Catalonia

Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya; Spanish: Cataluña: Occitan: Catalonha) is a Spanish autonomous community. It is south of the eastern Pyrenees, and has a northern border with France.

Catalonia Catalunya (Catalan) Cataluña (Spanish) Catalonha (Occitan)
Autonomous community
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Els Segadors (Catalan) "The Reapers"
Location of Catalonia (red) in Spain
Location of  Catalonia  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in Spain  (green)
Coordinates: 41°49′N 1°28′E
Country	Spain
Status	Autonomous community (styled as nationality)
Formation	988 (Catalan Counties) 1137 (Union with Aragon) 1283 (Catalan constitutions) 1469 (Union of Castile and Aragon under Catholic Monarchs) 1716 (Nueva Planta decrees)
Statute of Autonomy	9 September 1932 18 September 1979 9 August 2006 (current version)
Capital and largest city	Barcelona 41°23′N 2°11′E
Provinces	Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona
Government
• Type	Devolved government in a constitutional monarchy
• Body	Generalitat of Catalonia
• President	Pere Aragonès (ERC)
• Legislature	Parliament
• Congress of Deputies	48 Deputies (of 350)
• Senate	24 Senators (of 265)
Area [1]
• Total	32,108 km2 (12,397 sq mi)
• Rank	6th in Spain
Population  (2016)
• Total	7,522,596[2]
• Rank	2nd in Spain (16%)
• Density	234/km2 (610/sq mi)
Demonyms	Catalan or Catalonian català, -ana (ca) catalán, -ana (es) catalan, -a (oc)
GDP  (nominal; 2017)[3]
• Total	€224 billion
• Per capita	€30,100
GDP  (PPP; 2017)[4]
• Total	$343 billion
• Per capita	$46,024
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code	+34 93 (Barcelona area) +34 97 (rest of Catalonia)
ISO 3166 code	ES-CT
Official languages	Catalan Spanish[lower-alpha 1] Occitan (Aranese)[lower-alpha 2] Catalan Sign Language[lower-alpha 3]
Patron saints	Saint George (Sant Jordi), Virgin of Montserrat
HDI (2017)	0.905[9] very high · 4th
Website	gencat.cat

Catalonia is made up of four provinces: Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona (Spanish: Gerona) and Lleida (Spanish: Lérida). It has a population of over seven million people. Catalonia has three official languages: Catalan, Spanish and Occitan. The last is spoken in a small region of northern Catalonia that borders France and is known in Occitan as Val d'Aran.

The capital of Catalonia is Barcelona, on the Mediterranean Coast. Between Costa del Garraf and Costa del Maresme, Barcelona very popular in summer for tourists, foreign or national.

The Catalan people have autonomy within Spain and so they have their own local government and their own police and some control over their own community. In September 2005, the Catalan Parliament decided to call Catalonia a 'nation' in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which was approved in 2006. According to the Spanish Constitution, Spain is a group of historical nationalities and regions, but that declaration has no judicial status since it only appears in the preamble to the constitution.

On 27 October 2017, Catalonia declared independence from Spain after a vote in Parliament, but that was not recognised by the international community.^[10] The Spanish Senate voted in favour of direct rule. It removed the Catalan government and called a snap regional election. The Spanish Supreme Court imprisoned seven former ministers of the Catalan government on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. Several others—including then-President Carles Puigdemont—fled to other European countries.

Catalonia is one of Southern Europe's most prosperous regions. Industrialization, especially in the textile industry, began earlier and took place faster than in other Spanish territories. The region is also greener than Southern Spain as it gets more rain, and it has different kinds of crops grown. Catalonia, especially the northern part, is much less hot than the rest of Spain.

References

1. "Indicadors geogràfics. Superfície, densitat i entitats de població: Catalunya". Statistical Institute of Catalonia. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
2. "IIdescat. Statistical Yearbook of Catalonia. Population density. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces". www.idescat.cat. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
3. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9618249/1-26022019-AP-EN.pdf/f765d183-c3d2-4e2f-9256-cc6665909c80
4. "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". www.imf.org.
5. "The Spanish Constitution" (PDF). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. BOE. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
6. "Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia". Gencat.cat. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
7. "Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (2006), Articles 6, 50 – BOPC 224" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
8. "Llei de la llengua de signes catalana" (PDF). blogs.iec.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 9 October 2022.
9. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
10. Sandford, Alasdair (27 October 2017). "Catalonia: what direct rule from Madrid could mean". euronews. Retrieved 27 October 2017.

Notes

1. As "the official language of the State", according with the Spanish Constitution.^[5]
2. Catalan and Occitan (Aranese in Aran) are the languages of Catalonia and Aran (respectively) and official languages of the autonomous community of Catalonia according with its Statute of Autonomy.^[6]
3. LSC was officially recognized as one of Catalonia's official languages on 3 June 2010 when Law 17/2010 of the Catalan Sign Language (LSC) was approved by the government.^[7][8]

Besiberri in the Catalan Pyrenees