiteWorld Heritage SiteThe first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic. The oldest known trace of human occupation is a mandible found in Banyoles, described by some sources{{which|date=December 2022}} as pre-Neanderthal, that is, some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old.{{citation |first1=R. |last1=Grun |title=ESR and U-series analyses of enamel and dentine fragments of the Banyoles mandible |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |year=2005 |url=http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904090837www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2012 |access-date=31 October 2006 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.10.001 |display-authors=etal |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=347–58 |pmid=16364406 }}. From the next prehistoric era, the Epipalaeolithic or Mesolithic, important remains survive, the greater part dated between 8000 and 5000 BC, such as those of Sant Gregori (Falset) and el Filador (Margalef de Montsant). The most important sites from these eras, all excavated in the region of Moianès, are the Balma del Gai (Epipaleolithic) and the Balma de l’Espluga (late Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic).Guilaine, Jean; Michel Barbaza, David Geddes, Jean-Louis Vernet, Miguel Llongueras & Maria Hopf (1982). “Prehistoric Human Adaptations in Catalonia (Spain)”, Journal of Field Archaeology, 9:4, 407–416.The Neolithic era began in Catalonia around 5000{{nbsp}}BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements than in other places, thanks to the abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally hunter-gatherer culture. An example of such settlements would be La Draga at Banyoles, an “early Neolithic village which dates from the end of the 6th millennium{{nbsp}}BC.“Tarrus, Josep. “La Draga (Banyoles, Catalonia), an Early Neolithic Lakeside Village in Mediterranean Europe”. Catalan Historical Review, vol. 1, 2008, pp. 17–33.The Chalcolithic period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800{{nbsp}}BC, with the beginning of the construction of copper objects. The Bronze Age occurred between 1800 and 700{{nbsp}}BC. There are few remnants of this era, but there were some known settlements in the low Segre zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans through the Urnfield Culture, whose successive waves of migration began around 1200{{nbsp}}BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements.WEB,www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576, J. Maluquer de Motes: “Late Bronze and Early Iron in the valley of the Ebro” (The Europea Community in Later Prehistory. Studies in honour of C. F. C. Hawkes; Routledge & Kegan 1971, pp. 107–120), 24 January 2019, 2 October 2017,www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576," title="web.archive.org/web/20171002115946www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576,">web.archive.org/web/20171002115946www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576, live, Around the middle of the 7th century{{nbsp}}BC, the Iron Age arrived in Catalonia.Pre-Roman and Roman period
File:Els Vilars — vista sud-oest 01.jpg|thumb|Iberian fortress Els Vilars in ArbecaArbecaFile:PuentedelDiablo edited.jpg|thumb|Aqüeducte de les Ferreres, Roman aqueduct in TarragonaTarragonaIn pre-Roman times, the area that is now called Catalonia in the north-east of Iberian Peninsula – like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the peninsula – was populated by the Iberians. The Iberians of this area – the Ilergetes, Indigetes and Lacetani (Cerretains) – also maintained relations with the peoples of the Mediterranean. Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda (Lleida) inland, Hibera (perhaps Amposta or Tortosa) or Indika (Ullastret). Coastal trading colonies were established by the ancient Greeks, who settled around the Gulf of Roses, in Emporion (Empúries) and Roses in the 8th century BC. The Carthaginians briefly ruled the territory in the course of the Second Punic War and traded with the surrounding Iberian population.After the Carthaginian defeat by the Roman Republic, the north-east of Iberia became the first to come under Roman rule and became part of Hispania, the westernmost part of the Roman Empire. Tarraco (modern Tarragona) was one of the most important Roman cities in Hispania and the capital of the province of Tarraconensis. Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuriæ (former Emporion) and Barcino (Barcelona). As for the rest of Hispania, Latin law was granted to all cities under the reign of Vespasian (69–79{{nbsp}}AD), while Roman citizenship was granted to all free men of the empire by the Edict of Caracalla in 212{{nbsp}}AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of Roman law since 45{{nbsp}}BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, wine, wheat), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of roads (the most important being the Via Augusta, parallel to Mediterranean coastline) and infrastructure like aqueducts.Conversion to Christianity, attested in the 3rd{{nbsp}}century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th{{nbsp}}century. Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of Vandals, Suebi and Alans in the 5th{{nbsp}}century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some deurbanization.Middle Ages
File:Origen de l’escut del comtat de Barcelona de Lorenzale.jpg|thumb|right|Origins of the blason of the County of Barcelona, by Claudi LorenzaleClaudi LorenzaleAfter the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area was conquered by the Visigoths and was ruled as part of the Visigothic Kingdom for almost two and a half centuries. In 718, it came under Muslim control and became part of Al-Andalus, a province of the Umayyad Caliphate. From the conquest of Roussillon in 760, to the conquest of Barcelona in 801, the Frankish empire took control of the area between Septimania and the Llobregat river from the Muslims and created heavily militarised, self-governing counties. These counties formed part of the historiographically known as the Gothic and Hispanic Marches, a buffer zone in the south of the Frankish Empire in the former province of Septimania and in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to act as a defensive barrier for the Frankish Empire against further Muslim invasions from Al-Andalus.Ramos, Luis G-G (2002). Las Invasiones Bárbaras en Hispania y la Creación del Reino Visigodo. Barcelona: Ariel. pp. 3–30. {{ISBN|978-84-344-6668-5}}File:Petronila Ramon Berenguer.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Petronilla of Aragon and Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, dynastic union of the Crown of AragonCrown of AragonThese counties came under the rule of the counts of Barcelona, who were Frankish vassals nominated by the emperor of the Franks, to whom they were feudatories (801–988). The earliest known use of the name “Catalonia” for these counties dates to 1117. At the end of the 9th{{nbsp}}century, the Count of Barcelona Wilfred the Hairy (878–897) made his titles hereditaries and thus founded the dynasty of the House of Barcelona, which reigned in Catalonia until 1410.(File:Hug IV Empuries Pero Maça Croada Mayurqa 1229.jpg|thumb|170px|Hug IV, count of Empúries, and Pero Maça during the conquest of Mallorca (1229))(File:Cortes Catalanas.jpg|thumb|upright|A 15th-century miniature of the Catalan Courts)In 988 Borrell II, Count of Barcelona, did not recognise the new French king Hugh Capet as his king, evidencing the loss of dependency from Frankish rule and confirming his successors (from Ramon Borrell I onwards) as independent of the Capetian crown whom they regarded as usurpers of the Carolingian Frankish realm.Salrach, Josep Mª. Catalunya a la fi del primer mil·leni. Pagès Editors, (Lleida, 2004) pp. 144–49. At the beginning of eleventh century the Catalan counties experienced an important process of feudalisation, however, the efforts of church’s sponsored Peace and Truce Assemblies and the intervention of Ramon Berenguer I, count of Barcelona (1035–1076) in the negotiations with the rebel nobility resulted in the partial restoration of the comital authority under the new feudal order. To fulfill that purpose, Ramon Berenguer began the modification of the legislation in the written Usages of Barcelona, being one of the first European compilations of feudal law.In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona decided to accept King Ramiro II of Aragon’s proposal to receive the Kingdom of Aragon and to marry his daughter Petronila, establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, creating a composite monarchy later known as the Crown of Aragon and making the Catalan counties that were vassalized or merged with the County of Barcelona into a principality of the Aragonese Crown. During the reign of his son Alphons, in 1173, Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time, while the Usages of Barcelona were compiled in the process to turn them into the law and custom of Catalonia (Consuetudinem Cathalonie), being considered one of the “milestones of Catalan political identity”.Cingolani, Stefano Maria (2006). “Seguir les VestÃgies dels Antecessors. Llinatge, Reialesa i Historiografia a Catalunya des de Ramon Berenguer IV a Pere II (1131-1285)”, Anuario de Estudios Medievales, p 225.In 1258, by means of the Treaty of Corbeil, James I of Aragon King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, king of Mallorca and of Valencia, renounced his family rights and dominions in Occitania, while the king of France, Louis IX, formally relinquished to any historical claim of feudal lordship he might have over the Catalan counties, except the County of Foix, despite the opposition of king James.BOOK, C. Petit-Dutaillis, The Feudal Monarchy in France and England,books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324, 5 November 2013, Routledge, 978-1-136-20350-3, 324, 6 February 2019, 11 March 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220311110534/https://books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324, live, This treaty confirmed, from French point of view, the independence of the Catalan counties established and exercised during the previous three centuries, but also meant the irremediable separation between the geographical areas of Catalonia and Languedoc.As a coastal territory, Catalonia became the base of the Aragonese Crown’s maritime forces, which spread the power of the Crown in the Mediterranean, turning Barcelona into a powerful and wealthy city. In the period of 1164–1410, new territories, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Kingdom of Majorca, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Sicily, and, briefly, the Duchies of Athens and Neopatras, were incorporated into the dynastic domains of the House of Aragon. The expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice.At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed a complex institutional and political system based in the concept of a pact between the estates of the realm and the king. The legislation of Catalonia had to be passed the Catalan Courts (Corts Catalanes), one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that, since 1283, obtained the power to legislate with the monarch.WEB,usuarios.multimania.es/maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm, Las Cortes Catalanas y la primera Generalidad medieval (s. XIII–XIV), 21 January 2013, dead,usuarios.multimania.es/Maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20101019003946usuarios.multimania.es/Maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20101019003946usuarios.multimania.es/Maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm, 19 October 2010, The Courts were composed of the three Estates organized into “arms” (braços), were presided over by the monarch, and approved the Catalan constitutions, which established a compilation of rights for the inhabitants of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Catalan Courts of 1359 established a permanent representative body, known as the “Deputation of the General” or Generalitat), which gained considerable political power over the next centuries.History of the Generalitat {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916163434web.gencat.cat/ca/generalitat/historia/la-diputacio-del-general/ |date=16 September 2020 }} gencat.catThe domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by the Black Death pandemic and by later outbreaks of the plague. Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37{{nbsp}}percent of its population.According to John Huxtable Elliott, “Between 1347 and 1497 the Principality [Catalonia] had lost 37% of its inhabitants, and was reduced to a population of something like 300,000.” BOOK, John Elliott (historian), Elliott, John Huxtable, The revolt of the Catalans: a study in the decline of Spain (1598–1640),books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26, 1984, Cambridge University Press, 0-521-27890-2, 26, 9 November 2020, 11 March 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220311111240/https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26, live, In 1410, the last reigning monarch of the House of Barcelona, King Martin I died without surviving descendants. Under the Compromise of Caspe (1412), the representatives of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia appointed Ferdinand from the Castilian House of Trastámara as King of the Crown of Aragon.BOOK, Reilly, Bernard, The Medieval Spain, 1993, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 0-521-39436-8, During the reign of his son, John II, the persistent economic crisis and social and political tensions in the Principality led to the Catalan Civil War (1462–1472) and the War of the Remences (1462-1486) that left Catalonia exhausted. The Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe (1486) liberated the remença peasants from the feudal evil customs.In the later Middle Ages, Catalan literature flourished in Catalonia proper and in the kingdoms of Majorca and Valencia, with such remarkable authors as the philosopher Ramon Llull, the Valencian poet Ausià s March, and Joanot Martorell, author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch, published in 1490.Modern era
File:Cataloniae principatus 1608.jpg|thumb|left|The Principality of CataloniaPrincipality of CataloniaFerdinand II of Aragon, the grandson of Ferdinand I, and Queen Isabella I of Castile were married in 1469, later taking the title the Catholic Monarchs; subsequently, this event was seen by historiographers as the dawn of a unified Spain. At this time, though united by marriage, the Crowns of Castile and Aragon maintained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, parliaments, laws and currency.BOOK, Imperial Spain 1469–1716, Huxtable, Elliott, J. H. (John), 2002, Penguin, 0141007036, London, 49691947, Castile commissioned expeditions to the Americas and benefited from the riches acquired in the Spanish colonisation of the Americas, but, in time, also carried the main burden of military expenses of the united Spanish kingdoms. After Isabella’s death, Ferdinand II personally ruled both crowns.By virtue of descent from his maternal grandparents, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, in 1516 Charles I of Spain became the first king to rule the Crowns of Castile and Aragon simultaneously by his own right. Following the death of his paternal (House of Habsburg) grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, he was also elected Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1519.WEB, Encyclopædia Britannica online, Charles V,www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V, 3 October 2012, 1 October 2012,www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V," title="web.archive.org/web/20121001224341www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V,">web.archive.org/web/20121001224341www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V, live, File:Els segadors.jpg|thumb|Corpus de SangCorpus de SangOver the next few centuries, the Principality of Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of wars that led steadily to an increased centralization of power in Spain. Despite this fact, between the 16th and 18th centuries, the participation of the political community in the local and the general Catalan government grew (thus consolidating its constitutional system), while the kings remained absent, represented by a viceroy. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the monarchy began to arise. The large and burdensome presence of the Spanish royal army in the Principality due to the Franco-Spanish War led to an uprising of peasants, provoking the Reapers’ War (1640–1652), which saw Catalonia rebel (briefly as a republic led by the chairman of the Generalitat, Pau Claris) with French help against the Spanish Crown for overstepping Catalonia’s rights during the Thirty Years’ War.Gelderen, Martin van; Skinner, Quentin (2002). Republicanism: Volume 1, Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe: A Shared European Heritage {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016133313books.google.com/books?id=H1ZgD7vlFLYC&lpg=PA284&hl=en&pg=PA284 |date=16 October 2020 }}. Cambridge University Press. p. 284. {{ISBN|9781139439619}} Within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia. Most of Catalonia was reconquered by the Spanish monarchy but Catalan rights were recognised. Roussillon and half of Cerdanya was lost to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659).BOOK, Maland, David, Europe in the Seventeenth Century, Macmillan, 1991, Second, 227, 0-333-33574-0, The most significant conflict concerning the governing monarchy was the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1715), which began when the childless Charles II of Spain, the last Spanish Habsburg, died without an heir in 1700. Charles II had chosen Philip V of Spain from the French House of Bourbon. Catalonia, like other territories that formed the Crown of Aragon, rose up in support of the Austrian Habsburg pretender Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, in his claim for the Spanish throne as Charles III of Spain. The fight between the houses of Bourbon and Habsburg for the Spanish Crown split Spain and Europe.The fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 to the Bourbon king Philip V militarily ended the Habsburg claim to the Spanish Crown, which became legal fact in the Treaty of Utrecht. Philip felt that he had been betrayed by the Catalan Courts, as it had initially sworn its loyalty to him when he had presided over it in 1701. In retaliation for the betrayal, and inspired by the French model, the first Bourbon king enacted the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707, 1715 and 1716, incorporating the realms of the Crown of Aragon, including the Principality of Catalonia in 1716, as provinces of the Crown of Castile, terminating their status as separate states along with their parliaments, institutions and public and administrative laws, as well as their {{not a typo|pactist}} politics, within a French-style centralized and absolutist kingdom of Spain.Mercader, J. Felip V i Catalunya. (Barcelona, 1968). In the second half of the 17th century and the 18th century (excluding the parentesis of the Succession War and the post-war inestability) Catalonia carried out a successful process of economic growth and proto-industrialization, reinforced in the late quarter of the century when Castile’s trade monopoly with American colonies ended.The beginning of the Spanish nation state
