History History

Legend has it that Barcino was founded by Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal's father, on the hill of Montjuïc. He is the one who would have given his name to the city.

During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the Romans founded the colony of Barcino on top of Mount Tàber, where the current Plaça de Sant Jaume is located. Excavations have unearthed remains of this Roman city, which are on display at the Museu d'Història de Barcelona.

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

The Muslims conquered the city and renamed it Barjalonah.

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, seized Barcelona and integrated it into the Spanish March, a buffer zone against the Muslims of Al-Andalus. This territory is made up of counties dependent on Carolingian monarchs, of which Barcelona is the most powerful.

Taking advantage of the decline of the Frankish Empire, Guifred the Velvet, Count of Barcelona, conquered most of the neighbouring bastions and organized Catalonia into a political entity. His successors establish the definitive separation with regard to France.

Guifré el Pilós (840-897), in Catalan, is considered to be 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 transmit it to his descendants. His children pursued the newly created dynasties, forging the Catalan identity and territory.

The marriage of Raimond-Bérenger IV, Count of Barcelona, with Petronilla, heiress to the throne of Aragon, gave birth to the Crown of Aragon. Catalonia began its territorial expansion against the Muslims, with the reconquest of the regions of Tortosa and Lleida. Raimond-Bérenger IV promulgated the Usatges, a compilation of the customs and traditions that form the basis of Catalan law

Under the reign of James I the Conqueror, the Catalan-Aragonese power extended into the Mediterranean, with the conquest of the Balearic Islands (1235) and the Valencian country (1238). Catalonia is enjoying a period of great prosperity thanks to its port activity and trade. At the end of the 14th century, the Generalitat was formed, an organization delegated by the Corts (assemblies).

Period of decline. In 1469, Catalonia was incorporated into the new unified kingdom of the Catholic Kings Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella ^{I of} Castile. In 1492, the discovery of the New World shifted trade to the Atlantic.

In 1640, the Catalans - supported by France - rose up against the Spanish monarchy during the Guerra dels Segadors. It ended in 1652 with the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees between Spain and France, which granted France Roussillon and half of the county of Cerdanya.

Barcelona capitulated on September 11 to the troops of Philip V, whose coronation it had not supported during the War of Succession. The latter abolished the Generalitat and prohibited the use of Catalan

The opening of trade with America is helping to boost the Catalan economy. Barcelona became the main textile centre of the peninsula

While pursuing its industrial development, Catalonia is living at the rhythm of workers' revolts. Living conditions were then deplorable in the working class neighbourhoods of Barcelona. In 1859, the urban planner Ildefons Cerdà initiated his plan to extend the city by designing the new Eixample district. The city hosted its first Universal Exhibition in 1888, while the Renaixença revived Catalan culture and language.

Several attacks shook Barcelona, which saw the emergence of anarchist trade union organizations. In 1909, Setmana Tràgica (tragic week) killed about a hundred people in protests against the sending of troops to Morocco. In 1914, the Catalanists obtained the creation of Mancomunitat de Catalunya, a regional federation bringing together the four Catalan provinces

Coup d'état by General Primo de Rivera in 1923, which imposed a military dictatorship. When it fell in 1930, the left-wing Catalan nationalists (ERC) proclaimed the Republic of Catalonia and established the Generalitat. This government was suspended again after the failure of President Lluís Companys' proclamation of a Catalan state on April 6, 1934. This period was also marked by the organization of the Barcelona International Exhibition, celebrated in 1929 on the Montjuïc hill.

Civil war broke out after the Popular Front won the 1936 elections. Barcelona, capital of the Republicans from 1937 onwards, fell into the hands of Franco in 1939.

A fundamental figure of Catalan nationalism, Lluís Companys (1882-1940) was President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1934 until his death. On 6 October 1934, he proclaimed the Catalan State in the Spanish Federal Republic on the balcony of the Generalitat Palace. Judged and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment 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. Surrendered to the Francoist military dictatorship by the secret police of Nazi Germany, he was repatriated, tortured and shot at Montjuïc Castle on 15 October 1940. At the time of his execution, he refused to be blindfolded and died in front of the peloton shouting "Per Catalunya! " (For Catalonia!).

Franco established a totalitarian regime for more than 35 years. The Catalan language is banned from schools and administration. Between 1960 and 1970, more than 750,000 immigrants settled in Catalonia, most of them from the poor regions of Andalusia and Extremadura

Franco's death in 1975 paved the way for the democratic transition. Catalonia obtained its autonomous status in 1979, while Catalan once again became an official language. The first elections of the autonomous government brought the nationalist Jordi Pujol to power; he remained there until 2003. The 1992 Olympic Games transformed Barcelona's coastline.

At the turn of the millennium, Barcelona continued its transformation with major urban development projects, such as the 22@ new technology district. In 2006, Catalans voted in a referendum for a new autonomy statute, which was partially amputated by the Constitutional Court in 2010. This marked the start of a historic crisis in Spain, culminating on October 27, 2017 with the declaration of independence voted by the Catalan Parliament, then annulled by the Constitutional Court. Since then, the question of Catalan independence has been at the heart of political debate. In 2023, after eight years as mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau Ballano was replaced by socialist Jaume Collboni Cuadrado. Barcelona will remember 2024 as the year it hosted the prestigious Copa America international sailing tournament.