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.
Catalan, known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian, is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of two autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. It is also an official language in Valencia, where it is called Valencian. 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 the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.
A nation-state is a political unit where the state, a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory, and the nation, a community based on a common identity, are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant national or ethnic group.
Pompeu Fabra i Poch was a Catalan engineer and grammarian from Spain. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language.
This is a demography of the population of Andorra, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Aran is an administrative entity in northwest Catalonia, Spain, consisting of 620.47 square kilometres (239.56 sq mi) in area, located in the Pyrenees mountains, in the Alt Pirineu i Aran region and in the province of Lleida. The capital is Vielha e Mijaran.
Valencian or Valencian language is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the Romance language also known as Catalan, either as a whole or in its Valencia-specific linguistic forms. The Valencian Community's 1982 Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution officially recognise Valencian as the name of the regional language.
The Catalan Countries are those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon and Murcia (Carche), as well as the Principality of Andorra, the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in France, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). It is often used as a sociololinguistic term to describe the cultural-linguistic area where Catalan is spoken. In the context of Catalan nationalism, the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.
Andorra is a tourist destination in Europe. Andorra has several major ski resorts, including Soldeu/El Tarter and Pal/Arinsal. These are very popular with tourists from Spain, France and the United Kingdom, particularly because their relatively gentle slopes are ideal for less experienced people as well as families. Andorran ski schools are among the largest in Europe. Because it is not a member of the European Union, Andorra is able to sell a wide range of duty-free products, including alcohol, perfume and cigarettes. These are much cheaper than in neighboring countries, and are a lucrative source of revenue for the country. Andorra also has many hiking trails which can be explored during the summer months, when the snow has thawed.
There are four languages with official status in Catalonia : Catalan; Spanish, which is official throughout Spain; Aranese, a dialect of Occitan spoken in the Aran Valley; and Catalan Sign Language. Many other languages are spoken in Catalonia as a result of recent immigration from all over the world.
Plataforma per la Llengua is a non-governmental organization born in 1993 in Barcelona, in order to defend and promote the Catalan language all over the Catalan-speaking territories in the European states where it is spoken: Spain, France, Andorra and Italy. Their activities include the development of sociolinguistic studies and a constant monitoring on the status of Catalan, in collaboration with other organizations, foundations and public agencies. While based in Barcelona, it has delegations in Valencian Community, Alghero and in several Catalan regions. Moreover, Plataforma per la Llengua works together with some Northern Catalonia, La Franja, Andorra and Balearic Islands organizations. There are many aims; one of them is to guarantee the linguistic rights of Catalan-speaking people and the use of Catalan as a connection tool in the fields and territories where it is spoken.
Listed below are articles about or related to Andorra, arranged alphabetically:
The Catalan language originated from Vulgar Latin in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. It diverged from the other Romance languages in the 9th century. At that time, Catalan spread quickly throughout the Iberian peninsula when the Catalan counts conquered Muslim territory. By the 11th century, the Catalan language was present in several feudal documents. Catalan was present throughout the Mediterranean by the 15th century. At that time, the city of Valencia was thriving.
Emili Boix-Fuster is a sociolinguist. His main academic interests are sociolects, intergenerational language transmission and linguistic ideologies in Catalan-speaking territories.
Lídia Armengol i Vila was an Andorran historian and civil servant who championed the restoration of her country's historic language and culture.
Kálmán Faluba is a Hungarian philologist whose work has helped to make the Catalan language more well known in his country.
Mantinc el català is a linguistic, non-profit citizen platform distributed in various parts of the so-called Catalan Countries, where Catalan is an autochthonous language. Its volunteering aims to encourage the language revitalization in the public sphere by persuading, as many Catalan speakers as possible, to refrain from unconsciously shifting their language to (mostly) Spanish in routine situations such as in the street, commerce, public services or with the immigrants. Its organizational motto is Mantinc el català sempre, a tot arreu i amb tothom! ”.
Maria Carme Junyent i Figueras, commonly known as Carme Junyent, was a Catalan linguist. Renowned in her work field, in particular for her defense of the Catalan language and studies on endangered languages, she was a professor of linguistics at the University of Barcelona. She specialized in African languages and sociolinguistics.
