A Brief History Of Catalonia – Road To Catalan "Independence" #1

Not too familiar with Catalonia's long and storied history? It was Spanish, then briefly French. Half stayed French, the other half is modern Catalonia.

In other news, "It's gon' secede."

What would later become the region known as modern Catalonia began forming around the 8th century and became the Count of Barcelona. Under its statute of autonomy, it has always technically remained independent. Indeed, this was a successful political region, rather than a person, as you might be thinking.

I blame the cereal lobby.

The region saw a steady state of expansion which saw it gradually blossom into a larger area over the next few centuries. Given we are talking about the dark ages here, this is no small feat.

In 1137, Catalonia merged with the Kingdom of Aragon under the Crown of Aragon. Barcelona remained the capital and largest, most important region.

Wrong guy.

Catalonia revolted in 1640, briefly coming under French protection until the end of the Franco-Spanish war in 1659. The subsequent treaty ceded the northern parts of Catalonia to France, and they would become the French county of Roussillon. The remainder became modern Catalonia.

Much like in its early days as a "buffer" state against Muslim incursions into France, Catalonia continued to be on the front lines of European wars between the major Western-European powers. Catalonia was at the heart of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, the Napoleonic wars in 1803, and the Carlist wars throughout much of the mid and late 1800s.

Catalonia experienced a rennaissance of culture and economy towards the turn of the 20th century, mostly from a rising wave of productivity and industrialization.

Catalan autonomy was briefly regained from 1931-1939, and Catalonia's autonomous government was restored. This would not last long, as the end of the Spanish Civil War would see the subsequent Francoist dictatorship abolosh all Catalan instutitons and ban the Catalan language (again).

Despite these setbacks, Catalonia rapidly became one of the most prosperous industrial centers of west Europe, drawing a wide variety of tourism and labor immigration. Once Spain completed its transition to democracy in 1982, Catalonia regained some of its local autonomy.

If you have any additions or errata for this post, please let me know! I will see that they are voted to the top of the comments, and will make the appropriate edits (if possible).

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Sources: Wikipedia, Zero Hedge
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