'Catalonia' (; ;
Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha''), is one of the constituent
autonomous communities of
Spain. It is divided into four
provinces:
Barcelona,
Girona,
Lleida, and
Tarragona. Catalonia borders
France and
Andorra to the north,
Aragon to the west, and
Valencia to the south. To the east there is a 580 km coastline which meets the
Mediterranean Sea.
Its territory corresponds to most of the historic territory of the former
Principality of Catalonia and the capital is
Barcelona. The autonomous community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,134,697 (2006) from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3% of the total population.
Legal status within Spain
The
Spanish Constitution, in its second article, declares that Spain is an indissoluble nation that recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the "
nationalities" and regions that constitute it.
[1] Catalonia, alongside
Euskadi,
Galicia and
Andalusia self-ascribed as "nationalities" in the elaborations of their Statutes of Autonomy –the first three acceding to autonomy automatically– and more recently in their new Statues or recent amendments
Aragon, the
Valencian Community, the
Balearic Islands and the
Canary Islands also did.
The 1979 as well as the current Statute of Autonomy, approved in 2006, state that "Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an
autonomous community in accordance with the Constitution and with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which is its basic institutional law."
[2].
The descriptive preamble of the 2006
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states the
Parliament of Catalonia defined Catalonia as a
nation, but that the "Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia's national reality as a nationality". While this Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and the Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been legally contested by the
Partido Popular for its alleged constitutional breeches in fiscal and educational matters –Catalonia is an
autonomous community of common regime with limited fiscal autonomy– pending the resolution of the
Constitutional Court of Spain.
History
Main articles: History of Catalonia
Like some other parts in the rest of the
Mediterranean coast of the
Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia was colonized by
Ancient Greeks, who settled around the
Roses area. Both Greeks and
Carthaginians (who, in the course of the
Second Punic War, briefly ruled the territory) interacted with the main
Iberian substratum. After the Carthaginian defeat, it became, along with the rest of
Hispania, a part of the
Roman Empire,
Tarraco being one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula
It then came under
Visigothic rule for 3 centuries after
Rome's collapse. In the
eighth century, it became under
Moorish al-Andalus control. Still, after the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqiwas's troops at
Tours in
732, the
Franks conquered former Visigoth states which had been captured by the Muslims or had become allied with them in what today is the northernmost part of Catalonia.
Charlemagne created in 795 which came to be known as the
Marca Hispanica, a
buffer zone beyond the province of
Septimania made up of locally administered separate
petty kingdoms which served as a defensive barrier between the
Umayyad Moors of
Al-Andalus and the
Frankish Kingdom.
The Catalan culture started to develop in the
Middle Ages stemming from a number of these petty kingdoms organized as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The
counts of Barcelona were Frankish
vassals nominated by the emperor then the king of France, to whom they were feudatories (801-987).
In 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognise the French king
Hugh Capet and his new dynasty which put it effectively out of the Frankish rule. Then, in 1137
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona married
Petronila of Aragón establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with the
Kingdom of Aragón (which was to create the
Crown of Aragon).
It was not until 1258, by the
Treaty of Corbeil, that the king of France formally relinquished his feudal overlordship over the counties of the
Principality of Catalonia to the king of Aragon
James I, descendant of Ramon Berenguer IV. This Treaty turned the
de facto independence into a full
de jure direct transition from French to Aragonese rule. It also solved a historic incongruence. As part of the
Crown of Aragon, Catalonia became a great maritime power, helping to expand the
Crown of Aragon by trade and conquest into
Valencia, the
Balearic Islands, and even
Sardinia or
Sicily.
The marriage of
Isabella of Castile and
Ferdinand II of Aragon (1469) unified all the Christian kingdoms in Spain (except the
Kingdom of Navarre, which was annexed to the Castilian crown in 1513). This resulted in the dawn of the
Kingdom of Spain, made up by the former Crown of Aragon, Castile and Navarra. In 1492, the last remaining portion of
Al-Andalus around Granada was conquered and the Spanish conquest of
the Americas began. Political power began to shift away from Aragón toward Castile and, subsequently, from Castile to the
Spanish Empire, which engaged in frequent warfare in Europe striving for world domination.
