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   "Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya; Spanish: Cataluña; Aranese Occitan: Catalonha), is an Autonomous Community of the Kingdom of Spain. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,210,508[1] from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3% of the total population. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). Official languages are Spanish, Catalan, and Aranese. The capital city is Barcelona. Catalonia is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its territory corresponds to most of the historical territory of the former Principality of Catalonia." - wikipedia | LEGAL STATUS WITH SPAIN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"The Spanish Constitution of 1978 declares that Spain is an indissoluble nation that recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the "nationalities" and regions that constitute it. Catalonia, alongside Basque Country, Galicia and Andalusia self-ascribed as "nationalities" in the elaborations of their Statutes of Autonomy – the first three acceding to autonomy automatically – and more recently in their new Statutes or recent amendments Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands also did. The 1979 as well as the current Statute of Autonomy, approved in 2006, state that "Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an autonomous community in accordance with the Constitution and with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which is its basic institutional law." The Preamble of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states the Parliament of Catalonia defined Catalonia as a nation, but that the "Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia's national reality as a nationality". While this Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and the Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been legally contested by the surrounding Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, as well as by the Partido Popular. The objections are based on various topics such as disputed cultural heritage but, specially, on the Statute's alleged breaches of the "solidarity between regions" principle enshrined by the Constitution in fiscal and educational matters. As of December 2007, the Constitutional Court of Spain is assessing the constitutionality of the challenged articles; its binding conclusion is expected for 2008." - wikipedia | ETYMOLOGY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"The name of Catalunya, (Catalonia) began to be used in the 12th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the Marca Hispanica, which gradually became independent from the French. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. The most accepted theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles" , having evolved from the term castlà, the ruler of a castle (see castellan). This theory, therefore, suggests that the term castellà, "Castilian" would have been synonymous. Another theory suggests that Catalunya derives from Gotholàndia, "Land of the Goths" since the Franks usually designated the entire Iberian Peninsula as "Gothia".[citation needed] A similar version is suggested in Encyclopædia Iranica - according to it, the name "is but a slight deformation of Goth-Alania, province of the Goths and Alans". Other theories suggest that the name derives from a mythical German prince, Otger Cataló, or from the Laketani, a Pre-Roman tribe that lived in the area, whose name, due to the Roman influence, evolved to Katelans and then Catalans." - wikipedia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Like some other parts in the rest of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia was colonized by Ancient Greeks, who settled around the Roses area. Both Greeks and Carthaginians (who, in the course of the Second Punic War, briefly ruled the territory) interacted with the main Iberian substratum. After the Carthaginian defeat, it became, along with the rest of Hispania, a part of the Roman Empire, Tarraco being one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula It then came under Visigothic rule for four centuries after Rome's collapse. In the eighth century, it became under Moorish al-Andalus control. Still, after the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqiwas's troops at Tours in 732, the Franks conquered former Visigoth states which had been captured by the Muslims or had become allied with them in what today is the northernmost part of Catalonia. Charlemagne created in 795 which came to be known as the Marca Hispanica, a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania made up of locally administered separate petty kingdoms which served as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom. The Catalan culture started to develop in the Middle Ages stemming from a number of these petty kingdoms organized as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The counts of Barcelona were Frankish vassals nominated by the emperor then the king of France, to whom they were feudatories (801-987). In 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognize the French king Hugh Capet and his new dynasty which put it effectively out of the Frankish rule. Two years later, in 989 Catalonia declared its independece. Then, in 1137 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona married Petronila of Aragón establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragón which was to create the Crown of Aragon, made with the union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia. Despite was known as Crown of Aragon, the kings followed the dinasty of the Counts of Barcelona and they were recocnized as catalans. It was not until 1258, by the Treaty of Corbeil, that the king of France formally relinquished his feudal lordship over the counties of the Principality of Catalonia to the king of Aragon James I, descendant of Ramon Berenguer IV. This Treaty turned the de facto independence into a full de jure direct transition from French to Aragonese rule. It also solved a historic incongruence. As part of the Crown of Aragon, Catalonia became a great maritime power, helping to expand the Crown of Aragon by trade and conquest into the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and even Sardinia or Sicily. In 1410, King Martin I died without surviving descendants. As a result, by the Pact of Caspe, Ferdinand of Antequera from the Castilian dynasty of Trastamara, received the Crown of Aragon as Ferdinand I of Aragon. His grandson King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella of Castile in 1469; retrospectively, this is seen as the dawn of the Kingdom of Spain. At that point both Castile and the Crown of Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, Parliaments and laws. Political power began to shift away from Aragón toward Castile and, subsequently, from Castile to the Spanish Empire. For an extended period, Catalonia, as part of the Crown of Aragon, continued to retain its own usages and laws, but these gradually eroded in the course of the transition from a feudal state to a modern one, fueled by the king's struggle to get from the territories as much of the power as possible. 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, like the Reapers' War (1640–1652). The most significant conflict was the War of the Spanish Succession, which began when Carlos II El Hechizado died without a successor in 1700. Catalonia, as the other kingdoms which used to form the Crown of Aragon, mostly took side with the Austrian branch of the Habsburg dynasty pretender, while the rest of Spain mostly adhered to the French Bourbon claimant, Felipe V. Following the fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, the Crown of Aragon and its institutions were abolished by the Nueva Planta decrees, under which all its lands were incorporated, as provinces, into a united Spanish administration, as Spain moved towards a centralized government under the new Bourbon dynasty. In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains one of the most industrialised parts of Spain. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times, receiving its first statute of autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic (1931). This period was marked by politic unrest and the preeminence of the Anarchists during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). After the defeat of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) which brought General Francisco Franco to power, his regime suppressed any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism, Anarchism, Socialism, Democracy or Communism, such as publishing books on the matter or simply discussing them in open meetings. As part of this suppression the use of Catalan in government-run institutions and in public events was banned. During later stages of the Francoist regime, certain folkoric or religious celebrations in Catalan were resumed and tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media was forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s[9] in the theatre. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the dictatorship. After Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of a democratic Spanish constitution (1978), Catalonia recovered political and cultural 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 a major tourism destination. Catalonia's second statute of autonomy, adopted by the Catalan government on 22 December 1979, officially recognized Catalonia as a nationality. Then, the amended version approved on 9 August 2006 has defined Catalonia as a nation in the preamble. The precise meaning of the term nation is ambiguous as to not conflict with the Spanish Constitution. The Statute of Autonomy also establishes that "Catalonia wishes to develop its political personality within the framework of a State which recognizes and respects the diversity of identities of the peoples of Spain". After the charter was first passed in the regional parliament, it was then edited in conjunction with the national Cortes. Except the Partido Popular, all the other political parties represented in the Catalan autonomous Parliament endorsed the final redaction of the statute, which was then approved by means of a referendum held in June 2006 in which 73.9% voted for the autonomy plan and 20.8% against it. The turnout was unprecedentedly low, at around 49% of the total census, which resulted in the highest abstention ever registered in Catalonia in a referendum." - wikipedia | LANGUAGE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Originating in the historic territory of Catalonia, Catalan is one of the three official languages and has enjoyed special status since the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of 1979 which declares it to be the language "proper to Catalonia". The other languages with official status are Spanish, which is the official language throughout Spain, and Aranese (a dialect of Occitan spoken in the Val d'Aran valley). Under the Franco dictatorship Catalan was, until the 1970s, excluded from the state education system and all other official use. Immigration, and migration from other parts of Spain, had also reduced the social use of the language, especially in urban areas. In an attempt to reverse this decline the newly reestablished regional institutions of Catalonia embarked on a project of linguistic normalization of the Catalan language[13] and has, since 1983, enforced laws which attempt to protect, and extend, the use of Catalan. Today, Catalan is the language of the Catalan autonomous government and the other public institutions that fall under its jurisdiction. Basic public education is given in Catalan other than two hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) in Catalan under penalty of legal fines; there is no obligation to display this information in either Aranese or Spanish. The use of fines was introduced in a 1997 linguistic law that aims to increase the use of Catalan. According to the most recent linguistic census elaborated by the Government of Catalonia, 53.4% of citizens declared Spanish as their native language, although a plurality claims Catalan as "their own language" (48.8% Catalan compared to 44.3% Spanish), and in most everyday uses, people who use exclusively Catalan or both languages equally are in the majority. The law, therefore, ensures that both Catalan and Spanish –being official languages– can be used by the citizens without prejudice in all public and private activities[16] even though the Generalitat usually uses Catalan in its communications and notifications addressed to the general population. The citizens can also receive information from the Generalitat in Spanish if they so desire. Finally, since the Statute of Autonomy of 1979, Occitan, in its Aranese variety (a dialect of Gascon), has been official and subject to special protection in the Val d'Aran (Aran Valley). This small area of 7,000 inhabitants was the only place where Occitan (spoken mainly in France and some Italian valleys) received full official status. However, on 9 August 2006, when the new Statute came into force, Occitan became official throughout Catalonia.
