Catalan Countries
Encyclopedia
| Catalan Countries Països Catalans |
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|---|---|
| (In darker grey, Catalan-speaking area) The concept of the Catalan Countries includes territories of the following sovereign states: |
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| State | Territory |
 Spain |
 Catalonia Valencian Community Balearic Islands Aragon (for Western Strip) Region of Murcia (for CarcheCarche El Carche is a mountainous, sparsely populated area in Region of Murcia, Spain, lying between the municipalities Jumilla and Yecla. The mountains reach an altitude of 1,371 metres at the Pico de la Madama and part of the region has the status of regional park... ) |
 Early Modern France |
Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659... in the Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :... department |
 Andorra |
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... is the official language Official language An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a... |
 Italy |
Alghero Alghero Alghero , is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the sea.-History:The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times... (  Kingdom of Sardinia) |
The 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...
term Països Catalans (pəˈizus kətəˈɫans, paˈizos kataˈlans; Catalan Countries) refers to the territories where the Catalan language
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...
is spoken.
The first mentions of the term date back to the late 19th century, but it never surpassed the limits of a small circle of Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
authors until its strictly cultural dimension became increasingly politically charged by the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Francoism began to die out in 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...
. Thus, what had remained to date as a cultural term restricted to connaisseurs of Catalan philology, then rose to prominence and became highly controversial during the Spanish Transition period, most acrimoniously in Valencia
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
during the 1980s.
The Països Catalans do not have any legal entity nor is there any universal territorial definition of the scope covered by this concept. It may refer strictly to the territories in which the different varieties of Catalan are traditionally spoken, or it may be extended to the entire political entities in which Catalan has some official status, in spite of the fact that those entities include areas where Catalan is not spoken (the map to the right covers this latter usage).
Different meanings
Països Catalans has different meanings depending on the context. These can be roughly classified in two groups: linguistic or political, the political definition of the concept being the widest, since it also encompasses the linguistic side of it.As a linguistic term, Països Catalans is used in a similar fashion to the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Anglosphere
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
, the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Francophonie, the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Lusofonia or the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Hispanophone
Hispanophone
Hispanophone or Hispanosphere denotes Spanish language speakers and the Spanish-speaking world. The word derives from the Latin political name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania, which comprised basically the territory of the modern states of Spain and Portugal.Hispanophones are estimated at...
territories.
As a political term it refers to a number of political projects as advocated by Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
. These, based on the linguistic fact, argue for the existence of a common national identity that would surpass the limits of each territory covered by this concept and would apply also to the remaining ones. These movements advocate for "political collaboration" amongst these territories. This often stands for their union and political independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
. As a consequence of the opposition these political projects have received –notably in some of the territories described by this concept– some cultural institutions avoid the usage of Països Catalans in some contexts, as a means to prevent any political interpretation; in these cases, equivalent expressions (such as Catalan-speaking countries) or others (such as the linguistic domain of Catalan language) are used instead.
Component territories
Catalan is spoken in:- the SpanishSpainSpain , 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...
autonomous communities of- CataloniaCataloniaCatalonia 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...
— even though in the comarcaComarcaA comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...
of Val d'AranVal d'AranThe Val d'Aran is a valley in the Pyrenees mountains and a comarca in the northwestern part of the province of Lleida, in Catalonia, northern Spain. Most of the valley constitutes the only part of Spain, and of Catalonia, on the north face of the Pyrenees, hence the only part of Catalonia whose...
, Occitan is considered the language proper to that territory; - AragonAragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, in a Catalan-speaking area named "La FranjaLa FranjaLa Franja is a term that refers to the Catalan-speaking territories of Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means "the strip" and can also more properly be called Franja d'Aragó or Franja de Ponent in Catalan ....
" ("The Strip"); - the Balearic IslandsBalearic IslandsThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
and - as ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
, in the Valencian CommunityValencian CommunityThe Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
, with the exception of some western and southern comarques where Spanish is the only language spoken;- CarcheCarcheEl Carche is a mountainous, sparsely populated area in Region of Murcia, Spain, lying between the municipalities Jumilla and Yecla. The mountains reach an altitude of 1,371 metres at the Pico de la Madama and part of the region has the status of regional park...
