Catalonia consists of four\u00a0provinces<\/a>:\u00a0Barcelona<\/a>,\u00a0Girona<\/a>,\u00a0Lleida<\/a>, and\u00a0Tarragona<\/a>. The capital and largest city,\u00a0Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0is the second-most populated\u00a0municipality<\/a>\u00a0in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the\u00a0European Union<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0It comprises most of the former\u00a0Principality of Catalonia<\/a>\u00a0(with the remainder\u00a0Roussillon<\/a>\u00a0now part of France’s\u00a0Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es-Orientales<\/a>). It is bordered by\u00a0France<\/a>\u00a0(Occitanie<\/a>) and\u00a0Andorra<\/a>\u00a0to the north, the\u00a0Mediterranean Sea<\/a>\u00a0to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of\u00a0Aragon<\/a>\u00a0to the west and\u00a0Valencia<\/a>\u00a0to the south. The official languages are\u00a0Catalan<\/a>,\u00a0Spanish<\/a>, and the\u00a0Aranese dialect<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Occitan<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the late 8th century, various counties across the eastern\u00a0Pyrenees<\/a>\u00a0were established by the\u00a0Frankish kingdom<\/a>\u00a0as a defensive barrier against Muslim invasions. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1137,\u00a0Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Kingdom of Aragon<\/a>\u00a0were united by marriage under the\u00a0Crown of Aragon<\/a>. Within the Crown, the Catalan counties adopted a common polity, the\u00a0Principality of Catalonia<\/a>, developing its own institutional system, such as\u00a0Courts<\/a>,\u00a0Generalitat<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0constitutions<\/a>, becoming the base for the Crown’s Mediterranean trade and expansionism. In the later Middle Ages,\u00a0Catalan literature<\/a>\u00a0flourished. In 1469, the\u00a0king<\/a>\u00a0of Aragon and the\u00a0queen<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Castile<\/a>\u00a0were married and ruled their realms together, retaining all of their distinct institutions and legislation.<\/p>\n During the\u00a0Franco-Spanish War<\/a>\u00a0(1635\u20131659),\u00a0Catalonia revolted<\/a>\u00a0(1640\u20131652) against a large and burdensome presence of the royal army, being briefly proclaimed a\u00a0republic<\/a>\u00a0under French protection, until it was largely reconquered by the Spanish army. By the\u00a0Treaty of the Pyrenees<\/a>\u00a0(1659), the\u00a0northern parts of Catalonia<\/a>, mostly the\u00a0Roussillon<\/a>, were ceded to France. During the\u00a0War of the Spanish Succession<\/a>\u00a0(1701\u20131714), the Crown of Aragon sided against the\u00a0Bourbon<\/a>\u00a0Philip V of Spain<\/a>; following Catalan defeat on 11 September 1714, Philip V imposed a unifying administration across Spain, enacting the\u00a0Nueva Planta decrees<\/a>\u00a0which, like in the other realms of the Crown of Aragon, suppressed the Catalan institutions and rights. This led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature, replaced by Spanish. Throughout the 18th century, Catalonia experienced economic growth.<\/p>\n In the 19th century, Catalonia was severely affected by the\u00a0Napoleonic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Carlist Wars<\/a>. In the second third of the century, it experienced industrialization. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, it saw a cultural renaissance<\/a>\u00a0coupled with incipient\u00a0nationalism<\/a>\u00a0while several\u00a0workers movements<\/a>\u00a0appeared. With the establishment of the\u00a0Second Spanish Republic<\/a>\u00a0(1931\u20131939), the\u00a0Generalitat<\/a>\u00a0was restored as a Catalan autonomous government. After the\u00a0Spanish Civil War<\/a>, the\u00a0Francoist<\/a>\u00a0dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan self-government and banning the official use of the Catalan language. After a period of\u00a0autarky<\/a>, from the late 1950s through to the 1970s Catalonia saw\u00a0rapid economic growth<\/a>, drawing many workers from across Spain, making Barcelona one of Europe’s largest industrial metropolitan areas and turning Catalonia into a major tourist destination. During the\u00a0Spanish transition to democracy<\/a>\u00a0(1975\u20131982), Catalonia regained self-government and is now one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain.<\/p>\n Since the 2010s there has been growing support for\u00a0Catalan independence<\/a>. On 27 October 2017, the Catalan Parliament unilaterally declared independence following a\u00a0disputed referendum<\/a>. The Spanish Senate voted in favour of enforcing direct rule by removing the Catalan government and calling\u00a0a snap regional election<\/a>. The Spanish Supreme Court imprisoned seven former ministers of the Catalan government on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds, while several others\u2014including then-President,\u00a0Carles Puigdemont<\/a>\u2014fled to other European countries.<\/p>\n The first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the\u00a0Middle Paleolithic<\/a>. The oldest known trace of human occupation is a mandible found in\u00a0Banyoles<\/a>, described by some sources as pre-Neanderthal<\/a>\u00a0some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old.<\/sup>\u00a0From the next prehistoric era, the\u00a0Epipalaeolithic<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Mesolithic<\/a>, important remains survive, the greater part dated between 8000 and 5000 BC.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Neolithic<\/a>\u00a0era began in Catalonia around 5000 BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements than in other places, thanks to the abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally\u00a0hunter-gatherer<\/a> culture. An example of such settlements would be La Draga, an “early Neolithic village which dates from the end of the 6th millennium BC.”<\/sup><\/p>\n The\u00a0Chalcolithic<\/a>\u00a0period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800 BC, with the beginning of the construction of copper objects. The\u00a0Bronze Age<\/a>\u00a0occurred between 1800 and 700 BC. There are few remnants of this era, but there were some known settlements in the\u00a0low Segre<\/a>\u00a0zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the\u00a0Indo-Europeans<\/a>\u00a0through the\u00a0Urnfield Culture<\/a>, whose successive waves of migration began around 1200 BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements.<\/sup>\u00a0Around the middle of the 7th century BC, the\u00a0Iron Age<\/a>\u00a0arrived in Catalonia.<\/p>\n In pre-Roman times, the area that is now called Catalonia in the north-east of <\/span>Iberian Peninsula<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 like the rest of the\u00a0<\/span>Mediterranean<\/a>\u00a0side of the peninsula \u2013 was populated by the\u00a0<\/span>Iberians<\/a>. The Iberians of this area \u2013 the\u00a0<\/span>Ilergetes<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Indigetes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Lacetani<\/a>\u00a0(Cerretains) \u2013 also maintained relations with the peoples of the Mediterranean. Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda (Lleida) inland, Hibera (perhaps\u00a0<\/span>Amposta<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Tortosa<\/a>) or Indika (<\/span>Ullastret<\/a>). Coastal trading colonies were established by the\u00a0<\/span>ancient Greeks<\/a>, who settled around the\u00a0<\/span>Gulf of Roses<\/a>, in Emporion (<\/span>Emp\u00faries<\/a>) and\u00a0<\/span>Roses<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0<\/span>8th century BC<\/a>. The\u00a0<\/span>Carthaginians<\/a>\u00a0briefly ruled the territory in the course of the\u00a0<\/span>Second Punic War<\/a>\u00a0and traded with\u00a0<\/span>the surrounding Iberian population<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n After the Carthaginian defeat by the\u00a0Roman Republic<\/a>, the north-east of Iberia became the first to come under Roman rule and became part of\u00a0Hispania<\/a>, the westernmost part of the\u00a0Roman Empire<\/a>.\u00a0Tarraco<\/a>\u00a0(modern\u00a0Tarragona<\/a>) was one of the most important Roman cities in Hispania and the capital of the\u00a0province<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Tarraconensis<\/a>. Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuri\u00e6 (former Emporion) and Barcino (Barcelona). As for the rest of Hispania,\u00a0Latin law<\/a>\u00a0was granted to all cities under the reign of\u00a0Vespasian<\/a>\u00a0(69-79 AD), while\u00a0Roman citizenship<\/a>\u00a0was granted to all free men of the empire by the\u00a0Edict of Caracalla<\/a>\u00a0in 212 AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of\u00a0Roman law<\/a>\u00a0since 45 BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, vine,\u00a0wheat<\/a>), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of roads (the most important being the\u00a0Via Augusta<\/a>, parallel to Mediterranean coastline) and infrastructure like\u00a0aqueducts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conversion to\u00a0Christianity<\/a>, attested in the 3rd century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th century. Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of\u00a0Vandals<\/a>,\u00a0Swabians<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Alans<\/a>\u00a0in the 5th century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some\u00a0deurbanization<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the fall of the Western Roman Empire<\/a>, the area was conquered by the\u00a0Visigoths<\/a>\u00a0and was ruled as part of the\u00a0Visigothic Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0for almost two and a half centuries. In 718, it came under\u00a0Muslim<\/a>\u00a0control and became part of\u00a0Al-Andalus<\/a>, a province of the\u00a0Umayyad Caliphate<\/a>. From the conquest of Roussillon in 760, to the conquest of Barcelona in 801, the\u00a0Frankish empire<\/a>\u00a0took control of the area between Septimania and the\u00a0Llobregat<\/a> river from the Muslims and created heavily militarized, self-governing\u00a0counties<\/a>. These counties formed part of the historiographically known as the\u00a0Gothic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Hispanic<\/a>\u00a0marches, a\u00a0buffer zone<\/a> in the south of the Frankish empire in the former province of Septimania and in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to act as a defensive barrier for the Frankish empire against further Muslim invasions from Al-Andalus.<\/p>\n These counties came under the rule of the\u00a0<\/span>counts of Barcelona<\/a>, who were Frankish\u00a0<\/span>vassals<\/a>\u00a0nominated by the emperor of the Franks, to whom they were\u00a0<\/span>feudatories<\/a>\u00a0(801\u2013988). The earliest known use of the name “<\/span>Catalonia<\/a>” for these counties dates to 1117. At the end of the 9th century, the Count of Barcelona\u00a0<\/span>Wilfred the Hairy<\/a>\u00a0made his title hereditary and founded the dynasty of the\u00a0<\/span>House of Barcelona<\/a>, which ruled Catalonia until 1410.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In 988\u00a0Borrell II<\/a>, Count of Barcelona, did not recognise the new French king\u00a0Hugh Capet<\/a>\u00a0as his king, evidencing the loss of dependency from Frankish rule and confirming his successors (from\u00a0Ramon Borrell I<\/a>\u00a0to Ramon Berenguer IV) as independent of the Capetian crown whom they regarded as usurpers of the Carolingian Frankish realm.<\/sup> At the beginning of eleventh century the Catalan counties suffered an important process of feudalization, partially controlled by the church’s sponsored\u00a0Peace and Truce Assemblies<\/a>\u00a0and by the negotiation skills of the Count of Barcelona\u00a0Ramon Berenguer I<\/a>, which began the codification of feudal law in the written\u00a0Usages of Barcelona<\/a>, becoming the basis of the Catalan law. In 1137,\u00a0Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0decided to accept\u00a0King Ramiro II of Aragon<\/a>‘s proposal to marry Queen\u00a0Petronila<\/a>, establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with the\u00a0Kingdom of Aragon<\/a>, creating the\u00a0Crown of Aragon<\/a>\u00a0and making the Catalan counties that were united under the county of Barcelona into a\u00a0principality<\/a>\u00a0of the Aragonese Crown.<\/p>\n In 1258, by means of the\u00a0Treaty of Corbeil<\/a>,\u00a0James I of Aragon<\/a>\u00a0King of Aragon and\u00a0Count of Barcelona<\/a>, king of Mallorca and of Valencia, renounced his family rights and dominions in\u00a0Occitania<\/a>\u00a0and recognised the king of France as heir of the\u00a0Carolingian Dynasty<\/a>. The king of France,\u00a0Louis IX<\/a>, formally relinquished his claims of feudal lordship over all the Catalan counties, except the\u00a0County of Foix<\/a>, despite the opposition of the king of Aragon and count of Barcelona.<\/sup>\u00a0This treaty confirmed, from French point of view, the independence of the Catalan counties established and exercised during the previous three centuries, but also meant the irremediable separation between the geographical areas of Catalonia and\u00a0Languedoc<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a coastal territory, Catalonia became the base of the Aragonese Crown’s maritime forces, which spread the power of the Aragonese Crown in the Mediterranean, and made Barcelona into a powerful and wealthy city. In the period of 1164\u20131410, new territories, the\u00a0Kingdom of Valencia<\/a>, the\u00a0Kingdom of Majorca<\/a>,\u00a0Sardinia<\/a>, the\u00a0Kingdom of Sicily<\/a>,\u00a0Corsica<\/a>, and, briefly, the\u00a0Duchies<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Athens<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Neopatras<\/a>, were incorporated into the dynastic domains of the\u00a0House of Aragon<\/a>. The expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of\u00a0Genoa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Venice<\/a>.