CATALAN Catalan, a Romance language, is regarded by many linguists as belonging to the Iberian Romance[19] sub-family (which also includes Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, and Aragonese), while others classify it within the Gallo-Romance[20] sub-family (which includes French, Occitan and Gallo-Italian) languages. It shares attributes with both linguistic groups. LITERACY According to the 2001 Linguistic Census,[21] about 5,900,000 people in Catalonia (nearly 95% of the population) understand the Catalan language. The percentage of people aged two and older who can speak, read and write Catalan is as follows:
As a result of the ongoing linguistic policies favouring Catalan, implemented in various degrees by the autonomous government during the last 20 years, knowledge of Catalan has advanced significantly in all these areas, with the ability to write it having experienced the most pronounced increase, from 31.6% of the population in 1986 to 49.8% in 2001. By age groups, those between 10 and 29 have the highest level of Catalan-language literacy (e.g., 98.2% aged 10–14 understand it, and 85.2% can write it); this is attributed to these individuals having received their education in Catalan. Geographically, Catalan is understood in northwest Catalonia (High Pyrenees, Val d'Aran), at 97.4%, followed by south and western Catalonia, whereas Barcelona's metropolitan area sees the lowest knowledge, at 93.8%. The situation is analogous for written-language skills, with central Catalonia scoring the highest percentages (61.4%), and Barcelona the lowest (46.4%). Barcelona is one of the main centres of the Spanish publishing industry for both Spanish-language and Catalan-language publishing. SOCIAL USE According to a study carried out in 2003 by the Generalitat de Catalunya,[22] Catalan is used by 50.1% of the population in everyday situations. Over 55% of respondents use Spanish to address their parents (versus 42% who choose Catalan). This is attributed to extensive migration from other areas in Spain during the second half of the 20th century, as a consequence of which many Catalans have one or both parents born outside Catalonia. However, a majority (52.6%) use Catalan with their children (compared to 42.3% for Spanish). This can be attributed to some Spanish-speaking citizens shifting from their mother tongue to Catalan at home. Outside the family, 48.6% of the population indicate that they address strangers exclusively or preferentially in Catalan, while the proportion of those who use Spanish is 41.7%, and 8.6% claim to use both equally. SPANISH The Spanish language developed from Vulgar Latin, with influences from Basque, Arabic and (to a lesser extent) Celtiberian, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, between Biscay and Cantabria. Most closely related to Leonese speech, it contains a higher degree of Basque influence than the latter. ARANESE According to the 2001 Aranese Linguistic Census, knowledge of Aranese in the Occitan-speaking territory of Aran is as follows:
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"The autonomous community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,134,697 (2006) from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3%. The Urban Region of Barcelona includes 5,327,872 people and covers an area of 4.268 km² and about 2.5 million persons live in a radius of 25 km from Barcelona. The first metropolitan crown of the Urban Region includes cities like l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Cornellà. The main populations of the second crown are Terrassa, Sabadell, Montcada i Reixac, Granollers, Martorell, Molins de Rei, Rubí, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Gavà and Castelldefels. In 1900 the population of Catalonia was 1,984,115 people and in 1970 it was 5,107,606. That increase was produced due to the demographic boom produced in Spain during the 60s and early 70s and also due to the large-scale internal migration produced from the rural interior of Spain to its industrial cities. In Catalonia that wave of internal migration arrived from several regions of Spain, especially Andalusia, Murcia and Extremadura." - wikipedia | POLITICS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"After Franco's death in 1975 and the adoption of a democratic constitution in Spain in 1978, Catalonia recovered, and extended, the powers granted in the statute of autonomy of 1932[27] it had lost with the fall of the Second Spanish Republic at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 . The historical region has gradually achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in various matters including culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments while it shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice. There is significant Catalan nationalist sentiment present in a part of the population of Catalonia[citation needed], which ranges from the desire for independence from Spain expressed by some, to a more generic demand of further autonomy expressed by others." LAW AND GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA The institutional normative law of Catalonia is the Statute of Autonomy. It establishes that Catalonia is organized politically through the Generalitat de Catalunya, conformed by the Parliament, the Presidency of the Generalitat, the Government or Executive Council and the other institutions created by the Parliament. The seat of the Executive Council is the city of Barcelona. Since the restoration of the Generalitat through the return of democracy in Spain, the presidents of Catalonia have been Jordi Pujol (1980-2003), Pasqual Maragall (2003-2006) and incumbent José Montilla Aguilera. Catalonia is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Local governments include comarques (roughly equivalent to counties), as well as smaller forms of municipal administration. Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, whose origins trace back to the eighteenth century. Since 1980 they are under the commandment of the Generalitat, and since 1994 it is expanding in order to replace the Spain-wide Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional, which report directly to the Homeland Department of Spain. These corps are to retain a limited number of agents within Catalonia to exercise specific functions such as overseeing ports, airports, coasts, international borders, custom offices, identification documents, control of armament amongst others. Most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called "civil law", which is administered separately within Catalonia. After Navarre and the Basque Country, Catalonia is the Spanish region with the highest degree of Autonomy. PARTIES OF CATALONIA
SYMBOLS OF CATALONIA Catalonia has its own representative and distinctive symbols: the Catalan flag, the song Els Segadors and the National Day of Catalonia.
