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Catalonia Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, Occitan: Catalonha, Spanish: Cataluña)[c] is an autonomous community of Spain located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of Spain's eight communities which are designated as a nationality by their Statute of Autonomy.[d][7] Catalonia consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the core of the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia (with the remainder Roussillon now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales). It is bordered by France 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. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.[8]
History of Catalonia In the 20th century, Catalonia enjoyed and lost varying degrees of autonomy. The Second Spanish Republic established Catalan self-governance and the official use of the Catalan language. Like much of Spain, Catalonia fought to defend the Republic in the Civil War of 1936â€“1939. The Republican defeat established the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which unleashed a harsh repression and suppressed the autonomy. With Spain devastated and cut off from international trade and the autarkic politics of the regime, Catalonia, as a commercial and industrial center, suffered severely; the economic recovery was slow. Between 1959 and 1974 Spain experienced the second fastest economic expansion in the world known as the Spanish Miracle, and Catalonia prospered as Spain's most important industrial and tourist destination. In 1975 Franco died, bringing his regime to an end, and the new democratic Spanish constitution of 1978 recognised Catalonia's autonomy and language. It regained considerable self-government in internal affairs and is now one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain. In the 2010s there have been growing calls for Catalan independence.
Alonso Álvarez de Pineda
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