Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is currently headed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and the president of France. Its capital and largest city is Andorra la Vella.
The national flag of the Principality of Andorra features a vertical tricolour of blue, yellow, and red with the coat of arms of Andorra in the center. Although the three vertical bars may at first appear to be of equal width, the centre yellow bar is slightly wider than the other two so that the ratio of bar widths is 8:9:8 with an overall flag ratio of 7:10.
Ordino is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or Valira d'Ordino river valley. Ordino is also the name of the main town of the parish. Other settlements in the parish are El Serrat, Ansalonga, Sornàs, La Cortinada, Llorts, Segudet, Arans, Les Salines and Arcalís. It is home to the Sorteny National Park, the largest nature area of Andorra. It has a population of 4,858, as of 2017. The town preserves a vast medieval center, mainly linked to the culture of the country.
Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra, S.A., shortened to RTVA, is the It is operated by the state's public and commercial broadcaster. and radio broadcaster in the Principality of Andorra. It operates a television channel, ATV, and two radio stations, RNA and AM, all of which broadcast in Catalan.
The historic and official language of Andorra is Catalan, a Romance language. Because of immigration, historical links, and close geographic proximity, Spanish and French are commonly spoken. There is a sizeable immigrant community that speaks Portuguese. Most Andorran residents can speak one or more of these, in addition to Catalan. Spanish was the most common mother tongue in Andorra according to mother tongue percentage statistics by the Andorran Government released in 2018. In 2022, Catalan became the most common mother tongue used by 55.2% of the Andorran population.
Òscar Ribas Reig was an Andorran politician, lawyer, and businessman who became the prime minister of Andorra in 1982. He twice served as head of government, first from 8 January 1982 to 21 May 1984 and again from 12 January 1990 to 7 December 1994.
The Andorra National Library was founded in 1930, then re-opened in 1974. Since 2020, it is housed in the former Hotel Rosaleda in Encamp.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Andorra since 17 February 2023. Andorra first established stable unions on 23 March 2005, providing same-sex couples with some of the rights and benefits of marriage, and later enacted civil unions on 25 December 2014, offering a greater set of rights. On 21 July 2022, the General Council voted to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. The law was promulgated by Co-Prince Emmanuel Macron on 17 August 2022, and came into effect six months later. Andorra was the 34th country in the world and the nineteenth in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Antoni Martí Petit was an Andorran architect and politician who served as the prime minister of Andorra between 2011 and 2019, when he was elected on the ticket of the Democrats for Andorra.
Ester Vilarrubla Escales, is an Andorran politician and educator, who is serving as Minister of Education and Higher Education in the government of Xavier Espot since 22 May 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Andorra was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Andorra on 2 March 2020, when a 20-year-old man returned to the country from Milan, Italy. With a total population of 77,543, on 7 December 2020, the infection rate was 1 case per 11 inhabitants, and the death rate was 1 case per 994 inhabitants.
Lídia Armengol i Vila was an Andorran historian and civil servant who championed the restoration of her country's historic language and culture.
The Andorran Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1933, was a democratic uprising led by the Young Andorrans that called for political reforms, universal suffrage for all Andorrans and acted in defense of the rights of local and foreign workers during the construction of FHASA's hydroelectric power station in Encamp. On April 5, 1933, the Young Andorrans seized the Andorran Parliament. These actions were preceded by the arrival of Colonel René-Jules Baulard with 50 gendarmes and the mobilization of 200 local militias or sometent led by the Síndic Francesc Cairat.
Forces Elèctriques d'Andorra is the company in charge of Andorra's electricity supply. Its direct predecessor was the Forces Hidroelèctriques d'Andorra, which was nationalized in 1988 by the General Council and converted into the FEDA.
Teresa Colom i Pich is an Andorran author and poet.
Elidà Amigó i Montanya was an Andorran historian, archivist, activist, and suffragist. A leader in the feminist movement that led to Andorran women gaining the right to vote in 1970, she was also an academic expert on the history and sociology of the microstate of Andorra. She has been described as "the first Andorran intellectual to bring critical awareness to the condition of women" in the principality.
Susagna Arasanz i Serra was an Andorran economist and politician, minister of finance between 1994 and 2000, becoming the first woman to hold the office, under the premiership of Marc Forné.
The literature of Andorra is part of Catalan literature, that is, of literature in the Catalan language. It is the literature represented by the writings created in the Principality of Andorra or by Andorran authors.
In the parliamentary elections in Andorra on 2 April 2023, the incumbent liberal-conservative coalition between Democrats for Andorra (DA) and Committed Citizens (CC) won an absolute majority led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot. This is the fourth legislature in a row in which DA governs the country. A new party, Concord, emerged in second place, taking the opposition leadership held by the Social Democratic Party since 2019, which fell to third place by losing four seats.
