Catalonia / Cataluña

Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan, Cataluña in Spanish) is the most northerly of the Spanish Mediterranean regions, which as a result of their natural conditions and historical development have a very different character from inland Castile. The Catalonion Mountains run parallel to the coast, linking the eastern Pyrenees with the hills bordering the Meseta on the north-east. Originally a continuous range, they were later broken up by tectonic disturbances into isolated massifs - Montseny in the north, Montserrat with its famous monastery and Montsant in the south.

As Hispania Tarraconensis, Catalonia was the first nucleus of Roman Spain. After periods of Visigothic and Moorish rule it became the Spanish March of the Frankish kingdom, until Wilfred the Hairy broke free of Frankish control in 874 and established the Condado de Barcelona. In the middle of the 12th century it was united with Aragon by marriage, and in 1469, together with Aragon, it was joined to Castile, losing political and economic importance but preserving its constitutional freedom and many special rights and privileges. In 1640, when Philip IV levied troops for war with France and demanded oppressive taxes, the Catalans resisted, and with French help held out for some time against Spanish forces. The surrender of Barcelona in 1652, however, was followed by the re-establishment of Spanish authority, though the Catalan fueros were renewed. Not until the wars of liberation against Napoleon was Catalonia finally united with Spain. The flowering of Catalan literature, however, demonstrated that Catalonia's separate political and cultural consciousness was still very much alive.