After the War of the Spanish Succession, the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Castilian Crown through the Nueva Planta Decrees was the first step in the creation of the Spanish nation state. Like other European nation-states in formation,JOURNAL, Connor, Walker, 1978, A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is an Ethnic Group, is a ... ., Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1, 4, 377–400, 10.1080/01419870.1978.9993240, it was not on a uniform ethnic basis, but by imposing the political and cultural characteristics of the capital, in this case Madrid and Central Spain, on those of the other areas, whose inhabitants would become national minorities to be assimilated through nationalist policies.BOOK, Sobrequés Callicó, Jaume, Repressió borbònica i resistència identità ria a la Catalunya del segle XVIII, 29 January 2021, Departament de JustÃcia de la Generalitat de Catalunya, 978-84-18601-20-0, ca, Simon, Antoni. “Els orÃgens històrics de l’anticatalanisme”. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605094401roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/34591 |date=5 June 2022 }}, páginas 45–46, L’Espill, nº 24, Universitat de València. These nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive,BOOK, 978-8429723632, Ferrer Gironès, Edicions 62, ca, Francesc, 320, La persecució polÃtica de la llengua catalana, 1985, BOOK, 84-7826-620-8, Benet, 1995, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, ca, Josep, L’intent franquista de genocidi cultural contra Catalunya, BOOK, 9788418434983, LluÃs, Base, ca, GarcÃa Sevilla, 300, Recopilació d’accions genocides contra la nació catalana, 2021, BOOK, 9788418849107, Llaudó Avila, 2021, 7a, Parcir, Manresa, Eduard, Racisme i supremacisme polÃtics a l’Espanya contemporà nia, and still in force,WEB, Plataforma per la llengua,www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/novetats_legislatives_en_materia_linguistic02_1571310685.pdf, Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüÃstica aprovades el 2018 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana, 22 May 2022, 20 October 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211020181407/https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/novetats_legislatives_en_materia_linguistic02_1571310685.pdf, live, WEB, Plataforma per la llengua,plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/arxius/ambits-treball/Drets%20Ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstics/Novetats_legislatives_en_mat%C3%A8ria_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic-2019-ok.pdf, Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüÃstica aprovades el 2019 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana, 22 May 2022, 27 March 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220327162711/https://plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/arxius/ambits-treball/Drets%20Ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstics/Novetats_legislatives_en_mat%C3%A8ria_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic-2019-ok.pdf, live, WEB, Plataforma per la llengua,www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/linguisticcossospolicials_1576579756.pdf, 2019, Comportament lingüÃstic davant dels cossos policials espanyols, 22 May 2022, 20 October 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211020181419/https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/linguisticcossospolicials_1576579756.pdf, live, have been and are the seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the state.Late modern history
File:Cesar Alvarez Dumont - El Gran dia de Girona.jpg|thumb|Third siege of Girona (1809), Peninsular WarPeninsular WarAt the beginning of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic Wars. In 1808, it was occupied by French troops; the resistance against the occupation eventually developed into the Peninsular War. The rejection of French dominion was institutionalized with the creation of “juntas” (councils) who, remaining loyal to the Bourbons, exercised the sovereignty and representation of the territory due to the disappearance of the old institutions. Napoleon took direct control of Catalonia to reestablish order, creating the Government of Catalonia under the rule of Marshall Augereau, and making Catalan briefly an official language again. Between 1812 and 1814, Catalonia was annexed to France and organized as four departments.WEB,www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm, Les modifications intérieures de la France, 24 January 2019, 19 May 2020,www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20200519002900www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20200519002900www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm, live, The French troops evacuated Catalan territory at the end of 1814. After the Bourbon restoration in Spain and the death of the absolutist king Ferdinand VII (1833), Carlist Wars erupted against the newly established liberal state of Isabella II. Catalonia was divided, with the coastal and most industrialized areas supporting liberalism, while most of the countryside were in the hands of the Carlist faction; the latter proposed to reestablish the institutional systems suppressed by the Nueva Planta decrees in the ancient realms of the Crown of Aragon. The consolidation of the liberal state saw a new provincial division of Spain, including Catalonia, which was divided into four provinces (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona).File:Semana tragica.jpg|thumb|left|Demonstration after the Tragic Week, 1909]]In the second third of the 19th{{nbsp}}century, Catalonia became an important industrial center, particularly focused on textiles. This process was a consequence of the conditions of proto-industrialisation of textile production in the prior two centuries, growing capital from wine and brandy export,BOOK, Francesc, Valls Junyent, 2004, La Catalunya atlà ntica: aiguardent i teixits a l’arrencada industrial catalana, Atlantic Catalonia: brandy and textiles at the beginning of the catalan industrialisation, Vic, ca, Eumo, 84-9766-044-7, {{rp|page=27}}and was later boosted by the government support for domestic manufacturing. In 1832, the Bonaplata Factory in Barcelona became the first factory in the country to make use of the steam engine.BOOK, J.K.J., Thomson, A distinctive industrialisation. Cotton in Barcelona 1728-1832, 1992, 0-521-39482-1, en, Cambridge University Press,books.google.com/books?id=FLfvq7-5_a8C, 14 July 2022, 25 April 2024,web.archive.org/web/20240425120734/https://books.google.com/books?id=FLfvq7-5_a8C, live, {{rp|page=308}}The first railway on the Iberian Peninsula was built between Barcelona and Mataró in 1848.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} A policy to encourage company towns also saw the textile industry flourish in the countryside in the 1860s and 1870s. Although the policy of Spanish governments oscillated between free trade and protectionism, {{ill|protectionist laws|es|Ley de Relaciones Comerciales con las Antillas|vertical-align=sup}} become more common. To this day Catalonia remains one of the most industrialised areas of Spain.In the same period, Barcelona was the focus of industrial conflict and revolutionary uprisings known as “bullangues”. In Catalonia, a republican current began to develop among the progressives, attrackting many Catalans who favored the federalisation of Spain. Meanwhile, the Catalan language saw a Romantic cultural renaissance from the second third of the century onwards, the Renaixença, among both the working class and the bourgeoisie. Right after the fall of the First Spanish Republic (1873–1874) and the subsequent restoration of the Bourbon dynasty (1874), Catalan nationalism began to be organized politically under the leadership of the republican federalist Valentà Almirall.File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-11543, Madrid, Ausrufung der Zweiten Spanischen Republik.jpg|thumb|Proclamation of the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe anarchist movement had been active throughout the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century, founding the CNT trade union in 1910 and achieving one of the first eight-hour workdays in Europe in 1919.BOOK, The Revolutionary Left in Spain, 1914–1923, Meaker, Gerald H., 1974, Stanford University Press, 159 ff, 0-8047-0845-2, Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909. Under the hegemony of the Regionalist League, Catalonia gained a degree of administrative unity for the first time in the Modern era. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces were authorized to create a commonwealth (Catalan: Mancomunitat de Catalunya), lacking any legislative power or specific political autonomy, which carried out an ambitious program of modernization, but it was disbanded in 1925 by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923–1930). During the final stage of the Dictatorship, with Spain beginning to suffer an economic crisis, Barcelona hosted the 1929 International Exposition.BOOK, Monclús, Francisco Javier, Francisco Javier Monclús Fraga, Exposiciones internacionales y urbanismo: el proyecto Expo Zaragoza 2008,books.google.com/books?id=2d6KJ2VnfAkC&pg=PA48, 2006, Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya, 978-84-8301-893-4, 48, 24 January 2019, 19 May 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200519024403/https://books.google.com/books?id=2d6KJ2VnfAkC&pg=PA48, live, After the fall of the dictatorship and a brief proclamation of the Catalan Republic, during the events of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic (14–17{{nbsp}}April{{nbsp}}1931),Roglan, Joaquim (2006). 14 d’abril: la Catalunya republicana (1931–1939). Cossetà nia Edicions, p.13 {{ISBN|8497912039}} Catalonia received in 1932, its first Statute of Autonomy from the Spanish Republic’s Parliament, granting it a considerable degree of self-government, establishing an autonomous body, the Generalitat of Catalonia, which included a parliament, an executive and a court of cassation. The left-wing pro-independence leader Francesc Macià was appointed its first president. Under the Statute, Catalan became an official language. The governments of the Republican Generalitat, led by the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) leaders Francesc Macià (1931–1933) and LluÃs Companys (1933–1940), sought to implement a modernizing and progressive social agenda, despite the internal difficulties. This period was marked by political unrest, the effects of the economic crisis and their social repercussions. The Statute of Autonomy was suspended in 1934, due to the Events of 6 October in Barcelona, as a response{{clarify|date=January 2019}} to the accession of right-wing Spanish nationalist party CEDA to the government of the Republic, considered close to fascism.JOURNAL, Finestres, Jordi, López, Manel, Entre la revolució i l’estelada, Sà piens, 2014, Barcelona, ca, 1695-2014, 31–32, After the electoral victory of the left wing Popular Front in February 1936, the Government of Catalonia was pardoned and the self-government was restored.File:Bitllet de 5 pessetes realitzat per la Generalitat de Catalunya durant la Guerra Civil Espanyola, 1936 Moneda republicana.jpg|thumb|5 pesetas note made by the Generalitat de Catalunya during the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Franco’s rule (1939–1975)
{{multiple image| align = right| image1 = Strijdlustige vrouw - Woman ready to fight (3334194838).jpg| width1 = 188| alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Barcelona bombing (1938).jpg| width2 = 223| alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = Left: Spanish Revolution of 1936. Right: Bombing of Barcelona (1938)}}The defeat of the military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona placed Catalonia firmly in the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. During the war, there were two rival powers in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and the de facto power of the armed popular militias.BOOK, The Spanish Civil war: Revolution and counter-revolution., Bolloten, Burnett, Burnett Bolloten, 1991, University of North Carolina Press, 388–389, Violent confrontations between the workers’ parties (CNT-FAI and POUM against the PSUC) culminated in the defeat of the first ones in 1937. The situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat lost most of its autonomous powers within Republican Spain. In 1938 Franco’s troops broke the Republican territory in two, isolating Catalonia from the rest of the Republican territory. The defeat of the Republican army in the Battle of the Ebro led in 1938 and 1939 to the occupation of Catalonia by Franco’s forces.The defeat of the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War brought to power the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, whose first ten-year rule was particularly violent, autocratic, and repressive both in a political, cultural, social, and economical sense.Payne, Stanley (1999). Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977, pp. 476–477. Univ. of Wisconsin Press. In Catalonia, any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism, republicanism, anarchism, socialism, liberalism, democracy or communism, including the publication of books on those subjects or simply discussion of them in open meetings, was banned. File:FrancoenReus.jpg|thumb|left|Francisco Franco in ReusReus Franco’s regime banned the use of Catalan in government-run institutions and during public events, and the Catalan institutions of self-government were abolished. The pro-Republic of Spain president of Catalonia, LluÃs Companys, was taken to Spain from his exile in the German-occupied France and was tortured and executed in the Montjuïc Castle of Barcelona for the crime of ‘military rebellion’.Preston, Paul. (2012). The Spanish Holocaust. Harper Press. London p. 493.During later stages of Francoist Spain, certain folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media had been forbidden but was permitted from the early 1950sBOOK, Ross, Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict,books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&pg=PA139, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-139-46307-2, 139, 3 May 2007, 9 November 2020, 11 March 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220311112038/https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&pg=PA139, live, in the theatre. Despite the ban during the first years and the difficulties of the next period, publishing in Catalan continued throughout his rule.{{citation |title=The Resurgence of Catalan |first=Earl W. |last=Thomas |journal=Hispania |volume=45 |issue=1 |date=March 1962 |pages=43–48 |doi=10.2307/337523 |jstor=337523}}The years after the war were extremely hard. Catalonia, like many other parts of Spain, had been devastated by the war. Recovery from the war damage was slow and made more difficult by the international trade embargo and the autarkic politics of Franco’s regime. By the late 1950s, the region had recovered its pre-war economic levels and in the 1960s was the second-fastest growing economy in the world in what became known as the Spanish miracle. During this period there was a spectacularJOURNAL, Albaladejo, Isabel P., Gonzalez-Martinez, Maria Isabel, Martinez-Garcia, Maria Pilar, A Double Life Cycle in Tourism Arrivals to Spain: Unit Root Tests with Gradual Change Analysis, 2020, 18, 100497, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100497, 7577662, growth of industry and tourism in Catalonia that drew large numbers of workers to the region from across Spain and made the area around Barcelona one of Europe’s largest industrial metropolitan areas.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}present)“>Transition and democratic period (1975–present)