<\/p>\n The domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by the\u00a0Black Death<\/a>\u00a0pandemic and by later outbreaks of the\u00a0plague<\/a>. Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37 percent of its population. In 1410, King\u00a0Martin I<\/a>\u00a0died without surviving descendants. Under the\u00a0Compromise of Caspe<\/a>, Ferdinand from the Castilian\u00a0House of Trast\u00e1mara<\/a>\u00a0received the Crown of Aragon as\u00a0Ferdinand I of Aragon<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0During the reign of his son,\u00a0John II<\/a>, social and political tensions caused the\u00a0Catalan Civil War<\/a>\u00a0(1462\u20131472).<\/p>\n Ferdinand II of Aragon<\/a>, the grandson of Ferdinand I, and Queen\u00a0Isabella I of Castile<\/a>\u00a0were married in 1469, later taking the title the\u00a0Catholic Monarchs<\/a>; subsequently, this event was seen by historiographers as the dawn of a unified Spain. At this time, though united by marriage, the Crowns of\u00a0Castile<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Aragon<\/a>\u00a0maintained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, parliaments, laws and currency.<\/sup>\u00a0Castile commissioned expeditions to the\u00a0Americas<\/a>\u00a0and benefited from the riches acquired in the\u00a0Spanish colonization of the Americas<\/a>, but, in time, also carried the main burden of military expenses of the united Spanish kingdoms. After Isabella’s death, Ferdinand II personally ruled both kingdoms.<\/p>\n By virtue of descent from his maternal grandparents, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, in 1516\u00a0Charles I of Spain<\/a>\u00a0became the first king to rule the Crowns of Castile and Aragon simultaneously by his own right. Following the death of his paternal (House of Habsburg<\/a>) grandfather,\u00a0Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor<\/a>, he was also elected\u00a0Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor<\/a>, in 1519.<\/p>\n Over the next few centuries, the Principality of Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of wars that led steadily to an increased centralization of power in Spain. Despite this fact, between the 16th and 18th centuries, the participation of the political community in the local and the general Catalan government grew, while the kings remained absent and its constitutional system continued to consolidate. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy began to arise. The large and burdensome presence of the Spanish royal army in the Principality due to the\u00a0Franco-Spanish War<\/a>\u00a0led to an uprising of peasants, provoking the\u00a0Reapers’ War<\/a>\u00a0(1640\u20131652), which saw Catalonia rebel (briefly as a\u00a0republic<\/a>\u00a0led by the chairman of the Generalitat,\u00a0Pau Claris<\/a>) with French help against the Spanish Crown for overstepping Catalonia’s rights during the\u00a0Thirty Years’ War<\/a>. Within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia. Most of Catalonia was reconquered by the Spanish Monarchy but Catalan rights were recognized. Roussillon<\/a>\u00a0was lost to France by the\u00a0Treaty of the Pyrenees<\/a> (1659).<\/p>\n The most significant conflict concerning the governing monarchy was the\u00a0War of the Spanish Succession<\/a>, which began when the childless\u00a0Charles II of Spain<\/a>, the last Spanish Habsburg, died without an heir in 1700. Charles II had chosen\u00a0Philip V of Spain<\/a>\u00a0from the French\u00a0House of Bourbon<\/a>. Catalonia, like other territories that formed the Crown of Aragon, rose up in support of the Austrian Habsburg pretender\u00a0Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor<\/a>, in his claim for the Spanish throne as Charles III of Spain. The fight between the houses of Bourbon and Habsburg for the Spanish Crown split Spain and Europe.