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"The GDP of Catalonia in 2005 was € 170,450 million[35] and Per capita GDP was $24,858, ranking 4th among autonomous communities in Spain.
The Catalan economy is distinguished by its industrial profile.[36] The distribution of sectors is the following one:
The GDP growth is 3,3%, the land dedicated to agricultural use is 33%. Catalonia is the first tourist destination of Spain. The main tourist destinations of Catalonia are the city of Barcelona, the beaches of the Costa Brava at Girona and the Costa Daurada at Tarragona. In the Pyrenees there are 10 ski resorts: Baqueira Beret, the Molina, Espot Ski, the Masella, Port Ainé, Vall de Núria, Boí Taüll, Port of the Comte, Flat of Peguera, Tavascan and Vallter 2000. From the financial point of view the saving banks have a great implantation in Catalonia. 10 of the 46 Spanish savings banks are Catalan and "La Caixa" is the first savings bank of Europe.[38] The first private bank originated in Catalonia is "Banc Sabadell" ranking fourth of the Spanish private banks. The Stock market of Barcelona, that in 2004 negotiated almost 205,000 million euros, is the second most important of Spain after the Stock market of Madrid and Fira de Barcelona organizes samples and congresses of international character on varied sectors of the economy. The main economic cost for the Catalan families is the purchase of a house. According to data of the Society of Appraisal on the 31 of December of 2005 Catalonia is, after Madrid, the second community of Spain where the price of the house is more expensive: 3,397 euros for a square meter are paid by average. By cities, nevertheless, Barcelona is the most expensive city of Spain, with an average price of 3,700 euros for a square meter. The most commonly cultivated crops in Catalonia are maize, potatoes, forage, vines, olives and cereals. Also commonly practiced are horticulture and animal husbandry; most important to the latter are porcine livestock, bovine livestock and ovine livestock." - wikipedia | TRANSPORT | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"AIRPORTS
COMMERCIAL AND PASSENGER PORTS
ROADS There are 12,000 km of roads throughout Catalonia. The principal highway is AP-7 know also as Autopista del Mediterrani. It follows the coast from the French Border to Valencia, located south of Tarragona. The main roads generally radiate from Barcelona. The A-2 and AP-2 connect inland and onward to Madrid. Other major roads are:
RAILWAYS Catalonia saw the first railway construction in Iberian Peninsula in 1848, linking Barcelona with Mataró. Given the topography most lines radiate from Barcelona. The city has both suburban and inter-city services. The main east coast line runs through the province connecting with French Railways at Portbou on the coast. The railroad companies operating in Catalonia are FGC and RENFE. High speed AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) services from Madrid currently reach Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona. The official opening between Barcelona and Madrid was on 20 February 2008. The journey between Barcelona and Madrid lasts about 2 and a half hours. An agreement has been reached to connect further to the French high speed network by building a new line and rail tunnel through the Pyrenees." - wikipedia | UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN CATALONIA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There are several UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia:
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Castellers are one of the main manifestations of the Catalan popular culture . The activity consists on the construction of human towers by colles castelleres (teams) that compete among them. This practice was originated in the southern part of Catalonia during the XVIII century.
The sardana is the most characteristic Catalan popular dance, other groups also practice Ball de bastons, moixiganga or jota in the southern part. Musically the Havaneres are also characteristic in the marine localities of the Costa Brava specially during the summer months when this songs are sung outdoors always accompanied by a tasting of burned rum. As opposed to other more traditional parts of Spain, flamenco is not popularly performed, but rather the rumba is a more prevalent dance style. In the greater celebrations other elements of the Catalan popular culture are usually present: the parades of giants and correfocs of devils and firecrackers. Another traditional celebration of Catalonia is La Patum de Berga declared oral and immaterial patrimony of the Humanity by UNESCO in the 25 of November of 2005. In addition to the own manifestations of the Catalan traditional culture and fruit of the great immigration from other Spanish regions people can enjoy other cultural manifestations. - wikipedia | REGIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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" Catalan cuisine refers to the cuisine of Catalonia in Spain. It relies heavily on ingredients found along the Mediterranean coast, including fresh vegetables (especially tomato, garlic, aubergine, red pepper, and artichoke), wheat products (bread, pasta), olive oils from Arbequina, wines, legumes (beans, chickpeas), mushrooms, all sorts of pork preparations (sausages from Vic, ham), all sorts of cheese, poultry, lamb, and many types of fish like sardine, anchovy, tuna, and cod.
Traditional Catalan cuisine uses a lot of pasta (second only to the Italian cuisine) and cod (salted, dried, fresh, etc.). The cuisine includes many preparations that mix sweet and salty and stews with sauces based on botifarra (raw pork sausage) and the characteristic picada (ground almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc. sometimes with garlic, herbs, biscuits). SAVORY DISHES
SWEETS AND DESSERTS
WINES There are 11 Catalan wine-growing regions qualified by the INCAVI (The Catalan Institute of Wine): Priorat, Penedès, Catalunya, Costers del Segre, Conca de Barberà, Montsant, Alella, Tarragona, Empordà-Costa Brava, Pla del Bages and Terra Alta. The sparkling wine cava, the Catalan equivalent to champagne, is widely exported. - wikipedia | FAMOUS CATALAN PEOPLE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- wikipedia | NATIONAL DAY OF CATALONIA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"On September 11, Catalonia commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession. As a punishment for their support to the claim of Hapsburg Archduke Charles to the throne of Spain, institutions and rights of the territories of the Crown of Catalonia and Aragon were abolished by the victorious absolutist Bourbon monarchy.
In 1980, the restored Generalitat de Catalunya (autonomous Government of Catalonia), as its first public act proclaimed 11 September La Diada, the Catalan National holiday. Organizations and political parties traditionally lay floral offerings at the monuments of Rafael Casanova and General Moragues for their fight against the Bourbon army. Catalan nationalists also meet in the Fossar de les Moreres, where they pay homage to the defenders of city who died during the siege and were buried there. Throughout the day, there are political demonstrations, concerts and celebration events. Many citizens wave either senyeres or estelades and hang them on their balconies." - wikipedia | CATALAN NATIONALISM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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" Catalan nationalism, or Catalanism, is a political movement that advocates for an increased political autonomy of Catalonia, if not independence itself, from Spain and France. This desire ideally extends to the "Catalan Countries", the Catalan-speaking territories.
