Catalonia (Span. Cataluña), an old principality of Spain, triangular in shape, occupying the north-east portion of the peninsula, and now divided into the provinces of Barcelona, Tarragona, Lerida, and Gerona. Total area, 12,306 sq. m.; with a pop. of 1,900,000. The coast is generally rugged, and its harbours unprotected; the climate, though fog and rain are frequent, and extreme and rapid changes of temperature prevail, is on the whole healthy and favourable to vegetation, which is very luxuriant. Catalonia is the principal manufacturing province of the kingdom—is, in fact, 'the Lancashire of Spain.' The language, costume, and habits of the inhabitants, who regard with contempt and pity the Spaniards of the surrounding provinces, are quite distinct from those of the rest of Spain, whose people they greatly surpass in energy, industry, and intelligence. They are honest, frugal, and enterprising; but this love of liberty has frequently developed a strong revolutionary spirit, and they are extremely passionate, revengful, and egotistical. Even the educated classes speak the rough Catalan dialect, more nearly akin to Provençal than to Castilian, and dating back to the time when the province was part of the Frankish empire; for this and their literature, see SPAIN.
Catalonia, under the name of Hispania Tarracensis, was considered, from its position, an important province of Roman Spain. It was invaded and captured by the Alani, who were followed by the Goths, hence its name, Gothalania, changed into Gothalunia or Catalonia. In the 8th century the Arabs gained possession of the southern part. When Charlemagne in 788 subjugated Spain as far as the Ebro, Catalonia formed the central portion of the Spanish mark; and in the beginning of the following century, when Louis the Pious of Aquitania had helped to finally drive the Arabs out, this division was restored, and broken up into fifteen counties, under Frankish lords. The counts of Barcelona, however, soon made themselves independent of France, and founded the principality of Barcelona. In 1137 Earl Ramon Berengar IV., by his marriage with the heiress of Aragon, united Catalonia with that kingdom; and the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella united both with Castile. Thus Catalonia became an integral portion of the Spanish monarchy (1479), though never a very peaceable one. In the course of the last hundred years it has repeatedly taken a prominent share in Carlist and other insurrections. See Balaguer, Historia de Cataluña (Madrid, 9 vols. 1885-87).