During the Spanish Civil War, Catalonia was a key Republican stronghold, and the fall of Barcelona to Gen Francisco Franco's right-wing forces in 1939 marked the beginning of the end of republican resistance.Proud of its own identity and language, Catalonia is one of Spain's richest and most highly industrialised regions, and also one of the most independent-minded.The use of Catalan - a language as close to regional languages of southern France like Occitan as it is to Castilian Spanish - has equal status with Castilian and is now actively encouraged in education, official use and the media. Coves of deep blue sea, beaches of golden sand, natural parks,…Maritime enclaves, romantic streets, war bunkers, sweeping views,…The "castells" (human castles) have been awarded the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity designation.…The coastal landscapes alternate with the nature reserves of Aigüamolls de L'Empordà, Cap de Creus and the La Garrotxa volcanic area.…These are ideas for lucky people.…Get to know the provinces of CataloniaIt is the site of a series of architectural works by the artist and architect Antoni Gaudí, awarded the World Heritage designation by the UNESCO.…We provide you with useful information on the connections between Spain’s major cities.
The Spanish government maintains that Catalonia had no constitutional right to break away, and temporarily imposed direct rule on the region after the government in Barcelona declared independence.Under Franco's ultra-conservative rule, autonomy was revoked, Catalan nationalism repressed, and use of the Catalan language restricted.A roughly triangular region in Spain's far north-east corner, Catalonia is separated by the Pyrenean mountains from southern France, with which it has close historical and cultural ties.But fresh Catalan elections in December 2017 returned a majority for pro-independence parties, although a pro-Madrid party emerged as the single largest group in parliament.Many Catalans believe their affluent region pays more to Madrid than it gets back, and blame much of Spain's 2008 debt crisis on the central government.Most of the region's population lives in Barcelona, its vibrant political and economic hub and popular European travel destination.These are external links and will open in a new windowIt called another set of elections in 2015 to reinforce its mandate, and a further referendum followed in October 2017 that again backed independence by a large margin.A regional government backed by the two main separatist parties held a non-binding independence referendum in 2014, with 80% of those taking part voting "yes".When Spain became a republic in 1931, Catalonia was soon given broad autonomy. Montserrat, 50km northwest of Barcelona, is at the heart of Catalan identity for its mountain, monastery and natural park weaving among distinctive rock formations. PARIS/MADRID (Reuters) - France advised its citizens on Friday not to travel to Catalonia in neighboring Spain following a spike in cases of COVID-19 in … Separatists are "very much a minority" in the French region, said Pujol.