History of Catalonia

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History of Catalonia
Ancient Prehistory   Iberians c. 6th BC – c. 1st BC Greek colonies c. 6th BC – c. 1st BC Roman conquest of Hispania 218 BC – 19 BC Tarraconensis 27 BC – 476 AD
Medieval Visigoths 5th century – c.720 Al-Andalus 713–1154 Catalan counties c.760 – 12th century County of Barcelona 801–1162 Crown of Aragon 1162–1715 Principality of Catalonia c. 12th century – 1714 Compromise of Caspe 1412 War of the Remences 1462–1486 Catalan Civil War 1462–1472
Early modern Catholic Monarchs 1469–1516 Habsburg Spain 1516–1700 Reapers' War / Catalan Republic 1640–1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659 Revolt of the Barretines 1687–1689 War of the Spanish Succession 1700–1715 War of the Catalans 1713–1714 Nueva Planta decrees 1716
Modern Peninsular War 1808–1814 Liberals and Carlists 1833–1876 Renaixença 1833–1892 Catalanism 1870s– Tragic Week 1909 Commonwealth 1914–1925 La Canadenca strike 1919 Catalan Republic 1931 Republican Generalitat / Statute of Autonomy 1932–1939 Events of 6 October 1934 Spanish Civil War / Revolution 1936–1939
Contemporary Francoism 1939–1975 Transition to democracy 1975–1982 Statute of Autonomy 1979–2006 Barcelona '92 1992 Statute of Autonomy 2006–present Independence movement 2010–present
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Catalan / Valencian cultural domain
Language History Literature Literature of Andorra Grammar Pronunciation Phonetic history IPA guide Spelling-to-sound charts Orthography Alphabet Braille Morpho-syntax Nouns Personal pronouns Verbs (Conjugation) Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) Institut and Fundació Ramon Llull (IRL & FRL)
People Andorrans Aragonese Balearics Ibizans Majorcans Minorcans Catalans Roussillonese Sardinians Alguerese Valencians
History History of Andorra History of Aragon History of the Balearic Islands History of Catalonia History of Roussillon History of Sardinia History of Valencia Crown of Aragon Principality of Catalonia Kingdom of Majorca Kingdom of Valencia Catalan Constitutions Valencian Law Treaty of the Pyrenees Nova Planta Decrees
Geo-political divisions Andorra Aragon (La Franja) Balearic Islands Ibiza Majorca Minorca Catalonia Murcia (El Carxe) Occitania Sardinia (L'Alguer) Valencia See Catalan Countries
Government and politics General Council of Andorra (Politics) Courts of Aragon (Politics) Government of the Balearic Islands (Politics) Generalitat of Catalonia (Politics) General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Politics) Generalitat of Valencia (Politics) See Catalan and Valencian nationalism
Traditions and symbols Cuisine Myths and legends Symbols Traditions Caganer Castells Correfoc Falles Fogueres de Sant Joan Gegants i capgrossos Moros i cristians Muixeranga Diada de Sant Jordi Sardana Tió de Nadal Coca Ensaïmada Pa amb tomàquet Paella
Arts Antoni Gaudí Antoni Tàpies Joan Miró Joaquim Sorolla Salvador Dalí Literature Segle d'or Decadència Renaixença Modernisme Noucentisme Music Nova cançó Rock català Rumba catalana
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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.^[1][2]

In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona betrothed the heiress of the Kingdom of Aragon, Petronilla, establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, resulting in a composite monarchy later known as Crown of Aragon, while the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties merged into a state, the Principality of Catalonia,^[3] which developed an institutional system (Catalan Courts, constitutions, Generalitat) that limited the power of the kings. Catalonia sponsored and contributed to the expansion of the Crown's trade and military, most significantly their navy. The Catalan language flourished and expanded as more territories were added to the Crown of Aragon, including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Athens. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, the end of the reign of House of Barcelona, serf and urban conflicts and a civil war (1462–1472) weakened the role of the Principality within the Crown and internationally.

The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 created a dynastic union between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile, and both realms kept their own laws, institutions, borders and currency.^[4] In 1492 the Spanish colonization of the Americas began, political power began to shift away towards Castile. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy, alongside the economic crisis and the peasants' revolts, caused the Reapers' War (1640–1652), being briefly proclaimed a Catalan Republic. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the northern parts of Catalonia, mostly the Roussillon, were ceded to France. The status of separate state of the Principality of Catalonia came to an end after the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), in which the Crown of Aragon supported the claim of the Archduke Charles of Habsburg. Following Catalan surrender on 11 September 1714, the king Philip V of Bourbon, inspired by the model of France imposed a unifying administration across Spain, enacting the Nueva Planta decrees, which suppressed the main Catalan political institutions and public law, and merged it into Castile as a province. These led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature. During the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries Catalonia experienced economic growth, reinforced in the late 18th century when Cádiz's trade monopoly with American colonies ended.

In the 19th century Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars. The Napoleonic occupation and subsequent war in Spain began a period of political and economic turmoil. In the second third of the century, Catalonia became a center of industrialization. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, Catalonia saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements (particularly anarchism) appeared.

In the 20th century, Catalonia enjoyed and lost varying degrees of autonomy. The Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) established Catalan self-government and the official use of the Catalan language. Like much of Spain, Catalonia (which, in turn, expererienced a revolutionary process) fought to defend the Republic in the Civil War of 1936–1939. 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 an 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 area. 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 today remains one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain. Since the 2010s there have been growing calls for Catalan independence.