Location of Catalonia (dark green)
Location of Catalonia (red) in Spain
and largest city
|Provinces||Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona|
|• Total||32,108 km2 (12,397 sq mi)|
|Area rank||6th in Spain|
|• Rank||2nd in Spain (16%)|
|• Density||240/km2 (610/sq mi)|
|Time zone||CET (UTC+1)|
|• Summer (DST)||CEST (UTC+2)|
|Area code||+34 93 (Barcelona area)
+34 97- (rest of Catalonia)
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula. It is designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Catalonia consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the core of the seventh-most populous urban area in the European Union.
Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia, with the remainder now part of France’s Pyrénées-Orientales. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.
The inland part of Catalonia is hotter and drier in summer. Temperature may reach 35 °C (95 °F), some days even 40 °C (104 °F). Nights are cooler there than at the coast, with the temperature of around 14–17 °C (57–63 °F). Fog is not uncommon in valleys and plains; it can be especially persistent, with freezing drizzle episodes and subzero temperatures during winter (record from −36 °C), along the Segre and in other river valleys.
- The Pyrenees: mountainous formation that connects the Iberian Peninsula with the European continental territory, and located in the north of Catalonia;
- The Catalan Coastal mountain ranges or the Catalan Mediterranean System: an alternating delevacions and planes parallel to the Mediterranean coast;
- The Catalan Central Depression: structural unit which forms the eastern sector of the Valley of the Ebre.
Flora and fauna
Catalonia is a showcase of European landscapes on a small scale. Just over 30,000 square kilometers hosting a variety of substrates, soils, climates, directions, altitudes and distances to the sea. The area is of great ecological diversity and a remarkable wealth of landscapes, habitats and species.
The fauna of Catalonia consists broadly of a combination of a minority of animals endemic from thid land and the majority of animals which are also present in other places. Much of Catalonia enjoys a Mediterranean climate (except mountain areas), which makes many of the animals that live there adapted to Mediterranean ecosystems. Of mammals, there are plentiful wild boar, red foxes, as well as roe deer and in the Pyrenees, the Pyrenean chamois. Other large species such as the bear have been recently reintroduced.
- Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN, Aena)
- Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO, Aena)
- Reus Airport (REU, Aena)
The ports of Barcelona and Tarragona are the two main commercial and passenger ports in Catalonia, both owned and operated by Puertos del Estado (a Spanish Government entity).
There are 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) of roads throughout Catalonia.
The principal highways are AP-7 (Autopista de la Mediterrània) and A-7 (Autovia de la Mediterrània). They follow the coast from the French border to Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia. The main roads generally radiate from Barcelona. The AP-2 (Autopista del Nord-est) and A-2 (Autovia del Nord-est) connect inland and onward to Madrid.
Art and architecture
- Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, Tarragona
- Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí, Lleida province
- Poblet Monastery, Poblet, Tarragona province
- Works of Lluís Domènech i Montaner:
- Works of Antoni Gaudí:
After the transition to democracy (1975–1978) and the restoration of the Generalitat (1980), literary life and the editorial market have returned to normality and literary production in Catalan is being bolstered with a number of language policies intended to protect Catalan culture. Besides the aforementioned authors, other relevant 20th-century writers of the Francoist and democracy periods include Joan Brossa, Agustí Bartra, Manuel de Pedrolo, Pere Calders or Quim Monzó.
Music and dance
The sardana is considered the most characteristic Catalan popular dance, other groups also practice Ball de bastons, moixiganga, galops or jota in the southern part. The Havaneres are characteristic in some marine localities of the Costa Brava, especially during the summer months when these songs are sung outdoors accompanied by a cremat of burned rum. Other music styles born during the 20th century are Catalan rumba, Catalan rock and Nova Cançó.
Seny is a form of ancestral Catalan wisdom or sensibleness. It involves well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness, integrity, and right action. Many Catalans consider seny something unique to their culture, is based on a set of ancestral local customs stemming from the scale of values and social norms of their society.
Festivals and public holidays
Castells are one of the main manifestations of Catalan popular culture. The activity consists in constructing human towers by competing colles castelleres (teams). This practice originated in the southern part of Catalonia, mainly on the regions of Penedès and the Camp de Tarragona, during the 18th century, and later it was extended along the next two centuries to the rest of the territory. The tradition of els Castells i els Castellers was declared Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010.
In the greater celebrations other elements of the Catalan popular culture are usually present: the parades of gegants (giants) and correfocs of devils and firecrackers. Another traditional celebration in Catalonia is La Patum de Berga, declared Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on 25 November 2005.
In addition to traditional local Catalan culture, traditions from other parts of Spain can be found as a result of migration from other regions, for instance the celebration of the Andalusian Feria de Abril in Catalonia.
Catalan gastronomy has a long culinary tradition. Its culinary processes are described in documents since the fifteenth century. As all the cuisines of the Mediterranean, makes abundant use of fish, seafood, olive oil, bread and vegetables. The specialties are numerous and include the pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato), which consists of bread, sometimes toasted, with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt and usually served accompanied with any sorts of sausages (cured botifarres, fuet, iberic ham, etc.), ham or cheeses. Others are the calçotada, escudella i carn d’olla, suquet de peix (fish stew) and, as dessert, the Catalan cream.
Wine land, the Catalan vineyard has several Denominacions d’Origen such as Priorat, Montsant, Penedès and Empordà, and also found there a sparkling, the cava.