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Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy), Founder of Catalonia, Slaying a Dragon. Cathedral of Barcelona. Spain.

10 Historic Reasons Catalonia is Fighting for Independence from Spain

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On Sunday 1st October, a referendum for independence – deemed illegal by the Spanish government – was held in Catalonia, an autonomous Spanish region, with 90% of Catalans choosing independence from Spain. So what is at the root of this intense drive for separation? Putting modern political reasons aside for just a moment, let’s delve into Catalonia’s historic past to understand why many Catalans are adamant that they will one day achieve an independent state.

Where is Catalonia?

Catalonia is a triangular region in north-east Spain which is separated from the south of France by the Pyrenean mountains. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, the autonomous community of Valencia to the south, and the autonomous community of Aragon to the west.

Catalonia has a population of 7.5 million, comprising roughly 16% of Spain’s population, spread across 948 municipalities – the largest of which, Barcelona, is home to 1.6 million people.

Modern-day map of Catalonia

Modern-day map of Catalonia (CC by SA 3.0)

What is Happening Now in Catalonia?

On 1st October, a referendum was held in Catalonia to vote on whether they wish to become independent from Spain. Officials said that 90% of the 2.26 million who voted in the referendum voted in favour of independence, with a 42.6% turnout of the electorate. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy rejected the result and denied that Catalonia had held a legal referendum.

The Guardian reports that in the days leading up to the referendum, police confiscated millions of ballot papers, blocked websites related to the referendum, smashed polling stations, forcibly removed ballot boxes and warned a range of public officials of the danger of breaking the law. The day of the vote itself saw a very heavy police presence, with high drama and tension giving way to outright violence: police clad in masks and riot gear forced polling stations to close, charged into protesters, fired rubber bullets into crowds, and violently beat citizens queueing to vote in the referendum. The Catalan Government claimed that more than 900 people were injured.

Today thousands of Catalans have gone on general strike in protest at the police violence

10 Historic Reasons Catalonia Wants Independence from Spain

1. Despite centuries of repression by conquering powers, Catalans have retained their own language – now spoken by 9 million people – which is not a dialect of Spanish, but evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken by the Romans, who colonized the Tarragona area.

2. Catalonia has a long history dating back to the early middle ages, which saw the formation of its own customs and cultural identity – the first counties of Catalonia were established in the 8th century as a result of King Charlemagne attempting to establish a buffer zone between his Frankish Empire and Muslim-ruled Spain.

3. The basis of what would be the future sovereign state of Catalonia was formed in the 9th century. Considered the founder of Catalonia, Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy) united several Catalan counties and became the first independent Count of Catalonia.

Statue of Wilfred the Hairy in Madrid

Statue of Wilfred the Hairy in Madrid (CC by SA 3.0)

4. Catalonia was a powerful region and a major sea power – Catalonia emerged as a distinct entity with the rise of the County of Barcelona to pre-eminence in the 11th century, and when the marriage between Ramon Berenguer IV and Queen Petronilla of Aragon resulted in a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became a major medieval sea power.  

5. Catalonia had its own traditional rights and parliament from as early as the 12th century – although Catalonia was brought under the same royal rule as the neighbouring kingdom of Aragon in the 12th century, Catalonia kept its own traditional rights and parliament, the Corts Catalanes, which remained in place until the 18th century. The Catalan Courts had the force of the law in the sense that the king could not unilaterally revoke them.

Ferdinand II of Aragon on his throne flanked by two shields with the emblem of the royal signet. Frontis of a 1495 edition of the Catalan Constitutions

Ferdinand II of Aragon on his throne flanked by two shields with the emblem of the royal signet. Frontis of a 1495 edition of the Catalan Constitutions (public domain)

6. Catalonia revolted against King Philip IV of Spain – In the 15th century, Catalonia lost its autonomy when King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile married and united their realms, laying the foundations of the Kingdom of Spain. However, during the reign of King Philip IV, Catalan peasants were forced to host an army which was fighting against the French King even though Catalans had enough problems defending Catalan territory. They revolted and declared a republic under French protection. It was to be a short-lived independence and by 1714, the Catalan State was completely abolished. Catalonia was brought under the rule of Madrid and administrative use of the Catalan language was banned.

