Editing Catalonia (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Catalonia}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Catalan history}}

=== Prehistory ===
The first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the [[Middle Paleolithic]]. The oldest known trace of human occupation is a [[mandible]] found in [[Banyoles]], described as pre-[[Neanderthal]], that is, some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old.<ref>{{citation|first1=R.|last1=Grun|title=ESR and U-series analyses of enamel and dentine fragments of the Banyoles mandible|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|year=2005|url=http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904090837/http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2012|access-date=31 October 2006|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.10.001|display-authors=etal|volume=50|issue=3|pages=347–58|pmid=16364406}}.</ref> From the [[Epipalaeolithic]] or [[Mesolithic]], important remains dated between 8000 and 5000{{spaces}}BC, such as those of Sant Gregori ([[Falset, Tarragona|Falset]]) and el Filador ([[Margalef]] de Montsant). The most important sites from these eras, all excavated in the region of [[Moianès]], are the Balma del Gai (Epipaleolithic) and the Balma de l'Espluga.<ref>Guilaine, Jean; Michel Barbaza, David Geddes, Jean-Louis Vernet, Miguel Llongueras & Maria Hopf (1982). "Prehistoric Human Adaptations in Catalonia (Spain)", ''Journal of Field Archaeology'', 9:4, 407–416.</ref> The [[Neolithic]] era began in Catalonia around 5000{{nbsp}}BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements thanks to the abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally [[hunter-gatherer]] culture. An example of such settlements would be La Draga at Banyoles, an "early Neolithic village which dates from the end of the 6th millennium{{nbsp}}BC."<ref>Tarrus, Josep. "La Draga (Banyoles, Catalonia), an Early Neolithic Lakeside Village in Mediterranean Europe". ''Catalan Historical Review'', vol. 1, 2008, pp. 17–33.</ref>

The [[Bronze Age]] occurred between 1800 and 700{{nbsp}}BC. There were some known settlements in the [[Segre (river)|low Segre]] zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the [[proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]] through the [[Urnfield Culture]], whose successive waves of migration began around 1200{{nbsp}}BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576|title=J. Maluquer de Motes: "Late Bronze and Early Iron in the valley of the Ebro" (''The Europea Community in Later Prehistory. Studies in honour of C. F. C. Hawkes''; Routledge & Kegan 1971, pp. 107–120) |access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002115946/http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576|url-status=live}}</ref> Around the middle of the 7th century{{nbsp}}BC, the [[Iron Age]] arrived in Catalonia.

=== Pre-Roman and Roman period ===
[[File:PuentedelDiablo edited.jpg|thumb|[[Les Ferreres Aqueduct|Aqüeducte de les Ferreres]], [[Roman aqueduct]] in [[Tarragona]] ]]
In pre-Roman times, the area that is now Catalonia was populated by the [[Iberians]]. The Iberians tribes – the [[Ilergetes]], [[Indigetes]] and [[Lacetani]] (Cerretains) – also maintained relations with the peoples of the Mediterranean. Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda ([[Lleida]]) inland, Hibera (perhaps [[Amposta]] or [[Tortosa]]) or Indika ([[Ullastret]]). Coastal trading colonies were established by the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]], who settled around the [[Gulf of Roses]], in Emporion ([[Empúries]]) and [[Roses, Girona|Roses]] in the [[Colonies in antiquity|8th century BC]].

After the Carthaginian defeat by the [[Roman Republic]], the north-east of Iberia became the first to come under Roman rule and became part of [[Hispania]], the westernmost part of the [[Roman Empire]]. [[Tarraco (Tarragona)|Tarraco]] (modern [[Tarragona]]) was one of the most important Roman cities in Hispania and the capital of the [[Roman province|province]] of [[Tarraconensis]]. Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuriæ (former Emporion) and Barcino ([[Barcelona]]). As for the rest of Hispania, [[Latin law]] was granted to all cities under the reign of [[Vespasian]] (69–79{{nbsp}}AD), while [[Roman citizenship]] was granted to all free men of the empire by the [[Edict of Caracalla]] in 212{{nbsp}}AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of [[Roman law]] since 45{{nbsp}}BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, wine, [[wheat]]), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of roads (the most important being the [[Via Augusta]], parallel to Mediterranean coastline) and infrastructure like [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueducts]].