<\/p>\n The\u00a0fall of Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0on 11 September 1714 to the\u00a0Bourbon<\/a>\u00a0king\u00a0Philip V<\/a>\u00a0militarily ended the Habsburg claim to the Spanish Crown, which became legal fact in the\u00a0Treaty of Utrecht<\/a>. Philip felt that he had been betrayed by the Catalan Courts, as it had initially sworn its loyalty to him when he had presided over it in 1701. In retaliation for the betrayal, and inspired by the French\u00a0absolutist<\/a>\u00a0style of government, the first Bourbon king introduced the\u00a0Nueva Planta decrees<\/a>, that incorporated the lands of the Crown of Aragon, including the Principality of Catalonia, as provinces under the Crown of Castile in 1716, terminating their separate institutions, laws and rights, as well as their pactist politics, within a united kingdom of Spain.<\/sup>\u00a0From the second third of 18th century onwards Catalonia carried out a successful process of\u00a0proto-industrialization<\/a>, reinforced in the late quarter of the century when Castile’s trade monopoly with American colonies ended.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the\u00a0Napoleonic Wars<\/a>. In 1808, it was occupied by French troops; the resistance against the occupation eventually developed into the\u00a0Peninsular War<\/a>. The rejection to French dominion was institutionalized with the creation of “juntas” (councils) who, remaining loyal to the Bourbons, exercised the sovereignty and representation of the territory due to the disappearance of the old institutions. Napoleon took direct control of Catalonia to establish order, creating the Government of Catalonia under the rule of\u00a0Marshall Augereau<\/a>, and making Catalan briefly an official language again. Between 1812 and 1814, Catalonia was annexed to France and organized as four\u00a0d\u00e9partements<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The French troops evacuated Catalan territory at the end of 1814. After the Bourbon restoration in Spain and the death of the absolutist king\u00a0Ferdinand VII<\/a>,\u00a0Carlist Wars<\/a>\u00a0erupted against the new born\u00a0liberal state<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Isabella II<\/a>. Catalonia was divided, the coast and most industrialized areas support liberalism, while many inland areas were in the hands of\u00a0Carlists<\/a>, as the last ones proposed to reestablish the institutional systems suppressed in the Nueva Planta decrees in all the ancient realms of the Crown of Aragon.<\/p>\n The Anarchists<\/a>\u00a0had been active throughout the early 20th century, founding the\u00a0CNT<\/a>\u00a0trade union and achieving one of the first\u00a0eight-hour workday<\/a>\u00a0in Europe in 1919.<\/sup>\u00a0Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the\u00a0Tragic Week<\/a>\u00a0in Barcelona in 1909. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces were authorized to create a\u00a0Commonwealth<\/a>, without any legislative power or specific autonomy which carried out an ambitious program of modernization, but it was disbanded in 1925 by the dictatorship of\u00a0Primo de Rivera<\/a>\u00a0(1923-1930). During the last steps of the Dictatorship, Barcelona celebrated the\u00a01929 International Exposition<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0while Spain began to suffer an economic crisis.<\/p>\n After the fall of the dictator and a brief proclamation of the\u00a0Catalan Republic<\/a>\u00a0during the events which led to the proclamation of the\u00a0Second Spanish Republic<\/a>\u00a0(1931-1939),<\/sup>\u00a0it received its\u00a0first Statute of Autonomy<\/a>\u00a0from the Spanish Republic’s Parliament, establishing an autonomous body, the Generalitat of Catalonia, which included a parliament, a government and a\u00a0court of appeal<\/a>, and the left-wing independentist leader\u00a0Francesc Maci\u00e0<\/a>\u00a0was elected its first president. The governments of the Republican Generalitat, led by the\u00a0Republican Left of Catalonia<\/a>\u00a0(ERC) members Francesc Maci\u00e0 (1931-1933) and\u00a0Llu\u00eds Companys<\/a>\u00a0(1933-1940) made efforts to implement an advanced and progressive social agenda, despite the internal difficulties. This period was marked by political unrest, the effects of the economic crisis and their social repercussions. The Statute of Autonomy was suspended in 1934, due to the\u00a0Events of 6 October<\/a> in Barcelona, as a response\u00a0to the accession of right-wing Spanish nationalist party\u00a0CEDA<\/a>\u00a0to the government of the Republic, considered close to\u00a0fascism<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0After the electoral victory of the\u00a0Popular Front<\/a>\u00a0in February 1936, the Government of Catalonia was pardoned and the self-government restored.