History de la Province de Girona

Precociously populated from the Upper Paleolithic, the future Catalonia was occupied by groups of hunters, identical to those located north of the Pyrenees. Two deposits in particular attest to this human presence during the Palaeolithic: the caves of Mollet in Serinyà (Pla de l'Estany) and the Cau del Duc in the Montgrí massif.

The Iberian peoples succeeded one another in this Catalan territory. As the village of Ullastret, located in the Baix Empordà, testifies.

Marseillais founded the Greek colony of Rhode in the second quarter of the ^4th century. Located to the north-west of the present-day town of Roses, it was initially a settlement designed to trade with the Iberians of the Empordà.

The landing of Cornelius Scipio Calvus (uncle of Scipio the African) at Emporio (today's Empúries) marked the beginning of Roman colonization of the Iberian peninsula.

With the Roman colonization completed, Catalonia is part of the Hispania Ciudadera. An era marked by the adoption of Roman law, the generalisation of an agricultural system based on cereals, vineyards and olive trees and the development of an urban and road network. It is crossed by the Via Augusta, which connects the Gaul region of Narbonne with Gades (present-day Cadiz), crossing the Perthus and running along the Mediterranean coast.

The Visigoths invade Spain from the north. Their king Arthaulf founded in 415 a kingdom whose capital was Barcelona, before settling in Toledo at the beginning of the 11th century. The Visigoths will dominate this territory until the beginning of the 8th century.

Catalonia is conquered by the Arabs, which provokes an immigration of part of the population that takes refuge in the Pyrenees and in the kingdom of the Franks. A regional governor is appointed to administer the province, which became part of Al-Andalus under the Umayyad Caliphate. And it also has to face the army of Charlemagne.

At the end of the 9th century, Charles II the Bald, a Carolingian monarch, invested Guilfred the Hairy Count of Barcelona and Girona, which meant that a large part of the territories of the Hispanic march were now under his rule.

Taking advantage of the decline of the Frankish Empire, Guilfred le Velu, Count of Barcelona, conquered most of the neighbouring bastions and organised Catalonia into a political space. His successors established the definitive separation from France.

He is considered the founder of Catalonia in the 9th century. Count of Barcelona, Osona, Girona, Urgell and Cerdanya, he obtained from Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, the independence of his county and the right to pass it on to his descendants. His children continued the newly created dynasties, forging the identity and territory of Catalonia.

The Marriage of Raimond Berenger IV, Count of Barcelona, with Petronilla, heiress to the throne of Aragon, gives birth to the Crown of Aragon. Catalonia begins its territorial expansion against the Muslims, with the reconquest of the regions of Tortosa and Lleida. Raymond-Bérenger IV promulgates the Usatges, a compilation of the customs and habits that form the basis of Catalan law.

During this period, Catalonia and Aragon became one kingdom, but kept their own institutions. This Catalan-Aragonese power extended into the Mediterranean, with the conquest of the Balearic Islands (1235) and the Valencian country (1238). Catalonia enters a period of prosperity through the development of its manufacturing, commercial and banking activities and also experiences a demographic boom and an increase in agricultural production.

This year of black plague begins the decline of Catalonia, as it will affect its main cities, including Barcelona. This decline was also favoured by the death of King Martin I of Aragon, the last sovereign of the House of Barcelona, who died without an heir in 1410. Bad harvests, famine and social unrest were to set the pace for a crisis that was to reach its climax during the civil war between the Generalitat and John II of Aragon.

Another stage opens up. In 1469, Catalonia was incorporated into the new kingdom created by the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, which united the two most powerful kingdoms of Spain. But the discovery of the New World in 1492 shifted trade to the Atlantic.

In 1640, the Catalans, supported by France, rose up against the Spanish monarchy in the Guerra dels Segadors (Reapers' War), which lasted until 1659. Like the Thirty Years' War, it will end with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed between Spain and France. Roussillon and half of the county of Cerdanya will then come under the bosom of France.

With Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV and winner of the War of Succession, the Bourbons accede to the Spanish throne. Philip V abolished all the privileges of Catalonia, which was then only a Spanish province. He also abolished the Generalitat and prohibited the use of Catalan.

From the middle of the 18th century, Catalonia experienced an economic revival marked by the creation of a textile industry, present in Barcelona and Girona. While continuing its industrial development in the 19th century, Catalonia also saw the rhythm of workers' revolts, particularly in Barcelona. This industrial development also led to a cultural revival and a return of linguistic (the Renaixença) and nationalist demands.

Catalonia becomes a focal point for the development of Art Nouveau. A movement dubbed Catalan Modernism and marked by the names of architects such as Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Josep Puig i Cadafalch and painters like Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol. This cultural effervescence culminated in the Barcelona World Fairs of 1888 and 1929. Numerous examples of this modernist style can also be found in Figueres, Olot and many Costa Brava villages (Cadaqués, Begur, Lloret de Mar...), where the Indianos, local children enriched by their immigration to the New World, built beautiful homes on their return.

In Spain, the Republicans won the municipal elections and proclaimed the Second Republic, which led to the exile without abdication of King Alfonso XIII. In Catalonia, a new party, the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), won the municipal elections. An autonomous regional government, the Generalitat, was formed. Its task was to draw up a statute of autonomy, the first of which was adopted in 1932. This government is again suspended after the failure of President Lluís Companys' proclamation of a Catalan state on 6 April 1934.