Intellectually, Catalan nationalism departs from the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state in Spain in the context of the First Republic. Valentí Almirall and other intellectuals that participated in this process set up a new political ideology in the 19th century, to restore self-government, as well as to obtain recognition for the Catalan language. These demands were summarized in the so-called Bases de Manresa in 1892. THE ORIGINS OF CATALAN NATIONAL IDENTITY During the first centuries of the Reconquista, the Franks drove the Muslims south of the Pyrenees. To prevent future incursions, Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne created the Marca Hispanica in 790 CE, which consisted of a series of petty kingdoms serving as buffer states between the Frankish kingdom and Al-Andalus. Between 878 and 988 CE, the area became a hotbed of Frankish-Muslim conflict. However, as the Frankish monarchy and the Caliphate of Córdoba weakened during the 11th century, the resulting impasse allowed for a process of consolidation throughout the region’s many earldoms, resulting in their combination into the County of Barcelona, which became the embryo of today's Catalonia. By 1070, Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, had subordinated other Catalan Counts and intransigent nobles as vassals. His action brought peace to a turbulent feudal system and sowed the seeds of Catalan identity. According to several scholars, the term “Catalan” and “Catalonia” emerged near the end of the 11th century and appeared in the Usatges of 1150. Two factors fostered this identity: stable institutions and cultural prosperity. While the temporary lack of foreign invasions contributed to Catalonia’s stability, it was not a main cause. Rather, it provided a site for sociopolitical development. For example, after Catalonia merged with the Kingdom of Aragón, to create the Crown of Aragon in 1137 through a dynastic union, the system was designed to mutually check both the king’s and nobility's powers, while the small but growing numbers of free citizens and bourgeoisie would tactically take sides with the king in order to diminish typically feudal institutions. By 1150, the king approved a series of pacts, called the Usatges, which “explicitly acknowledged legal equality between burghers…and nobility” (Woolard 17). In addition, the Catalan-Aragonese gentry established the Corts, a representative body, comprised of nobles, bishops and abbots that counterbalanced the King’s authority. By the end of the 13th century, “the monarch needed the consent of the Corts to approve laws or collect revenue” (McRoberts 10). Soon after, the Corts elected a standing body called the Diputació del General or the Generalitat, which included the rising high bourgoisie. The first Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona in 1283, following the Roman tradition of the Codex. In the 13th century, King Jaume I conquered Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Subsequent conquests expanded into the Mediterranean, reaching Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Naples and Greece, so by 1350 the Crown of Aragon “presided over the one of the most extensive and powerful mercantile empires of the Mediterranean during this period” (Woolard 16). Catalonia’s economic success formed a powerful merchant class, which wielded the Corts as its political weapon. It also produced a smaller middle class, or menestralia, that was “composed of artisans, shopkeepers and workshop owners” (McRoberts 11). Over the 13th and 14th centuries, these merchants accrued so much wealth and political sway that placed a significant check on the Aragonese crown. By the 15th century the Aragonese monarch “was not considered legitimate until he had sworn to respect the basic law of the land in the presence of the Corts” (Balcells 9). This balance of power is a classic example of pactisme, or contractualism, which seems to be a defining feature of the Catalan political culture. Along with political and economic success, Catalan culture flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries. During this period, the Catalan vernacular gradually replaced Latin as the language of culture and government. Scholars rewrote everything from ancient Visigothic law to religious sermons in Catalan (Woolard 14). Wealthy citizens bolstered Catalan’s literary appeal through poetry contests and history pageants dubbed the Jocs Florals, or “Floral Games.” As the kingdom expanded southeast into Valencia and the Mediterranean, Catalan followed. The medieval heyday of Catalan culture would not last, however. After a bout of famine and plague hit Catalonia in the mid-14th century, the population dropped from 50,000 to 20,000 (McRoberts 13). This exacerbated feudal tensions, sparking serf revolts in rural areas and political impasses in Barcelona. Financial issues and the burden of multiple dependencies abroad further strained the region. To worsen things, in 1410, the Aragonese king died without leaving an heir to the throne. Finding no legitimate alternative, Catalan-Aragonese leaders appointed Ferdinand I, a Castilian. The new monarch and his descendants began to impinge on the “privileges” of Catalan nobles, infuriating the Generalitat. From 1458 to 1479, civil wars between King John II and local chieftains engulfed Catalonia. During the conflict, John II “had his heir Ferdinand married to Isabella of Castile, the heiress to the Castilian throne, in a bid to find outside allies” (Balcells 11). Their dynastic union, which came to be known as the Catholic Monarchs, is seen, restrospecively, as the dawn of the future Kingdom of Spain. At that point both Castile and the Crown of Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, Parliaments and laws. This dynastic union deprived the Catalans of foreign policy control, but still allowed a similar level of autonomy as the one from the times of the Crown of Aragon. These political and economic restrictions impacted all segments of society, from Barcelona’s wealthy merchants to its Jewish community (which was soon to become a target of the newly created Spanish Inquisition). Also, because of the locally bred social conflicts, Catalonia squandered in one century most of what it had gained in political rights between 1070 and 1410. Nevertheless, early political, economic and cultural advances gave Catalonia “a mode of organization and an awareness of its own identity which might in some ways be described as national, though the idea of popular or national sovereignty did not yet exist” (Balcells 9). Other scholars like Kenneth McRoberts and Katheryn Woolard hold similar views. Both support Pierre Vilar, who contends that in 13th and 14th centuries “the Catalan principality was perhaps the European country to which it would be the least inexact or risky to use such seemingly anachronistic terms as political and economic imperialism or ‘nation-state’” (McRoberts 13). In other words, an array of political and cultural forces laid the foundations of Catalan “national” identity. Llobera agrees with this opinion, saying, “By the mid-thirteenth century, the first solid manifestations of national consciousness can be observed.” Indeed, 13th and 14th century Catalonia did exhibit features of a nation-state. The role of Catalan Counts, the Corts, Mediterranean rule and economic prosperity support this thesis. But as Vilar points out, these analogies are only true if we acknowledge that a 14th century nation-state is anachronistic. In other words, those living in Catalonia before latter day nationalism possessed something like a collective identity on which this was to be based, but this does not automatically equate to the modern concept of nation, neither in Catalonia nor elsewhere in similar circumstances during the Middle Age. The Corts and the rest of the autochthonous legal and politic organization was finally terminated in 1716 as a result of the Spanish War of Succession. The local population mostly took side and provided troops and resources for Archduke Charles, the pretender who was arguably to maintain the legal status quo. His utter defeat meant the legal and politic termination of the autonomous parliaments in the Crown of Aragon, as the Nueva Planta Decrees were passed and the new King Philip V of Spain of the House of Bourbon created a centralized Spain. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN CATALANISM The Renaixença (Renaissance) was a cultural, historical and literary movement that pursued in the wake of European Romanticism the recovery of the own language and literature. As time went by, and particularly immediately after the fiasco of the Revolution of 1868 (led by the Catalan general Juan Prim), the movement acquired a clear political character, directed to the attainment of self-government for Catalonia within the framework of the Spanish liberal state. Like most Romantic currents, the Renaixença gave historical analysis a central role. History, in fact, was an integral part of Catalonia’s “rebirth.” Texts on Catalonia’s history—inspired by the Romantic philosophy of history—laid the foundations of a Catalanist movement. Works like Valentí Almirall’s Lo Catalanisme, Victor Balaguer’s Historia de Cataluña y de la Corona de Aragón and Prat de la Riba’s La nacionalitat catalana used history as evidence for Catalonia’s nationhood. According to Elie Kedourie, such claims were common in 19th century nationalist discourse because “the ‘past’ is used to explain the ‘present,’ to give it meaning and legitimacy. The ‘past’ reveals one’s identity, and history determines one’s role in the drama of human development and progress” . Publications of histories thus “explained” why the Catalans constituted a nation instead of a Spanish region or coastal province. At the heart of many of works of the Renaixença lay a powerful idea: the Volk. Indeed, the concept of Volk (pl. Völker) played a vital role in mainstream Catalan Romantic nationalism. It has its origins in the writings of German Romantics like Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and, most notably, Johann Gottfried Herder. Herder was one of the first intellectuals to reject Enlightenment thought by proposing an alternative philosophy of history. An integral part of his thought was particularlism—that is—the belief that a person “cannot define himself except in terms of a particular religion, a specific language, a communal pattern of feeling” (xix). Any group sharing these cultural particularities constituted a Volk. Beyond this, argued Herder, each Volk has a spirit (geist), one that could not mix with others because it was unnatural and unauthentic. In his introduction to Herderian thought, Frank. E. Manuel describes the Volk as follows: "[w]hen Herder analyzed the creation of a genius he considered it as an expression of the Volk spirit [Volksgeist]: a man could not think freely in all possible forms and languages—he was born to one only. If a man tried to assimilate what was not his natural Volk spirit, he would never be able to give utterance to a harmonious song, for its bastard quality would obtrude," (xx). Put another way, Herder viewed every Volk as an organism manifested in a “national character,” which was determined by its physical surroundings, historical environment and ordained by God. This last point is crucial in understanding the Volk as an organism. Like many Christians, Herder believed that each individual had a soul, that is, a divine essence. But Herder took this idea a step further by applying it to Völker. To him, each Volk had a “soul—an individuality or personality of its own—and suggested that this was expressed through what might be called culture” (Penrose and May 170). Clearly, this line of thought would appeal to an oppressed people with a strong collective consciousness. What made it more potent was its resonance amongst nationalist groups in regions that held autonomy in the Middle Ages, such as the diverse peoples living in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires. The Herderian or Romantic stress on group particularity, historical analysis and the incompatibility of different Völker did not bode well for large multi-ethnic states. The idea that a particular Volk cannot “mix” with another undergirded many of the philosophies that developed into full-fledged nationalist movements. Catalonia was no exception. The concept of Volk entered Catalan intellectual circles in the 1830s, stemming from the emphasis on the region’s medieval history and philology. It first appeared in the writings of Joan Cortada, Marti d’Eixalà and his discipline, Francesc-Xavier Llorens i Barba, intellectuals who reinvigorated the literature on the Catalan national character. Inspired by the ideas of Herder, Savigny and the entire Scottish School of Common Sense, they asked why the Catalans were different from other Spaniards—especially the Castilians (Conversi 1997: 15) For example, Cortada wanted to determine why, despite its poor natural environment, Catalonia was so much more successful than other parts of Spain. In a series of generalizations, he concluded that the “Catalans have succeeded in developing a strong sense of resolution and constancy over the centuries. Another feature of their character was the fact that they were hardworking people” (Llobera 1983: 342). D’Eixalà and Llorens held a similar understanding of the Catalan national character. They held that that two characteristics particular to Catalans were common sense (seny) and industriousness. To them, “the traditional Catalan seny was a manifestation of the Volksgeist,” one which made Catalans essentially different from Castilians (Llobera 2004: 75). The early works on the Catalan Volk would remain on paper long before they entered politics. This is because the Catalan bourgeoisie had not yet abandoned the hope of spearheading the Spanish state (Conversi 1997: 14). Indeed, in the 1830s, the Renaixença was still embryonic and the industrial class still thought that it could at least control the Spanish economy. Notions of Catalonia’s uniqueness mattered little to a group that believed it could integrate and lead the entire country. But this all changed around 1880. After decades of discrimination from Spanish elites, Catalan industrialists buried their dream of leading Spain. As Vilar observes: "It is only because, in its acquisition of the Spanish market, the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie did not succeed either in securing the state apparatus or identifying its interests with those of the whole of Spain, in influential opinion, that Catalonia, this little “fatherland,” finally became the 'national' focal point," (1980: 551) This switch of allegiance was particularly easy because the idea of a Catalan nation had already matured into a corpus of texts about the region’s “uniqueness” and Volksgeist. Inspired by these works of Romantic nationalism, the Catalan economic elite became conscious of “the growing dissimilitude between the Catalonia’s social structure and that of the rest of the nation” (Vilar 1963: 101). Consequently, Romantic nationalism (and the Volk) expanded beyond its philosophical bounds into the political arena. In the last third of the 19th century, Catalanism was formulating its own doctrinal foundations, not only among the progressive ranks but also in the conservative, and at the same time it started to establish the first political programmes (e.g. Bases de Manresa, 1892), and to generate a wide cultural and association movement of a clearly vindicatory character. In 1898, Spain lost its last colonial possessions in Cuba and the Philippines, a fact that not only involved an important crisis of confidence, but also gave an impulse to political Catalanism. The first modern political party in Catalonia and Spain was the Lliga Regionalista. Founded in 1901, it formed a coalition in 1907 with other Catalanist forces (from Carlism to Federalists), grouped in the so-called Solidaritat Catalana, and won the elections with the regionalist programme that Enric Prat de la Riba had formulated in his manifesto La nacionalitat catalana (1906). INDUSTRIALIZATION AND CATALANISM The 18th century Spanish economy depended mostly on agriculture. The social structure stayed hierarchical, if not feudal, while the Roman Catholic Church and Bourbon monarchs wrestled for internal supremacy. Into the 19th century, Spain remained politically and culturally isolated from the rest of Europe. As England, Germany and France tinkered with coal-fed factories, steam engines and new philosophies, Spanish rulers found itself increasingly at odds with the Church, its colonies and haunted by past glories. Unlike in the rest of Spain, the Industrial Revolution made some progress in Catalonia, whose pro-industry middle class strived to mechanize everything, from textiles and crafts to wineries. Industrialization and trade went hand in hand with the proto-nationalist Renaixença cultural movement, which, annoyed with the shortcomings of the Royal court in Madrid, began to fashion an alternative, and that was Catalan identity. To finance their cultural project, a locally bred proto-nationalist intelligentsia sought patronage and protection from Barcelona’s industrial barons. This relationship played a decisive role in the development of Catalanism. On the one hand, intellectuals sought to renew Catalan identity as a response to Spain’s overall backwardness. They wanted to distance themselves from the Spanish problems by creating a new ontology rooted in Catalan culture, language and worldview. On the other hand, those same intellectuals avoided demands for separation. They knew that their patrons would want Catalan nationalism to include Spain for two reasons:
As Woolard notes, the economic interests in Madrid and the budding Catalan industrialists converged during the 18th century, resulting in cooperation between. For the nationalist literati, this meant that Catalanism could promote a national identity, but it had to function within Spain. Furthermore, Barcelona’s industrial elite wanted Catalonia to stay part of Spain since Catalonia’s industrial markets relied on consumption from other Spanish regions which, little by little, started to join some sort of development. In fact, part of the industrialists’ desire to remain part of Spain was their desire for protectionism, hegemony in domestic markets and the push to “influence Madrid’s political choices by intervening in central Spanish affairs” (Conversi 1997: 18-20), thus, it made no economic sense to promote any secession from Spain. To the contrary, Catalonia’s prominent industrialists acted as the Spanish leading economic heads. As Stanley Payne observes: "The modern Catalan élite had played a major role in what there was of economic industrialization in the nineteenth century, and had tended to view Catalonia not as the antagonist but to some degree the leader of a freer, more prosperous Spain" (482). Barcelona’s bourgeois industrialists even claimed that protectionism and leadership served the interests of the “‘national market’ or of ‘developing the national economy’ (national meaning Spanish here) ” (Balcells 19). The inclusion of Spain was instrumental to Catalonia’s success, meaning that industrialists would not tolerate any secessionist movement. Claiming for independence would have assured nothing but weak markets, an internal enemy and strenghthened anarchist movements. And hence, though manufacturers funded the Renaixença— and Catalan nationalism — they demanded that Catalonia stayed part of Spain to ensure economic stability. This federalist-like lobbying had not worked at first, nor did it succeed until the late 1880s. Finally, in 1889, the pro-industrialist Lliga Regionalista managed to save the particular Catalan Civil Code after an liberal attempt to homogenize the Spanish legal structures (Conversi 1997: 20). Two years later, they coaxed Madrid into passing protectionist measures, which reinvigorated pro-Spanish attitudes among manufacturers. Then, they also took great profits from Spain's neutrality in World War I, which allowed them to export to both contendents, and the Spanish expansion in Morocco, which Catalan industrials encouraged since it was to become a fast growing market for them. Also, by early 20th century, Catalan businessmen had managed to gain control of the most profitable commerce between Spain and its American colonies and ex-colonies, namely Cuba and Puerto Rico. This nationalist-industrialist accord is a classic example of inclusionary Catalanism. Nationalists might have hoped for an independent Catalonia but their patrons needed access to markets and protectionism. As a result, nationalists could propagate the Catalan identity provided that it coincided with the industrialists’ pro-Spanish stance. Because the Lliga Regionalista de Catalunya endorsed this compromise, it dominated Catalan politics after the turn of the century. Payne notes: "The main Catalanist party, the bourgeois Lliga, never sought separatism but rather a more discrete and distinctive place for a self-governing Catalonia within a more reformist and progressive Spain. The Lliga’s leaders ran their 1916 electoral campaign under the slogan ‘Per l’Espanya Gran’ (For the Great Spain)" (482). The Lliga had tempered the nationalist position to one of inclusionary nationalism. It allowed Catalanism to flourish, but demanded that it promote federalism within Spain, and not separation from it. Any deviation from this delicate balance would have enraged those pro-Catalan and Spanish-identifying industrialists. Ultimately, this prevented any moves towards separation while strengthening Catalonia’s “federal” rights after the Mancomunitat de Catalunya took power in 1914. CATALANISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY During the first part of the 20th century, the main nationalist party was the right-wing Lliga Regionalista, headed by Francesc Cambó. For the nationalists, the main achievement in this period was the Mancomunitat de Catalunya a grouping of the four Catalan provinces, with limited administrative power. This institution was abolished during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. In 1931, the left-wing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party won the elections in Catalonia, advocating a Catalan Republic federated with Spain. Under pressure from the Spanish government, the leader of ERC, Francesc Macià i Llussà, accepted an autonomous Catalan government instead, which recovered the historical name of Generalitat de Catalunya. A dramatically short period of restoration of democratic and cultural normality was interrupted at its outset by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The autonomous government was abolished in 1939, after the victory of the Francoist troops. During the last stages of the war, when the Republican side was on the verge of defeat, Catalan president of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, rhetorically declared Catalan independence, even though it never materialized due to objections within Catalonia and, eventually, by the Second Spanish Republic defeat. Right after the war, Companys, along with thousands of Spanish Republicans, sought cover in France exiled but because of the, by that time, mutual sympathy between Franco's government and Nazi Germany, he was captured after the Fall of France in 1940 and handed to Spanish authorities, which sentenced him to death. Several political or cultural Catalan movements operated underground during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which lasted until 1975. A president of the Catalan government was still designed and operated symbolically in exile. Companys's successor in exile, Josep Tarradellas, kept away from Spain until Franco's death in 1975. When he came back in 1977 the government of Catalonia -the Generalitat- was restored again. Following the approval of the Spanish constitution in 1978, a Statute of Autonomy was promulgated and approved in referendum. Catalonia was organized as an Autonomous Community, and in 1980 Jordi Pujol, from the conservative nationalist party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, was elected president and ruled the autonomous government for 23 consecutive years. In contrast, there is no significant political autonomy, nor recognition of the language in the historical Catalan territories belonging to France (Roussillon, in French département of Pyrénées-Orientales). Currently, the main political parties which define themselves as being Catalan nationalists are Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya. These parties obtained 45.58% of the votes in the 2006 election. Within these parties, a significant part of their voters would like an independent Catalonia, while others demand a special status within Spain, but without seceding. In 2006, a referendum was held on amending the 1979 Catalan Statute of Autonomy to further expand the authority of the Catalan government. It was approved by 73.24% of the census, and became effective as of August 9, 2006. However, the turnout of 48.84% represented an unprecedented high abstention in Catalonia's democratic history. This has been cited both as a symptom of having large sectors in the average populace disengaged or at odds with the politics of identity in Catalonia, and, alternatively, as a symptom of fatigue among Catalan nationalists who would like to see bolder steps towards political autonomy or independence. In this regard, both Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalan independentist center-left) and Partido Popular (Spanish center-right) campaigned against having the 2006 Statute of Autonomy passed: the former considered it too little, the latter too much." - wikipedia | CATALAN WINE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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" Catalan wine is wine made in the Spanish wine region of Catalonia. The term may also be used to refer to some French wines made in the Catalan influenced region of Roussillon. The city of Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the focal point of the Catalan wine industry, serving as its primary consumer market, an exporting coastal port and source of financial investment and resources. The area has a long winemaking tradition and was the birthplace of the sparkling wine Cava, invented in the early 1870s in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia by José Raventos of Codorniu Winery. At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan wine industry was at the forefront of Spain's emergence as a world leader in quality wine production, being the first Spanish wine region to adopt the use of stainless steel fermentation tanks. The area is also an important cork production region, with output aimed primarily at the region's Cava houses. HISTORY Archaeological evidence suggests that the Phoenicians introduced winemaking to the region several hundred years before the Romans arrived there. Recovered pieces of amphora indicate that the Phoenicians traded ancient Catalan wines with the Egyptians. The Romans had a major influence in the development of Catalan wine-growing, particularly around Tarragona, the Roman capital of occupied Spain. With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD and subsequent Moorish rule, Catalan wine production was severely curtailed. It was several hundred years before wine production began again in earnest. In the 14th century, the Franciscan writer Francesc Eiximenis described Catalan wines as strong, dense, highly alcoholic wines which, although high quality, sometimes needed to be diluted with water. A turning point for the Catalan wine industry occurred in the 19th century with the outbreak of the phylloxera epidemic that ravaged the French vineyards to the north. Along with wines from the Rioja region, Catalan wines became a welcome import for French consumers suffering a severe shortage of domestic produce. In 1872, the sparkling wine Cava was invented in the Penedès region and eventually became an internationally recognized wine style. When phylloxera hit the region towards the end of the 19th century, Catalonia's vineyards comprised over 80% red wine grapes. The growing Cava industry encouraged planting of more white wine grapes, in place of the diseased red rootstock, where they now make up nearly 70% of the region's vineyards.