<\/p>\n The defeat of the\u00a0military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0placed Catalonia firmly in the\u00a0Republican side<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Spanish Civil War<\/a>. During the war, there were two rival powers in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and the de facto power of the armed popular militias.<\/sup>\u00a0Violent confrontations between the workers’ parties (CNT-FAI<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0POUM<\/a>\u00a0against the\u00a0PSUC<\/a>) culminated in the defeat of the first ones in 1937. The situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat was partially losing its autonomous power within Republican Spain. In 1938 Franco’s troops broke the Republican territory in two, isolating Catalonia from the rest of the Republic. The defeat of the Republican army in the\u00a0Battle of the Ebro<\/a>\u00a0led in 1938 and 1939 to the occupation of Catalonia by Franco’s forces.<\/p>\n The defeat of the Spanish Republic in the\u00a0Spanish Civil War<\/a>\u00a0brought to power the dictatorship of\u00a0Francisco Franco<\/a>, whose first ten-year rule was particularly violent, autocratic, and repressive both in a political, cultural, social, and economical sense.<\/sup>\u00a0In Catalonia, any kind of public activities associated with\u00a0Catalan nationalism<\/a>,\u00a0republicanism<\/a>,\u00a0anarchism<\/a>,\u00a0socialism<\/a>,\u00a0liberalism<\/a>,\u00a0democracy<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0communism<\/a>, including the publication of books on those subjects or simply discussion of them in open meetings, was banned.<\/p>\n During later stages of\u00a0Francoist Spain<\/a>, certain folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the\u00a0mass media<\/a>\u00a0had been forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s<\/sup>\u00a0in the theatre. Despite the ban during the first years and the difficulties of the next period, publishing in Catalan continued throughout his rule.<\/p>\n The years after the war were extremely hard. Catalonia, like many other parts of Spain, had been devastated by the war. Recovery from the war damage was slow and made more difficult by the international trade embargo and the\u00a0autarkic<\/a>\u00a0politics of Franco’s regime. By the late 1950s the region had recovered its pre-war economic levels and in the 1960s was the second fastest growing economy in the world in what became known as the\u00a0Spanish miracle<\/a>. During this period there was a spectacular growth of industry and tourism in Catalonia that drew large numbers of workers to the region from across Spain and made the area around Barcelona into one of Europe’s largest industrial metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Catalonia-In-Spain-300x258.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Philip-V-220x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Prehistory:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/The-Roca-dels-Moros-300x197.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Pre-Roman and Roman Period:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Iberian-Fortress-Els-Vilars-in-Arbeca-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/A-Roman-Aqueduct-in-Tarragona-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Middle Ages:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Origins-of-the-Blason-of-the-County-of-Barcelona-300x220.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Petronilla-of-Aragon-and-Ramon-Berenguer-IV-Count-of-Barcelona-1-293x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Modern Era:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Ferdinand-II-of-Aragon-224x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Reapers-War-300x193.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/span>Industrialization, Republic and Autonomy:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Charles-Pierre-Francois-Augereau-193x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Demonstration-after-the-Tragic-Week-1909-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/span>Spanish Civil War (1936\u20131939) and Franco’s rule (1939\u20131975):<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Francisco-Franco-217x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Bombing-of-Barcelona-1938-300x195.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/span>Transition and Democratic Period (1975\u2013present):<\/span><\/h3>\n