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| Anthem | "Els Segadors" | |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Barcelona | |||||
| Other Cities | Badalona, Tarragona | |||||
| Language | Spanish, Catalan | |||||
| Religion | Catholicism | |||||
| Demonym | Catalan | |||||
| Established | 1137 AD | |||||
Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya) is a province in the northeastern corner of continental Spain: it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to its east and south, France to its north, Aragon to its west, and Valencia to its southwest. Catalonia, like most of northern Spain, has never been in Moorish hands: in the Middle Ages, it was the heart of the Kingdom of Aragon, and became a part of Spain when the monarchies of Castile and Aragon united.
Today, Catalonia is the cultural heart of the Catalan region (which also includes Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands): the province is officially bilingual, and Catalan is much more used than Spanish for everyday matters. It is a quite industrialized region, and its capital, Barcelona, is among the largest cities of Europe and one of the most culturally active.