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152-449: Catalonia ( / ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l oʊ n i ə / ; Catalan : Catalunya [kətəˈluɲə] ; Spanish : Cataluña [kataˈluɲa] ; Occitan : Catalonha [kataˈluɲa] ) is an autonomous community of Spain , designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy . Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran ) is situated on the northeast of
304-660: A Goth-Alania . Other theories suggest: In English, Catalonia is pronounced / k æ t ə ˈ l oʊ n i ə / . The native name, Catalunya , is pronounced [kətəˈluɲə] in Central Catalan , the most widely spoken variety, and [kataˈluɲa] in North-Western Catalan . The Spanish name is Cataluña ( [kataˈluɲa] ), and the Aranese name is Catalonha ( [kataˈluɲa] ). The first known human settlements in what
456-401: A continental ( Köppen D ) or even Alpine climate ( Köppen ET ) at the highest summits, while the valleys have a maritime or oceanic climate sub-type ( Köppen Cfb ). Catalan language Catalan ( català ) is a Western Romance language . It is the official language of Andorra , and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain : Catalonia ,
608-947: A republic under French protection. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the northern parts of Catalonia , mostly the Roussillon , were ceded to France. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the Crown of Aragon sided against the Bourbon Philip V of Spain , but after the Peace of Utrecht (1713) the Catalans were defeated with the capitulation of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 . Philip V subsequently imposed
760-747: A 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers was over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them spoke Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with 99.7% of Catalan speakers in Catalonia able to speak Spanish and 99.9% able to understand it. In Roussillon , only
912-456: 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, and the broadcasting network Televisió de Catalunya and its first channel TV3 , created in 1983. An extensive program of normalization of Catalan language
1064-526: A certain historical and geographical unity. A commonly used division is that of Joan Becat in his 1977 work Atles de Catalunya Nord , which follows closely the boundaries of the former vegueries except insofar as it promotes the former sotsvegueria of Capcir (177 km , pop. 1532 (1990) ) to a full comarca . The region is divided among those who support a union with France and those who support reuniting with Catalonia . A large majority of Northern Catalans oppose reuniting with Catalonia, but
1216-424: A denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions. The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching
1368-529: A large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language. They also founded many Catalan casals (associations). One classification of Catalan is given by Pèire Bèc : However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal . Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to
1520-561: 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". 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
1672-500: A minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift . According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia predominantly spoke Catalan at home whereas 52.7% spoke Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. Spanish was the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to
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#17327979354331824-542: 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 to the accession of right-wing Spanish nationalist party CEDA to the government of the Republic, considered close to fascism . After
1976-489: A nation. This decision was severely contested by large sectors of Catalan society, which increased the demands of independence. A controversial independence referendum was held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017, using a disputed voting process. It was declared illegal and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain , because it breached the 1978 Constitution . Subsequent developments saw, on 27 October 2017,
2128-477: A nationalist movement in French Catalonia. According to a 2020 study, French Catalans experienced mass education in the second half of the 19th century, leading them to adopt French patriotism. Catalans in Spain were mass educated in the early 20th century locally by Catalans and not by a strong Spanish state, which led to the formation of a salient Catalan national identity. In 2016, Northern Catalonia
2280-666: A network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs. In Alicante province , Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian . There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community , Ibiza , and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands . During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela , Mexico , Cuba , Argentina , and other South American countries. They formed
2432-577: A new Kingdom of Majorca , which passed to James II while the rest of the territory of the Crown of Aragon passed to his brother Peter III . This division satisfied neither branch of the family, and the Kingdom of Majorca was retaken militarily by the Crown of Aragon in 1344, reintegrating the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya into the Principality of Catalonia. The Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 ceded Northern Catalonia to France, where it became
2584-510: A railway line also links Perpignan to Latour-de-Carol (Catalan: La Tor de Querol ) via Prades (Catalan: Prada de Conflent or Prada ). Haute-Cerdagne ( Catalan : Alta Cerdanya ) is geographically distinct from the rest of Northern Catalonia, lying to the south of the Pyrenean watershed in the upper valley of the Segre . It is a mountainous and sparsely-populated district, and includes
2736-1064: A shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan. Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include: The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan fang "mud" and rostir "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish lodo and asar , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan filosa "spinning wheel" and templa "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish rueca and sien , of Germanic origin. The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan alfàbia "large earthenware jar" and rajola "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan oli "oil" and oliva "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna . However,
2888-669: 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. 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 . These nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive, and still in force, have been and are
3040-994: 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, 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. 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. Quim Torra became