For an extended period, Catalonia, as part of the late
Kingdom of Aragon, continued to retain its own usages and laws, but these gradually eroded in the course of the transition from a feudal state to a modern one and the king's struggle to get from the territories as much of the power as possible. Over the next few centuries, Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of wars that led steadily to more centralization of power in Spain.
The most significant conflict was the
War of the Spanish Succession, which began when
Carlos II ''El Hechizado'' died without a successor in 1700. Catalonia, as the other kingdoms which used to form the Crown of Aragon, mostly took side with the Austrian branch of the
Habsburg dynasty pretender, while most of Spain fell under the French Bourbon claimant,
Felipe V. Following the fall of Barcelona on
11 September 1714, Felipe V's
Nueva Planta decrees banned all the main Aragonese political institutions and imposed military-based rule over the region in direct violation of the
Treaty of Utrecht.
In the latter half of the
19th century, Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains one of the most industrialised parts of Spain, rivaled only by the
Basque Country and
Community of Madrid. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times, receiving its first statute of autonomy during the
Second Spanish Republic (1931). This period was marked by politic unrest and the preeminence of the
Anarchists during the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). After the defeat of the Republic in the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) which brought General
Francisco Franco to power, Catalan autonomy and culture were crushed to an unprecedented degree; during the first years of the dictatorial regime, even use of the
Catalan language in public was banned.
After Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of
a democratic Spanish constitution (1978), Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy. Today, Catalonia is one of the most economically dynamic regions of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city,
Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourism destination.
Catalonia's second
statute of autonomy, adopted by the Catalan government on 22 December 1979, officially recognized Catalonia as a
nationality. Then, the amended version approved on 9 August 2006 has defined Catalonia as a
nation in the preamble. The precise meaning of the term nation is ambiguous as to not conflict with the Spanish Constitution. The Statute of Autonomy also establishes that ''"Catalonia wishes to develop its political personality within the framework of a State which recognises and respects the diversity of identities of the peoples of Spain".'' After the charter was first passed in the regional parliament, it was then edited in conjunction with the national Cortes. The major political parties in Catalonia endorsed the final statute, and it was approved in a referendum in which 73.9% voted for the autonomy plan and 20.8% against it. The turnout was unpredencently low, at around 49% of the total census, which resulted in the highest abstention ever registered in Catalonia regarding this kind of referendum.
[3]
Language
Originating in the historic territory of Catalonia
Catalan is one of the three official languages and has enjoyed special status since the approval of the
Statute of Autonomy of 1979 which declares it to be the language "proper to Catalonia".
[4]. The other languages with official status are
Spanish, which is the official language throughout Spain, and
Aranese (spoken in the
Val d'Aran valley).
Catalan was, until the 1970s, excluded from the state education system, and all other official use, and its use discouraged by the central government. Immigration had also reduced the social use of the language, especially in urban areas. In an attempt to reverse this decline the newly reestablished regional institutions of Catalonia embarked on a project of linguistic normalization of the Catalan language
[5] and has, since
1983, enforced laws which attempt to protect, and extend, the use of Catalan.
Nowadays Catalan is the language of the Catalan autonomous government and the other public institutions that fall under its jurisdiction. Basic public education is given in Catalan other than two hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) in Catalan under penalty of legal fines, there is no obligation to display this information in either Aranese or Spanish. The use of fines was introduced in
1997 linguistic law
[6] which aims to increase the use of Catalan.
According to the most recent linguistic census elaborated by the Government of Catalonia, 53,4% of citizens declared Spanish as their native language, although a majority claims Catalan as "their own language" (48.8% Catalan vs. 44.3% Spanish), and in most everyday uses, people who use exclusively Catalan or both languages equally are in the majority.
[7]
The law, therefore, assures that both Catalan and Spanish –being official languages– can be used by the citizens without prejudice in all public and private activities
[8] even though the Generalitat usually uses Catalan in its communications and notifications addressed to the general population. The citizens can also receive information from the Generalitat in Spanish if they so desire.