File:Barcelona AUGUST 1992 the Olympic Games (Juegos OlÃmpicos de Barcelona 1992) - panoramio.jpg|thumb|200px|The Olympic flame in the Olympic Stadium LluÃs Companys of Barcelona during the 1992 Summer Olympics1992 Summer OlympicsAfter Franco’s death in 1975, Catalonia voted for the adoption of a democratic Spanish Constitution in 1978, in which Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy, restoring the Generalitat (exiled since the end of the Civil War in 1939) in 1977 and adopting a new Statute of Autonomy in 1979, which defined Catalonia as a “nationality”. The first elections to the Parliament of Catalonia under this Statute gave the Catalan presidency to Jordi Pujol, leader of Convergència i Unió (CiU), a center-right Catalan nationalist electoral coalition, with Pujol re-elected until 2003. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the institutions of Catalan autonomy were deployed, among them an autonomous police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, in 1983,History of the Mossos d’Esquadra {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929085556mossos.gencat.cat/ca/els_mossos_desquadra/historia_de_la_pg-me/ |date=29 September 2020 }} mossos.gencat.cat and the broadcasting network Televisió de Catalunya and its first channel TV3, created in 1983.History of Televisió de Catalunya {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923021301www.ccma.cat/corporatiu/en/historia/ |date=23 September 2020 }} ccma.cat An extensive program of normalization of Catalan language was carried out. Today, Catalonia remains one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city, Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourist destination. In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games.WEB,olympics.com/ioc/news/barcelona-1992-a-city-turning-towards-the-sea-and-winning-the-hearts-of-the-world, Barcelona 1992: a city turning towards the sea and winning the hearts of the world, International Olympic Committee, IOC, 22 July 2022, 18 February 2024, 2 October 2022,web.archive.org/web/20221002102449/https://olympics.com/ioc/news/barcelona-1992-a-city-turning-towards-the-sea-and-winning-the-hearts-of-the-world, live,Independence movement
In November 2003, elections to the Parliament of Catalonia gave the government to a left-wing Catalanist coalition formed by the Socialists’ Party of Catalonia (PSC-PSOE), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), and the socialist Pasqual Maragall was appointed president. The new government redacted a new version of the Statute of Autonomy, with the aim of consolidate and expand certain aspects of self-government.The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved after a referendum in 2006, was contested by important sectors of the Spanish society, especially by the conservative People’s Party, which sent the law to the Constitutional Court of Spain. In 2010, the Court declared non-valid some of the articles that established an autonomous Catalan system of Justice, improved aspects of the financing, a new territorial division, the status of Catalan language or the symbolical declaration of Catalonia as a nation.WEB,www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html, Anà lisi de les retallades a l’estatut de Catalunya, associats, Partal, Maresma i, 13 September 2016,www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20160913152842www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html,">web.archive.org/web/20160913152842www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html, 13 September 2016, dead, This decision was severely contested by large sectors of Catalan society, which increased the demands of independence.WEB,www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html, Un milió i mig de manifestants per la independència de Catalunya, 13 September 2016,www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20160918025513www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html,">web.archive.org/web/20160918025513www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html, 18 September 2016, dead, File:President_Puigdemont,_“Ciutadans_de_Catalunya,_vénen_hores_en_què_a_tots_ens_pertocarà _de_mantenir_el_pols_del_nostre_paÃs“_02.jpg|thumb|Catalan president, Carles PuigdemontCarles PuigdemontA controversial independence referendum was held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017, using a disputed voting process.WEB,elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/01/inenglish/1506858911_482600.html, Did the referendum comply with basic voting regulations?, 3 October 2017, El PaÃs, 5 October 2017, 19 December 2019,web.archive.org/web/20191219083639/https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/01/inenglish/1506858911_482600.html, live, NEWS,www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/, What happened with Catalonia’s vote for independence – and what’s next, Epatko, Larisa, 4 October 2017, PBS NewsHour, 4 October 2017, 18 October 2017,www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/," title="web.archive.org/web/20171018212431www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/,">web.archive.org/web/20171018212431www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/, live, It was declared illegal and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain, because it breached the 1978 Constitution.WEB,www.boe.es/boe/dias/2017/09/08/pdfs/BOE-A-2017-10287.pdf, Recurso de inconstitucionalidad n.º 4334-2017, contra la Ley del Parlamento de Cataluña 19/2017, de 6 de septiembre, del Referéndum de Autodeterminación., Agencia Estatal BoletÃn Oficial del Estado, 6 September 2017, 5 October 2017, es, 10 May 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190510084254/https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2017/09/08/pdfs/BOE-A-2017-10287.pdf, live, NEWS,www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-10/catalan-separatists-plot-show-of-strength-in-battle-with-madrid, Catalan Separatists Plot Show of Force in Battle With Madrid, Duarte, Esteban, 11 September 2017, Bloomberg, 13 September 2017, en, 13 September 2017,web.archive.org/web/20170913135534/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-10/catalan-separatists-plot-show-of-strength-in-battle-with-madrid, live, Subsequent developments saw, on 27 October 2017, a symbolic declaration of independence by the Parliament of Catalonia, the enforcement of direct rule by the Spanish government through the use of Article 155 of the Constitution,NEWS,www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/oct/22/protests-in-barcelona-against-suspension-of-catalan-autonomy-in-pictures, Protests in Barcelona against suspension of Catalan autonomy – in pictures, Fidler, Matt, 22 October 2017, The Guardian, 2 August 2018, en-GB, 0261-3077, 27 July 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200727075818/https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/oct/22/protests-in-barcelona-against-suspension-of-catalan-autonomy-in-pictures, live, NEWS,www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116, Catalans declare independence from Spain, 27 October 2017, BBC News, 27 October 2017, en-GB, 22 January 2018,www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116," title="web.archive.org/web/20180122093014www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116,">web.archive.org/web/20180122093014www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116, live, NEWS, Jones, Sam, Burgen, Stephen, Graham-Harrison, Emma, Spain dissolves Catalan parliament and calls fresh elections,www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/spanish-pm-mariano-rajoy-asks-senate-powers-dismiss-catalonia-president, the Guardian, 28 October 2017, en, 28 February 2018, 26 April 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190426010929/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/spanish-pm-mariano-rajoy-asks-senate-powers-dismiss-catalonia-president, live, WEB,www.huffingtonpost.es/2017/10/27/directo-el-senado-vota-la-aplicacion-del-155-y-el-parlament-catalan-su-respuesta-al-mismo_a_23257831/, Directo: El Senado aprueba la aplicación del 155, 27 October 2017, 20 November 2017, 29 July 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200729205030/https://www.huffingtonpost.es/2017/10/27/directo-el-senado-vota-la-aplicacion-del-155-y-el-parlament-catalan-su-respuesta-al-mismo_a_23257831/, live, WEB,www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2017/10/27/59f2d55aca4741a0668b4646.html, En vivo – Rajoy disuelve el Parlament y convoca elecciones catalanas el 21 de diciembre, 27 October 2017, 20 November 2017, 30 July 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200730004007/https://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2017/10/27/59f2d55aca4741a0668b4646.html, live, the dismissal of the Executive Council and the dissolution of the Parliament, with a snap regional election called for 21 December 2017, which ended with a victory of pro-independence parties.NEWS, Ponce de León, Rodrigo, 27 October 2017, Rajoy cesa a Puigdemont y su Govern y convoca elecciones para el 21 de diciembre,www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html, es, El Diario, 27 October 2017, 27 October 2017,www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20171027232406www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html,">web.archive.org/web/20171027232406www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html, live, Former President Carles Puigdemont and five former cabinet ministers fled Spain and took refuge in other European countries (such as Belgium, in Puigdemont’s case), whereas nine other cabinet members, including vice-president Oriol Junqueras, were sentenced to prison under various charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds.NEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41871476, Catalonia’s longest week, 4 November 2017, BBC News, 7 November 2017, en-GB, 13 August 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200813153635/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41871476, live, NEWS,www.theweek.co.uk/catalonia-independence/89469/catalonia-independence-nine-former-ministers-jailed, Catalonia Independence: nine former ministers jailed, 3 November 2017, The Week, 7 October 2018, 29 July 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200729190415/https://www.theweek.co.uk/catalonia-independence/89469/catalonia-independence-nine-former-ministers-jailed, live, Quim Torra became the 131st President of the Government of Catalonia on 17 May 2018,WEB, Quim Torra pren possessió com a 131è president de la Generalitat,web.gencat.cat/ca/actualitat/detall/20180517_Quim-Torra-pren-possessio-com-131e-president-de-la-Generalitat, Generalitat de Catalunya, ca, 17 May 2018, 21 August 2018,web.archive.org/web/20180622032919/https://web.gencat.cat/ca/actualitat/detall/20180517_Quim-Torra-pren-possessio-com-131e-president-de-la-Generalitat, 22 June 2018, dead, after the Spanish courts blocked three other candidates.NEWS,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/23/spanish-judge-jails-proposed-catalan-leader-hours-ahead-planned/,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/23/spanish-judge-jails-proposed-catalan-leader-hours-ahead-planned/, 10 January 2022, subscription, live, Spanish judge jails proposed Catalan leader hours ahead of planned inauguration, Hannah, Strange, 23 March 2018, The Telegraph, {{cbignore}}In 2018, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) on behalf of Catalonia.WEB, UNPO: UNPO Welcomes the Assemblea Nacional Catalana as its Newest Member, unpo.org, 31 January 2019, 10 January 2019,unpo.org/article/21315, 28 July 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190728192535/https://unpo.org/article/21315, live, On 14 October 2019, the Spanish Supreme court sentenced several Catalan political leaders, involved in organizing a referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain, and convicted them on charges ranging from sedition to misuse of public funds, with sentences ranging from 9 to 13 years in prison. This decision sparked demonstrations around Catalonia.NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/world/spanish-supreme-court-sentences-catalan-separatists-to-jail/2019/10/14/a0590366-ee59-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html, Spanish Supreme Court sentences Catalan separatists to prison, sparking protests, The Washington Post, dead,web.archive.org/web/20191014110950/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/spanish-supreme-court-sentences-catalan-separatists-to-jail/2019/10/14/a0590366-ee59-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html, 14 October 2019, 12 December 2019, They were later pardoned by the Spanish government and left prison in June 2021.NEWS, Boira, Paula, El Gobierno concede el indulto a los presos del ‘procés’,www.newtral.es/indulto-presos-proces-gobierno/20210622/, Newtral, 22 June 2021, es, 28 May 2022, 31 December 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211231012411/https://www.newtral.es/indulto-presos-proces-gobierno/20210622/, live, NEWS, 23 June 2021, Los presos del ‘procés’ abandonan la cárcel tras el indulto del Gobierno, es,cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2021/06/23/economia/1624443952_813940.html, 28 May 2022, 23 June 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210623111825/https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2021/06/23/economia/1624443952_813940.html, live,Geography
Climate
File:Mapa climà tic de Catalunya.png|thumb|Climates of Catalonia:{{unbulleted listTopography
{{See also|List of mountains in Catalonia}}File:Catmorfo.png|thumb|Geomorphologic map of Catalonia:{{unbulleted list- The Pyrenees: mountainous formation that connects the Iberian Peninsula with the European continental territory (see passage above);
- The Catalan Coastal mountain ranges or the Catalan Mediterranean System: an alternating delevacions and planes parallel to the Mediterranean coast;
- The Catalan Central Depression: structural unit which forms the eastern sector of the Valley of the Ebro.
Flora and fauna
File:BennyTrapp Montseny-Gebirgsmolch Calotriton arnoldi Montseny-Gebirge Spanien.jpg|thumb|Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), endemic to the Montseny MassifMontseny MassifCatalonia is a showcase of European landscapes on a small scale. Just over {{convert|30000|km2|sqmi|abbr=off}} hosting a variety of substrates, soils, climates, directions, altitudes and distances to the sea. The area is of great ecological diversity and a remarkable wealth of landscapes, habitats and species.The fauna of Catalonia comprises a minority of animals endemic to the region and a majority of non-endemic animals. Much of Catalonia enjoys a Mediterranean climate (except mountain areas), which makes many of the animals that live there adapted to Mediterranean ecosystems. Of mammals, there are plentiful wild boar, red foxes, as well as roe deer and in the Pyrenees, the Pyrenean chamois. Other large species such as the bear have been recently reintroduced.The waters of the Balearic Sea are rich in biodiversity, and even the megafaunas of the oceans; various types of whales (such as fin, sperm, and pilot) and dolphins can be found in the area.WEB,www.edmaktub.org/en/home-2/, EDMAKTUB I Estudio de cetáceos, www.edmaktub.org, 22 March 2017, 25 March 2017,www.edmaktub.org/en/home-2/," title="web.archive.org/web/20170325202832www.edmaktub.org/en/home-2/,">web.archive.org/web/20170325202832www.edmaktub.org/en/home-2/, dead, Casinos, A.; Vericad, R. J. (2009). “The Cetaceans of the Spanish Coasts: A Survey”. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525195641www.degruyter.com/view/j/mamm.1976.40.issue-2/mamm.1976.40.2.267/mamm.1976.40.2.267.xml |date=25 May 2017 }}. Mammalia. Volume 40. Issue 2, pp. 267–90. {{ISSN|1864-1547}}. {{ISSN|0025-1461}}. {{doi|10.1515/mamm.1976.40.2.267}}Hydrography
{{See also|List of rivers of Catalonia}}File:Aerea estany de banyoles.png|thumb|Lake of BanyolesLake of BanyolesFile:Tossa de Mar Buchten 1.JPG|thumb|Tossa de MarTossa de MarMost of Catalonia belongs to the Mediterranean Basin. The Catalan hydrographic network consists of two important basins, the one of the Ebro and the one that comprises the internal basins of Catalonia (respectively covering 46.84% and 51.43% of the territory), all of them flow to the Mediterranean. Furthermore, there is the Garona river basin that flows to the Atlantic Ocean, but it only covers 1.73% of the Catalan territory.The hydrographic network can be divided in two sectors, an occidental slope or Ebro river slope and one oriental slope constituted by minor rivers that flow to the Mediterranean along the Catalan coast. The first slope provides an average of {{convert|18700|hm3|cumi|lk=on|abbr=off}} per year, while the second only provides an average of {{convert|2020|hm3|cumi|abbr=on}}/year. The difference is due to the big contribution of the Ebro river, from which the Segre is an important tributary. Moreover, in Catalonia there is a relative wealth of groundwaters, although there is inequality between comarques, given the complex geological structure of the territory.WEB,www.enciclopedia.cat/enciclop%C3%A8dies/gran-enciclop%C3%A8dia-catalana/EC-GEC-0016439.xml, Catalunya: El clima i la hidrografia, ca, l’Enciclopèdia, Barcelona, Gran Enciclopedia Catalana, {{dead link|date=January 2014}} In the Pyrenees there are many small lakes, remnants of the ice age. The biggest are the lake of Banyoles and the recently recovered lake of Ivars.The Catalan coast is almost rectilinear, with a length of {{convert|580|km}} and few landforms—the most relevant are the Cap de Creus and the Gulf of Roses to the north and the Ebro Delta to the south. The Catalan Coastal Range hugs the coastline, and it is split into two segments, one between L’Estartit and the town of Blanes (the Costa Brava), and the other at the south, at the Costes del Garraf.The principal rivers in Catalonia are the Ter, Llobregat, and the Ebro (Catalan: ), all of which run into the Mediterranean.Anthropic pressure and protection of nature
The majority of Catalan population is concentrated in 30% of the territory, mainly in the coastal plains. Intensive agriculture, livestock farming and industrial activities have been accompanied by a massive tourist influx (more than 20 million annual visitors), a rate of urbanization and even of major metropolisation which has led to a strong urban sprawl: two thirds of Catalans live in the urban area of Barcelona, while the proportion of urban land increased from 4.2% in 1993 to 6.2% in 2009, a growth of 48.6% in sixteen years, complemented with a dense network of transport infrastructure. This is accompanied by a certain agricultural abandonment (decrease of 15% of all areas cultivated in Catalonia between 1993 and 2009) and a global threat to natural environment. Human activities have also put some animal species at risk, or even led to their disappearance from the territory, like the gray wolf and probably the brown bear of the Pyrenees. The pressure created by this model of life means that the country’s ecological footprint exceeds its administrative area.{{in lang|ca}} Biodiversitat a Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924082817www.gencat.cat/mediamb/publicacions/monografies/bd_conservacio/bd_catalunya_ca_basic.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }} Retrieved 29 July 2017.Faced with these problems, Catalan authorities initiated several measures whose purpose is to protect natural ecosystems. Thus, in 1990, the Catalan government created the Nature Conservation Council (Catalan: ), an advisory body with the aim to study, protect and manage the natural environments and landscapes of Catalonia. In addition, the Generalitat has carried out the Plan of Spaces of Natural Interest ( or PEIN) in 1992 while eighteen Natural Spaces of Special Protection ( or ENPE) have been instituted.There’s a National Park, Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici; fourteen Natural Parks, Alt Pirineu, Aiguamolls de l’Empordà , CadÃ-Moixeró, Cap de Creus, Sources of Ter and Freser, Collserola, Ebro Delta, Ports, MontgrÃ, Medes Islands and Baix Ter, Montseny, Montserrat, Sant Llorenç del Munt and l’Obac, Serra de Montsant, and the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone; as well as three Natural Places of National Interest ( or PNIN), the Pedraforca, the Poblet Forest and the Albères.Politics