7. Catalonia had achieved brief independence under Napoleon - During the Napoleonic Wars, Spanish and French armies fought against each other over several years. In 1810, Napoleon decreed that Catalonia was an independent Republic under his guardianship. But he had a change of heart. In 1812, he annexed Catalonia to France, and it became part of the Spanish Kingdom again in 1814 when the French were defeated.

8. The 19 th Century Saw the Rise of Nationalist Sentiment – In the 19th century, Catalonia experienced a cultural renaissance. There was a powerful movement to revive Catalan culture, traditions and language, which flowed into a campaign for political autonomy and separatism.

9. Broad Autonomy Achieved in the 20th Century – At the beginning of the 20th century, Catalonia regained its united administrative system and a certain degree of self-rule. In 1931, the elections were won by Francesc Macià, who proclaimed the short-lived Republic of Catalonia. Three days later, he agreed on the establishment of an autonomous government for Catalonia with the newly-formed Spanish Republic.

10. Repression Leads to Greater Push for Independence – In 1936, a military coup was launched in an attempt to overthrow the Republic, sparking the Spanish Civil War. In 1938-9 – General Francisco Franco’s forces overran Catalonia. The President of the Catalan Government was executed by firing squad. Under Franco’s fascist dictatorship, which lasted nearly 40 years, there was a wide-scale suppression of Catalan autonomy, language and culture. Thousands of Catalan activists were executed or went into exile, and the Catalan language was forbidden in all public sectors. This suppression only served to fuel the fire of the Catalan’s deep desire for independence.

Following the death of Franco in 1975, Catalonia’s official autonomy within Spain, known as the Generalitat, was restored. Catalan’s mobilized to make their voices heard and they have been shouting for independence ever since.

Catalan independence protest in Times Square, NYC

Catalan independence protest in Times Square, NYC (CC by SA 2.0)

What Happens Next?

Spain will not let go of Catalonia easily. The Catalan region has long been the industrial heartland of Spain – first for its maritime power and trade in goods such as textiles, but now for finance, construction, agriculture and hi-tech companies. Today, it is among Spain's most prosperous regions, contributing a fifth of the country's 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.32 trillion) economy.

“Crudely speaking, Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, got his wish,” reports The Conversation. “He promised a referendum would not occur, and his government successfully ensured that what transpired on the day was too incoherent and chaotic to be legitimate.”

But this victory comes at a very high price. Rajoy’s government hoped to prevent the vote without police sequestering ballot boxes using violent tactics on ordinary people; instead, the spectacle of police preventing people from voting and attacking protesters, has done deep damage to Spain’s international credibility, and helped poison relations between Catalonia and Madrid even further.

The referendum may be over, but the stakes remain high. In the weeks and months to come, the crisis could lead to the fall of the Spanish government, and the Catalonian one at that. The dream of an imminent independent Catalan state has been shattered for now, but those Catalans who support independence are more alienated from Spain than ever before.

Top image: Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy), Founder of Catalonia, Slaying a Dragon. Cathedral of Barcelona. Spain. (Jason M Kelly / flickr)

By April Holloway

 

Comments

What the author failed to mention was that the language of Catalan is very similar to Occitan, the language of southern France, that Catalonia had close ties to Occitania and provided a refuge for many displaced Cathars during the Albigensian Crusade and the Inquisition that followed.

This article is full of lies:
1) As Catalan I must say that our lenguage is spoken today in Catalonia for around 3 million people, thnaks to the supporting effort of Spain...please be careful with figures
2) In the 8th century there was a muslim invasion in all the territory of Spain, Barcelona was also muslim for about 100 years and Carlomagno and the french people call Cathalaunic to the same territoryof Castle ...Castilla de central de region of Spain, so that Cathalaunic means "Spain". Ples read an inform yourself a little bit more
3) Never exist such athing like an "independent" county as tthe counties were parto France first and Aragon Kingdom later, to read some Spanish history could be convenient....and so on, so on

Cousin_Jack's picture

Sounds familiar, Celtic groups are paying this close attention and support the referendum.