[9]
Finally, since the
Statute of Autonomy of 1979,
Occitan, in its Aranese variety (a dialect of
Gascon), has been official and subject to special protection in the
Val d'Aran (Aran Valley). This small area of 7,000 inhabitants has been the only place where Occitan (spoken mainly in France and some Italian valleys) has received full official status. Since
9 August 2006, after the application of a new statute, Occitan has been also official in all of Catalonia.
| 'Language in which the Catalans identify themselves' (2003) [7] |
| Maternal language | Own language | Usual language |
| Catalan | 40,4 % | 48,8 % | 50,1 % |
| Spanish | 53,5 % | 44,3 % | 44,1 % |
| Both | 2,8 % | 5,2 % | 4,7 % |
| Aranese | 0,1 % | 0,0 % | 0,0 % |
| Other languages | 3,2 % | 1,7 % | 1,1 % |
Catalan
Main articles: Catalan language
Catalan is regarded by most
linguists as being an
Iberian Romance language[11] (Such as Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Aragonese...), but it also has several features of
Gallo-Romance languages[12] such as
Occitan and in lesser degree
French.
Literacy
According to the 2001 Linguistic Census,
[13] about 5,900,000 people in Catalonia (nearly 95% of the population) understand the Catalan language. The percentage of people aged two and older who can speak, read and write Catalan is as follows:
| Knowledge of Catalan (Total Population: 6,215,281) |
|---|
| Ability | Individuals | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Understands | 5,872,202 | 94.5% |
|---|
| Speaks | 4,630,640 | 74.5% |
|---|
| Reads | 4,621,404 | 74.4% |
|---|
| Writes | 3,093,223 | 49.8% |
|---|
| |
As a result of the ongoing
linguistic policies favouring Catalan, implemented in various degrees by the autonomous government during the last 20 years, knowledge of Catalan has advanced significantly in all these areas, with the ability to write it having experienced the most pronounced increase, from 31.6% of the population in 1986 to 49.8% in 2001.
By age groups, those between 10 and 29 have the highest level of Catalan-language literacy (e.g., 98.2% aged 10–14 understand it, and 85.2% can write it); this is attributed to these individuals having received their education in Catalan.
Geographically, Catalan is understood in northwest Catalonia (
High Pyrenees,
Val d'Aran), at 97.4%, followed by south and western Catalonia, whereas
Barcelona's metropolitan area sees the lowest knowledge, at 93.8%. The situation is analogous for written-language skills, with central Catalonia scoring the highest percentages (61.4%), and Barcelona the lowest (46.4%).
Barcelona is one of the main centres of the
Spanish publishing industry for both Spanish-language and Catalan-language publishing.
Social use
According to a study carried out in 2003 by the Generalitat de Catalunya,
[14] Catalan is used by 50.1% of the population in everyday situations.
Significantly, over 55% of respondents use Spanish to address their parents (versus 42% who choose Catalan). This is attributed to massive immigration from other areas in Spain during the second half of the 20th century, as a consequence of which many Catalans have one or both parents born outside Catalonia. However, a majority (52.6%) use Catalan with their children (42.3% Spanish). This can be attributed to some Spanish-speaking citizens shifting from their mother tongue to Catalan at home.
Outside the family, 48.6% of the population indicate that they address strangers exclusively or preferentially in Catalan, while the proportion of those who use Spanish is 41.7%. Then 8.6% claim to use both equally.
Spanish
Main articles: Spanish language
The Spanish language developed from
Vulgar Latin, with influences from
Basque,
Arabic and to some minor extent
Celtiberian, in the north of the
Iberian Peninsula, between
Biscay and current
Cantabria's corners, partly as strongly innovative and differing variant from its nearest cousin,
Leonese speech, with a higher degree of Basque influence.
Aranese
Main articles: Aranese language
According to the 2001
Aranese Linguistic Census,
[15] knowledge of Aranese in the Occitan-speaking territory of Aran is as follows:
| Knowledge of Aranese |
|---|
| Ability | Individuals | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Understand | 6,712 | 88.88% |
|---|
| Speak | 4,700 | 62.24% |
|---|
| Read | 4,413 | 58.44% |
|---|
| Write | 2,016 | 26.69% |
|---|
Compared to previous data from 1996, the number of those able to understand Aranese has declined slightly (90.5% in 1996), while at the same time there has been a marginal increase in the number of those able to write it (24.97% in 1996).
