Timeline
Trip Start
Apr 01, 1988
1
5
8
Trip End
Ongoing
Catalonia,
Spain
Sunday, October 12, 2008
100,000 BC - The approximate date of a Homo erectus jawbone found at Banyoles in Northern Catalonia. However, flint and other remains suggest that the region has been populated for around a million years.
10,000-500 BC - Berbers move up the Levante coast from Africa, Basques cross the Pyrenees and Celts come down from Central Europe. Separate tribal societies are formed, and the coastal tribes begin to trade with other Mediterranean peoples.
800 BC - The Greeks arrive first at Roses and then later at Emporion (modern Empúries) on the northern Costa Brava. The towns are little more than trading posts and the Greeks only have cultural influence over the tribes in their immediate vicinity. They do, however, coin the name Iberians which many centuries later would be applied to the whole peninsula.
821 BC - The Romans oust Hannibal and his Carthaginians from Catalonia and make their capital first in Empúries and later in Tarraco, modern Tarragona. They divide the Peninsula into two: Hispania Citerior (more or less modern Catalunya) and Hispania Ulterior (the rest of the Peninsula).
200-100 BC - The Romans build the Via Augusta road, which connects Southern Spain with Rome. The political and cultural process of romanisation is completed.
27-26 BC - The Roman emperor Augustus settles in Tarraco making it capital of the Roman Empire for a brief period.
20-15 BC - The Romans establish a small settlement called Barcino, which would later grow into the great city of Barcelona.
AD 300 approx. - Germanic tribes begin to invade and challenge Roman hegemony over the Iberian Peninsula.
AD 460 - The Visigoths take control of Catalonia making Barcelona their capital. They later gain control of the whole Peninsula and move their capital to Toledo.
AD 711 - The Moors invade the Iberian Peninsula and conquer territory as far north as Poitiers.
AD 759 - The Franks, under Pepin the Fat, retake Rosselló and move south reclaiming Girona in 785 and Barcelona in 801. The borders of Catalunya Vella are established south of the River Llobregat.
870 - Guifre el Pelós becomes first Count of Cerdanya and Urgell. He later takes control of Girona, Osona, Besalú and Barcelona. On his death in 897, the Countship of Barcelona and its vassals becomes hereditary and the Catalan nation is born.
897 - Guifre el Pilós is killed in battle against the Moors. Legend has it that the Catalan flag, La Senyera, is created when the Frankish King wipes four fingers of Guifre's blood across a golden shield.
985 - The Moors attack and control Barcelona but are driven back South within a couple of years. Lack of military support from the Franks provokes the Catalans to declare independence.
1060 - The establishment of the Usatges de Barcelona. This primitive document, which outlines the rights and responsibilities of the (free) people, predates the Magna Carta by more than 150 years and gives Catalunya a reasonable claim to be the 'Mother of Democracy'.
1112 - Catalunya extends its influence over the south of France through the marriage of Ramon Berenguer III to Dolça de Provence.
1137 - Ramon Berenguer IV marries Petronella of Aragon and the Counts of Barcelona become Kings of Aragon.
1148 - The Conquest of Tortosa and Lleida
1213 - Pere the Catholic is killed at the Battle of Muret defending his Cathar subjects against the forces of Simon de Montfort and the Catholic Church. Catalunya's influence in the south of France is reduced to Rosselló.
1229 - Jaume I better known as the Conqueror begins the conquest of Mallorca, to be followed by Ibiza and Formentera in 1235 and Valencia in 1238.
1282 - Pere II the Great conquers Sicily. Catalonia is now the most powerful Mediterranean empire.
1287 - Alfons II conquers Menorca.
1302 -1311 - The Catalan mercenaries, the Almogàvers, begin expansion into Greece and Asia Minor, culminating in the conquest of Athens and Neopatria.
1352 - The Generalitat is founded, and Sant Jordi (St George) is declared patron saint of Catalonia.
1410 - Martí the Humane, the last of the Catalan dynasty, dies without heir.
1412 - After the Compromís de Casp, Ferran d'Antequera, of the Castilian Trastàmara family, is elected King of the Catalan-Aragonese Confederation.