[4] During the 20th century, the Catalan wine industry became one of the leaders of the innovation behind the Spanish wine revolution, embracing modern winemaking techniques and increasing the plantings of international grape varietals. The region received international attention in 1979 when a bottle of Torres 1970 Gran Coronas Black Label (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Monastrell) was secretly entered into the "classified Bordeaux wine" category of the Gault Millau Wine Olympics and ended up winning that category CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHY The Catalan wine region is located along the Mediterranean coast in northeastern Spain and is strongly influenced by its Mediterranean climate. Along the coast temperatures are warm with moderate rainfall but conditions become progressively more arid further inland. The majority of Catalan denominaciones lie to the south of the distinctive peaks of the Montserrat Massif, while smaller plantations lie to the north of Barcelona and south of the French border at the Pyrenees. The region is marked by warm climates along the coast and cooler temperatures through the foothills up to plateaus of more than 2,000 ft above sea level. The area has a diversity of soil types, mostly calcareous sediments mixed with alluvium and clay. Some of the most acclaimed vineyards in the region are found on some of the scatter limestone deposits in the area. GRAPES AND WINE The wines of the Catalan wine region include sparkling Cava, dry white wines and powerful reds, known as "black" wine or vi negre in Catalan, due to the colour of the grape. The grapes of the region include the Cava and white wine grapes of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo and the red wine grapes of Garnacha, Monastrell and Tempranillo. The production of sparkling white wine is the largest contributor to the Catalan wine industry, followed by production of still whites and then red wine. While the majority of the region's wines are blends, some varietal versions are also produced CAVA A Spanish sparkling wine was first made as early as 1851, although the true roots of the Cava wine industry can be traced back to José Raventos' travels through Europe in the 1860s, where he was promoting the still wines of his Codorniu winery. His visits to the Champagne region sparked an interest in the potential of a Spanish version of the sparkling wine, using the same production methods. The local Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo grapes were well suited to this wine style, and whereas early versions were called champán or xampany after Champagne, Catalan winemakers wanted to distinguish their wines from the French counterpart. They adopted the name Cava after the Catalan word for cave, where the wines were traditionally stored. According to Spanish wine laws, Cava can be produced in six wine regions (such as Aranda de Duero, Navarra and Rioja) but 95% of Spanish Cava production takes place in the Penedès region. In order for the wines to be called "Cava" they must be made in the traditional méthode champenoise. Wines made via the low-cost "Charmat process" may only be called "Spanish sparkling wine". A rosé style of Cava is also produced in small quantities by adding still red wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha or Monastrell to the wine. The first Cava to use the Chardonnay grape was produced in 1981. Catalan Cava producers pioneered a significant technological development in the sparkling wine production with the invention of the gyropallet, a large mechanized device that replaced hand riddling, in which the lees are consolidated in the neck of the bottle prior to disgorgement and corking. WINE REGIONS The Catalan wine region includes 9 Denominación de Origen (DO) and 1 Denominación de Origen Calificada/Qualificada (DOQ) region – the Priorat. The Catalunya DO is a generic appellation that covers the entire region for wines that do not fall under any other DO designation. Alella The Alella DO is located near the city of Barcelona and was awarded DO status in 1956. The area is known mainly for its white wine production which can range from oak aged sweet wine to cool fermented dry wines. The principle grape of the area is the Pansá Blanca, a local name for the Xarel·lo grape. There are some plantings of the international varieties Chardonnay and Chenin blanc, used in both still wine and Cava production. Conca de Barberà The Conca de Barberà DO is located between the Costers del Segre, Penedès and Tarragona DOs with vineyards at elevations of around 1,600 ft (500 m) above sea level. The climate of the region is marked by hot summer days, cool nights chilled by the nearby ocean breeze, and cold winters. The limestone based soils are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot noir, which are used to make still wines as well as contribute to some Cava production. Rosé wines are produced from the local Trepat grape. Costers del Segre The Costers del Segre DO is located near the city of Lleida along the Segre River. The landscape here is very arid with less than 15 inches (400 mm) of rainfall a year. There are extreme temperature variations throughout the year, with freezing cold winters and summertime highs in excess of 95 °F (35 °C). The river Ebro provides the irrigation vital to the viticulture of the area, which includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Macabeo, Merlot, Parellada, Pinot noir and Tempranillo plantations. Empordà The Empordà DO is located in the far north-east of Catalonia, among the foothills of the Pyrenees which border the French province of Roussillon. The area has a similar Mediterranean climate to other Catalan wine regions, but is more heavily influenced by the strong winds off the Mediterranean that moderate the risk of frost and vine diseases. It was not enough to prevent the outbreak of the phylloxera epidemic of the 19th century, which nearly destroyed the entire Empordà wine industry, with many vineyards only being replanted s recently as the latter half of the 20th century. The principle grapes of the region are Garnatxa (Grenache) and Cariñena (Carignane), which are primarily used for rosé wines. The Montsant DO was formed in 2001 in the area around Falset, Tarragona to distinguish itself from the wines of the greater Tarragona DO. This upland area is noted for its old Garnacha and Cariñena vines along steeply sloping vineyards. Pla de Bages The Pla de Bages DO is located northwest of Barcelona, growing many of the same varieties as the nearby Penedès region but with more emphasis on international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Tarragona The Tarragona DO is the Catalan wine region around the coastal city of Tarragona and has been a vital winemaking center of Catalan wines since the Roman times. For most of its history the region was known for its sweet fortified red wines made in a style similar to Port. In the 1960s, prior to winning DO status in 1976, the area began to shift its focus to dry white wines and the production of red sacramental wine used by the Christian Church for Communion. Terra Alta The Terra Alta DO is Catalunya's southernmost wine region and one of the most mountainous – terra alta literally translates as "highlands". It is located to the to the south of the Priorat DO and shares a similar winemaking history. Today the area is known for its Garnacha Blanca wines and its growing red wine production. Penedès The Penedès is the largest and most productive wine region of Catalona and is considered the birthplace of Cava. The region has a long winemaking history and due to its close proximately to Barcelona has always enjoyed a strong export market. In the 19th century it was one of the first Spanish wine regions to involve itself with large-scale commercial production of wine, mainly for export to post-phylloxera France. In the 1960s & 1970s, the Penedès region led the way in the Spanish wine industry's technological revolution, being the first wine region to adopt the use of temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation tanks. The region also began to import more international varieties and better clonal vine selections of grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Merlot, Pinot