, a small Valencian-speaking area in the Spanish autonomous community of MurciaRegion of MurciaThe Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast....
;
- Carche
- Catalonia
- AndorraAndorraAndorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, a European sovereign state where Catalan is the nationalNational languageA national language is a language which has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country...
and only official languageOfficial languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
.
- most of the FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
department of the Pyrénées-OrientalesPyrénées-OrientalesPyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...
, also called Le Pays CatalanPays (France)In France, a pays is an area whose inhabitants share common geographical, economic, cultural, or social interests, who have a right to enter into communal planning contracts under a law known as the Loi Pasqua or LOADT , which took effect on February 4, 1995.It was augmented on June 25, 1999, by...
(The Catalan Country) in French or Catalunya (del) Nord (Northern CataloniaNorthern CataloniaNorthern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
) in Catalan;
- the ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
city of AlgheroAlgheroAlghero , is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the sea.-History:The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times...
, in the island of SardiniaSardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, where a variant of CatalanAlguereseAlgherese is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero , in the northwest of Sardinia....
is spoken.
Catalan is the official language of Andorra, co-official with Spanish and Occitan in Catalonia, co-official with Spanish in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community —with the denomination
Names of Catalan language
The first names, or glossonyms, of the Catalan language formed in a dialectal relation with Latin, in which Catalan existed as a variety. These names already expressed the relationship between the two languages...
of Valencian in the latter— and co-official with Italian in the city of Alghero. It is also part of the recognized minority languages of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
along with Sardinian
Sardinian language
Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....
, also spoken in Alghero.
It is not official in Aragon, Murcia or the Pyrénées-Orientales, even though, recently, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales
General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales
The General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales is the assembly elected for 6 years by the 31 Cantons of the Pyrénées-Orientales and its executive...
officially recognized Catalan, along with French, as a language of the department, on 10 December 2007, and in 2009 Catalan language was declarated llengua pròpia (with Aragonese language
Aragonese language
Aragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...
) of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
.
Trans-regional cultural collaboration
There are several endeavors and collaborations amongst some of the diverse government and cultural institutions involved. One such case is the Ramon Llull InstituteRamon Llull Institute
The Institut Ramon Llull , also known by the acronym IRL, is a Catalan organization constituted in 2002 in order to "promote Catalan language and culture internationally"...
(IRL), founded in 2002 by the Government of the Balearic Islands and the government of Catalonia
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
. Its main objective is to promote Catalan language and culture abroad in all its variants, as well as the works of writers, artists, scientists and researchers of the regions which are part of it. On 2008, in order the extend the collaboration to institutions from all across the Catalan Countries, the IRL and the government of Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
(which formerly had enjoyed occasional collaboration, most notably in the Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. As to the number of visitors, the Turin Book Fair attracts about as many visitors, viz. some 300,000....
of 2007) created the Ramon Llull Foundation
Ramon Llull Foundation
The Fundació Ramon Llull , also known by the acronym FRL, is an international organization constituted in 2008 in order to promote Catalan language and culture internationally...
(FRL), an international cultural institution with the same goals as IRL. In 2009 the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales
General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales
The General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales is the assembly elected for 6 years by the 31 Cantons of the Pyrénées-Orientales and its executive...
, the city council of Alghero
Alghero
Alghero , is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the sea.-History:The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times...
and the Network of Valencian Cities (an association of a few Valencian city councils) joined the FRL as well.
Another relevant example is the Joan Lluís Vives Institute
Joan Lluís Vives Institute
The Xarxa Vives d'Universitats , formerly known as Institut Joan Lluís Vives , is the network of Catalan language universities...
, a collaborative network constituted by universities in the Catalan linguistic domain.
Controversy
The term is controversial because many non-Catalans see the concept of the Països Catalans as regional exceptionalism, counterpoised to a centralizing Spanish and French national identityNational identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
. Others see it as an attempt by a Catalonia proper centered nationalism to lay a hegemonic claim to the historically Catalan regions in southern France or, in Spain, to Valencia or the Balearic Islands – where the prevailing feeling is that they have their own respective historical personality, not necessarily related to Catalonia's, as the Països Catalans term would suggest. Some authors, also within the Catalan literature
Catalan literature
Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The Catalan literary tradition is extensive, starting in the Middle Ages....