In Anglia et Cornubia.

Leo con sorpresa el artículo de April Holloway y he de manifestar mi absoluto desacuerdo con el tendencioso contenido del mismo. A este respecto les informo lo siguiente:

1º. La Guerra de Sucesión a la corona española de 1701 a 1714, no fue una guerra entre España contra Cataluña sino que fue una guerra motivada por la muerte sin sucesor del rey Carlos II en noviembre de 1700. A la sucesión en el trono había dos pretendientes el francés nieto de Luis XIV Felipe de Anjou y el austriaco Carlos. Al final Carlos II eligió al francés Felipe de Anjou.

2º. En un primer momento los catalanes juraron fidelidad al rey Felipe V, aunque posteriormente rompieron su juramento y se pusieron del lado del pretendiente austriaco Carlos.

3º. Que el Consejero en Cap de la Generalitat Rafaél Casanova que defendia la ciudad de Barcelona el 11 de Septiembre de 1714, no luchaba por la independencia de Cataluña, sino que era un patriota español cuyo bando, que circulaba por Barcelona en los días previos a la rendición, animaba a los catalanes a “salvar la libertad del Principado y de toda España; evitar la esclavitud que espera a los catalanes y el resto de los españoles bajo el dominio francés; derramar la sangre gloriosamente POR EL REY, POR SU HONOR, POR LA PATRÍA Y POR LA LIBERTAD DE TODA ESPAÑA”.

4º. Cada candidato representaba una concepción diferente de Gobierno. Carlos de Austria personificaba el antiguo modelo foralista y Felipe V representaba un modelo más centralista que pretendía <<unificar jurídica y administrativamente el territorio».

5º. Otra mentira nacionalista es que el castellano fue impuessto por la fuerza en Cataluña.

Empezemos, la actual lengua de Cataluña, que el nacionalismo reinvidica es dialecto derivado del Provenzal, el OCCITO.

Durante la Edad Media Cataluña y el resto de territorios peninsulares fueron multilingues. El catalán -como señala Jordi Canal- <<nunca a lo largo de su historia ha sido la única lengua lengua en Cataluña, ha coexistido con otras lenguas consideradas igualmente como propias por una masa importante de catalanes.

Entre los siglos XVI y XVII la lengua de las élites era el castellano.De las38 obras impresas en Lleida en las dos primeras décadas del siglo XVII, doce eran en latín y el resto en castellano, mientras que ninguno en catalán

Mucho se ha escrito sobre la persecución del catalán por la dictadura franquista (1939-1975), veamos unos ejemplos de publicaciones y premios literarios de obras escritas en catalán durante ese periodo:

En 1951, se amplia las actividades del “Teatro de las Belles Arts” Joseo Mª Cruzet funda “Edicións Selecta”. En el mismo año se concede el premio “Joanot Martorell” a Josep Pla  por su obra “El carrer Estret”.

En 1952 durante una visita de Franco se crea la c´tedra “Milà i Fontanals” para el estudio científico  de la lengua catalana. En 1955 el poeta J. Mª de segarra recibe la Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio por la publicación de sus “Memòries” en catalán …. En 1959, los premios barceloneses “Crítica” se incorporan  a la producción en catalán… En Barcelona se crea el Premio “Sant Jordi” para novelas dotada en 150.000 pesetas cifra igual al premio “Nadal”…

6º. En Economia, pasa lo mismo, basta con comparar dos regiones españolas, Galicia y Cataluña, en el siglo XVII Galicia tenía más població y era más rica que Cataluña, sin embargo, con la llegada de los Borbones en el siglo XVIII, la cosa cambió radicalmente al suprimir las aduanas interiores y la centralización y unificación de las leyes y fiscalidad.