{{Politics of Catalonia}}File:LluÃs Companys i Jover.jpg|upright=0.65|thumb|left|LluÃs CompanysLluÃs CompanysAfter 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 1932WEB,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents15.htm, Beginnings of the autonomous regime, 1918–1932, Gencat.net, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents15.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20090113202504www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents15.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20090113202504www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents15.htm, 13 January 2009, but lost with the fall of the Second Spanish RepublicWEB,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents16.htm, The republican Government of Catalonia, 1931–1939, Gencat.net, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents16.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20090113202509www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents16.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20090113202509www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/guia/antecedents/antecedents16.htm, 13 January 2009, at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.This autonomous community has gradually achieved more autonomy since the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in education, health, culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local government, and only shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in justice.WEB,www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_4.htm, Title IV. Powers (articles 110–173) of the 2006 Statute, Gencat.cat, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_4.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20100303223008www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_4.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20100303223008www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_4.htm, 3 March 2010, In all, some analysts argue that formally the current system grants Catalonia with “more self-government than almost any other corner in Europe”.NEWS,economist.com/news/leaders/21567088-even-though-spectre-secession-unwelcome-distraction-spain-still-needs, Centrifugal Spain: Umbrage in Catalonia, The Economist, 24 November 2012, 13 September 2013, 25 September 2013,www.economist.com/news/leaders/21567088-even-though-spectre-secession-unwelcome-distraction-spain-still-needs," title="web.archive.org/web/20130925172404www.economist.com/news/leaders/21567088-even-though-spectre-secession-unwelcome-distraction-spain-still-needs,">web.archive.org/web/20130925172404www.economist.com/news/leaders/21567088-even-though-spectre-secession-unwelcome-distraction-spain-still-needs, live, The support for Catalan nationalism ranges from a demand for further autonomy and the federalisation of Spain to the desire for independence from the rest of Spain, expressed by Catalan independentists.WEB,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2012/06/27/10/36/60220d32-3dde-4bbe-bd32-e66085959a29.pdf, CEO Public Opinion Poll covering, among others, nationalist opinions, ceo.gencat.cat, 12 October 2012,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2012/06/27/10/36/60220d32-3dde-4bbe-bd32-e66085959a29.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20120913102322premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2012/06/27/10/36/60220d32-3dde-4bbe-bd32-e66085959a29.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20120913102322premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2012/06/27/10/36/60220d32-3dde-4bbe-bd32-e66085959a29.pdf, 13 September 2012, dead, The first survey following the Constitutional Court ruling that cut back elements of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, published by La Vanguardia on 18{{nbsp}}July{{nbsp}}2010, found that 46% of the voters would support independence in a referendum.WEB,www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100718/53967434806/el-fallo-del-tc-catapulta-el-respaldo-a-la-independencia-que-roza-el-50.html, La Vanguardia poll, 20 July 2010, 21 July 2010,www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100718/53967434806/el-fallo-del-tc-catapulta-el-respaldo-a-la-independencia-que-roza-el-50.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20100721040410www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100718/53967434806/el-fallo-del-tc-catapulta-el-respaldo-a-la-independencia-que-roza-el-50.html,">web.archive.org/web/20100721040410www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100718/53967434806/el-fallo-del-tc-catapulta-el-respaldo-a-la-independencia-que-roza-el-50.html, dead, In February of the same year, a poll by the Open University of Catalonia gave more or less the same results.WEB,www.uoc.edu/portal/_resources/CA/documents/sala_premsa/noticies/Dossier_premsa_Diagnxstic_Catalunya-_Espanya.pdf, Diagnóstic de Percepcions Catalunya – Espanya, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 21 February 2018, 4 October 2018,www.uoc.edu/portal/_resources/CA/documents/sala_premsa/noticies/Dossier_premsa_Diagnxstic_Catalunya-_Espanya.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20181004201004www.uoc.edu/portal/_resources/CA/documents/sala_premsa/noticies/Dossier_premsa_Diagnxstic_Catalunya-_Espanya.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20181004201004www.uoc.edu/portal/_resources/CA/documents/sala_premsa/noticies/Dossier_premsa_Diagnxstic_Catalunya-_Espanya.pdf, live, Other polls have shown lower support for independence, ranging from 40 to 49%.WEB,www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/42-catalanes-dice-quiere-cataluna-sea-independiente/csrcsrpor/20101115csrcsrnac_3/Tes, El 42% de los catalanes dice que quiere que Cataluña sea independiente, 15 November 2010, Cadenaser.com, 31 January 2014, 29 April 2014,www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/42-catalanes-dice-quiere-cataluna-sea-independiente/csrcsrpor/20101115csrcsrnac_3/Tes," title="web.archive.org/web/20140429162514www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/42-catalanes-dice-quiere-cataluna-sea-independiente/csrcsrpor/20101115csrcsrnac_3/Tes,">web.archive.org/web/20140429162514www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/42-catalanes-dice-quiere-cataluna-sea-independiente/csrcsrpor/20101115csrcsrnac_3/Tes, live, Racalacarta.com. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118151355www.racalacarta.com/audio/audio_rac1/Racometre28setembre.pdf |date=18 January 2012 }}WEB,www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100907/53996153467/el-apoyo-a-la-independencia-remite-y-cae-al-40-tribunal-constitucional-partido-popular-instituto-nox.html, El apoyo a la independencia remite y cae al 40%, Lavanguardia.es, 31 January 2014, 10 September 2010,www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100907/53996153467/el-apoyo-a-la-independencia-remite-y-cae-al-40-tribunal-constitucional-partido-popular-instituto-nox.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20100910084250www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100907/53996153467/el-apoyo-a-la-independencia-remite-y-cae-al-40-tribunal-constitucional-partido-popular-instituto-nox.html,">web.archive.org/web/20100910084250www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20100907/53996153467/el-apoyo-a-la-independencia-remite-y-cae-al-40-tribunal-constitucional-partido-popular-instituto-nox.html, dead, Although it is established in the whole of the territory, support for independence is significantly higher in the hinterland and the northeast, away from the more populated coastal areas such as Barcelona.WEB,www.eldiario.es/catalunya/mapa-distribuye-voto-independentista-catalunya_1_2460004.html, MAPA | ¿Cómo se distribuye el voto independentista en Catalunya?, Belén Picazo, David Ruiz, López, 28 September 2015, ElDiario.es, 24 July 2021, 24 July 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210724170437/https://www.eldiario.es/catalunya/mapa-distribuye-voto-independentista-catalunya_1_2460004.html, live, Since 2011 when the question started to be regularly surveyed by the governmental Center for Public Opinion Studies (CEO), support for Catalan independence has been on the rise.WEB,www.einesceo.cat/evolutius/referendum-per-la-independencia-de-catalunya-/39, Referèndum per la independència de Catalunya – Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió, Einesceo.cat, 15 October 2013, dead,www.einesceo.cat/evolutius/referendum-per-la-independencia-de-catalunya-/39," title="web.archive.org/web/20131014181236www.einesceo.cat/evolutius/referendum-per-la-independencia-de-catalunya-/39,">web.archive.org/web/20131014181236www.einesceo.cat/evolutius/referendum-per-la-independencia-de-catalunya-/39, 14 October 2013, According to the CEO opinion poll from July{{nbsp}}2016, 47.7% of Catalans would vote for independence and 42.4% against it while, about the question of preferences, according to the CEO opinion poll from March 2016, a 57.2 claim to be “absolutely” or “fairly” in favour of independence.WEB,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2016/07/22/11/04/749debaa-7941-47fa-861a-e4f4cebe1233.pdf, Baròmetre d’Opinió, Center for Public Opinion Studies, 9 September 2016, ca,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2016/07/22/11/04/749debaa-7941-47fa-861a-e4f4cebe1233.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20160911191341premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2016/07/22/11/04/749debaa-7941-47fa-861a-e4f4cebe1233.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20160911191341premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2016/07/22/11/04/749debaa-7941-47fa-861a-e4f4cebe1233.pdf, 11 September 2016, dead, WEB,ceo.gencat.cat/ceop/AppJava/pages/estudis/categories/fitxaEstudi.html?colId=3;5728&lastTitle=Bar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica%3BBar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica.+1a+onada+2016,ceo.gencat.cat/ceop/AppJava/pages/estudis/categories/fitxaEstudi.html?colId=3;5728&lastTitle=Bar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica%3BBar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica.+1a+onada+2016," title="wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170525185231ceo.gencat.cat/ceop/AppJava/pages/estudis/categories/fitxaEstudi.html?colId=3;5728&lastTitle=Bar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica%3BBar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica.+1a+onada+2016,">wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170525185231ceo.gencat.cat/ceop/AppJava/pages/estudis/categories/fitxaEstudi.html?colId=3;5728&lastTitle=Bar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica%3BBar%F2metre+d%27Opini%F3+Pol%EDtica.+1a+onada+2016, dead, 25 May 2017, Baròmetre d’Opinió, Center for Public Opinion Studies, 15 April 2016, ca, Other polls have shown lower support for independence, ranging from 40 to 49%. Other polls show more variable results, according with the Spanish CIS, as of December{{nbsp}}2016, 47% of Catalans rejected independence and 45% supported it.WEB, El “no” a la independencia gana más apoyos, según el CIS catalán,www.antena3.com/noticias/espana/el-cis_20161229586516fb0cf2187c0d319a7d.html, Antena 3 Noticias, es, 12 November 2017, 20 October 2019, 20 October 2019,web.archive.org/web/20191020174708/https://www.antena3.com/noticias/espana/el-cis_20161229586516fb0cf2187c0d319a7d.html, live, In hundreds of non-binding local referendums on independence, organised across Catalonia from 13{{nbsp}}September{{nbsp}}2009, a large majority voted for independence, although critics argued that the polls were mostly held in pro-independence areas. In December{{nbsp}}2009, 94% of those voting backed independence from Spain, on a turn-out of 25%.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8410730.stm, Spain’s Catalonia region in symbolic independence vote, BBC News, 14 December 2009, 25 April 2010, 31 October 2010,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8410730.stm," title="web.archive.org/web/20101031062306news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8410730.stm,">web.archive.org/web/20101031062306news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8410730.stm, live, The final local referendum was held in Barcelona, in April{{nbsp}}2011. On 11{{nbsp}}September{{nbsp}}2012, a pro-independence march pulled in a crowd of between 600,000 (according to the Spanish Government), 1.5 million (according to the Guà rdia Urbana de Barcelona), and 2 million (according to its promoters);WEB,www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120914/54349577571/manifestacion-independentista-600-000-personas.html, “Unas 600.000 personas en la manifestación independentista”. La Vanguardia de Catalunya, Lavanguardia.com, 14 September 2012, 1 February 2014, 29 April 2014,www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120914/54349577571/manifestacion-independentista-600-000-personas.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20140429163448www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120914/54349577571/manifestacion-independentista-600-000-personas.html,">web.archive.org/web/20140429163448www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120914/54349577571/manifestacion-independentista-600-000-personas.html, live, NEWS, Pi, Jaume, Masiva manifestación por la independencia de Catalunya,www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120911/54349943522/diada-manifestacion-independencia-catalunya.html, 15 October 2013, La Vanguardia, 11 September 2012, es, 17 October 2013,www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120911/54349943522/diada-manifestacion-independencia-catalunya.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20131017082445www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120911/54349943522/diada-manifestacion-independencia-catalunya.html,">web.archive.org/web/20131017082445www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120911/54349943522/diada-manifestacion-independencia-catalunya.html, dead, whereas poll results revealed that half the population of Catalonia supported secession from Spain.{{multiple image
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}}Two major factors were Spain’s Constitutional Court’s 2010 decision to declare part of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia unconstitutional, as well as the fact that Catalonia contributes 19.49% of the central government’s tax revenue, but only receives 14.03% of central government’s spending.MAGAZINE, Abend, Lisa, Spain Barcelona Warns Madrid: Pay Up, or Catalonia Leaves Spain,world.time.com/2012/09/11/barcelona-warns-madrid-pay-up-or-catalonia-leaves-spain/?xid=newsletter-weekly, Time (magazine), Time, 17 September 2012, 11 September 2012, 20 September 2012,world.time.com/2012/09/11/barcelona-warns-madrid-pay-up-or-catalonia-leaves-spain/?xid=newsletter-weekly," title="web.archive.org/web/20120920215317world.time.com/2012/09/11/barcelona-warns-madrid-pay-up-or-catalonia-leaves-spain/?xid=newsletter-weekly,">web.archive.org/web/20120920215317world.time.com/2012/09/11/barcelona-warns-madrid-pay-up-or-catalonia-leaves-spain/?xid=newsletter-weekly, live, Parties that consider themselves either Catalan nationalist or independentist have been present in all Catalan governments since 1980. The largest Catalan nationalist party, Convergence and Union, ruled Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, and returned to power in the 2010 election. Between 2003 and 2010, a leftist coalition, composed by the Catalan Socialists’ Party, the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia and the leftist-environmentalist Initiative for Catalonia-Greens, implemented policies that widened Catalan autonomy.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}In the 25 November 2012 Catalan parliamentary election, sovereigntist parties supporting a secession referendum gathered 59.01% of the votes and held 87 of the 135{{nbsp}}seats in the Catalan Parliament. Parties supporting independence from the rest of Spain obtained 49.12% of the votes and a majority of 74{{nbsp}}seats.Artur Mas, then the president of Catalonia, organised early elections that took place on 27{{nbsp}}September{{nbsp}}2015. In these elections, Convergència and Esquerra Republicana decided to join, and they presented themselves under the coalition named Junts pel Sà (in Catalan, Together for Yes). Junts pel Sà won 62{{nbsp}}seats and was the most voted party, and CUP (Candidatura d’Unitat Popular, a far-left and independentist party) won another 10, so the sum of all the independentist forces/parties was 72{{nbsp}}seats, reaching an absolute majority, but not in number of individual votes, comprising 47,74% of the total.WEB,resultats.parlament2015.cat/09AU/DAU09999CM_L4.htm, Resultats provisionals 27S, gencat.cat, Generalitat de Catalunya, 29 September 2015, dead,resultats.parlament2015.cat/09AU/DAU09999CM_L4.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20150930003326resultats.parlament2015.cat/09AU/DAU09999CM_L4.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20150930003326resultats.parlament2015.cat/09AU/DAU09999CM_L4.htm, 30 September 2015, | header = Prominent Catalan politicians in Spain.