noir, Riesling and Sauvignon blanc. The region is divided into three zones – the lowland Baix Penedès, the Penedès central which lies between coastal and inland mountain ranges, and the upland Penedès Superior or Alt Penedès. The warmer Baix Penedès, centered around the town of El Vendrell and extending to the Costa Daurada coastline, has long been known for its fortified wines made from Malvasia and Moscatel de Alejandría (Muscat of Alexandria), but has a growing reputation for non-fortified reds made from Cariñena, Garnacha and Monastrell. The Central Penedès is located in a broad valley about 1,600 ft (500 m) above sea level and centered around the regional capital of Vilafranca del Penedès, the largest winery there being Bodegas Torres. The nearby town of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia provides another focal point for the area, being the acknowledged center of Spanish Cava production. Traditionally made from the area's Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo grapes, the increased use of Chardonnay and Pinot noir in Cava blends has seen a corresponding expansion in areas of the region dedicated to those grapes. The Central Penedès has also been increasing its red wine production based on Cabernet Sauvignon and the local strain of Tempranillo known as Ull de Llebre. The Penedès Superior is located in the foothills of the mountains enclosing the Central Depression and is the coolest part of the region, used almost exclusively for white wine production. Priorat The Priorat DOQ has been producing wine since the 12th century when Carthusian monks planted a vineyard and established a priory from which the region took its name. The area is known for its Cariñena and Garnacha based wines made from old, low yield vines that average 0.3 tons an acre (5 hl/ha). The area has a very hot mediterranean climate that allows the grape to ripen fully and produce wines with very high alcohol levels of up to 18%. The local Llicorella soil is of particularly poor quality, composed of quartz and slate, which also helps to limit yields. Vineyards are situated on steep terraces, largely unsuitable for mechanical harvesting. The Priorat still has marked monastic influences, with many top estates prefixing their vineyards with Clos in recognition of the region's early winemaking history, similar to the naming of many of Burgundy's grand crus. Despite the annual rainfall of the area being less than 16 inches (400 mm), irrigation is not widely used due to the cool, damp nature of the Llicorella soil. Grapevine roots are able to tunnel through faults in the slate to find underground water reserves. The region is one of only two Spanish Denominaciones de Origen Calificadas(DOC, or DOQ in Catalan), in recognition of outstanding consitency of quality, the other being the more well-known Rioja. - wikipedia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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" Catalan independentism is a political movement which supports the independence of Catalonia from Spain and France, this is usually extended to the so called "Catalan Countries".
The Estelada flag, in its blue and red versions, has become its main symbol. HISTORY Some Catalanist authors argue that first precedents of Catalan independentism may date back as far as 1640, with the unsuccessful first Catalan Republic after Reaper's War, and subsequently during the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in the modern sense, the first political parties which started defining themselves as separatists were created between the 1920s and the 1930s in Spanish Catalonia. The main separatist party created at this time was Estat Català and its branch called Bandera Negra, others independentist parties born from Estat Català were: Nosaltres Sols, the Partit Nacionalista Català and the Partit Català Proletari. After the Spanish Civil War, members of Estat Català and Nosaltres Sols founded the Front Nacional de Catalunya which became the main pro-independence party. However, one might argue that modern Catalan independentism was actually born in the 1960s with the Partit Socialista d'Alliberament Nacional (PSAN). Since then, the pro-independence movement has assumed a mostly left-wing political trend and has often shifted its focus from "independence for Catalonia" to "independence for the 'Catalan Countries'". By the 1970s, the PSAN split into several factions, and many other groups appeared, including the armed organization Terra Lliure. In the 1980s, the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra (MDT) became the major pro-independence political group but this too became divided by the end of the decade. During the 1990s, existing political parties such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and the linguistic-national initiative Crida a la Solidaritat progressively evolved towards a more pro-independence stance. MODERN INDEPENDENTISM Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya is currently the only organization campaigning explicitly for independence represented in the Catalan Parliament. They won 14.06% of the total votes in the last 2006 regional elections. Other present-day independentist parties or coalitions, without present representation in any parliament, are Estat Català, Endavant, the PSAN, the MDT and the CUP. There are also youth sections such as the JERC, Maulets or the Coordinadora d'Assemblees de Joves de l'Esquerra Independentista, and a students' organization, SEPC. Polls regularly indicate an ambivalent and far from univocal feeling. For example, in 2007 a poll indicated that, when asked about the independence of Catalonia, 51% of the population would be against it, 32% would favour it, while 17% do not have an opinion. In turn, this same poll indicated that, when asked about the meaning of Spain, only 5% identified with the independentist option ("Spain is an alien State of which my country is not a part"). In recent years Catalan independentism reasons have received support from individuals coming from a broader political spectrum, such as the liberal economist Xavier Sala i Martín. In Spain, some consider this current rising[citation needed] may have been triggered as a reaction especially against the policy of the latter Spanish governments of the Partido Popular party, and the fierce opposition to certain legislative reforms such as the new proposal of Statute of Catalonia." - wikipedia | ANTI-CATALANISM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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" Anti-Catalanism is the collective name given to various political attitudes, nowadays particularly in Spain, that oppose to Catalanism. Hence, it can refer to a reaction against Catalan nationalism or, particularly, Catalan independentism. In a broader context, it may mean a xenophobic attitude towards the Catalan language, Catalan people, Catalan culture or anything identified with Catalonia and the political implications of this attitude. In its most extreme circumstances, this may also be referred as Catalanophobia. Anti-Catalanism may be perceived particularly among those Spain-wide political parties more to the right of the political spectrum. Far-right political groupings such as España 2000 object strongly to the autonomy enjoyed by Catalonia, claiming that the granting of autonomy to Catalonia and other regions will lead to the breakup of Spain. A former saying amongst latter day Francoists during the Spanish Transition (late 1970s, early 1980s) illustrating this attitude was: Antes roja que rota, which roughly translates as: "(I would) Rather (see Spain) red than broken", meaning that these people would prefer to see Spain become Communist than have regions (like Catalonia or the Basque Country) seceding from it. Several political movements, known for organizing boycotts of products from Catalonia, are also actively identified with anti-Catalanism. Anti-Catalanism has an additional, more local, manifestation, called Blaverism in the Valencian Community. It is a movement against the concept of the Països Catalans as elaborated by Valencian author Joan Fuster, which sees Valencia as part of a grouping of regions united by a common Catalan culture which should unite as an independent state from Spain. Proponents of Blaverism see this concept as "Catalan expansionism". Blaverism is best reflected in debates concerning the status of Valencian. One example of this is the campaign for recognition and support to Valencian as a distinct official language (instead of a variety or alternate name for Catalan, as it would be identified by most linguists), and its official use in European Union's organisms." - wikipedia | FANLISTINGS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A fanlisting is simply an online listing of fans of a subject, that is created by an individual fan and open for fans from around the world to join. This has been approved byThefanlistings.org, a fanlisting network with over thousands of fanlistings around the world. | CREDIT | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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