The Autonomous Community of Catalonia, known throughout history simply as Catalonia, is today one of the 17 autonomous communities that constitute the Kingdom of Spain. Its territory corresponds to most of the historic territory of the former Principality of Catalonia.

With the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, it was part of the Roman Empire, then came under Visigoth rule after Rome's collapse. The northernmost part of Catalonia was briefly occupied by the Moorish al-Andalus in the eighth century, but after the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqiwas's troops at Tours in 732 local Visigoths regained autonomy, though they voluntarily made themselves tributary to the emerging Frankish kingdom, which gave the grouping of these local powers the generic name Marca Hispanica. Identifiably Catalan culture developed in the Middle Ages under the hegemony of the Counts of Barcelona. As part of the Crown of Aragon; the Catalans became a great maritime power, expanding by trade and conquest into Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and even Sardinia and Sicily.

The marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1469) unified Christian Spain; in 1492, the last of Al-Andalus was conquered and the Spanish conquest of the Americas began. Political power began to shift away from Catalonia toward Castile.

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. In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains the most industrialised part of Spain, rivaled only by the Basque Country. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times but Catalan autonomy and culture were crushed to an unprecedented degree after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) brought General Francisco Franco to power. Even public use of the Catalan language was banned.

After Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of a democratic Spanish constitution (1978), Catalonia recovered cultural autonomy and some political 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 tourist destination.

City / Area

Barcelona

Tarragona