Camp de Tarragona
Encyclopedia
Camp de Tarragona (ˈkam də tərəˈɣonə) is a natural and historical region of Catalonia
, Spain
. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean
sand beaches of the Costa Daurada on the east and limited in the south by the Coll de Balaguer
. The main towns are Tarragona
, Reus
, Valls
and Cambrils
. Salou
is an important resort destination
.
The region is regarded as the second metropolitan area of Catalonia, hosting the most important chemical complex in Spain as well as one of the main ports. Among the most distinctive agricultural produce of the region are hazelnut
s, olive
s, wine
and fish
. It is also one of the major tourist
areas in Catalonia, mainly due to the variety of beaches, holiday attractions
like Port Aventura theme park, the remains of the Roman
important past of Tarragona (one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain
) and samples of the Catalan Modernisme
style (particularly in Reus, Gaudí's hometown).
The area has a common history going back to 1356. In 1936, the region was politically divided into three comarques
: Alt Camp
, Baix Camp
and Tarragonès
.
According to the General Territorial Plan of Catalonia, the Camp de Tarragona region is one of the seven functional territorial sections of Catalonia. It covers, however, a greater area, as the neighbouring comarques of Baix Penedès
, Priorat
and Conca de Barberà
are also included. Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the four provinces
which make up Catalonia are due to be replaced by seven vegueries
, which will also take over many of the functions of the comarques. While the final boundaries of the new vegueries have yet to be approved, the vegueria of Camp de Tarragona will most likely be formed by the same six comarques above mentioned, with the only possible exception of Baix Penedès if the historical region of the Penedès
was finally accepted as an eighth vegueria, as requested by many local councils.
in Catalan
) was an important feudal
land division in the Principality of Catalonia
, Kingdom of Sardinia
, and Duchy of Athens
during the Middle Ages
and into the Modern Era until the Nueva Planta decrees
of 1716. It was the primary division of a county
in Catalonia and the basic territorial unit of government in Sardinia and Athens after those countries became part of the Crown of Aragon
. The office of a veguer was called a vigeriate (Latin: vigeriatus).
In 1936, Catalonia was reconstituted into comarques
. Although these were quickly abolished in 1939 they were reconstituted again in 1987. Each comarca was grouped with two to four others into a veguerie, of which there were nine, with their capitals at Barcelona
, Girona
, Tremp
, Vic
, Manresa
, Lleida
, Reus
, Tarragona
, and Tortosa
.
Since the 1987 reconstitution it has been decided that Vegueries be formally re-established in 2011. Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
, the four provinces
which make up Catalonia are due to be replaced by seven vegueries, which will also take over many of the functions of the comarques. As of October 2008, whereas the final boundaries of the new vegueries have yet to be formally approved, they are expected to incorporate largely historical boundaries: Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona
, Alt Pirineu i Aran
, Camp de Tarragona, Comarques Centrals
, Comarques Gironines
, Ponent
or Lleida, Terres de l'Ebre
.
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
sand beaches of the Costa Daurada on the east and limited in the south by the Coll de Balaguer
Coll de Balaguer
The Coll de Balaguer is a mountain pass in Catalonia, Spain. It is located at the point where the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range reaches the sea, in L'Almadrava, within the Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant municipality, Baix Camp....
. The main towns are Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, Reus
Reus
Reus is the capital of the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague...
, Valls
Valls
Valls is the capital of the comarca of Alt Camp, in Catalonia, Spain. The typical food is calçots and also typical are the human towers called castells...
and Cambrils
Cambrils
Cambrils is a coastal town in the comarca of Baix Camp, province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is nearby the tourist town, Salou and is frequently visited by those travelling by air using Reus Airport and major transport links such as the Plana Bus and the RENFE.-History:-Roman empire...
. Salou
Salou
Salou is a municipality of the comarca of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The city is approximately 10km from Tarragona and Reus on the Costa Daurada and 112km from Barcelona...
is an important resort destination
Resort town
A resort town, sometimes called a resort city or resort destination, is a town or area where tourism or vacationing is a primary component of the local culture and economy...
.
The region is regarded as the second metropolitan area of Catalonia, hosting the most important chemical complex in Spain as well as one of the main ports. Among the most distinctive agricultural produce of the region are hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
s, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
. It is also one of the major tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
areas in Catalonia, mainly due to the variety of beaches, holiday attractions
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
like Port Aventura theme park, the remains of the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
important past of Tarragona (one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972...
) and samples of the Catalan Modernisme
Modernisme
Modernisme was a cultural movement associated with the search for Catalan national identity. It is often understood as an equivalent to a number of fin-de-siècle art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Secessionism, and Liberty style, and was active from roughly 1888 to 1911 Modernisme ...
style (particularly in Reus, Gaudí's hometown).
The area has a common history going back to 1356. In 1936, the region was politically divided into three comarques
Comarques of Catalonia
This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...
: Alt Camp
Alt Camp
Alt Camp is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain.It is one of the three comarques into which Camp de Tarragona was divided in the comarcal division of 1936.- Municipalities :Populations are for 2001.*Aiguamúrcia - pop. 648*Alcover - pop. 3966...