3192-566: A third of Fenolheda (not part of the province of Roussillon). The arrondissement of Céret covers the whole of Vallespir but also the Côte Vermeille ( Costa Vermella ), which was historically under the control of the counts and veguers of Rosselló at Perpinyà (Perpignan). Catalan writers sometimes speak of the " comarques of Northern Catalonia" . Unlike the autonomous community of Catalonia , these comarques have no administrative significance, although they usually correspond to
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#17327979354333344-525: A transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge 's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan. With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by
3496-572: A unifying administration across Spain, enacting the Nueva Planta decrees which, like in the other realms of the Crown of Aragon, suppressed Catalan institutions and legislation. As a consequence, Catalan as a language of government and literature was eclipsed by Spanish. In the 19th century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars . In the second third of the century, it experienced industrialisation. As wealth from
3648-587: Is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as / ˈ k æ t ə l ə n , - æ n / KAT -ə-lən, -lan or / ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l æ n / KAT -ə- LAN . The endonym is pronounced [kətəˈla] in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and [kataˈla] in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche ,
3800-415: Is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations—if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan. More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase
3952-771: 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 as pre- Neanderthal , that is, some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old. 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
4104-585: Is of the Mediterranean type , with hot, dry summers and winters which are relatively mild, at least on the Roussillon plain where snow is rare. The city of Perpignan ( Catalan : Perpinyà ) accounts for over a quarter of the population, over one-third of its urban area is taken into account, and is the only major administrative and service center. Major road and rail links run north–south through Northern Catalonia between France and Spain, while
4256-533: Is used nowadays, although less often than the more politically neutral Roussillon (Catalan: Rosselló ); Roussillon, though, historically did not comprise Vallespir , Conflent and Cerdagne ( Cerdanya ). The term Pays Catalan ( País Català ), "Catalan Country" is sometimes used. Northern Catalonia forms a triangle between the Pyrenees to the south, the Corbières Massif to the north-west and
4408-547: The Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries". The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees . Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival , culminating in the early 1900s. The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia , itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that Catalunya ( Latin : Gathia Launia ) derives from
4560-511: The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC). (See also status of Valencian below). By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees , as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of
4712-540: The Marca Hispanica ), established by Charlemagne as a buffer territory against Al-Andalus forces. As such, it was divided into feudal counties, Rosselló , Vallespir , Conflent north of the Pyrenees and Cerdanya to the south. By the end of the ninth century, these counties had gained de facto independence from the Carolingian kings and operated as princely states (whose rulers nevertheless retained
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4864-929: The 131st President of the Government of Catalonia on 17 May 2018, after the Spanish courts blocked three other candidates. In 2018, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) on behalf of Catalonia. 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. They were later pardoned by
5016-626: The 1929 International Exposition . 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 April 1931), 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,
5168-458: The 2017 Catalan independence referendum . Catalan is spoken in all regions of Northern Catalonia except for Fenolleda which speaks the related (and mutually intelligible) Occitan language . In Perpignan , where a quarter of the population lives, 44% know the Catalan language. The Catalan folk dance Sardana is a dance in the region. Northern Catalans support the USAP rugby union team and
5320-710: The Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community , where it is called Valencian ( valencià ). It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero , and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia . The Catalan-speaking territories are often called
5472-580: The Black Death pandemic and by later outbreaks of the plague . Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37 percent of its population. 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
5624-534: The Catalan Unity political party promotes the idea. The party has had some success since 1993, winning seats in municipal elections . It is now the most popular Catalan nationalist party in the region. Northern Catalans are proud of their Catalan heritage and have developed a "Northern Catalan" identity. However, unlike their Southern neighbors in Spanish Catalonia, the Catalan identity is not
5776-645: 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. The domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by
5928-689: The Catalans Dragons rugby league team. There are four castells (Catalan human towers) teams in Northern Catalonia. French is the only official language in France as a whole, and therefore of these municipalities. Catalan , in its Northern Catalan variety, is however recognized as a regional language by the region of Languedoc-Roussillon which contains Northern Catalunya; this recognition provides cultural support in education and public media, with some more regional power since
6080-481: The Communauté d'agglomération Têt Méditerranée , created in 2001. Enclaved in the southwest of the département there is the Spanish ( Catalonia ) exclave of Llívia . As is common, the present-day arrondissements do not correspond to pre- Revolutionary boundaries. The arrondissement of Prades ( Prada ) covers the whole of Haute-Cerdagne ( Alta Cerdanya ) and Conflent (including Capcir ), as well as about
6232-636: The Crown of Aragon , and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe". Martorell 's novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows
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6384-669: 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