| header_align=center
| image1 = Prim madrazo.jpeg
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| caption1 = Juan Prim (Spanish prime minister under regent don Francisco Serrano)
| image2 = Estanislao Figueras y Moragas.jpg
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| caption2 = Estanislao Figueras (president of the First Spanish Republic)
| image3 = Pi y margall.jpg
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| caption3 = Francesc Pi i Margall{{br}}(president of the First Spanish Republic)
Statute of Autonomy
{{See also|Autonomous communities of Spain|Nationalities and regions of Spain}}File:Estatuto de Nuria.jpg|thumb|upright|The first Statute of CataloniaStatute of CataloniaThe Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia is the fundamental organic law, second only to the Spanish Constitution from which the Statute originates.In the Spanish Constitution of 1978 Catalonia, along with the Basque Country and Galicia, was defined as a “nationality”.{{dubious|date=November 2021}} The same constitution gave Catalonia the automatic right to autonomy, which resulted in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979.{{explain|date=November 2021}}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, always under the law in Spain”.WEB,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a1, First article of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalunya, Gencat.net, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a1," title="web.archive.org/web/20090113100832www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a1,">web.archive.org/web/20090113100832www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a1, 13 January 2009, The Preamble of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states that the Parliament of Catalonia has defined Catalonia as a nation, but that “the Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia’s national reality as a nationality”.Constitución Española, Titulo Preliminar. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013022212www.constitucion.es/constitucion/castellano/titulo_preliminar.html |date=13 October 2007 }} While the Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been subject to a legal challenge by the surrounding autonomous communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands and Valencia,WEB, Europa Press/Madrid,www.hoy.es/prensa/20061115/nacional/admitidos-recursos-aragon-valencia_20061115.html, Admitidos los recursos de Aragón, Valencia y Baleares contra el Estatuto catalán., Hoy.es, 1 December 1997, 25 April 2010, 4 August 2012,www.hoy.es/prensa/20061115/nacional/admitidos-recursos-aragon-valencia_20061115.html," title="archive.today/20120804013947www.hoy.es/prensa/20061115/nacional/admitidos-recursos-aragon-valencia_20061115.html,">archive.today/20120804013947www.hoy.es/prensa/20061115/nacional/admitidos-recursos-aragon-valencia_20061115.html, bot: unknown, as well as by the conservative People’s Party. 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” in fiscal and educational matters enshrined by the Constitution.NEWS, El PaÃs,www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/anos/encarnizada/batalla/politica/elpepuesp/20100416elpepunac_26/Tes, Cuatro años de encarnizada batalla polÃtica., El PaÃs, 29 June 2010, 29 June 2010, 3 July 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220703023004/https://elpais.com/elpais/2010/04/16/actualidad/1271405842_850215.html, live, Spain’s Constitutional Court assessed the disputed articles and on 28 June 2010, issued its judgment on the principal allegation of unconstitutionality presented by the People’s Party in 2006. The judgment granted clear passage to 182 articles of the 223 that make up the fundamental text. The court approved 73 of the 114 articles that the People’s Party had contested, while declaring 14 articles unconstitutional in whole or in part and imposing a restrictive interpretation on 27 others.NEWS,www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/retoque/74/articulos/recurridos/elpepunac/20100629elpepinac_4/Tes, Ni un retoque en 74 artÃculos recurridos, El PaÃs, 29 June 2010, 3 July 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220703023004/https://elpais.com/diario/2010/06/29/espana/1277762404_850215.html, live, The court accepted the specific provision that described Catalonia as a “nation”, however ruled that it was a historical and cultural term with no legal weight, and that Spain remained the only nation recognised by the constitution.NEWS,news.scotsman.com/news/Catalonia-39is-not-a-nation39.6412380.jp, Catalonia ‘is not a nation’ 10 July 2010, News.scotsman.com, 10 July 2010, 6 January 2011, Edinburgh, 29 June 2011,news.scotsman.com/news/Catalonia-39is-not-a-nation39.6412380.jp," title="web.archive.org/web/20110629141155news.scotsman.com/news/Catalonia-39is-not-a-nation39.6412380.jp,">web.archive.org/web/20110629141155news.scotsman.com/news/Catalonia-39is-not-a-nation39.6412380.jp, live, WEB,www.matthewbennett.es/60/is-catalonia-a-nation-or-a-nationality-or-is-spain-the-only-nation-in-spain/, Is Catalonia a nation or a nationality, or is Spain the only nation in Spain?, Matthewbennett.es, 6 January 2011, dead,www.matthewbennett.es/60/is-catalonia-a-nation-or-a-nationality-or-is-spain-the-only-nation-in-spain/," title="web.archive.org/web/20110908023751www.matthewbennett.es/60/is-catalonia-a-nation-or-a-nationality-or-is-spain-the-only-nation-in-spain/,">web.archive.org/web/20110908023751www.matthewbennett.es/60/is-catalonia-a-nation-or-a-nationality-or-is-spain-the-only-nation-in-spain/, 8 September 2011, NEWS, Fiona Govan,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/7861118/Catalonia-can-call-itself-a-nation-rules-Spains-top-court.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/7861118/Catalonia-can-call-itself-a-nation-rules-Spains-top-court.html, 10 January 2022, subscription, live, Catalonia can call itself a ‘nation’, rules Spain’s top court 29 Jun 2010, Telegraph, 29 June 2010, 6 January 2011, London, {{cbignore}}NEWS,www.economist.com/node/16490065, A nationality, not a nation Jul 1st 2010, The Economist, 1 July 2010, 6 January 2011, 25 February 2018,www.economist.com/node/16490065," title="web.archive.org/web/20180225082016www.economist.com/node/16490065,">web.archive.org/web/20180225082016www.economist.com/node/16490065, live,Government and law
{{multiple image
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}}The Catalan Statute of Autonomy establishes that Catalonia, as an autonomous community, is organised politically through the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan: ), confirmed by the Parliament, the Presidency of the Generalitat, the Government or Executive Council and the other institutions established by the Parliament, among them the Ombudsman (), the Office of Auditors () the Council for Statutory Guarantees () or the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia ().File:Pere Aragonès, fotografia oficial 2021 (Cropped).jpg|upright=0.65|thumb|left|Pere Aragonès, President of the Generalitat of Catalonia ]]The Parliament of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the unicameral legislative body of the Generalitat and represents the people of Catalonia. Its 135{{nbsp}}members (diputats) are elected by universal suffrage to serve for a four-year period. According to the Statute of Autonomy, it has powers to legislate over devolved matters such as education, health, culture, internal institutional and territorial organization, nomination of the President of the Generalitat and control the Government, budget and other affairs. The last Catalan election was held on 14 February 2021, and its current speaker (president) is Laura Borrà s, incumbent since 12{{nbsp}}March{{nbsp}}2018.The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the highest representative of Catalonia, and is also responsible of leading the government’s action, presiding the Executive Council. Since the restoration of the Generalitat on the return of democracy in Spain, the Presidents of Catalonia have been Josep Tarradellas (1977–1980, president in exile since 1954), Jordi Pujol (1980–2003), Pasqual Maragall (2003–2006), José Montilla (2006–2010), Artur Mas (2010–2016), Carles Puigdemont (2016–2017) and, after the imposition of direct rule from Madrid, Quim Torra (2018–2020) and Pere Aragonès (2021–).The Executive Council (Catalan: ) or Government (), is the body responsible of the government of the Generalitat, it holds executive and regulatory power, being accountable to the Catalan Parliament. It comprises the President of the Generalitat, the First Minister () or the Vice President, and the ministers () appointed by the president. Its seat is the Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona. In 2021 the government was a coalition of two parties, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts) and is made up of 14 ministers, including the vice President, alongside to the president and a secretary of government, but in October{{nbsp}}2022 Together for Catalonia (Junts) left the coalition and the government.WEB, Catalan government broken: Junts leaves coalition cabinet, Esquerra stays alone,english.vilaweb.cat/noticies/catalan-government-broken-junts-leaves-coalition-cabinet-esquerra-stays-alone/, 2022-10-28, VilaWeb, ca, 28 October 2022,web.archive.org/web/20221028034515/https://english.vilaweb.cat/noticies/catalan-government-broken-junts-leaves-coalition-cabinet-esquerra-stays-alone/, live, | direction = vertical
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Parliament of Catalunya edited.JPG
| caption1 = Palace of the Parliament of Catalonia, located in Ciutadella park, Barcelona
| image2 = Casa generalitat web.jpg
| caption2 = Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, headquarters of the President and the Government of Catalonia
Security forces and Justice
Catalonia has its own police force, the (officially called ), whose origins date back to the 18th{{nbsp}}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 Civil Guard and National Police Corps, 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, immigration control, terrorism prevention, arms trafficking prevention, amongst others.Most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions, the highest body and last judicial instance in the Catalan jurisdiction, integrating the Spanish judiciary, is the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. The criminal justice system is uniform throughout Spain, while civil law is administered separately within Catalonia. The civil laws that are subject to autonomous legislation have been codified in the Civil Code of Catalonia () since 2002.WEB,civil.udg.es/normacivil/catalunya.htm, Legislació civil catalana, Civil.udg.es, 20 July 2006, 25 April 2010,civil.udg.es/normacivil/catalunya.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20110706215412civil.udg.es/normacivil/catalunya.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20110706215412civil.udg.es/normacivil/catalunya.htm, 6 July 2011, dead, Catalonia, together with Navarre and the Basque Country, are the Spanish communities with the highest degree of autonomy in terms of law enforcement.Administrative divisions
(File:CatMCVPtoponims.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Provinces, regions and counties of Catalonia (until 2015)){{See also|Political divisions of Spain|Local government in Spain}}Catalonia is organised territorially into provinces or regions, further subdivided into comarques and municipalities. The 2006{{nbsp}}Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia establishes the administrative organisation of the later three.Provinces
{{Further|Provinces of Spain}}Much like the rest of Spain, Catalonia is divided administratively into four provinces, the governing body of which is the Provincial Deputation (, , ). As of 2010, the four provinces and their populations were:WEB,www.idescat.cat/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=5&V1=08&V3=863&V4=435&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&GERMANS=TRUE&CTX=B, Padró municipal d’habitants. Xifres Oficials. Recomptes. Any 2010, idescat, 20 July 2010, dead,www.idescat.cat/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=5&V1=08&V3=863&V4=435&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&GERMANS=TRUE&CTX=B," title="web.archive.org/web/20091113212952www.idescat.cat/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=5&V1=08&V3=863&V4=435&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&GERMANS=TRUE&CTX=B,">web.archive.org/web/20091113212952www.idescat.cat/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=5&V1=08&V3=863&V4=435&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&GERMANS=TRUE&CTX=B, 13 November 2009,- Province of Barcelona: 5,701,708 population
- Province of Girona: 777,258 population
- Province of Lleida: 437,939 population
- Province of Tarragona: 830,804 population
Vegueries
Besides provinces, Catalonia is internally divided into eight regions or vegueries, based on the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the Principality of Catalonia.WEB, vegueria {{!, enciclopedia.cat |url=https://www.enciclopedia.cat/gran-enciclopedia-catalana/vegueria-1 |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=www.enciclopedia.cat |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630102826www.enciclopedia.cat/gran-enciclopedia-catalana/vegueria-1 |url-status=live }} Established in 2006, vegueries are used by the Generalitat de Catalunya with the aim to more effectively divide Catalonia administratively. In addition, vegueries are intended to become Catalonia’s first-level administrative division and a full replacement for the four deputations of the Catalan provinces, creating a council for each vegueria,WEB, palau, òscar, Traient l’entrellat a les vegueries - 12 març 2010,www.elpuntavui.cat/article/146574-traient-lentrellat-a-les-vegueries.html, 2023-06-29, El Punt Avui, ca, 29 June 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230629220933/https://www.elpuntavui.cat/article/146574-traient-lentrellat-a-les-vegueries.html, live, WEB, femVallès, 2020-04-28, La Catalunya de 9 vegueries (en 4 provÃncies) - femVallès,www.femvalles.cat/la-catalunya-de-9-vegueries-en-4-provincies/, 2023-06-29, ca, 8 December 2023,web.archive.org/web/20231208083647/https://www.femvalles.cat/la-catalunya-de-9-vegueries-en-4-provincies/, live, WEB, Se impide crear veguerÃas alterando los lÃmites provinciales {{!, Barcelona {{!}} elmundo.es |url=https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/07/09/barcelona/1278690407.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.elmundo.es |archive-date=15 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615115731www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/07/09/barcelona/1278690407.html |url-status=live }} but this has not been realised as changes to the statewide provinces system are unconstitutional.WEB, 324cat, 2010-07-09, El Constitucional només admet les vegueries si es conserven les provÃncies,www.ccma.cat/324/el-constitucional-nomes-admet-les-vegueries-si-es-conserven-les-provincies/noticia/761666/, 2023-06-29, CCMA, ca, 29 June 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230629220939/https://www.ccma.cat/324/el-constitucional-nomes-admet-les-vegueries-si-es-conserven-les-provincies/noticia/761666/, live, The territorial plan of Catalonia () provided six general functional areas,WEB, Pla territorial general de Catalunya,www10.gencat.net/ptop/AppJava/cat/plans/general/ptgeneral.jsp, dead,www10.gencat.net/ptop/AppJava/cat/plans/general/ptgeneral.jsp," title="web.archive.org/web/20100704031039www10.gencat.net/ptop/AppJava/cat/plans/general/ptgeneral.jsp,">web.archive.org/web/20100704031039www10.gencat.net/ptop/AppJava/cat/plans/general/ptgeneral.jsp, 4 July 2010, 20 July 2010, Generalitat de Catalunya, but was amended by Law{{nbsp}}24/2001, of 31{{nbsp}}December, recognizing Alt Pirineu and Aran as a new functional area differentiated of Ponent.Aprovació del Pla territorial parcial de l’Alt Pirineu i Aran. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513132200www10.gencat.net/ptop/AppJava/cat/plans/parcials/ptapa/aprovacio_definitiva.jsp|date=13 May 2008}} After some opposition from some territories, it was made possible for the Aran Valley to retain its government (the vegueria is renamed to Alt Pirineu, although the name Alt Pirineu and Aran is still used by the regional plan)WEB, 2021-04-21, Mapa de Vegueries a Catalunya (2021): On és el teu municipi?,beteve.cat/mobilitat/mapa-vegueries-catalunya/, 2023-06-29, beteve.cat, ca, 29 June 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230629220932/https://beteve.cat/mobilitat/mapa-vegueries-catalunya/, live, and in 2016, the Catalan Parliament approved the eighth vegueria, Penedès, split from the Barcelona region.WEB, 8 February 2017, Catalunya ja té vuit vegueries: El Parlament aprova la creació de la vegueria del Penedès,www.ara.cat/societat/catalunya-vegueries-parlament-vegueria-penedes_1_1410475.html, 4 February 2024, 6 March 2024,web.archive.org/web/20240306141747/https://www.ara.cat/societat/catalunya-vegueries-parlament-vegueria-penedes_1_1410475.html, live, As of 2022, the eight regions and their populations were:- Alt Pirineu (capital La Seu d’Urgell): 63,892 population
- Barcelona (capital Barcelona): 4,916,847 population
- Camp de Tarragona (capital Tarragona): 536,453 population
- Central Catalonia (capital Manresa): 413,349 population
- Girona (capital Girona): 761,690 population
- Ponent (capital Lleida): 365,289 population
- Penedès (capital Vilanova i la Geltrú): 497,764 population
- Terres de l’Ebre (capital Tortosa): 182,231 population
- Aran Valley (capital Vielha e Mijaran): 10,194 population
Comarques
