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Cataluña: the Autonomous Community
By h.b. - Oct 9, 2007 - 7:19 AM
ALSO SEE : • Castells - The Catalan Human Castles - Jan 22, 2008 - 3:30 PM

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The far NE of the Iberian Peninsular finds Cataluña, the sixth largest region of Spain
The Autonomous Community of Cataluña (Catalunya in the Catalan language) lies in the far northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea forming a natural boundary to the East.
The region is bordered to the North by France, Aragón in the West, and Valencia to the South.

Cataluña is the sixth largest region in Spain, covering an area of 32,113 sq kms, and making up 6.3% of Spanish territory. Population density is 222.16 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The second largest region in terms of population (behind Andalucía), the latest figure from the January 2006 census shows there to be 7,134,697 people officially registered as living in the region. The vast majority live in Barcelona province (5,309,404), with none of Cataluña’s other three provinces reaching more than one million: Girona 687,331, Lleida 407,496 and Tarragona 730,466.

Lleida is the largest province in terms of land area, covering 12,172 square kilometres. It is followed by Barcelona, with 7,728 sq kms, Tarragona with 6,303, and, lastly, Girona with 5,910 sq kms.

Barcelona City is the regional capital.

The region’s Statute of Autonomy recognises three official languages: Catalan (català), Spanish (castellano) and Aranese (occitano or aranès, which is spoken in the Val d’Aran). The latest linguistic statistics from 2001 showed that almost 95% of the population were able to understand Catalan: fluency (those able to write the language) was 49.8%.
Almost 90% of the inhabitants of the Val d’Aran were able to understand aranès, with a 26.69% level of fluency.

Cataluña received its first Statute of Autonomy on 15th September 1932, under the terms of the 1931 Constitution approved under the Second Spanish Republic, and the Generalitat de Catalunya – the centuries-old regional government which was abolished by Felipe V in 1716 – was re-established. Autonomy came to an end in 1938 when the Generalitat was abolished again by Franco, and was not to be seen again until the Franco regime ended with the General’s death in 1975, and the start of the transition to democracy.

The institution had been kept alive in exile, and Josep Tarradellas, who was elected President of the Generalitat in exile in 1954, was called to Madrid in 1977 to negotiate the re-establishment of the Generalitat, the second of the modern age. The region’s second Statute of Autonomy was approved in December 1979.

Tarradellas remained as President until the 1980 regional election, which returned Jordi Pujol at the head of the Convergencia i Uniò coalition as President of the re-instated Generalitat.
Pujol continued to lead Cataluña through successive elections in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999, and was succeeded in 2003 by Pasqual Maragall, of the PSC-PSOE Socialist Party. He chose not to stand for re-election in the 2006 election.
His successor as PSC’s presidential candidate, José Montilla, was sworn in as the 128th President of the Generalitat in November 2006.

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ALSO SEE :
• Castells - The Catalan Human Castles - Jan 22, 2008 - 3:30 PM
• Central Government agrees spending boost for Cataluña - Sep 18, 2007 - 8:18 AM
• Pasqual Maragall formalises his resignation as President of the PSC Catalan Socialist Party - Jun 11, 2007 - 10:53 PM