6536-467: The Gascon dialect ) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian , Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others). However, despite being spoken mostly on
6688-563: The Goths "), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, known as Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Cathalaunia > Catalonia theoretically derived. During the Middle Ages , Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the local medley of Goths with Alans , initially constituting
6840-403: 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
6992-426: The Honor Award of Catalan Letters (1969). The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast in 1964. At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers. In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to
7144-422: The Iberian Peninsula , Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group ( Spanish and Portuguese ) in terms of pronunciation , grammar, and especially vocabulary; it shows instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance ( Franco-Provençal , French , Gallo-Italian ). According to Ethnologue ,
7296-414: The Iberian Peninsula , to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 42 comarques . The capital and largest city, Barcelona , is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union . Modern-day Catalonia comprises most of
7448-413: 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
7600-401: The Kingdom of Aragon were united by marriage, resulting in a composite monarchy known as the Crown of Aragon . Within the Crown, the Catalan counties merged in to a polity, the Principality of Catalonia , developing its own institutional system, such as Catalan Courts , Generalitat and constitutions , becoming the base and promoter for the Crown's Mediterranean trade and expansionism. In
7752-426: The Mediterranean Sea to the east. The Roussillon plain in the east, by far the most populated area, is formed by the flood plains of the rivers Tech , Têt , and Agly ( Catalan : Tec, Tet, Aglí ). The districts of Vallespir and Conflent cover the upper valleys of the Tech and the Têt respectively. The massif of the Canigou ( Catalan : Canigó ), 2785 m, dominates much of the territory. The climate
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#17327979354337904-435: The Muslims , bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988. In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance , diverging from Old Occitan between
8056-467: The Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees , the Transversal Range (Serralada Transversal) or the Central Depression. The official languages are Catalan , Spanish and the Aranese dialect of Occitan . In the late 8th century, various counties across the eastern Pyrenees were established by the Frankish kingdom as a defensive barrier against Muslim invasions. In the 10th century, the County of Barcelona became progressively independent. In 1137, Barcelona and
8208-444: The Reapers' War (1640–1652), which saw Catalonia rebel (briefly as a republic led by the president of the Generalitat, Pau Claris ) with French help against the Spanish Crown for overstepping Catalonia's rights during the Thirty Years' War . Within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia. Most of Catalonia was reconquered by the Spanish monarchy but Catalan rights were mostly recognised. Roussillon and half of Cerdanya
8360-409: 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
8512-420: 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,
8664-446: 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
8816-431: 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
8968-402: The Urnfield Culture , whose successive waves of migration began around 1200 BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements. Around the middle of the 7th century BC, the Iron Age arrived in Catalonia. In 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
9120-450: 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
9272-403: The consul in Barcelona was also asked. He declared that Catalan "is taught in schools, it is printed and spoken, not only among the lower class, but also among people of first quality, also in social gatherings, as in visits and congresses", indicating that it was spoken everywhere "with the exception of the royal courts". He also indicated that Catalan was spoken "in the Kingdom of Valencia, in
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#17327979354339424-399: The laws of each territory before the respective parliaments . But after the War of the Spanish Succession , Spain became an absolute monarchy under Philip V , which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees , as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state ; as in other contemporary European states, this meant
9576-404: The 11th and 14th centuries. During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river , and in the 13th century they conquered the lands that would become the Kingdoms of Valencia and the Majorca . The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia , which became Spanish-speaking in
9728-418: The 15th century. In the Low Middle Ages , Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of
9880-404: 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 spectacular 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. After Franco's death in 1975, Catalonia voted for
10032-409: The 19th 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, and was later boosted by the government support for domestic manufacturing. In 1832, the Bonaplata Factory in Barcelona became
10184-413: 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. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week (Catalan: Setmana Tràgica ) in Barcelona in 1909. Under the hegemony of the Regionalist League , Catalonia gained a degree of administrative unity for the first time in
10336-403: The 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival ( Renaixença ), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau 's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama). In the 19th century, the region of Carche , in the province of Murcia
10488-400: The 3rd century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th century. Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of Vandals , Suebi and Alans in the 5th century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some deurbanization . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the area was conquered by the Visigoths and was ruled as part of
10640-416: The Arabic element is generally much more prevalent in Spanish. Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as enyorar "to miss somebody", apaivagar "to calm somebody down", and rebutjar "reject". Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries),
10792-423: The Castilian House of Trastámara as King of the Crown of Aragon. 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