A fundamental figure of Catalan nationalism, Lluís Companys was President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1934 until his death. On October 6, 1934, from the balcony of the Generalitat's palace, he proclaimed "the Catalan State" within the Spanish Federal Republic. Tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison for rebellion, he was released in 1936 after the victory of the Popular Front. From 1939, after the occupation of Catalonia by Franco's troops, Lluís Companys was forced into exile in France. Handed over to the Franco military dictatorship by the secret police of Nazi Germany, he was repatriated, tortured and then shot at Montjuïc Castle on 15 October 1940. At the time of his execution, he refused to be blindfolded and died facing the firing squad shouting "Per Catalunya! "For Catalonia!

From the short victory of the Popular Front in the 1936 general elections, multiple plots involved Generals Mola and Franco. And it was on July 17, 1936 in Melilla (Morocco) that the first military garrison rose up, preparing the offensive of the national movement and the beginning of the civil war between nationalists and republicans, until 1939. After the Battle of the Ebro, which lasted four months, the Francoists entered Barcelona in January 1939.

From the beginning of 1939 to November 1975, the dictatorship set up by General Franco after the victory of the nationalists lasted 36 years. In Catalonia, this resulted in the suppression of the Statute of Autonomy and the prohibition of the use of Catalan in schools and administrations. The period also saw the exile of a large number of writers such as Mercè Rodoreda and Carles Riba.

The death of General Franco marks the beginning of the democratic transition. A key date was the adoption of the Spanish constitution in 1978 (still in force), which granted Catalonia political autonomy, made it an autonomous community within Spain, and re-established the Catalan Parliament.

Jordi Pujol becomes president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and therefore head of the autonomous government of the region. Supported by the centre-right federation CIU (Convergència i Unió), he will exercise power until 2003. On that date he will be replaced by the Socialist Pasquall Maragall, at the head of a left-wing tripartite coalition: PSC (Catalan Socialist Party) Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds-Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (ICV-EUiA).

With Pasquall Maragall at the head of the city council, the city of Barcelona is organising the XXV Summer Olympic Games, which will transform the city's coastline and will also involve developments on the Costa Brava coastline as well as in L'Escala.

After bitter discussions, a new Statute of Autonomy, the third, was approved by the Catalan Parliament on 30 September 2005. It will then be substantially amended before being approved by the Spanish Parliament in spring 2006 and then adopted in Catalonia by referendum on 18 June 2006.

The global economic crisis is hitting Spain hard, leading in particular to the implosion of its real estate bubble (a fall of more than 25% in construction in one year) and officially bringing it into recession. In addition to repeated financial scandals, it will help fuel the Catalan cause. A cause that will also be strengthened in 2010 by the annulment of various articles of the Statute of Autonomy by the Constitutional Court, which also refutes any legal value to the term "nation" contained in the preamble of the Statute of Autonomy.

On 9 November 2014, Catalonia voted 80% in favour of independence in a symbolic consultation (35% participation) on self-determination, which was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. This vote was promised by Artur Mas, the new president of Catalonia since 2010, after numerous events, including the Diada (Catalan holiday) of 11 September 2012, which brought together more than a million people in Barcelona.

On 27 September 2015, the pro-independence parties obtain a majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament. On 9 November, they adopted a resolution on a process that should lead to an "independent Catalan state taking the form of a republic" by 2017 at the latest. This resolution will be annulled by the Constitutional Court. But it will come back to life on 10 January 2016 when Carles Puigdemont becomes President of Catalonia, replacing Artur Mas, thanks to a new alliance with the far-left CUP (Candidatura d'Unitat Popular).

On¹ October 2017, the referendum on self-determination for Catalonia, which the Constitutional Court has ruled unconstitutional, will be held. The referendum will give more than 90% of the votes in favour of independence. After some hesitation, the Parliament of Catalonia will vote on the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DIU) on 28 October 2017. This will lead to the implementation of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, suspending the DIU and calling elections in Catalonia in December. The latter will give an absolute majority to the pro-independence lists. The trial of 12 Catalan leaders begins in February 2019 and leads to the sentencing of 9 leaders to sentences ranging from 9 to 13 years in October 2019.

After 8 months of political paralysis, Pedro Sanchez was able to form a coalition government after being narrowly invested on 7 January 2020. A vote of investiture notably obtained thanks to the abstention of the ERC (Republican left of Catalonia). In exchange for this abstention, the Socialists had promised negotiations between the central government and the Catalan regional executive to resolve the political conflict over the future of Catalonia. The first dialogue meeting was held on 26 February 2020.

Following growing differences between Junts Per Catalunya (Carles Puigdemont's movement) and the ERC, led by Oriol Junqueras, early regional elections were held on 14 February 2021 to elect the new Parliament of Catalonia. Despite a strong breakthrough by the PSC, the result gave an absolute majority to the pro-independence parties.

Breakdown of the government pact between Junts and ERC leading to a reshuffle in the generalitat government.

Signature in Barcelona of a pact of friendship between France and Spain.

Pedro Sánchez is sworn in as president of the government. With 179 votes, PSOE and Sumar (bringing together various far-left parties) but also the support of regionalist parties including Bildu (Basque) and Catalan independence parties (ERC and Junts). With the prospect of an amnesty for the organizers of the illegal 2017 referendum on Catalonia, a subject that led to numerous demonstrations by opponents.

Spanish parliament passes amnesty law for Catalan independence fighters (177 for, 172 against). Between 300 and 400 people concerned, including Carles Puigdemont.

The DANA (Isolated High Altitude Depression), known as the cold drop, hits Spain, particularly the Valencian Community, with a death toll of 224.