Comarques (often known as counties in English, but different from the historical Catalan countiesWEB, Idescat. Statistical Yearbook of Catalonia. County councils. Councillors. Counties.,www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15897&lang=en, 2023-11-27, www.idescat.cat, 4 February 2024,web.archive.org/web/20240204193734/https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15897&lang=en, live, WEB, 2023-05-06, Festivals in southern Terres de l’Ebre counties form new group to increase visibility,www.catalannews.com/culture/item/festivals-in-southern-terres-de-lebre-counties-unite-in-new-group-to-increase-visibility, 2023-11-27, www.catalannews.com, en, 4 February 2024,web.archive.org/web/20240204193735/https://www.catalannews.com/culture/item/festivals-in-southern-terres-de-lebre-counties-unite-in-new-group-to-increase-visibility, live, WEB, Coronavirus: Spain puts 200,000 people in Catalonia back into lockdown as cases rise,news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-spain-puts-200-000-people-in-catalonia-back-into-lockdown-as-cases-rise-12020938, 2023-11-27, Sky News, en, 4 February 2024,web.archive.org/web/20240204193734/https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-spain-puts-200-000-people-in-catalonia-back-into-lockdown-as-cases-rise-12020938, live, ) are entities composed of municipalities to internally manage their responsibilities and services. The current regional division has its roots in a decree of the Generalitat de Catalunya of 1936, in effect until 1939, when it was suppressed by Franco. In 1987 the Catalan Government reestablished the comarcal division and in 1988 three new comarques were added (Alta Ribagorça, Pla d’Urgell and Pla de l’Estany). Some further revisions have been realised since then, such as the additions of Moianès and Lluçanès counties, in 2015 and 2023 respectively. Except for Barcelonès, every comarca is administered by a comarcal council ().As of 2024, Catalonia is divided in 42 counties plus the Aran Valley. The latter, although previously (and still informally) considered a comarca, obtained in 1990 a particular status within Catalonia due to its differences in culture and language, being administered by a body known as the (General Council of Aran), and in 2015 it was defined as a “unique territorial entity” instead of a county.WEB,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l16-1990.html#, Ley 16/1990, de 13 de julio, sobre el régimen especial del Valle de Arán., Noticias JurÃdicas, 20 July 2010, 8 June 2011,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l16-1990.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110608204441noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l16-1990.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110608204441noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l16-1990.html, live,Municipalities
{{Further|Municipalities of Catalonia}}There are at present 947{{nbsp}}municipalities () in Catalonia. Each municipality is run by a council () elected every four years by the residents in local elections. The council consists of a number of members () depending on population, who elect the mayor ( or ). Its seat is the town hall (, or ).Eixample aire cropped.jpg|An aerial view of BarcelonaLa Seu d’Urgell (Torre Solsona).JPG|La Seu d’Urgell from the Solsona towerE5320-Vista-de-Tarragona.jpg|The city of TarragonaManresa des del mirador de la Balconada.jpg|The city of Manresa from the Balconada viewpointGirona des de l aire.jpg|The city of GironaLleida (40262867523).jpg|The city of Lleida by the Segre riverVilanova i la Geltru.jpg|Vilanova i la Geltrú from the city’s portTortosa - La Suda.jpg|The city of TortosaVIELHA - VAL D’ARAN - IB-399.JPG|Vielha e Mijaran from the Vielha viewpointEconomy
(File:Aerial view of Barcelona, Spain (51227309370).jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Barcelona, Spain)File:Camps de Presseguers a Aitona, Segrià .jpg|thumb|right|Peach fields in AitonaAitonaFile:Strand Santa Cristina.JPG|thumb|Costa Brava beach. Tourism plays an important role in the Catalan economy.]]A highly industrialized region, the nominal GDP of Catalonia in 2018 was €228 billion (second after the community of Madrid, €230 billion) and the per capita{{nbsp}}GDP was €30,426 ($32,888), behind Madrid (€35,041), the Basque Country (€33,223), and Navarre (€31,389).WEB, Comparar Comunidades Autónomas Madrid vs Cataluña 2020,datosmacro.expansion.com/ccaa/comparar/madrid/cataluna, datosmacro.com, es, 15 May 2020, 29 May 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200529020337/https://datosmacro.expansion.com/ccaa/comparar/madrid/cataluna, live, That year, the GDP growth was 2.3%.WEB, Catalunya mantiene el papel de locomotora de España en el 2018,www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20190429/461934212168/cataluna-madrid-pib-crecimiento-economia.html, 29 April 2019, La Vanguardia, es, 15 May 2020, 19 May 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200519094559/https://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20190429/461934212168/cataluna-madrid-pib-crecimiento-economia.html, live, Catalonia’s long-term credit rating is BB{{nbsp}}(Non-Investment Grade) according to Standard & Poor’s, Ba2{{nbsp}}(Non-Investment Grade) according to Moody’s, and BBB-{{nbsp}}(Low Investment Grade) according to Fitch Ratings.NEWS, S&P mantiene la deuda de Cataluña en “bono basura”,www.expansion.com/catalunya/2015/04/17/5531492622601d6b098b456e.html, 13 August 2015, Expansión, Unidad Editorial, 17 April 2015, 20 August 2015,www.expansion.com/catalunya/2015/04/17/5531492622601d6b098b456e.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150820021919www.expansion.com/catalunya/2015/04/17/5531492622601d6b098b456e.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150820021919www.expansion.com/catalunya/2015/04/17/5531492622601d6b098b456e.html, live, NEWS, Standard & Poor’s degrada la calificación de Catalunya a ‘bono basura’,www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20120831/54344088562/standard-poor-s-catalunya-bono-basura.html, 13 August 2015, La Vanguardia, La Vanguardia EconomÃa, La Vanguardia, Javier Godó, 31 August 2012, 3 September 2015,www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20120831/54344088562/standard-poor-s-catalunya-bono-basura.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150903215156www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20120831/54344088562/standard-poor-s-catalunya-bono-basura.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150903215156www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20120831/54344088562/standard-poor-s-catalunya-bono-basura.html, live, NEWS, Rating: Calificación de la deuda de las Comunidades Autónomas,www.datosmacro.com/ratings/espana-comunidades-autonomas, 14 August 2015, 21 August 2015,www.datosmacro.com/ratings/espana-comunidades-autonomas," title="web.archive.org/web/20150821043546www.datosmacro.com/ratings/espana-comunidades-autonomas,">web.archive.org/web/20150821043546www.datosmacro.com/ratings/espana-comunidades-autonomas, live, Catalonia’s rating is tied for worst with between 1 and 5 other autonomous communities of Spain, depending on the rating agency.The city of Barcelona occupies the eighth position as one of the world’s best cities to live, work, research and visit in 2021, according to the report “The World’s Best Cities 2021”, prepared by Resonance Consultancy.WEB, 3 January 2021, Barcelona, la octava mejor ciudad del mundo para vivir y trabajar,www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcelona/20210103/6163911/barcelona-the-world-s-best-cities-2021-resonance-consultancy.html, 3 January 2021, La Vanguardia, es, 3 January 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210103170328/https://www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcelona/20210103/6163911/barcelona-the-world-s-best-cities-2021-resonance-consultancy.html, live, The Catalan capital, despite the current moment of crisis,{{when|date=December 2022}} is also one of the European bases of “reference for start-ups” and the fifth city in the world to establish one of these companies, behind London, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam, according to the Eu-Starts-Up 2020 study. Barcelona is behind London, New York, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Dubai and Singapore and ahead of Los Angeles and Madrid.WEB, 2021, Barcelona, considerada la octava mejor ciudad del mundo {{!, Barcelona International Welcome {{!}} Barcelona |url=https://www.barcelona.cat/internationalwelcome/es/noticia/barcelona-considerada-la-octava-mejor-ciudad-del-mundo_1013838 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116180530www.barcelona.cat/internationalwelcome/es/noticia/barcelona-considerada-la-octava-mejor-ciudad-del-mundo_1013838 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |access-date=27 February 2022 |website=barcelona.cat}}In the context of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Catalonia was expected to suffer a recession amounting to almost a 2% contraction of its regional GDP in 2009.NEWS,www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/BBVA/descarta/economia/catalana/caiga/elpepuespcat/20090114elpepueco_7/Tes, BBVA no descarta que la economÃa catalana caiga un 2%, El PaÃs, 14 January 2009, Elpais.com, 25 April 2010, 3 July 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220703023014/https://elpais.com/economia/2009/01/14/actualidad/1231921979_850215.html, live, Catalonia’s debt in 2012 was the highest of all Spain’s autonomous communities,“Spanish Region of Catalonia: Using Debt to Get Rich”. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001074753www.cnbc.com/id/48284536 |date=1 October 2017 }} CNBC News. Retrieved 14 October 2013. reaching €13,476 million, i.e. 38% of the total debt of the 17{{nbsp}}autonomous communities,NEWS, Financial Crisis,www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9290206/Catalonia-calls-for-help-from-central-government-to-pay-debts.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9290206/Catalonia-calls-for-help-from-central-government-to-pay-debts.html, 10 January 2022, subscription, live, “Catalonia calls for help from central government to pay debts”., Telegraph, 1 February 2014, London, 25 May 2012, {{cbignore}} but in recent years its economy recovered a positive evolution and the GDP grew a 3.3% in 2015.NEWS,www.ara.cat/economia/creixement-catalunya-PIB-2015-airef_0_1514848604.html, Catalunya va créixer un 3,3% el 2015, una dècima més que Espanya, Ara.cat, 13 September 2016, Ara, 5 October 2016,www.ara.cat/economia/creixement-catalunya-PIB-2015-airef_0_1514848604.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20161005114645www.ara.cat/economia/creixement-catalunya-PIB-2015-airef_0_1514848604.html,">web.archive.org/web/20161005114645www.ara.cat/economia/creixement-catalunya-PIB-2015-airef_0_1514848604.html, live, File:PolÃgon Industrial Aquiberia - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|Industrial park in CastellbisbalCastellbisbalFile:Tarragona Poligon Nord.png|thumb|left|Factories, La Pobla de MafumetLa Pobla de MafumetCatalonia is amongst the List of country subdivisions by GDP over 100 billion US dollars and is a member of the Four Motors for Europe organisation.The distribution of sectors is as follows:WEB,ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas/spain/factsheets/pdf/fact_es51_en.pdf, Structural Funds programmes in Catalonia – (2000–2006), 25 April 2010, dead,ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas/spain/factsheets/pdf/fact_es51_en.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20090325180143ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas/spain/factsheets/pdf/fact_es51_en.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20090325180143ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas/spain/factsheets/pdf/fact_es51_en.pdf, 25 March 2009,- Primary sector: 3%. The amount of land devoted to agricultural use is 33%.
- Secondary sector: 37% (compared to Spain’s 29%)
- Tertiary sector: 60% (compared to Spain’s 67%)
Unemployment
The unemployment rate stood at 10.5% in 2019 and was lower than the national average.WEB,ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=de&pcode=tgs00010&plugin=1, Regional Unemployment by NUTS2 Region, Eurostat, 13 November 2018, 5 November 2018,web.archive.org/web/20181105202703/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=de&pcode=tgs00010&plugin=1, live, {| class=“wikitable“|+Unemployment rate (December data) (%)Transport
Airports
File:TorreControElPrat.jpg|thumb|right|Barcelona Airport tower]]{{See also|List of airports in Catalonia}}Airports in Catalonia are owned and operated by Aena (a Spanish Government entity) except two airports in Lleida which are operated by Aeroports de Catalunya (an entity belonging to the Government of Catalonia).- Barcelona El Prat Airport (Aena)
- Girona-Costa Brava Airport (Aena)
- Reus Airport (Aena)
- Lleida-Alguaire Airport (Aeroports de Catalunya)
- Sabadell Airport (Aena)
- La Seu d’Urgell Airport (Aeroports de Catalunya)
Ports
{{See also|List of ports in Spain}}(File:Aerial view of Zona Franca and the Port of Barcelona, Spain (51227005889).jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Zona Franca and the Port of Barcelona, Spain)Since the Middle Ages, Catalonia has been well integrated into international maritime networks. The port of Barcelona (owned and operated by , a Spanish Government entity) is an industrial, commercial and tourist port of worldwide importance. With 1,950,000{{nbsp}}TEUs in 2015, it is the first container port in Catalonia, the third in Spain after Valencia and Algeciras in Andalusia, the 9th{{nbsp}}in the Mediterranean Sea, the 14th{{nbsp}}in Europe and the 68th{{nbsp}}in the world. It is sixth largest cruise port in the world, the first in Europe and the Mediterranean with 2,364,292{{nbsp}}passengers in 2014. The ports of Tarragona (owned and operated by Puertos del Estado) in the southwest and Palamós near Girona at northeast are much more modest. The port of Palamós and the other ports in Catalonia{{nbsp}}(26) are operated and administered by }}, a Catalan Government entity.The development of these infrastructures, resulting from the topography and history of the Catalan territory, responds strongly to the administrative and political organization of this autonomous community.Roads
{{See also|List of primary highways in Catalonia}}File:Autopista C-16.jpg|thumb|right|Autovia C-16 ()]]There are {{convert|12000|km}} of roads throughout Catalonia.The principal highways are AP-7 () and A-7 (). They follow the coast from the French border to Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia. The main roads generally radiate from Barcelona. The AP-2 (File:Spain traffic signal r200.svg|16px) () and A-2 () connect inland and onward to Madrid.Other major roads are:{| class=“wikitable“! ID !! ItineraryRailways
{{See also|Rail transport in Catalonia}}File:RN103007TarJPVL.JPG|thumb|right|High-speed train (AVE) at Camp de TarragonaCamp de TarragonaCatalonia saw the first railway construction in the 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 that operates commuter and regional services, and the Spanish national Renfe that operates long-distance and high-speed rail services (AVE and Avant) and the main commuter and regional service , administered by the Catalan government since 2010.High-speed rail (AVE) services from Madrid currently reach Barcelona, via Lleida and Tarragona. The official opening between Barcelona and Madrid took place 20{{nbsp}}February{{nbsp}}2008. The journey between Barcelona and Madrid now takes about two-and-a-half hours. A connection to the French high-speed TGV network has been completed (called the Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line) and the Spanish AVE service began commercial services on the line 9{{nbsp}}January{{nbsp}}2013, later offering services to Marseille on their high speed network.NEWS,www.railjournal.com/index.php/europe/spain-opens-iberias-high-speed-rail-link-to-europe.html, Spain completes Iberia’s high-speed link to Europe, Barrow, Keith, 24 July 2018, en-gb, 24 September 2015,www.railjournal.com/index.php/europe/spain-opens-iberias-high-speed-rail-link-to-europe.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150924085255www.railjournal.com/index.php/europe/spain-opens-iberias-high-speed-rail-link-to-europe.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150924085255www.railjournal.com/index.php/europe/spain-opens-iberias-high-speed-rail-link-to-europe.html, live, NEWS,www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/high-speed-launched-between-france-and-spain.html, High speed services between France and Spain launched, Ltd, DVV Media International, Railway Gazette International, 25 July 2018, en, 31 March 2014,www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/high-speed-launched-between-france-and-spain.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20140331214433www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/high-speed-launched-between-france-and-spain.html,">web.archive.org/web/20140331214433www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/high-speed-launched-between-france-and-spain.html, live, This was shortly followed by the commencement of commercial service by the French TGV on 17{{nbsp}}January{{nbsp}}2013, leading to an average travel time on the Paris-Barcelona TGV route of 7h{{nbsp}}42m.WEB,www.thetrainline.com/en/train-times/barcelona-to-paris, Barcelona to Paris from €35 in 6h29m {{!, Times, Tickets & Info |website=Trainline |language=en |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033306www.thetrainline.com/en/train-times/barcelona-to-paris |url-status=live }} This new line passes through Girona and Figueres with a tunnel through the Pyrenees.{{clear}}Demographics
{{Largest cities| country = Catalonia| kind = municipalities| stat_ref = Institut d’EstadÃstica de Catalunya (2020)| list_by_pop = Municipalities of Catalonia| div_name = Comarca| div_link =| city_1 = Barcelona| div_1 = Barcelonès| pop_1 = 1,664,182| img_1 = 14-08-05-barcelona-RalfR-001.jpg| city_2 = L’Hospitalet de Llobregat | div_2 = Barcelonès | pop_2 = 269,382 | img_2 = Hospitalet de Llobregat - Plaza de Europa, Torres Europa, Torres Porta Fira,Torre Inbisa y Torre Werfen.JPG| city_3 = Terrassa | div_3 = Vallès Occidental | pop_3 = 223,627 | img_3 = Terrassa, Ajuntament, de LluÃs Muncunill i altres (a partir de 1900) (14479000031).jpgReligion