10944-475: The Catalan government on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds, while several others—including then-President Carles Puigdemont —fled to other European countries. Those in prison were pardoned by the Spanish government in 2021. The name "Catalonia" ( Medieval Latin : Cathalaunia ), spelled Cathalonia , began to be used for the homeland of the Catalans ( Cathalanenses ) in the late 11th century and
11096-674: 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
11248-475: The Crown of Castile, terminating their status as separate states along with their parliaments, institutions and public and administrative laws , as well as their pactist politics, within a French-style centralized and absolutist kingdom of Spain. 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
11400-686: 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 Lluís Companys (1933–1940), sought to implement
11552-562: 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
11704-595: The Spanish province of Alicante settled around Oran , while those from French Catalonia and Menorca migrated to Algiers . By 1911, there were around 100,000 speakers of Patuet , as their speech was called. After the Algerian declaration of independence in 1962, almost all the Pied-Noir Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia or Alicante. The French government only recognizes French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007,
11856-631: The Spanish government and left prison in June 2021. In the early-to-mid 2020s support for independence declined. The climate of Catalonia is diverse. The populated areas lying by the coast in Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona provinces feature a Hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ). The inland part (including the Lleida province and the inner part of Barcelona province) show a mostly Mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ). The Pyrenean peaks have
12008-510: 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),
12160-649: The castle of Puigbalador (French: Puyvalador ) but subordinate to the vegueria of Conflent . The Treaty of Corbeil (1258) confirmed the frontier between the lands of the Kingdom of France and the Crown of Aragon as the Cerbères , leaving the Occitan district of Fenolheda to France. On the death of King James I the Conqueror in 1276, Northern Catalonia was combined with the Balearic Isles to form
12312-601: 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 Valentí Almirall . The anarchist movement had been active throughout the last quarter of
12464-465: 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. The Courts were composed of the three Estates organized into "arms" ( braços ), were presided over by the monarch, and approved
12616-526: 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). In the second third of
12768-629: The de facto power of the armed popular militias. 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
12920-417: 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. Over 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
13072-419: The diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual . Daily newspapers remained exclusively in Spanish until after Franco's death, when
13224-653: The electoral victory of the left wing Popular Front in February 1936, the Government of Catalonia was pardoned and the self-government was restored. 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
13376-587: 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 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. In 988 Borrell II , Count of Barcelona, did not recognise
13528-477: The end of the 6th millennium BC." The Chalcolithic period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800 BC, with the beginning of the construction of copper objects. The Bronze Age occurred between 1800 and 700 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
13680-518: The first factory in the country to make use of the steam engine . The first railway on the Iberian Peninsula was built between Barcelona and Mataró in 1848. 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, protectionist laws become more common. To this day Catalonia remains one of
13832-505: The first one in Catalan since the end of the Civil War, Avui , began to be published in 1976. Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia , there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community. The teaching of Catalan
13984-496: The formal protection that it had given to the recently founded Catalan Republic . The area corresponds roughly to the modern French département of the Pyrénées-Orientales which were historically part of Catalonia since the old County of Barcelona , and lasted during the times of the Crown of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia until they were given to France by Spain. The equivalent term in French , Catalogne du Nord ,
14136-474: 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,
14288-534: 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. These counties came under the rule of the counts of Barcelona , who were Frankish vassals nominated by
14440-477: The imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups. Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant. The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give
14592-531: The inclusion of the Catalan language on signs and its use in material produced by the administrative department. In 1700, the government of Louis XIV prohibited the use of the Catalan language in official documents, although the government only irregularly enforced the edict throughout the eighteenth century. In Perpignan Catalan was also prohibited from being used by priests during Mass . From 1700 all public acts had to be written in French, from 1738 this
14744-561: The industrial expansion grew, it saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers' movements appeared. The establishment of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) granted self-governance to Catalonia , being restored the Generalitat as the autonomous government. After the Spanish Civil War , the Francoist dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan self-government and banning
14896-504: 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
15048-476: The islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sardinia, Corsica and much of Sicily, in the Vall d "Aran and Cerdaña". The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain. Because of this, use of the Catalan language declined into the 18th century. However,
15200-461: 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. 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
15352-606: The language in features closer to Occitan (and French ). There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century AD, the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian , and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish hervir , Asturian and Portuguese ferver vs. Catalan bullir , Occitan bolir "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Spanish novillo , Asturian nuviellu vs. Catalan torell , Occitan taurèl "bullock"), while Catalan has
