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BARCELONA: ITS HISTORY

ORIGINS During the 4th, 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., the area between the river Llobregat and the river Besòs was inhabited by little tribe settlements named Laietans. In the time of the Roman Emperor August, the colony Julia Augusta Favencia Paterna Barcino was founded to be part of the Hispania Citerior enclave, whose capital was Tarraco (modern day Tarragona). We can still see certain fragments of the wall that surrounded the city, the Temple of August, the necropolis and the remains of some structures on the basement of the Museum of the City History. In the 5th century, the Visigoths that came from Northern Europe invaded Barcino, as well as the rest of Hispania.

A NATION IS BORN In the year 711 A.D., the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Barcelona included, and they even passed the Pyrenees, where they were rejected by Charles Martel (732). In 801, the Franks led by Louis the Pious occupied Barcelona and established a strong military presence in what became known as the Spanish Mark. This land was then divided into counties and Count Borrell II (950-992) achieved independence from the Carolingian kings for the County of Barcelona in 988. THE ARAGON KINGDOM Ramon Berenguer IV united Catalunya with Aragon by marrying Petronila from Aragon, resulting in his son Alfonso II becoming the first Aragon-Catalan king to rule the Mediterranean coast all the way to Nice, in Southern France. Jaume I The Conqueror (1213-1276) initiated an expansion towards the Mediterranean and conquered the Balearic Islands and the Kingdom of Valencia. He also built a second city wall around the expanding Barcelona. In 1410 the King Martí The Human died without leaving any children behind. In 1412 the Catalan and Aragon nobles gathered at the town of Caspe to appoint a successor and they chose Ferdinand as their new king, who would later marry Isabella of Castille, thus forming the nucleus of the Castilian origin Spanish state. During the following period, Barcelona constituted the Generalitat to rule the region legally but with the union of Catalunya and Aragon to Castille, Barcelona stopped being the most influential city.

DECLINE AND RECOVERY The death of Charles II without leaving any children opened a succession conflict in Spain. Catalunya supported the Archduke Charles from Austria but almost the rest of Spain supported Philip d'Anjou, the French pretender to the Spanish throne. The victory of Philip d'Anjou (Philip V) in 1714 caused the abolition of the Catalan institutions. Therefore, Catalunya lost its political independence and became, in an administration level, part of the central state. Barcelona was reduced to a provincial town. However, the 10th century was a period of economic and demographic growth. By the end of the century, the Barcelona population had doubled thus creating an industrial base, which would give rise to the physical change of the city. In the 19th century, the urban plan by Ildefons Cerdà tore down the walls of Barcelona and the city grew until it absorbed the surrounding little towns like Gràcia or Sants. In 1888 the Barcelona World Fair was celebrated thanks to the city bourgeoisie. By the end of the century, Barcelona went through a period of political agitation with anarchist hegemonic periods and fights for power.
THE TRAGIC WEEK AND THE WORLD FAIR The constant defeats of the Spanish army in the North of Morocco forced the Government to mobilize citizens to the conflict area. Most men that were called up were Catalan husbands and fathers. This circumstance caused a general strike, a popular riot that lasted a week and extensive destruction, including the razing of 70 buildings belonging to religious orders that were systematically burned by the anarchists. The leader of the movement, Francesc Ferrer, was later executed. In 1929 the World Fair was celebrated in Barcelona. On that occasion of this event, many great architectonic and urban works were made and they later became something to be proud of. The Montjuïc Mount was the area that changed the most: the fountains (by Carles Buïges), the National Palace, the funicular, the gardens and the "poble espanyol". These were the years of Modernism and very strong cultural currents were at work in Barcelona.