Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory is situated on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 42 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.
The recorded history of the lands of what today is known as Catalonia begins with the development of the Iberian peoples while several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered northern half of the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.
La Franja is the area of Catalan-speaking territories of eastern Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means "the strip" and can also more properly be called Franja d'Aragó, Franja de Ponent or Franja Oriental d'Aragó in Catalan.
The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s, when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division, but remained in popular and informal contexts. Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France.
Francesc Eiximenis was a Franciscan Catalan writer who lived in the 14th-century Crown of Aragon. He was possibly one of the more successful medieval Catalan writers since his works were widely read, copied, published and translated. Therefore, it can be said that both in the literary and in the political sphere he had a lot of influence. Among his readers were numbered important people of his time, such as the kings of the Crown of Aragon Peter IV, John I and Martin I, the queen Maria de Luna, and the Pope of Avignon Benedict XIII.
Anti-Catalan sentiment is the collective name given to various trends in Spain, France and Italy that expresses disdain, discrimination, or hatred for Catalonia, to Catalans, Catalan culture, Catalan nationalism, Catalan language or its history. It can also be referred to as Anti-Catalanism or Catalanophobia.
Santa Coloma de Farners is a spa town and capital of the comarca of the Selva, in Catalonia, Spain, and of the judicial district of Santa Coloma. It is situated on the edge of the Selva Depression and of the Guilleries. The local economy is mainly commercial, given the status of the town as capital of the comarca, although summer tourism, agriculture and forestry products also contribute. The urban centre is to the north and west of the main modern communication routes, although the C-253 road links the town with the main N-II route and the AP-7 autopista and to the Renfe railway station at Sils (10 km). The GE-533 runs through the northern part of the municipality, linking it with Vic to the west and with Riudellots de la Selva, Vilobí d'Onyar and Girona-Costa Brava Airport to the east.
Solsona is a municipality and capital of the comarca of the Solsonès in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the centre of the comarca in the Catalan Central Depression. It is served by the C-55 road to Manresa, and is linked to Berga and Bassella by the C-26. Until a few years ago, Solsona used to be the main road used by people from Barcelona to go to Andorra.
Rambla d'Aragó is an important thoroughfare in the Universitat district of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. Originally a rambla with a pedestrianised area complete with a marketplace and a service of trams, it underwent several changes and is now a regular street crossed by cars. It originates at Plaça de Cervantes and ends in Avinguda Catalunya. It hosts the former Maternity home, now Lleida Public Library, the art-nouveau buildings Cases Balasch, the Lleida Bishopric Palace, the Museu de Lleida Diocesà i Comarcal, as well as the main University of Lleida campus, built in 19th-century neo-Gothic style.
Lleida Pirineus is an important railway station serving the city of Lleida in Catalonia, Spain. It is located between the neighbourhoods of Pardinyes and Rambla de Ferran. The first train services in Lleida date of 1860, but the station wasn't built until 1927, and it did not adopt its current official name until 2003, when it underwent an ambitious reform. As a transport hub connecting the interior of Spain with the Corredor Mediterráneo, it serves both broad gauge and standard gauge trains, operated by both Adif-Renfe and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya. It is the terminus of several regional railway services centered in Aragon and Catalonia. It's also one of the stations on the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line, and it was its north-eastern terminus until 2008.
The Associació Catalana de Rugby Lliga (ACRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Catalonia. The Association was formed in 2007 and since then has organized and governed the Catalan competitions.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Catalonia:
Rodalies de Catalunya is the main commuter and regional rail system in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Government of Catalonia and operated by the national rail operator Renfe Operadora. The system consists of 17 service lines chiefly centred in the Barcelona area, serving a total of 203 stations throughout Catalonia, with an average number of 1,000 trains running on it every day. In 2016, it had an annual ridership of 117 million.
The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), is a Catalan university with premises in Vic, Manresa and Granollers. It is a privately managed institution, under public supervision through its proprietor, the Balmes University Foundation, whose chair is the Mayor of Vic. UVic-UCC is a higher education and research centre. The UVic-UCC is a member of the Vives University Network.
Catalonia International, formerly known as The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia – is a public-private consortium set up by the Catalan government, the Generalitat. It is devoted to promoting international awareness of Catalonia within the international community through public diplomacy tools. In December 2018 its board of trustees appointed Ms. Laura Foraster as the new secretary general.
Forest Sciences and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) is a centre for forest research based in Solsona, Lleida, and is among the leading applied research centres in Spain. It was founded in 1996 as a consortium of five local and regional institutions. The institution has grown to employ over one hundred professionals who work in collaboration with different administrations, institutions and companies, and its annual budget is around 14 million euros.
This is a timeline of Catalan history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Catalonia and its predecessor states and polities. To read about the background to these events, see History of Catalonia.
Jorge Soler González is a medical doctor, teacher, writer and Spanish politician. He is a deputy for Ciudadanos, elected to the Parliament of Catalonia for the 11th and 12th legislatures.
In the run up to the 2015 Spanish local elections, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in local entities in Spain. Results of such polls for municipalities in Catalonia are displayed in this article. The date range for these opinion polls is from the previous local elections, held on 22 May 2011, to the day the next elections were held, on 24 May 2015.