, Baix Camp
Baix Camp
Baix Camp is a comarca of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. It is one of the three comarques into which Camp de Tarragona was divided in the comarcal division of 1936....
and Tarragonès
Tarragonès
Tarragonès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of the three comarques formed in the 1936 comarcal division of Camp de Tarragona. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, between the comarques of Baix Penedès to the northeast and Baix Camp to the south. Over 60% of the population live in the...
.
According to the General Territorial Plan of Catalonia, the Camp de Tarragona region is one of the seven functional territorial sections of Catalonia. It covers, however, a greater area, as the neighbouring comarques of Baix Penedès
Baix Penedès
Baix Penedès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. The area has been settled since the times of the Iberians, with ancient ruins remaining in Banyeres at Can Canyís, in the capital el Vendrell at the village of Guàrdies and in Calafell at the villages of Toixoneres and la Ciutadella .- Municipalities...
, Priorat
Priorat
Priorat is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. The central part of the comarca, "Priorat històric," produces the famous and prestigious wine of the Denominación de Origen Calificada Priorat. Wines from elsewhere in the comarca are denominated as Montsant...
and Conca de Barberà
Conca de Barberà
Conca de Barberà is a comarca in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.-Municipalities:*Barberà de la Conca - pop. 434*Blancafort - pop. 412*Conesa - pop. 123*Espluga de Francolí - pop. 3,687*Forès - pop. 60*Llorac - pop. 128...
are also included. Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the four provinces
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
which make up Catalonia are due to be replaced by seven vegueries
Vegueria
The vegueria was the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the Principality of Catalonia during the Middle Ages and into the Modern Era until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716...
, which will also take over many of the functions of the comarques. While the final boundaries of the new vegueries have yet to be approved, the vegueria of Camp de Tarragona will most likely be formed by the same six comarques above mentioned, with the only possible exception of Baix Penedès if the historical region of the Penedès
Penedès
Penedès is a natural and historical region of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the south of the Principality of Catalonia between the pre-coastal mountain range and the Mediterranean sea...
was finally accepted as an eighth vegueria, as requested by many local councils.
Veguerie
The Veguerie (VegueriaVegueria
The vegueria was the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the Principality of Catalonia during the Middle Ages and into the Modern Era until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716...
in Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
) was an important feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
land division in the Principality of Catalonia
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
, Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
, and Duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and into the Modern Era until the Nueva Planta decrees
Nueva Planta decrees
The Nueva Planta decrees were a number of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V—the first Bourbon king of Spain—during and shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession which he won....
of 1716. It was the primary division of a county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
in Catalonia and the basic territorial unit of government in Sardinia and Athens after those countries became part of the Crown of Aragon
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
. The office of a veguer was called a vigeriate (Latin: vigeriatus).
In 1936, Catalonia was reconstituted into comarques
Comarques of Catalonia
This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...
. Although these were quickly abolished in 1939 they were reconstituted again in 1987. Each comarca was grouped with two to four others into a veguerie, of which there were nine, with their capitals at Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
, Tremp
Tremp
Tremp is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain, the capital of the comarca of the Pallars Jussà. It is the largest municipality in Catalonia in terms of area , accounting for nearly a quarter of the total area of the comarca....
, Vic
Vic
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Vic's location, only 69 km far from Barcelona and 60 km from Girona, has made it one of the most important towns in central Catalonia.-History:...
, Manresa
Manresa
Manresa is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographic centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged around the basilica of Santa María de la Seo....
, Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
, Reus
Reus
Reus is the capital of the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague...
, Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, and Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...
.
Since the 1987 reconstitution it has been decided that Vegueries be formally re-established in 2011. Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia , the political institutions of the Catalan nationality, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain, and the financing of the...
, the four provinces
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
which make up Catalonia are due to be replaced by seven vegueries, which will also take over many of the functions of the comarques. As of October 2008, whereas the final boundaries of the new vegueries have yet to be formally approved, they are expected to incorporate largely historical boundaries: Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona
Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona
Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia . It is located in the central coast of Catalonia, Spain, in Barcelona and its influence area...
, Alt Pirineu i Aran
Alt Pirineu i Aran
Alt Pirineu i Aran is one of the seven vegueries defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the Catalan High Pyrenees ....
, Camp de Tarragona, Comarques Centrals
Comarques Centrals
Comarques Centrals is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the central part of Catalonia and will be formed by five comarques: Anoia, Bages, Berguedà, Osona and Solsonès.-References:...
, Comarques Gironines
Comarques Gironines
Comarques Gironines is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the north-east of Catalonia and will be formed by seven comarques: Gironès, Selva, Pla de l'Estany, Garrotxa, Ripollès, Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà....
, Ponent
Ponent
Ponent, Lleida or Terres de Lleida is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia and is not clear what name will have ....
or Lleida, Terres de l'Ebre
Terres de l'Ebre
Terres de l'Ebre is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the south-west of Catalonia, in the southern part of river Ebre, and will be formed by four comarques: Baix Ebre, Montsià, Terra Alta and Ribera d'Ebre.The northern coastal limit of the...
.