By age groups, the largest percentage of those with knowledge of Aranese is in the 15-19 and 65-69 groups (both above 96%), while those aged 30-34 score lowest (just over 80%). Literacy is higher in the 10-19 group with over 88% declaring themselves able to read, and 76% able to write Aranese. Those over 80 are the least literate, with only about 1.5% of them being able to write the language.
It is significant to note that in the Val d'Aran, those born outside Spain outnumber Spaniards born outside Aran and Catalonia in the active use of Aranese (17% of non-Spaniards can write Aranese, while the percentage for Spaniards excluding Catalans is 10%).
Demographics
The autonomous community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,134,697 (2006) from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3%.
[16][17]
The
Urban Region of Barcelona includes 5,327,872 people and covers an area of 4.268 km² and about 2,5 million persons live in a radius of 25 km from
Barcelona. The first metropolitan crown of the Urban Region includes cities like
l'Hospitalet de Llobregat,
Badalona,
Santa Coloma de Gramenet and
Cornellà. The main populations of the second crown are
Terrassa,
Sabadell,
Montcada i Reixac,
Granollers,
Martorell,
Molins de Rei, Sant Feliu de Llobregat,
Gavà and
Castelldefels.
In
1900 the population of Catalonia was 1,984,115 people and in 1970 it was 5,107,606.
[18] That increase was produced due to the demographic boom produced in Spain during the 60's and early 70's and also due to the large-scale internal migration produced from the rural interior of
Spain to its industrial cities. In Catalonia that wave of internal migration arrived from several regions of Spain, especially
Andalusia,
Murcia and
Extremadura.
Politics
Main articles: Politics of Catalonia
Present-day Parliament of Catalonia, held in
Barcelona.
After
Franco's death in 1975 and the adoption of
a democratic constitution in Spain in 1978, Catalonia recovered, and extended, the powers granted in the statute of autonomy of
1932[19] it had lost with the fall of the
Second Spanish Republic[20] at the end of the
Spanish Civil War in 1939 .
The historical region has gradually achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in various matters including culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments while it shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice.
[21].
Law and government of Catalonia
Main articles: Generalitat de Catalunya
The institutional normative law of Catalonia is the
Statute of Autonomy. It establishes that Catalonia is organized politically through the ''
Generalitat de Catalunya'', conformed by the
Parliament, the Presidency of the Generalitat, the Government or Executive Council and the other institutions created by the Parliament.
The seat of the Executive Council is the city of
Barcelona. Since the restoration of the Generalitat through the return of democracy in Spain, the presidents of Catalonia have been
Jordi Pujol (
1980-
2003),
Pasqual Maragall (
2003-
2006) and incumbent
José Montilla Aguilera.
Catalonia is divided into four
provinces:
Barcelona,
Girona,
Lleida, and
Tarragona. Local governments include
comarques (roughly equivalent to counties), as well as smaller forms of municipal administration.
Catalonia has its own police force, the ''
Mossos d'Esquadra'', whose origins trace back to the eighteenth century. Since 1980 they are under the commandment of the Generalitat, and since 1994 it is expanding in order to replace the Spain-wide ''
Guardia Civil'' and ''
Policía Nacional'', which report directly to the Homeland Department of Spain. These corps are to retain a limited number of agents within Catalonia to exercise specific functions such as overseeing ports, airports, coasts, international borders, custom offices, identification documents, control of armament amongst others.
Most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called "
civil law", which is administered separately within Catalonia.
[22]
After
Navarre and the
Basque Country, Catalonia is the Spanish region with the highest degree of Autonomy.
Parties
★
CiU — Convergència i Unió (Convergence and Unity) - federation
★
★
CDC — Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia)
★
★
UDC — Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Union of Catalonia)
★
PSC-
PSOE — Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya-Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Socialist Party of Catalonia-Spanish Socialist Workers' Party)
★
ERC — Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia)
★
ICV-
EUiA — Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds – Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (Initiative for Catalonia-Greens – United and Alternative Left)
★
PP — Partit Popular (People's Party)
★
Ciutadans — Partido de la Ciudadanía (Citizens - Citizenship Party)
Economics
The GDP of Catalonia in
2005 was € 170.450 million
[23] and Per capita GDP was $24,858, ranking 4th among autonomous communities in Spain.
