The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before.[27]
In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with the rest of theIberian Peninsula, inhabited byProto-CelticUrnfield people who brought with them the rite of burning the dead. Much of thePyrenees mountains was inhabited at the time by peoples related to modernBasques, and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with theGreeks that foundedEmpúries and thePhoenicians andCarthaginians, who set up colonies along the coast, includingBarcino (present-day Barcelona). Following thePunic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE.Rome establishedLatin as the official language and imparted a distinctlyRoman culture upon the local population, which merged with Roman colonists from theItalian peninsula. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popularLatin before and during the collapse of theRoman Empire. VariousGermanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the Romanprovince ofTarraconensis. The GermanVisigoths established themselves in the fifth century, making their first capital in the Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo.
This continued until 718 whenMuslimArabs took control of the region in order to pass through the Pyrenees into French territory. TheFranks on the other side of the Pyrenees held back the main Muslim raiding army which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France at theBattle of Tours in 732. Frankishsuzerainty was then extended over much of present-day northern half of Catalonia. With the help of the Franks, a land border was created commonly known nowadays asOld Catalonia (which would consist of the countiesCounty of Barcelona,Ausona,County of Pallars,County of Rosselló,County of Empúries,County of Cerdanya andCounty of Urgell) which faced Muslim raids but resisted any kind of settlement from them. The southernNew Catalonia was under Arab/Muslim rule for about 4-5 centuries. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center forChristian forces in theIberian Peninsula. In the 10th century, the County of Barcelona and the other neighboring counties became independent from West Francia.[28]
In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered adynastic union with theKingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call theCrown of Aragon in the so-called "Reconquista". This allowed the conquest of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually establishing the kingdoms ofValencia andMajorca (theBalearic Islands). From the late 12th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the otherCatalan counties progressively began to be identified as a single political entity and, from the mid-14th century, that state began to be known as thePrincipality of Catalonia. Thecrisis of the late Middle Ages, the loss of hegemony within the Crown, as well as urban and feudal internal conflicts led to theCatalan Civil War in 1462. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage ofIsabella I of Castile andFerdinand II of Aragon led to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with theCrown of Castille, in which each of the constitutive realm kept its own laws, policies, power structures, borders and monetary systems.[29]
Continuous unrest led to conflicts on the states of the Crown of Aragon, such as theRevolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as theReapers' War. This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a larger war with France as the Catalan institutions allied themselves withLouis XIII. The war continued until 1659 and ended with theTreaty of the Pyrenees, which effectively partitioned the Principality of Catalonia as its northern strip came under French rule, while the rest remained under Spanish Crown. The Catalan government took sides with theHabsburg pretender against theBourbon one during theWar of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain despiteunilaterally prolonging the war against the Bourbons culminated in the capitulation of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated asCatalonia's National Day. The surrender led to the imposition of absolutism and the abolition of Catalan political institutions andlegal system, thus ending the status of Catalonia as a separate state within a personal union.
During theNapoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire country of Spain briefly untilNapoleon's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a Spanish national identity. The Catalansregained autonomy during theSpanish Second Republic from 1932 untilFrancisco Franco's nationalist forces occupied Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as otherSpaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by theSpanish Constitution of 1978. Since this period, a balance between a sense of Catalan national identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominantpolitical force in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy, national recognition and, part of it, independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on the leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity.[23]
The vast majority of Catalans reside in the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in thePays Catalan in France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during theSpanish colonial period and to France in the years following theSpanish Civil War.[30]
Described by authorWalter Starkie inThe Road to Santiago as a subtle people, he sums up their national character with a local termseny meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists likeAntoni Gaudí,Salvador Dalí,Joan Miró orAntoni Tàpies.[32][33] Themasia ormas is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalonia in Spain is officially recognised as a "nationality" and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy,[34] which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity.
The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia).[35] Very few Catalanmonoglots exist; basically, virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain arebilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia)[citation needed] existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. InRoussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process oflanguage shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.[36]
The inhabitants of theAran valley countAranese–anOccitan dialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish.
In September 2005, the.cat TLD, the firstInternet language-based top-level domain, was approved for all web pages intending to serve the needs of the Catalanlinguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online.
The traditional dress (now practically only used infolkloric celebrations) included thebarretina (a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and thefaixa (a sort of wide belt) among men, andret (a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was theespardenya orespadrille.