, have dubbed the term as "inconvenient", while attesting that the concept has generated more reactions against it than actual positive adhesions.
Thus, in extensive areas included in the territories designated by some as Països Catalans, Catalan nationalist sentiment is uncommon or nonexistent. For example, in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
case, Esquerra Repúblicana del País Valencià (ERPV) is the most relevant party explicitly supportive of the idea but its representation is limited to a total of four local councilors elected in three municipalities (out of a total of 5,622 local councilors elected in the 542 Valencian municipalities). At the regional level, it has run twice (2003
Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2003
The Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2003 were the sixth democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, since the Spanish transition to democracy and were held on 25 May of that year...
and 2007
Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2007
The Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2007 were the most recent democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament and were held on 27 May of that year...
) to the regional Parliament
Corts Valencianes
The Corts Valencianes are the main legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana and therefore of the Valencian Community. The main location of the Corts is in the Palace of Benicarló in Valencia; however it can meet at any location in Valencian territory. The Corts has its origins in bodies...
election, receiving less than 0.50% of the total votes. In all, its role in Valencian politics is currently marginal. There are other parties supportive of the concept in Valencia, but they have achieved so far even more negligible results than those of ERPV. Despite of this lack of popular support, some of the most vocal defenders or promoters of the "Catalan Countries" concept (such as Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster i Ortells was a Valencian writer, who published mostly in Catalan.- Life and works :He was born in the village of Sueca near Valencia, Spain, in a relatively prosperous middle class family. Both his parents were pious Roman Catholics and Carlists. His father was a renowned local...
, Josep Guia
Josep Guia
Josep Guia i Marín is a Valencian writer, mathematics professor of University of Valencia and political activist within PSAN party...
or Vicent Partal
Vicent Partal
Vicent Partal is a Valencian journalist, founder and manager of Vilaweb. He also worked in El Temps, Diari de Barcelona, TVE, Catalunya Ràdio, El Punt, and La Vanguardia, among others. He is considered an ....
) were Valencian.
The subject became very controversial during the politically agitated Spanish Transition in what was to become the Valencian Community, especially in and around the city of Valencia. In the late 70s and early 80s, when the Spanish Autonomous Communities system was taking shape, the controversy reached its height. Various Valencian right wing politicians (originally from Unión de Centro Democrático) fearing what was seen as an annexation attempt from Catalonia, fueled a violent Anti-Catalanist
Anti-Catalanism
Anti-Catalanism is the collective name given to various political attitudes, nowadays particularly in Spain. Hence, it can refer to a reaction against Catalan nationalism or, particularly, Catalan independentism...
campaign against local supporters of the concept of the Països Catalans, which even included a handful of unsuccessful attacks with explosives against authors perceived as flagships of the concept, such as Joan Fuster or Manuel Sanchis i Guarner. The concept's revival during this period was behind the formation of the fiercely opposed and staunch anti-Catalan blaverist
Blaverism
Blaverism is a body of ideas in the Valencian Community, Spain that emerged with the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco, and characterised by its opposition to Joan Fuster's book Nosaltres, els valencians , which revived the concept of Països Catalans which...
movement, led by Unió Valenciana
Unió Valenciana
Valencian Union was a nationalist political party in the Valencian Community, Spain....
, which, in turn, significantly diminished during the 90s and the 2000s as the Països Catalans controversy slowly disappeared from the Valencian political arena.
This confrontation between politicians from Catalonia
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...
and Valencia very much diminished in severity during the course of the late 1980s and, especially, the 1990s as the Valencian Community's regional government
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organised....
became consolidated. Since then, the topic has lost most of its controversial potential, even though occasional clashes may appear from time to time, such as controversies regarding the broadcasting of Catalan television
TV3 (Catalonia)
TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...
in Valencia —and vice versa
Canal 9
Canal Nou is a public television station in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is run by Ràdio Televisió Valenciana which operates from Burjassot. It is broadcast in Valencian and Spanish and it can be watched in the Valencian Community and adjacent areas...
— or the usage by Catalan official institutions of terms which are perceived in Valencia as Catalan nationalistic, such as Països Catalans or País Valencià (Valencian Country).