15504-485: 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 Ausiàs March , and Joanot Martorell , author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch , published in 1490. Ferdinand II of Aragon , the grandson of Ferdinand I, and Queen Isabella I of Castile were married in 1469, later taking
15656-471: The later Middle Ages, Catalan literature flourished. In 1469, the monarchs of the crowns of Aragon and Castile were married and ruled their realms together, retaining all of their distinct institutions and legislation. During the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the Principality of Catalonia revolted (1640–1652) against a burdensome presence of the royal army, being briefly established as
15808-497: The latter became Count of Barcelona in 911. The Counts of Rosselló , in alliance with their cousins the Counts of Empuriés , tried to resist this dilution of their power. However, the Counts of Barcelona steadily gained suzerainty over the other Catalan counts, a process that was virtually complete by the twelfth century. The last Count of Rosselló, Girard II , left his title to the Crown of Aragon on his death in 1172 to prevent
15960-667: The laws of regionalization of France during the 1980s. The language is estimated to be spoken by 34% of the population of Northern Catalonia, but understood by 65%. On 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales proclaimed Catalan as one of the languages of the department, alongside French and Occitan (in Fenouillèdes), The 'Charter in Support of Catalan' was adopted which called for
16112-566: The lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh ; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian. During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish . This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing
16264-427: The linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to 2013 census, Catalan was also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it was understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of two could speak it (1,137,816), 79% could read it (1,246.555), and 53% could write it (835,080). The share of Barcelona residents who could speak it (72.3%)
16416-461: The linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages ). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as
16568-498: The medieval and early modern Principality of Catalonia (with the remainder northern area now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales ). It is bordered by France ( Occitanie ) and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. In addition to about 580 km of coastline, Catalonia also has major high landforms such as
16720-548: The most economically dynamic communities in Spain. In the 2010s, there was growing support for Catalan independence . On 27 October 2017, the Catalan Parliament unilaterally declared independence following a referendum that was deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish state. The Spanish Senate voted in favour of enforcing direct rule by removing the Catalan government and calling a snap regional election . The Spanish Supreme Court imprisoned seven former ministers of
16872-399: 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
17024-489: The most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed". From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish". The use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious and marked
17176-476: The name Gothia or Gauthia ('Land of the Goths '), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived. In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner , followed in the 15th century as Catellain (from Middle French ). It
17328-577: 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. 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
17480-415: The next period, publishing in Catalan continued throughout his rule. 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
17632-468: The official use of the Catalan language. After a period of autarky , from the late 1950s through to the 1970s Catalonia saw rapid economic growth , drawing many workers from across Spain, making Barcelona one of Europe's largest industrial metropolitan areas and turning Catalonia into a major tourist destination. During the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), the Generalitat was reestablished and Catalonia regained self-government , remaining one of
17784-507: The other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association La Bressola promotes
17936-541: 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
18088-469: The percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to Ethnologue , Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021. According to
18240-410: 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
18392-460: The population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish. In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish. To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on
18544-404: The promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (Consortium for Linguistic Normalization). In Andorra , Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution , several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, such as Catalan medium education. On
18696-677: The province of Roussillon . The French provinces were abolished at the Revolution (Law of 1789-12-22), and Roussillon was joined with the district of Fenouillèdes (Occitan: Fenolheda ) to form the département of the Pyrénées-Orientales , with Perpignan ( Perpinyà ) as its administrative centre. The département of the Pyrénées-Orientales is divided into the arrondissements of Céret (Catalan: Ceret ), Perpignan ( Perpinyà ) and Prades ( Prada de Conflent ), which are further divided into cantons and communes . Perpignan and sixteen surrounding communes are also associated in
18848-478: The publication of books on those subjects or simply discussion of them in open meetings, was banned. 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, Lluís Companys , was taken to Spain from his exile in the German-occupied France and
19000-553: The region of Moianès , are the Balma del Gai (Epipaleolithic) and the Balma de l'Espluga (late Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic). The Neolithic era began in Catalonia around 5000 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
19152-694: The reign of Vespasian (69–79 AD), while Roman citizenship was granted to all free men of the empire by the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of Roman law since 45 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
19304-714: 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. In Catalonia, any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism , republicanism , anarchism , socialism , liberalism , democracy or communism , including