The Catalan economy is distinguished by its industrial profile.
[24] The distribution of sectors is the following one:
★
Primary sector: 2.8%
★
Secondary sector: 37.2%
★
Tertiary sector: 60%
The
GDP growth is 3,3%,
[25] the land dedicated to agricultural use is 33%.
Catalonia is the first tourist destination of Spain. The main tourist destinations of Catalonia are the city of
Barcelona, the beaches of the
Costa Brava at
Girona and the
Costa Daurada at
Tarragona. In the
Pyrenees there are 10 ski resorts: Baqueira Beret, the Molina, Espot Ski, the Masella, Port Ainé, Vall de Núria, Boí Taüll, Port of the Comte, Flat of Peguera, Tavascan and Vallter 2000.
From the financial point of view the saving banks have a great implantation in Catalonia. 10 of the 46 Spanish savings banks are Catalan and "
La Caixa" is the first
savings bank of Europe.
[26] The first
private bank originated in Catalonia is "
Banc Sabadell" ranking fourth of the Spanish private banks.
[27]
The Stock market of Barcelona, that in 2004 negotiated almost 205,000 million euros, is the second most important of Spain after the Stock market of Madrid and
Fira de Barcelona organizes samples and congresses of international character on varied sectors of the economy.
The main economic cost for the Catalan families is the purchase of a house. According to data of the Society of Appraisal on the 31 of December of 2005 Catalonia is, after Madrid, the second community of Spain where the price of the house is more expensive: 3,397 euros for a square meter are paid by average. By cities, nevertheless,
Barcelona is the most expensive city of Spain, with an average price of 3,700 euros for a square meter.
The most commonly cultivated crops in Catalonia are
maize,
potatoes,
forage,
vines,
olives and
cereals. Also commonly practiced are
horticulture and
animal husbandry; most important to the latter the
porcine livestock,
bovine livestock and
ovine livestock.
Transport
Airports
★
Barcelona International Airport
★
Girona-Costa Brava Airport
★
Reus Airport
★
Sabadell Airport
Commercial and passenger ports
★
Port of Barcelona
★
Port of Tarragona
★ Port of
Palamós
Roads
There are 12,000 km of roads throughout Catalonia.
The principal highway is
AP-7 know also as ''Autopista del Mediterraneo''. It follows the coast from the French Border to
Valencia, located south of Tarragona. The main roads generally radiate from Barcelona. The A-2 and AP-2 connect inland and onward to Madrid.
Other major roads are:
★
AP-2
★
A-2
★
N-II
★
C-12
★
A-16 or C-32
★
C-16
★
C-17
★
C-25
★
A-26
★
C-32
★
C-60
Railways
Catalonia saw the first railway construction in
Iberian Peninsula in 1848, linking
Barcelona with
Mataró. Given the topography most lines radiate from
Barcelona. The city has both suburban and inter-city services. The main east coast line runs through the province connecting with French Railways at
Portbou on the coast.
The railroad companies operating in Catalonia are
FGC and
RENFE.
High speed
AVE services from Madrid currently reach
Tarragona but construction is near completion into Barcelona (and the airport). Agreement has been reached to connect further to the French high speed network by building a new line and rail tunnel through the Pyrenees.
Environmental policy
Awareness of environmental problems tends to be much lower in Catalonia (and in Spain as a whole) than in northern Europe. Carbon dioxide emissions in Catalonia have increased by 40% since 1992, and 60% of the region's electricity comes from aging nuclear power stations (a figure only exceeded in Europe by France and
Lithuania). Despite Catalonia's change of government in 2004 from the long time ruling conservative/nationalist CiU to a "catalanist/social/green" tripartite coalition of PSC, ERC, and ICV parties, there is little evidence of greater concern for the environment.
