Cataluña (Catalunya)

One of the 17 autnomous regions in Spain, located in the north-east, (Span. Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya), with the four provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, Lérida and Tarragona. It is located on the north-west shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and covers an area of 32.000 km². The region has seen changing fortunes in its history, the Greeks arrived in the 6th century BC, they were followed by the Carthaginians, who in turn were followed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. Roman emperors were already drinking wines from what is today the DO Alella. The capital city of Barcelona was an important trading port in ancient times. The Alanians and Visigoths arrived in the 6th century AD, the current name is derived from the latter (Gotalonia = land of the Goths). The Moors conquered the region in the 8th century. They were driven out by Charlemagne (742-814), who incorporated the region in his own empire. Towards the end of the 9th century, the Spanish provinces of the Frankish empire achieved de facto independence under the counts of Barcelona. In the 12th century, the regions of Aragon and Catalonia were combined in the kingdom of Aragon (a region with this name now borders on this region in the west). Eventually, independence was lost, and in 1479 the kingdom, together with Castilia (today these are the regions of Castilia-La Mancha and Castilia-Léon) were amalgamated in the greater Spanish kingdom. Even in the 20th century, efforts have continued to gain a special status for Catalonia, so far without success. Today, Catalonia is officially bilingual, with Catalan also being spoken in Roussillon in France and on the Balearic islands.