19456-417: The rest of the territories. (% of the population 15 years old and older). (% of the population 15 years old and older). Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia , North Catalonia or French Catalonia is the formerly Catalan -speaking and cultural territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in exchange of France's effective renunciation on
19608-526: The seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the state. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic Wars . In 1808, it was occupied by French troops under general Guillaume Philibert Duhesme after he conquered Barcelona; the resistance against the occupation eventually developed into the Peninsular War . The rejection of French dominion
19760-502: The social level, including in schools and the University of Barcelona . The Catalan language and culture were still vibrant during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), but were crushed at an unprecedented level throughout the subsequent decades due to Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), which abolished the official status of Catalan and imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain , while banning
19912-560: The sole official language of the region. Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian , Breton , Occitan , Flemish , and Basque . After the French colony of Algeria was established in 1830, many Catalan-speaking settlers moved there. People from
20064-413: The start of the decline of Catalan. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, and the nobles, part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual . With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France , and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French , which in 1700 became
20216-569: The term valencià [valensiˈa] is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole, synonymous with "Catalan". Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) and
20368-470: The territory passing to his illegitimate half-brothers. Royal administration in the Principality of Catalonia within the Crown of Aragon was organized based on vegueries , under the charge of a veguer appointed by the King of Aragon as Count of Barcelona. In Northern Catalonia, the vegueries followed closely the boundaries of the old counties. The district of Capcir was a sotsvegueria , based around
20520-684: The then General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the départment's languages and seeks to further promote it in public life and education. In 1807, the Statistics Office of the French Ministry of the Interior asked the prefects for an official survey on the limits of the French language . The survey found that in Roussillon , almost only Catalan was spoken, and since Napoleon wanted to incorporate Catalonia into France, as happened in 1812,
20672-520: The title of count). As the seigneury of the counties became hereditary, the total number of Catalan counts fell steadily. One individual often had the charge of several counties, but these were not always transmitted based on primogeniture . Hence Count Miró II the Young , third son of Wilfred I the Hairy , inherited the counties of Cerdanya and Conflent from his father in 897, and the counties of Besalú and Vallespir from his elder brother Sunyer I when
20824-578: 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. Castile commissioned expeditions to the Americas and benefited from the riches acquired in
20976-507: The town of Llívia ( pop. 1252 (2005) ) which is an exclave of Spain. The district lies on the most direct route between Toulouse ( Occitan : Tolosa de Lengadoc ) and Barcelona (via Foix and Ripoll ), and a railway line still links the two cities via Latour-de-Carol ( Catalan : La Tor de Querol ). Northern Catalonia formed part of the southern counties of the Frankinsh Empire (historiographycally known as
21128-403: The use of Catalan in them. Between 1939 and 1943 newspapers and book printing in Catalan almost disappeared. Francisco Franco's desire for a homogeneous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it
21280-609: The use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish. According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia , in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish , as a native or self-defining language: 7% of
21432-498: Was able to survive Franco's dictatorship. At the end of World War II , however, some of the harsh measures began to be lifted and, while Spanish language remained the sole promoted one, limited number of Catalan literature began to be tolerated. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature. Private initiative contests were created to reward works in Catalan, among them Joan Martorell prize (1947), Víctor Català prize (1953) Carles Riba award (1950), or
21584-418: Was annexed to France and organized as four departments . 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
21736-477: 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 . In November 2003, elections to the Parliament of Catalonia gave the government to a left-wing Catalanist coalition formed by
21888-475: 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
22040-494: Was extended to include registers of births, marriages and deaths. In the 1950s, after centuries of being forbidden in education, the Catalan language was permitted to be studied for one hour per week in secondary school. In the 1970s, the Arrels Association and la Bressola network of private schools started to offer complete bilingual French/Catalan classes from nursery up to secondary education. North Catalonia
22192-496: 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
22344-473: Was lost to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). 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
22496-471: Was lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 spoke the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with French in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra, and with Spanish in
22648-464: Was merged with other areas of Occitania to form a new French region. This has led to fears that the Occitan language and culture will be given precedence over the Catalan language and culture. In December 2017, Express.co.uk reported that 2000 people took part in a protest in Perpignan, in order to get the French government to hold a referendum on Northern Catalonia reuniting with Southern Catalonia. Northern Catalans helped print ballot slips for
22800-420: 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. 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
22952-459: Was repopulated with Valencian speakers. Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted. The Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia, established during the Republic in 1931) made a normal use of Catalan in its administration and put efforts to promote it at
23104-402: Was tortured and executed in the Montjuïc Castle of Barcelona for the crime of 'military rebellion'. 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 1950s in the theatre. Despite the ban during the first years and the difficulties of
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