Other items of clothing typical of Catalan female folk costume include the 'pubilla' dress; the 'catalana' also known as the 'pagesa' and the 'gandalla' as headwear.[37]
Catalan children wearing the traditional outfit, including thebarretina
The Catalan diet is part of theMediterranean diet and includes the use ofolive oil. Catalan people like to eat veal (vedella) and lamb (xai).
There are three main daily meals:
In the morning: a very light breakfast, consisting of fruit or fruit juice, milk, coffee, orpa amb tomàquet "bread with tomato". Catalans tend to divide their breakfast into two parts: one early in the morning before going to work or study (first breakfast), and the other one between 10:00 and 12:00 (second breakfast)
In the afternoon (roughly from 13:00 to 14:30): the main meal of the day, usually comprising three dishes. The first consists of pasta or vegetables, the second of meat or fish, and the third of fruit or yogurt
In the evening (roughly from 20:00 to 22:30): more food than in the morning, but less than at lunch; very often only a single main dish and fruit; it is common to drink moderate quantities of wine.
In Catalan gastronomy,embotits (a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such asbotifarra orfuet. In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches.
In the past, the poor atesoup every day andrice on Thursday and Sunday.
The discipline of abstinence, not eatingmeat duringLent, once was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such asallioli orromesco.
One type of Catalan dish isescudella, a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such asbotifarra (a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it is sometimes calledollada.
Catalan music has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe.[38]
Catalans, traditionally devoted Catholics, during its recent history had become much less religious. Even so, the presence of religion is maintained through the traditions, values and monuments, like the Church of Sant Cristòfol de Beget.
The traditional religion in Catalonia isRoman Catholicism. However, in the course of recenthistory, Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization.
The first wave ofsecularization happened during the eighteenth century as a result of theenlightenment influence to thebourgeoisie. The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on thelower andmiddle class, but was interrupted by the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War (1936–1939).[39]
The end of theFrancoist regime led to a loss of power by the Catholic Church and to another wave of secularization that extends since the 1980s. During the 1990s most of the population of Catalonia was non-practising Catholic.[40] Nowadays 52.4% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic, practising or not, 30.2% of Catalans areagnostic oratheist, and there is also a considerable share of other religions, often connected to recent immigration: 7.3%Muslim, 2.5%Evangelical, 1.3%Buddhism, and 1.2%Orthodox Christians.[41] According to the most recent study sponsored by thegovernment of Catalonia, as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify asChristians, up from 56.5% in 2014.[42] At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify asatheists, 11.9% asagnostics, 4.8% asMuslims, 1.3% asBuddhists, and a further 2.4% as being of other religions.[43]
Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions inSouthern Europe.[44]Barcelona is among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants.[45]
Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to theBonfires of Saint John.
An important and well-known celebration isLa Diada de Sant Jordi, held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men a book.
Saint George's Day In Barcelona
Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people.
Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as thecastells (human towers), choice of major and festive floats; music, songs and bands; processions; dances; and animals, especially bulls and representations of mythological creatures. ThePatum of Berga has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, orbars of Aragon, one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it is even associated with the Catalan language.
As for anthems, "The Reapers" (Els Segadors) is the official national anthem of Catalonia and is also used in the other lands of the Principality; theBalanguera represents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" (Himne de l'Exposició) alongsideMuixeranga as symbols of the country.
^de poblacióArchived 25 November 2025(Date mismatch)(Timestamp date invalid) at theWayback Machine, Statistical Institute of Catalonia, 19 February 2024.
^Article 7 of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy of 2006: "Gaudeixen de la condició política de catalans o ciutadans de Catalunya els ciutadans espanyols que tenen veïnatge administratiu a Catalunya."
^"Catalan" (in Catalan).Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved17 August 2019.Inhabitant or natural of Catalonia or the Catalan Countries.
^Garrigosa i Massana, Joaquim (2003).Els manuscrits musicals a Catalunya fins al segle XIII : l'evolució de la notació musical (1st ed.). Lleida: Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs.ISBN8489943745.OCLC60328821.
Collier, Basil.Catalan France (J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1939).
Conversi, Daniele.The Basques, the Catalans and Spain: Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilization (University of Nevada Press, 1997).ISBN1-85065-268-6.
Guibernau, Montserrat.Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, Transition and Democracy (Routledge, 2004).
Hargreaves, John.Freedom for Catalonia?: Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity and the Barcelona Olympic Games (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
Simonis, Damien.Lonely Planet Catalunya & the Costa Brava (Lonely Planet Publications, 2003).
Starkie, Walter.The Road to Santiago (John Murray, 2003).
Michelin THE GREEN GUIDE France (Michelin Travel Publications, 2000).
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