1443 - The conquest of Naples.
1479 - Fernando II of Barcelona and Aragon marries Isabel of Castile. The foundations for what will become the Spanish state are laid.
1492 - Columbus returns to Barcelona after the discovery of the Americas and the Moors are finally expelled from the south of the Peninsula.
1516 - Carlos I becomes the first Habsburg King of Spain, and declares that Catalonia cannot trade with the New World so driving the Principality's economy into decline.
1556 - Felipe II becomes King of Spain, converts the village of Madrid into his new capital and bans any Catalan trade with the Americas.
1640 - After a century of marginalisation, the Catalans take up arms against the Spanish state and the 19-year-long Guerra dels Segadors (The Reapers' War) begins. In the peace, the Spanish government hands over Northern Catalonia to France.
1700 - After the death of Carlos II without heir, the Spanish War of Succession begins between supporters of the Habsburg and Bourbon pretenders. Catalonia allies with England and Holland and backs the losing Habsburgs.
1714 - On 11th September, Barcelona finally falls to the Bourbon troops and the new King, Felipe V, exacts his revenge by revoking Catalan laws, illegalising the Catalan language and building the Ciutadella fortress and walls to keep the Catalans under control.
1737 - Foundation of the first textile factory in Catalunya. The industrial revolution has arrived.
1778 - Catalunya is allowed to trade with the Americas.
1793 - 1814 - A series of wars between France and Spain leave Catalonia weakened. In 1807, Napoleon occupies the Principality and offers to create an independent Catalan state.
1840s - Following its economic growth, Catalunya begins to rediscover its language and culture which blossoms in the 'Renaixença'.
1848 - The Barcelona-Mataró line is inaugurated and becomes Spain's first railway.
1860s - The people of Barcelona demolish the Ciutadella and the city walls; plans are begun for the expansion of the city with the building of the Eixample.
1888 - The Universal Exhibition heralds the arrival of a new architectural style known as 'Modernisme'.
1892 - The Bases de Manresa are drawn up outlining a Republican plan for Catalan autonomy.
1909 - Barcelona's workers rebel against being conscripted for Spain's war against Morocco, and week of street violence and church burning ensues. The week is known as the Setmana Tragica, the Tragic Week, and hints at the grassroots at the strength of feeling that would be harnessed by the far left and the Anarchists in the following decades.
1923-1930 - Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over as dictator of Spain. The Catalan language is outlawed and Catalonia suffers another period of harsh repression.
1929 - Barcelona hosts its second Universal Exhibition and work on the Barcelona Metro begins.
1931-1934 - Francesc Macià declares the Republic of Catalonia and the Principality receives a degree of autonomy within the Spanish state. Lluís Companys becomes President of the Generalitat in 1934.
1936-1939 - After an attempted coup by Franco's Nationalist rebels, the Spanish Civil War begins. Barcelona holds out almost to the end briefly becoming the seat of the legitimate Republican government, but finally falls after the Battle of the Ebro during which the Fascists received military aid from Hitler and Mussolini.
1939-1975 - During Franco's dictatorship, the Catalan language and culture is violently repressed. The Generalitat continues in exile under the Presidency of Josep Tarradellas.
1950s-1960s - Spanish immigrants flood Catalonia in search of work.
1960s-1970s - The tourist boom begins to transform the Catalan coast.
1975 - Franco dies and Prince Juan Carlos is appointed King of Spain.
1977 - The Generalitat is restored and, in October, Josep Tarradellas returns to become its first President with the prophetic words 'Ja soc aquí' - 'I'm here now'.
1980 - The first democratic elections are held and Jordi Pujol is elected President of the Generalitat, a position he maintains until his retirement in 2003.
1992 - Barcelona hosts the hugely successful Olympic Games. The damage of the Franco years begins to be repaired.
2004 - José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a socialist sympathetic to the claims of Spain's stateless nations, is elected President of Spain.
2006 - Catalonia's new Statute of Autonomy is passed giving the Catalans the right to call themselves a nation.
Going Native in Catalonia is available here: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/nativespain01-21/detail/1905430302/202-0107032-6484653