El escritor y novelista francés STENDHAL ante el proteccionismo español a la industria catalana en su <<Diario de un turista de 1839” expone, “Los catalanes quieren leyes justas -anota-, a excepción de la ley de aduana, que debe ser hecha a su medida. Quieren que cada español que necesita algodón pague cuatro francos la vara , por e hecho que Cataluña está en el mundo. El español de Granada de Málaga o de la Coruña no puede comprar paños de algodón ingleses,que son excelentes, y que cuestan un franco la vara...». O sea, los españoles hemos sido una colonia de la industria catalana y también de la industria vasca gracias a los aranceles para impedir la competencia.

En 1943 Franco establece por decreto que solo Barcelona y Valencia podrán realizar ferias de muestras internacionales. Las primeras autopistas que se construyen en España son catalanas. La fábrica Seat, la única marca de coches española se lleva a Barcelona. Los Juegos Olímpicos de 1992 se celebraron en Barcelona sufragados por el Estado Español. Enagás fue vendido a la gasera catalana por el 58% de su valor en libros . Repsol, nuestra única petrolera , también pasará a manos catalanas….

Sobre el problema catalán se pueden escribir rios de tinta. Pero de ningún modo se puede escribir si se está bien informado de que han sido maltratados por los distintos gobiernos españoles.

 

Isidro Garrido Bermejo

 

1. There has never been such repression. In 1715, Spanish was impossed as the language of the law replacing... latin! And it was so in all the territory of Spain. Catalan was taught in schools even during Franco's dictatorship and there were literary contests in Catalan!

2. In the 8th century, just as the rest of the kingdoms, counties and territories that appeared after the conquest of the Moors. However all of them retained the idea of a united Hispania.

3. The basis of... wait! There has never been a sovereign state of Catalonia.

4. It was Aragon the powerhouse of the Mediterranean, not Catalonia and the most important port war Barcelona (as a town, not as the head of any state).

5. Just as any other county, fiefdom or small territory in Western Europe. 

6. Catalonia did not lose anything on the XV century. Castille and Aragon united under one crown keeping its legal differences. During the reign of King Philip the local bourgesie asked to raise an army to attack France from the south expecting to profit from the war. Soon, the people discovered war was a nasty issue. They revolted and they were incorporated to France for a decade and then it was handed back to Spain.
In 1702 a civil war started in Spain between those who supported the Habsburg candidate to the throne and those who supported the Bourbon one. Catalonia sided with the Boubon, promised to obey him and then... changed sides!!! King Philip did not see the funny thing about that and invaded it as any other "Austracist" region in Spain. Castillian was imposed as legal language in all Spain, replacing... latin!!

7. No, it was incorporated as a part of the French Empire. And the region were resistance to the French was harsher (the siege of Gerona, the Bruch's drummer,...).

8. That's true.

9. That is true, but Maciá did not win anything, it was Luis Companys the one that declared a one-sided independence in 1934 and the republican Government suppressed it very quickly.

10. There was a terrible repression during the civil war, with clashes between anarchists, communists and nationalists (please read Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia"). It was so terrible that Franco's army was received as a liberator more joyfully than in any other part of Spain. Compayns was extradited to Spain, judged and executed (by the way he was responsible of 8000 to 9000 executions during the period from 1936 to 1938).

11. After Franco's death the autonomy was restored, and the repression of the spanish-speaking people started. Nazionalists control the media and by making themselves necessary they have supported different governments in Madrid.

Following the death of Franco in 1975, Catalonia’s official autonomy within Spain, known as the Generalitat, was restored. Catalan’s mobilized to make their voices heard and they have been shouting for independence ever since.

Por el honor la vida,
Por el alma las dos

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April

April Holloway is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. For privacy reasons, she has previously written on Ancient Origins under the pen name April Holloway, but is now choosing to use her real name, Joanna Gillan.

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