ICV was put in charge of the Department of Environment, but has largely continued the outgoing administration's policies. The Department's decision to build the controversial Bracons tunnel through an area of outstanding natural beauty, and a plan to situate an incinerator burning 90,000 metric tonnes of industrial waste
[28] in a heavily-populated valley are two of the mentioned issues.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia
There are several
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia:
★ Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco,
Tarragona
★ Catalan
Romanesque Churches at
Vall de Boí
★
Poblet Monastery, Poblet, Tarragona province
★
Palau de la Música Catalana and
Hospital de Sant Pau,
Barcelona
★ Works of
Antoni Gaudi:
★
★
Sagrada Família,
Barcelona
★
★
Parc Güell,
Barcelona
★
★
Palau Güell,
Barcelona
★
★
Casa Milà,
Barcelona
Popular Culture
''
Castellers'' are one of the main manifestations of the Catalan popular culture . The activity consists on the construction of human towers by ''colles castelleres'' (teams) that compete among them. This practice was originated in the southern part of Catalonia during the XVIII century.
The
sardana is the most characteristic Catalan popular dance, other groups also practice ''
Ball de bastons'',
moixiganga or
jota in the southern part. Musically the ''
Havaneres'' are also characteristic in the marine localities of the
Costa Brava specially during the summer months when this songs are sung outdoors always accompanied by a tasting of burned rum.
In the greater celebrations other elements of the Catalan popular culture are usually present: the parades of giants and ''
correfocs'' of devils and firecrackers. Another traditional celebrations of Catalonia is ''
La Patum de Berga'' declared oral and immaterial patrimony of the Humanity by UNESCO in the
25 of November of
2005.
[29]
In addition to the own manifestations of the Catalan traditional culture and fruit of the great immigration from other Spanish regions people can enjoy other cultural manifestations. In this sense, the activities of the Andalusians in Catalonia are specially remarkable with the proliferation of
Catalan rumba and the celebration of the
Fair of April of Catalonia.
See also
★
★
Barcelona
★
Barcelona (province)
★
FC Barcelona
★
Barcelona metropolitan area
★
Urban Region of Barcelona
★
Caga Tió
★
.cat
★
Catalan countries
★
Cuisine of Catalonia
★
Famous Catalan People
★
Girona
★
History of Catalonia
★
National Day of Catalonia
★
Catalan nationalism
★
Lleida
★
Northern Catalonia
★
Principality of Catalonia
★
List of rivers of Catalonia
★
Tarragona
References
1. Constitución Española, Título Preliminar
2. First article of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalunya
3. "Catalonia endorses autonomy plan", BBC News. 19 June 2006
4. Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
5. Multilingualism in Spain: Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Linguistic Minority Groups
6. Catalonia's linguistic law
7. IDESCAT 2003
8. Second article of Catalonia's linguistic law
9. Ninth article of Catalonia's Linguistic Law
10. IDESCAT 2003
11. [1]
12. [2]
13. http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/socio/docs/censling2001.pdf
14. http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/socio/docs/usos2003.pdf
15. http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/aran/docs/a_aran_cens.pdf
16. "Catalunya arriba a set milions d'habitants", Diari El Punt.
17. "Catalans grapple with migrant influx", BBC News. 3 January 2007
18. http://www15.gencat.net/pres_catalunya_dades/AppPHP/cat/poblacio.htm
19. Beginnings of the autonomous regime, 1918-1932
20. The republican Government of Catalonia, 1931-1939
21. Title IV. Powers (articles 110-173)of the 2006 Statute
22. Legislació civil catalana
23. [3] CIDEM
24. European Structural Funds in Spain (2000-2006)
25. [4] CIDEM
26. Ranking of Savings Banks
27. [5] Profile of "Banc Sabadell" in Euroinvestor]
28. The Vall del Ges incinerator
29. de Berga
External links
★
The Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia)
★
Statistical information from Idescat (Catalan Institute of Statistics)
★
Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies)
★
Lletra. Catalan Literature Online
★
Lletra. espai virtual de literatura catalana
★
Catalan Hyperencyclopaedia: Encyclopedia with information about Catalonia in English
★
A guide to the natural history of Catalonia
★
EatCatalunya.com: Online resource in English offering information about Catalan cuisine and culinary culture.
★
The Spirit of Catalonia. Digital edition of the 1946 book by Oxford Professor Dr.
Josep Trueta, in English.
★
Catalonia at the Classic Encyclopedia, based on the 1911
Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
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