By the beginning of the nineteenth century, though, the Spanish government had become strongly centralised, as was the case in certain other European nations. The State did not recognise the nation's regional diversity. Later during this same century, Catalonia and the Basque Country became rapidly industrialised and were areas of swift progress in establishing commercial capitalism. These changes occurred much more slowly in the rest of the country, which remained largely agricultural. Nationalistic sentiments began to grow in the more industrialized areas. Some writers of the time expressed their concepts of a Catalan or Basque fatherland, or even nationhood. These two nationalist movements had much in common, in that both arose in areas that enjoyed higher levels of prosperity and literacy, were the only areas in the country to develop modern industry, and each possessed a distinct and independent linguistic tradition. Activists worked to revive use of both the Catalan and the Basque languages, including publication of literature in these languages. A similar revival began of the Galician language. Scholars began to explore this histories of these regions, to tell their own founding stories: Catalonia rediscovered her prowess as a Mediterranean Medieval empire within the Crown of Aragon, and the Basque Country focused on the mystery of its origins.