{{Pie chart|thumb = right|caption = Religion in Catalonia (2020)|label1 = Roman Catholicism|value1 = 53.0|color1 = DarkOrchid|label2 = Protestantism|value2 = 7.0|color2 = DodgerBlue|label3 = Eastern Orthodoxy|value3 = 1.3|color3 = Orchid|label4 = Jehovah’s Witnesses|value4 = 1.0|color4 = Turquoise|label5 = Atheism|value5 = 18.6|color5 = DarkGrey|label6 = Agnosticism|value6 = 8.8|color6 = Honeydew|label7 = Islam|value7 = 4.3|color7 = Green|label8 = Other Religions|value8 = 3.4|color8 = Red|label9 = No answer/do not know|value9 = 2.6|color9 = Black}}Historically, all the Catalan population was Christian, specifically Catholic, but since the 1980s there has been a trend of decline of Christianity. Nevertheless, according to the most recent study sponsored by the Government of Catalonia, as of 2020, 62.3% of the Catalans identify as Christians (up from 61.9% in 2016WEB,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2017/07/03/10/56/eee690bf-45d9-4db2-b84f-2c31bfab72ff.pdf, Baròmetre sobre la religiositat i sobre la gestió de la seva diversitat 2016, 2016, Institut Opiniòmetre, Generalitat de Catalunya,premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2017/07/03/10/56/eee690bf-45d9-4db2-b84f-2c31bfab72ff.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20181020120353premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2017/07/03/10/56/eee690bf-45d9-4db2-b84f-2c31bfab72ff.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20181020120353premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/docs/2017/07/03/10/56/eee690bf-45d9-4db2-b84f-2c31bfab72ff.pdf, 20 October 2018, p. 30. Quick data from the 2016 barometer of Catalonia {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020182104es.opinometre.com/2016/11/03/barometre-religiositat-2016/ |date=20 October 2018 }}. and 56.5% in 2014WEB,governacio.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers_religiosos/documents/Mapa_2014/Barometre2014_resultats.pdf, Baròmetre sobre la religiositat i sobre la gestió de la seva diversitat, 2014, Institut Opiniòmetre, Generalitat de Catalunya,governacio.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers_religiosos/documents/Mapa_2014/Barometre2014_resultats.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20170926184822governacio.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers_religiosos/documents/Mapa_2014/Barometre2014_resultats.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20170926184822governacio.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers_religiosos/documents/Mapa_2014/Barometre2014_resultats.pdf, 26 September 2017, p. 30. Quick data from the 2014 barometer of Catalonia {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927155818web.gencat.cat/es/actualitat/detall/Barometre-sobre-la-religiositat-i-Mapa-religios-de-Catalunya |date=27 September 2017 }}) of whom 53.0%{{nbsp}}Catholics, 7.0%{{nbsp}}Protestants and Evangelicals, 1.3%{{nbsp}}Orthodox Christians and 1.0%{{nbsp}}Jehovah’s Witnesses. At the same time, 18.6% of the population identify as atheists, 8.8%{{nbsp}}as agnostics, 4.3%{{nbsp}}as Muslims, and a further 3.4% as being of other religions.WEB,justicia.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers-religiosos/05_estudis/barometre/Informe-de-resultats.pdf, Baròmetre sobre la religiositat i sobre la gestió de la seva diversitat 2020, Institut Opiniòmetre, Generalitat de Catalunya, ca, 19 May 2021, 19 May 2021,justicia.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers-religiosos/05_estudis/barometre/Informe-de-resultats.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20210519141322justicia.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers-religiosos/05_estudis/barometre/Informe-de-resultats.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20210519141322justicia.gencat.cat/web/.content/afers-religiosos/05_estudis/barometre/Informe-de-resultats.pdf, live,Languages
{{See also|Catalan language|Spanish language|Aranese dialect|Catalan Sign Language}}{| cellpadding=“3” cellspacing=“0” rules=“all” style="width:400px; float:right; margin:1em; background:#fff; border:2px solid #aaa; font-size:100%;”Culture
Art and architecture
{{multiple image| align = right| image1 = Portrait of Joan Miro, Barcelona 1935 June 13.jpg| width1 = 140| alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Gaudà (1878).jpg| width2 = 140| alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = Left: Joan Miró. Right: Antoni GaudÃ}}Catalonia has given to the world many important figures in the area of the art. Catalan painters internationally known are, among others, Salvador DalÃ, Joan Miró and Antoni Tà pies. Closely linked with the Catalan pictorial atmosphere, Pablo Picasso lived in Barcelona during his youth, training them as an artist and creating the movement of cubism. Other important artists are Claudi Lorenzale for the medieval Romanticism that marked the artistic Renaixença, Marià Fortuny for the Romanticism and Catalan Orientalism of the nineteenth century, Ramon Casas or Santiago Rusiñol, main representatives of the pictorial current of Catalan modernism from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, Josep Maria Sert for early 20th-century Noucentisme, or Josep Maria Subirachs for expressionist or abstract sculpture and painting of the late twentieth century.{{multiple image| align = right| image1 = (Barcelona) Palau Nacional - National Museum of Art of Catalunya.jpg | width1 = 260| alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = 20061227-Figueres Teatre-Museu Dalà MQ.jpg| width2 = 240| alt2 = | caption2 =Monuments and World Heritage Sites
File:Sant-climent-exterior-boi04.jpg|thumb|The Medieval church of Sant Climent de TaüllSant Climent de TaüllFile:ΣαγÏάδα Φαμίλια 2941.jpg|thumb|Sagrada FamÃliaSagrada FamÃliaThere are several UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia:- Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, Tarragona
- Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de BoÃ, Lleida province
- Poblet Monastery, Poblet, Tarragona province
- Works of LluÃs Domènech i Montaner:
- Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona
- Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona
- Works of Antoni GaudÃ:
- Sagrada FamÃlia, Barcelona
- Parc Güell, Barcelona
- Palau Güell, Barcelona
- Casa Milà (La Pedrera), Barcelona
- Casa Vicens, Barcelona
- Casa Batlló, Barcelona
- The Church of Colònia Güell, Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Barcelona province
Literature
The oldest surviving literary use of the Catalan language is considered to be the religious text known as Homilies d’Organyà , written either in late 11th or early 12th{{nbsp}}century.There are two historical moments of splendor of Catalan literature. The first begins with the historiographic chronicles of the 13th{{nbsp}}century (chronicles written between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries narrating the deeds of the monarchs and leading figures of the Crown of Aragon) and the subsequent Golden Age of the 14th and 15th{{nbsp}}centuries. After that period, between the 16th and 19th{{nbsp}}centuries the Romantic historiography defined this era as the , considered as the “decadent” period in Catalan literature because of a general falling into disuse of the vernacular language in cultural contexts and lack of patronage among the nobility.File:Rodoreda.jpg|upright=0.65|thumb|left|Mercè RodoredaMercè RodoredaThe second moment of splendor began in the 19th{{nbsp}}century with the cultural and political (Renaissance) represented by writers and poets such as Jacint Verdaguer, VÃctor Català (pseudonym of Caterina Albert i ParadÃs), NarcÃs Oller, Joan Maragall and Àngel Guimerà . During the 20th{{nbsp}}century, avant-garde movements developed, initiated by the Generation of ‘14 (called Noucentisme in Catalonia), represented by Eugenio d’Ors, Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Josep Carner, Carles Riba, J.V. Foix and others. During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Civil War (Generation of ‘36) and the Francoist period, Catalan literature was maintained despite the repression against the Catalan language, being often produced in exile.File:Ana MarÃa Matute.jpg|upright=0.65|thumb|Ana MarÃa MatuteAna MarÃa MatuteThe most outstanding authors of this period are Salvador Espriu, Josep Pla, Josep Maria de Sagarra (who are considered mainly responsible for the renewal of Catalan prose), Mercè Rodoreda, Joan Oliver Sallarès or “Pere Quart”, Pere Calders, Gabriel Ferrater, Manuel de Pedrolo, Agustà Bartra or Miquel Martà i Pol. In addition, several foreign writers who fought in the International Brigades, or other military units, have since recounted their experiences of fighting in their works, historical or fictional, with for example, George Orwell, in Homage to Catalonia (1938) or Claude Simon’s Le Palace (1962) and Les Géorgiques (1981).After the transition to democracy (1975–1978) and the restoration of the Generalitat (1977), literary life and the editorial market have returned to normality and literary production in Catalan is being bolstered with a number of language policies intended to protect Catalan culture. Besides the aforementioned authors, other relevant 20th-century writers of the Francoist and democracy periods include Joan Brossa, Agustà Bartra, Manuel de Pedrolo, Pere Calders or Quim Monzó.Ana MarÃa Matute, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and Juan Goytisolo are among the most prominent Catalan writers in the Spanish language since the democratic restoration in Spain.Festivals and public holidays
(File:4 de 9 amb folre i pilar.jpg|thumb|Castell 4 de 9 amb folre i pilar by Colla Vella de Valls)File:Monument als castellers (Tarragona), 1.jpg|thumb|Monument als castellers (TarragonaTarragonaCastells are one of the main manifestations of Catalan popular culture. The activity consists in constructing human towers by competing (teams). This practice originated in Valls, on the region of the Camp de Tarragona,WEB, Tarragona, City of Human Towers - Tarragona Turisme,www.tarragonaturisme.cat/en/tarragona-city-human-towers, 2023-03-29, www.tarragonaturisme.cat, 29 March 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230329184858/https://www.tarragonaturisme.cat/en/tarragona-city-human-towers, live, during the 18th century, and later it was extended to the rest of the territory, especially in the late 20th century. The tradition of els Castells i els Castellers was declared Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010.In main celebrations, other elements of the Catalan popular culture-Joan Prat i Jesús Contreras. Conèixer Catalunya. Les Festes Populars. Editorial Dopesa 2. 1979. 159 pp. Idioma català . {{ISBN|84-7235-438-5}}. are also usually present: parades with (giants), bigheads, stick-dancers and musicians, and the , where devils and monsters dance and spray showers of sparks using firecrackers. Another traditional celebration in Catalonia is , declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO on 25 November 2005.Patum de Berga. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227050231www.bergueda.com/lapatum/festa.asp |date=27 February 2009 }}File:Festa major de la Seu d’Urgell.JPG|thumb|left| during the festa major of La Seu d’UrgellLa Seu d’UrgellChristmas in Catalonia lasts two days, plus Christmas Eve. On the 25th, Christmas is celebrated, followed by a similar feast on the 26, called Sant Esteve (Saint Steve’s Day). This allows families to visit and dine with different sectors of the extended family or get together with friends on the second day.One of the most deeply rooted and curious Christmas traditions is the popular figure of the , consisting of an (often hollow) log with a face painted on it and often two little front legs appended, usually wearing a Catalan hat and scarf. The word has nothing to do with the Spanish word tÃo, meaning uncle. Tió means log in Catalan. The log is sometimes “found in the woods” (in an event staged for children) and then adopted and taken home, where it is fed and cared for during a month or so. On Christmas Day or on Christmas Eve, a game is played where children march around the house singing a song requesting the log to poop, then they hit the log with a stick, to make it poop, and lo and behold, as if through magic, it poops candy, and sometimes other small gifts. Usually, the larger or main gifts are brought by the Three Kings on 6 January, and the tió only brings small things.(File:Tió de Nadal.jpg|thumb|A tió exhibited at Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona in the 2010–2011 Christmas season.)Another custom is to make a (nativity scene) in the home or in shop windows, the latter sometimes competing in originality or sheer size and detail. Churches often host exhibits of numerous dioramas by nativity scene makers, or a single nativity scene they put out, and town halls generally put out a nativity scene in the central square. In Barcelona, every year, the main nativity scene is designed by different artists, and often ends up being an interesting, post-modern or conceptual and strange creation. In the home, the nativity scene often consists of strips of cork bark to represent cliffs or mountains in the background, moss as grass in the foreground, some wood chips or other as dirt, and aluminum foil for rivers and lakes. The traditional figurines often included are the three wise men on camels or horses, which are moved every day or so to go closer to the manger, a star with a long tail in the background to lead people to the spot, the annunciation with shepherds having a meal and an angel appearing (hanging from something), a washer lady washing clothes in the pond, sheep, ducks, people carrying packages on their backs, a donkey driver with a load of twigs, and atrezzo such as a starry sky, miniature towns placed in the distance, either Oriental-styled or local-looking, a bridge over the river, trees, etc.One of the most astonishing and sui-generis figurines traditionally placed in the nativity scene, to the great glee of children, is the , a person depicted in the act of defecating.NEWS,www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12059969, A traditional Nativity scene, Catalan-style, BBC News, 23 December 2010, 23 December 2010, 12 February 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190212182619/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12059969, live, This figurine is hidden in some corner of the nativity scene and the game is to detect it. Of course, churches forgo this figurine, and the main nativity scene of Barcelona, for instance, likewise does not feature it. The caganer is so popular it has, together with the tió, long been a major part of the Christmas markets, where they come in the guise of your favorite politicians or other famous people, as well as the traditional figures of a Catalan farmer. People often buy a figurine of a caganer in the guise of a famous person they are actually fond of, contrary to what one would imagine, though sometimes people buy a caganer in the guise of someone they dislike, although this means they have to look at them in the home.Another (extended) Christmas tradition is the celebration of the Epiphany on 6 January, which is called Reis, meaning Three Kings Day. This is every important in Catalonia and the Catalan-speaking areas, and families go to watch major parades on the eve of the Epiphany, where they can greet the kings and watch them pass by in pomp and circumstance, on floats and preceded and followed by pages, musicians, dancers, etc. They often give the kings letters with their gift requests, which are collected by the pages. On the next day, the children find the gifts the three kings brought for them.In addition to traditional local Catalan culture, traditions from other parts of Spain can be found as a result of migration from other regions, for instance the celebration of the Andalusian in Catalonia.On 28 July 2010, second only after the Canary Islands, Catalonia became another Spanish territory to forbid bullfighting. The ban, which went into effect on 1 January 2012, had originated in a popular petition supported by over 180,000 signatures.NEWS, Tremlett, Giles, Catalonia votes to ban bullfighting,www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/28/bullfighting-ban-spain-catalonia, 11 October 2017, The Guardian, 28 July 2010, 12 October 2017,web.archive.org/web/20171012045159/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/28/bullfighting-ban-spain-catalonia, live,Music and dance
File:Sardanes.jpg|thumb|SardanaSardanaThe sardana is considered to be the most characteristic Catalan folk dance, interpreted to the rhythm of tamborÃ, tible and tenora (from the oboe family), trumpet, trombó (trombone), fiscorn (family of bugles) and contrabaix with three strings played by a cobla, and are danced in a circle dance. Other tunes and dances of the traditional music are the contrapà s (obsolete today), ball de bastons (the “dance of sticks“), the moixiganga, the goigs (popular songs), the galops or the jota in the southern part. The are characteristic in some marine localities of the Costa Brava, especially during the summer months when these songs are sung outdoors accompanied by a of burned rum.Art music was first developed, up to the nineteenth century and, as in much of Europe, in a liturgical setting, particularly marked by the Escolania de Montserrat. The main Western musical trends have marked these productions, medieval monodies or polyphonies, with the work of Abbot Oliba in the eleventh century or the compilation Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (“Red Book of Montserrat“) from the fourteenth century. Through the Renaissance there were authors such as Pere Albert Vila, Joan Brudieu or the two Mateu Fletxa (“The Old” and “The Young“). Baroque had composers like Joan Cererols. The Romantic music was represented by composers such as Fernando Sor, Josep Anselm Clavé (father of choir movement in Catalonia and responsible of the music folk reviving) or Felip Pedrell.Modernisme also expressed in musical terms from the end of the 19th century onwards, mixing folkloric and post-romantic influences, through the works of Isaac Albéniz and Enric Granados. The avant-garde spirit initiated by the modernists is prolonged throughout the twentieth century, thanks to the activities of the Orfeó Català , a choral society founded in 1891, with its monumental concert hall, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Catalan, built by LluÃs Domènech i Montaner from 1905 to 1908, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra created in 1944 and composers, conductors and musicians engaged against the Francoism like Robert Gerhard, Eduard Toldrà and Pau Casals.Performances of opera, mostly imported from Italy, began in the 18th century, but some native operas were written as well, including the ones by Domènec Terradellas, Carles Baguer, Ramon Carles, Isaac Albéniz and Enric Granados. The Barcelona main opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu (opened in 1847), remains one of the most important in Spain, hosting one of the most prestigious music schools in Barcelona, the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu. Several lyrical artists trained by this institution gained international renown during the 20th century, such as Victoria de los Ãngeles, Montserrat Caballé, Giacomo Aragall and Josep Carreras.Cellist Pau Casals is admired as an outstanding player. Other popular musical styles were born in the second half of the 20th century such as Nova Cançó from the 1960s with LluÃs Llach and the group Els Setze Jutges, the Catalan rumba in the 1960s with Peret, Catalan Rock from the late 1970s with La Banda Trapera del RÃo and Decibelios for Punk Rock, Sau, Els Pets, Sopa de Cabra or Lax’n’Busto for pop rock or Sangtraït for hard rock, electropop since the 1990s with OBK and indie pop from the 1990s.Media and cinema