As for the other territories, there are no political parties even mentioning the Països Catalans as a public issue neither in Andorra, nor in la Franja, Carche or Alghero. In the Balearic islands, support for parties related to Catalan nationalism is around 10% of the total votes. Reversely, the Popular Party –which is a staunch opponent of whatever political implications for the Països Catalans concept– is the majority party in Valencia and the Balearic islands.
Legal frame
The Spanish Constitution of 1978Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...
contains a clause forbidding the formation of federations amongst Autonomous Communities. Therefore, if the case was that the Països Catalans idea gained a majority democratic support in future elections, a constitutional amendment would still be needed for those parts of the Països Catalans lying in Spain to create a common legal representative body.
Nonetheless, in the addenda to the Constitution there is a clause allowing an exception to this rule in the case of Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
, which can join the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
should the people choose to do so.
Etymology
The term Països Catalans was first documented in "Historia del Derecho en Cataluña, Mallorca y Valencia. Código de las Costumbres de Tortosa, I" (History of the Law in Catalonia, Majorca and Valencia. Code of the Customs of Tortosa, I) written by the Valencian Law historian Benvingut Oliver i Esteller.The term was both challenged and reinforced by the use of the term "Occitan Countries" from the Oficina de Relacions Meridionals (Office of Southern Relations) in Barcelona by 1933. Another proposal which enjoyed some popularity during the Renaixença was "Pàtria llemosina" (Llemosine Motherland), proposed by Victor Balaguer
Victor Balaguer
Víctor Balaguer , Catalan Spanish politician and author, was born at Barcelona on 11 December 1824, and was educated at the university of his native city....
as a federation of Catalan-speaking provinces; both these coinages were based on the theory that Catalan is a dialect of Occitan.
None of these names reached widespread cultural usage and the term nearly vanished until it was rediscovered, redefined and put in the center of the identitary cultural debate by Valencian
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
writer Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster i Ortells was a Valencian writer, who published mostly in Catalan.- Life and works :He was born in the village of Sueca near Valencia, Spain, in a relatively prosperous middle class family. Both his parents were pious Roman Catholics and Carlists. His father was a renowned local...
. In his book Nosaltres els valencians (We, the Valencians, published in 1962) a new political interpretation of the concept was introduced; from the original, meaning roughly Catalan-speaking territories, Fuster developed a political inference closely associated to Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
. This new approach would refer to the Catalan Countries as a more or less unitary nation with a shared culture which had been divided by the course of history, but which should logically be politically reunited. Fuster's preference for Països Catalans gained popularity, and previous unsuccessful proposals such as Comunitat Catalànica (Catalanic Community) or Bacàvia (after Balearics-Catalonia-Valencia) diminished in use.
Today the term is politically charged, and tends to be closely associated with Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
and Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
. The idea of uniting these territories in an independent state is supported by a number of political parties, ERC
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
being the most important in terms of representation. Other groups with no representation in the relative regional parliaments, such as ERPV, PSAN, Estat Català, CUP also support this idea to a greater or lesser extent.
See also
- Gate of the Catalan CountriesGate of the Catalan CountriesThe Gate of the Catalan Countries , a work of the sculptor Emili Armengol, marks the Northern starting location of the Catalan Countries in Salses, Pyrénées-Orientales .After more than 20 years since the beginning of the project The Gate of the Catalan Countries , a work of the sculptor Emili...
- Military history of Catalonia
- Muixeranga, proposed hymn for the Catalan Countries.
- Nationalities in SpainNationalities in SpainHistorically, the modern country of Spain was formed after the process known as Reconquista.Several independent Christian Kingdoms and political entities mostly independent were formed by their own inhabitants efforts under aristocrat leadership and coexisted with the Muslim Iberian states and had...
External links
- Catalan Countries in the English version of the Catalan Hiperencyclopedia.
- Lletra. Catalan Literature Online
- The Spirit of Catalonia. 1946 book by Oxford Professor Dr. Josep TruetaJosep TruetaJosep Trueta i Raspall was a Catalan medical doctor.As a Catalan nationalist, he was forced into exile to England after the Spanish Civil War, during which he had been the chief of trauma services for the city of Barcelona. During World War II, he helped to organize medical emergency services there...