(File:TVC.svg|thumb|Logo of Televisió de Catalunya)Catalonia is the autonomous community, along with Madrid, that has the most media (TV, magazines, newspapers etc.). In Catalonia there is a wide variety of local and comarcal media. With the restoration of democracy, many newspapers and magazines, until then in the hands of the Franco government, were recovered in order to convert them into free and democratic media, while local radios and televisions were implemented.Televisió de Catalunya, which broadcasts entirely in the Catalan language, is the main Catalan public TV. It has five channels: TV3, El 33, Super3, 3/24, Esport3 and TV3CAT. In 2018, TV3 became the first television channel to be the most viewed one for nine consecutive years in Catalonia.NEWS,www.ccma.cat/tv3/any-de-records-a-tv3-lider-daudiencia-per-nove-any-consecutiu-i-millor-resultat-dels-ultims-6-anys/noticia/2895171/, TV3 lidera l’audiència per 9è any consecutiu i té el millor resultat dels últims 6 anys, 1 January 2019, CCMA, 1 January 2019, ca,web.archive.org/web/20190102002110/https://www.ccma.cat/tv3/any-de-records-a-tv3-lider-daudiencia-per-nove-any-consecutiu-i-millor-resultat-dels-ultims-6-anys/noticia/2895171/, 2 January 2019, dead, NEWS,www.ara.cat/media/TV3-estableix-nou-liderat-consecutius_0_2153784649.html, TV3 estableix un nou rècord: nou anys de liderat consecutius, Gutiérrez, Àlex, 31 December 2018, Diari Ara, 1 January 2019, ca,web.archive.org/web/20190101002826/https://www.ara.cat/media/TV3-estableix-nou-liderat-consecutius_0_2153784649.html, 1 January 2019, dead, State televisions that broadcast in Catalonia in Spanish language include (with few emissions in Catalan), Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco, and La Sexta. Other smaller Catalan television channels include 8TV (owned by Grup Godó), Barça TV and the local televisions, the greatest exponent of which is betevé, the TV channel of Barcelona, which also broadcasts in Catalan.The two main Catalan newspapers of general information are El Periódico de Catalunya and La Vanguardia, both with editions in Catalan and Spanish. Catalan only published newspapers include Ara and El Punt Avui (from the fusion of El Punt and Avui in 2011), as well as most part of the local press. The Spanish newspapers, such as El PaÃs, El Mundo or La Razón, can be also acquired.Catalonia has a long tradition of use of radio, the first regular radio broadcast in the country was from Rà dio Barcelona in 1924.WEB,hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1974/04/24/049.html, ABC (Madrid) – 24/04/1974, p. 49 – ABC.es Hemeroteca, 22 October 2018, hemeroteca.abc.es, es, 30 June 2018,hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1974/04/24/049.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20180630025203hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1974/04/24/049.html,">web.archive.org/web/20180630025203hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1974/04/24/049.html, live, Today, the public Catalunya Rà dio (owned by Catalan Media Corporation) and the private RAC 1 (belonging to Grup Godó) are the two main radios of Catalonia, both in Catalan.File:Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya 2009.JPG|thumb|Sitges Film FestivalSitges Film FestivalRegarding the cinema, after the democratic transition, three styles have dominated since then. First, auteur cinema, in the continuity of the Barcelona School, emphasizes experimentation and form, while focusing on developing social and political themes. Worn first by Josep Maria Forn or Bigas Luna, then by Marc Recha, Jaime Rosales and Albert Serra, this genre has achieved some international recognition. Then, the documentary became another genre particularly representative of contemporary Catalan cinema, boosted by Joaquim Jordà i Català and José Luis GuerÃn. Later, horror films and thrillers have also emerged as a specialty of the Catalan film industry, thanks in particular to the vitality of the Sitges Film Festival, created in 1968. Several directors have gained worldwide renown thanks to this genre, starting with Jaume Balagueró and his series REC (co-directed with Valencian Paco Plaza), Juan Antonio Bayona and El Orfanato or Jaume Collet-Serra with Orphan, Unknown and Non-Stop.Catalan actors have shot for Spanish and international productions, such as Sergi López.The Museum of Cinema - Tomà s Mallol Collection (Museu del Cinema – Col.lecció Tomà s Mallol in Catalan) of Girona is home of important permanent exhibitions of cinema and pre-cinema objects. Other important institutions for the promotion of cinema are the Gaudà Awards (Premis Gaudà in Catalan, which replaced from 2009 Barcelona Film Awards themselves created in 2002), serving as equivalent for Catalonia to the Spanish Goya or French César.Philosophy
{{See also|Seny}}
is a form of ancestral Catalan wisdom or sensibleness. It involves well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness, integrity, and right action. Many Catalans consider seny something unique to their culture, is based on a set of ancestral local customs stemming from the scale of values and social norms of their society.
Sport
Sport has had a distinct importance in Catalan life and culture since the beginning of the 20th century; consequently, the region has a well-developed sports infrastructure. The main sports are football, basketball, handball, rink hockey, tennis and motorsport.Despite the fact that the most popular sports are represented outside by the Spanish national teams, Catalonia can officially play as itself in some others, like korfball, futsal or rugby league.WEB,www.seleccions.cat/index.php/seleccions-reconegudes/esports-reconeguts, Esports reconeguts, www.seleccions.cat, 13 September 2016, 4 November 2016,seleccions.cat/index.php/seleccions-reconegudes/esports-reconeguts," title="web.archive.org/web/20161104200454seleccions.cat/index.php/seleccions-reconegudes/esports-reconeguts,">web.archive.org/web/20161104200454seleccions.cat/index.php/seleccions-reconegudes/esports-reconeguts, live, Most of Catalan Sports Federations have a long tradition and some of them participated in the foundation of international sports federations, as the Catalan Federation of Rugby, that was one of the founder members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA) in 1934.WEB,www.fira-aer-rugby.com/article_detail.php?article=33, FIRA-AER website - History, 19 November 2018,www.fira-aer-rugby.com/article_detail.php?article=33," title="web.archive.org/web/20090216142416www.fira-aer-rugby.com/article_detail.php?article=33,">web.archive.org/web/20090216142416www.fira-aer-rugby.com/article_detail.php?article=33, 16 February 2009, dead, The majority of Catalan sport federations are part of the Sports Federation Union of Catalonia (Catalan: ), founded in 1933.The Catalan Football Federation also periodically fields a national team against international opposition, organizing friendly matches. In the recent years they have played with Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, Basque Country, Colombia, Nigeria, Cape Verde and Tunisia. The biggest football clubs are Barcelona (also known as Barça), who have won five European Cups (UEFA Champions League), and Espanyol, who have twice been runner-up of the UEFA Cup (now UEFA Europa League). Barcelona currently play in La Liga while Espanyol currently play in the Segunda División.The Catalan waterpolo is one of the main powers of the Iberian Peninsula. The Catalans won triumphs in waterpolo competitions at European and world level by club (the Barcelona was champion of Europe in 1981/82 and the Catalonia in 1994/95) and national team (one gold and one silver in Olympic Games and World Championships). It also has many international synchronized swimming champions.Motorsport has a long tradition in Catalonia, which involving many people, with some world champions and several competitions organized since the beginning of the 20th century. The Circuit de Catalunya, built in 1991, is one of the main motorsport venues, holding the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish F1 Grand Prix, a DTM race, and several other races.Catalonia hosted many relevant international sport events, such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and also the 1955 Mediterranean Games, the 2013 World Aquatics Championships or the 2018 Mediterranean Games. It held annually the fourth-oldest still-existing cycling stage race in the world, the Volta a Catalunya (Tour of Catalonia).WEB, 100 Anys d’Historia,www.voltacatalunya.cat/ca/història/, voltacatalunya.cat, 10 December 2015, ca,www.voltacatalunya.cat/ca/hist%C3%B2ria/," title="web.archive.org/web/20170525185019www.voltacatalunya.cat/ca/hist%C3%B2ria/,">web.archive.org/web/20170525185019www.voltacatalunya.cat/ca/hist%C3%B2ria/, 25 May 2017, dead, BCN-EstadiOlimpic-4860.jpg|Olympic Park of Montjuïc, Barcelona. At the centre, the Olympic Stadium LluÃs CompanysCamp Nou - Interior (2005).jpg|Camp Nou, home of FC BarcelonaF1 Circuit de Catalunya - Tribuna.jpg|Circuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaPep Guardiola 2.1.jpg|Pep Guardiola, one of the most successful football managers of all time, pictured while managing BarcelonaSymbols
File:Senyera (Pl. Octavià , S. Cugat del Vallès) 01.jpg|thumb|Flag of Catalonia ]]Catalonia has its own representative and distinctive national symbols such as:WEB,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a8, Statute of Catalonia (Article 8), Gencat.net, 25 April 2010, dead,www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a8," title="web.archive.org/web/20090113100832www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a8,">web.archive.org/web/20090113100832www.gencat.net/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a8, 13 January 2009,- The flag of Catalonia, called the , is a vexillological symbol based on the heraldic emblem of Counts of Barcelona and the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a golden background. It has been an official symbol since the Statute of Catalonia of 1932.
- The National Day of CataloniaWEB,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1980.html, Law 1/1980 where the Parlamient of Catalonia declares that 11th of September is the National Day of Catalonia, Noticias.juridicas.com, 25 April 2010, 9 June 2011,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1980.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110609013847noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1980.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110609013847noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1980.html, live, is on 11 September, and it is commonly called . It commemorates the 1714 siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession.
- The national anthem of Catalonia is and was written in its present form by Emili Guanyavents in 1899. The song is official by law from 25 February 1993.WEB,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1993.html, Law 1/1993 National Anthem of Catalonia, Noticias.juridicas.com, 25 April 2010, 9 June 2011,noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1993.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110609014232noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1993.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110609014232noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/CCAA/ca-l1-1993.html, live, Law 1/1993 in the BOE {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926005145search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1993/074/A09308.tif |date=26 September 2007 }} It is based on the events of 1639 and 1640 during the Catalan Revolt.
- St George’s Day () is widely celebrated in all the towns of Catalonia on 23 April, and includes an exchange of books and roses between couples or family members.
Cuisine
(File:Pa amb tomà quet - 001.jpg|thumb| (bread with tomato))Catalan gastronomy has a long culinary tradition. Various local food recipes have been described in documents dating from the fifteenth century. As with all the cuisines of the Mediterranean, Catatonian dishes make abundant use of fish, seafood, olive oil, bread and vegetables. Regional specialties include the (bread with tomato), which consists of bread (sometimes toasted), and tomato seasoned with olive oil and salt. Often the dish is accompanied with any number of sausages (cured botifarres, fuet, iberic ham, etc.), ham or cheeses. Others dishes include the , , (fish stew), and a dessert, Catalan cream.Catalan vineyards also have several wines, such as: Priorat, Montsant, Penedès and Empordà . There is also a sparkling wine, the cava.WEB,cava-and-co.com/, Cava & Co !, 24 October 2011, Cava & Co !, 24 July 2021, 24 July 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210724170448/https://cava-and-co.com/, live, Catalonia is internationally recognized for its fine dining. Three of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants are in Catalonia,WEB,articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-04-21/news/27654601_1_chef-restaurant-magazine-signature-dishes, Spain’s El Bulli named best restaurant in world, 21 April 2009, The Economic Times, India, 30 April 2012, 8 December 2015,articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-04-21/news/27654601_1_chef-restaurant-magazine-signature-dishes," title="web.archive.org/web/20151208131151articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-04-21/news/27654601_1_chef-restaurant-magazine-signature-dishes,">web.archive.org/web/20151208131151articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-04-21/news/27654601_1_chef-restaurant-magazine-signature-dishes, live, and four restaurants have three Michelin stars, including restaurants like El Bulli or El Celler de Can Roca, both of which regularly dominate international rankings of restaurants.« Meilleur restaurant du monde » grand prix de la tourista internationale {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716172102www.marianne.net/Meilleur-restaurant-du-monde-grand-prix-de-la-tourista-internationale_a228545.html|date=16 July 2014}}, Périco Légasse, marianne.net, 30 avpil 2013 The region has been awarded the European Region of Gastronomy title for the year 2016.WEB,www.europeanregionofgastronomy.org/platform/catalonia-2016/, Catalonia 2016, europeanregionofgastronomy.org, International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism, 10 June 2021, 10 June 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210610133552/https://www.europeanregionofgastronomy.org/platform/catalonia-2016/, live,Twinning and covenants
- (File:Flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande.svg|23px|link=Nuevo León) Nuevo LeónWEB,www.info7.com.mx/a/noticia/56275, Firman acuerdo de colaboración gobierno de NL y Cataluña, España &124; Info7 &124; Nuevo León, Info7, 13 September 2013, 8 April 2014,www.info7.com.mx/a/noticia/56275," title="web.archive.org/web/20140408182625www.info7.com.mx/a/noticia/56275,">web.archive.org/web/20140408182625www.info7.com.mx/a/noticia/56275, live, WEB,info7.mx/a/noticia/56329, Firman NL y Cataluña intercambio estratégico &124; Info7 &124; Nuevo León, Info7.mx, 13 September 2013, 22 October 2013,info7.mx/a/noticia/56329," title="web.archive.org/web/20131022033111info7.mx/a/noticia/56329,">web.archive.org/web/20131022033111info7.mx/a/noticia/56329, live, WEB, José Lebeña Acebo,www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/video-nuevo-leon-y-cataluna-tierras-hermanas/mler!BroAapUDlwndo/, VIDEO: Nuevo León y Cataluña, ¿tierras hermanas? – Publimetro, Publimetro.com.mx, 13 September 2013, 26 October 2013,www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/video-nuevo-leon-y-cataluna-tierras-hermanas/mler!BroAapUDlwndo/," title="web.archive.org/web/20131026093843www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/video-nuevo-leon-y-cataluna-tierras-hermanas/mler!BroAapUDlwndo/,">web.archive.org/web/20131026093843www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/video-nuevo-leon-y-cataluna-tierras-hermanas/mler!BroAapUDlwndo/, dead,
- {{flagicon|California}} CaliforniaWEB,soir.senate.ca.gov/scr71, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 71 {{!, Senate Office of International Relations |website=soir.senate.ca.gov |access-date=13 September 2016 |archive-date=17 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017145954soir.senate.ca.gov/scr71 |url-status=live }}
- {{flagicon|Quebec}} QuebecWEB,www.mrif.gouv.qc.ca/en/relations-du-quebec/europe/espagne/catalogneintroduction, Catalonia, MRIF – Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie, 21 September 2018, 21 September 2018,www.mrif.gouv.qc.ca/en/relations-du-quebec/europe/espagne/catalogneintroduction," title="web.archive.org/web/20180921153231www.mrif.gouv.qc.ca/en/relations-du-quebec/europe/espagne/catalogneintroduction,">web.archive.org/web/20180921153231www.mrif.gouv.qc.ca/en/relations-du-quebec/europe/espagne/catalogneintroduction, dead,
See also
- Catalan Company
- Catalan Countries
- Date and time notation in Catalonia
- List of European regions by GDP
- List of people from Catalonia
- Northern Catalonia
- Outline of Catalonia
Notes
{{Notelist}}References
{{Reflist}}{{EB1911|wstitle=Catalonia}}External links
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