Conversion to [[Christianity]], attested in the 3rd{{nbsp}}century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th{{nbsp}}century. Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of [[Vandals]], [[Suebi]] and [[Alans]] in the 5th{{nbsp}}century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some [[deurbanization]].

=== Middle Ages ===
After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the area was conquered by the [[Visigoths]] and was ruled as part of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] for almost two and a half centuries. In 718, it came under [[Muslim]] control and became part of [[Al-Andalus]], a province of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]]. From the conquest of Roussillon in 760, to the [[Siege of Barcelona (801)|conquest]] of Barcelona in 801, the [[Frankish empire]] took control of the area between Septimania and the [[Llobregat]] river from the Muslims and created heavily militarised, self-governing [[county|counties]]. These counties formed part of the historiographically known as the [[Septimania|Gothic]] and [[Spanish March|Hispanic]] Marches, a [[buffer zone]] in the south of the Frankish Empire in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to act as a defensive barrier against further invasions from Al-Andalus.<ref>Ramos, Luis G-G (2002). ''Las Invasiones Bárbaras en Hispania y la Creación del Reino Visigodo''. Barcelona: Ariel. pp. 3–30. {{ISBN|978-84-344-6668-5}}</ref> [[File:Genealogía Casa de Aragón.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona]] (left), [[Petronilla of Aragon]] (right) and their son Alfonso II of Aragon and I of Barcelona (bottom), dynastic union of the [[Crown of Aragon]]]] These counties came under the rule of the [[counts of Barcelona]], who were Frankish [[vassal]]s nominated by the emperor of the Franks, to whom they were [[feudatory|feudatories]] (801–988). At the end of the 9th{{nbsp}}century, the Count of Barcelona [[Wilfred the Hairy]] (878–897) made his titles hereditaries and thus founded the dynasty of the [[House of Barcelona]], which reigned in Catalonia until 1410.

[[File:Hug IV Empuries Pero Maça Croada Mayurqa 1229.jpg|thumb|170px|Hug IV, count of Empúries, and Pero Maça during the conquest of Mallorca (1229)]]
[[File:Cortes Catalanas.jpg|thumb|upright|A 15th-century miniature of the Catalan Courts]]
In 988 [[Borrell II]], Count of Barcelona, did not recognise the new French king [[Hugh Capet]] as his king, evidencing the loss of dependency from Frankish rule and confirming his successors (from [[Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Borrell I]] onwards) as independent of the Capetian crown.<ref>Salrach, Josep Mª. ''Catalunya a la fi del primer mil·leni''. Pagès Editors, (Lleida, 2004) pp. 144–49.</ref> At the beginning of eleventh century the Catalan counties experienced an important process of feudalisation, however, the efforts of church's sponsored [[Peace and Truce of God|Peace and Truce Assemblies]] and the intervention of [[Ramon Berenguer I]], count of Barcelona (1035–1076) in the negotiations with the rebel nobility resulted in the partial restoration of the comital authority under the new feudal order. To fulfill that purpose, Ramon Berenguer began the modification of the legislation in the written [[Usages of Barcelona]], being one of the first European compilations of feudal law. The earliest known use of the name "[[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]]" for these counties dates to 1117.

In 1137, [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona]] decided to accept [[Ramiro II of Aragon|King Ramiro II of Aragon]]'s proposal to receive the [[Kingdom of Aragon]] and to marry his daughter [[Petronilla of Aragon|Petronila]], establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, creating a composite monarchy later known as the [[Crown of Aragon]] and making the Catalan counties that were vassalized or merged with the County of Barcelona into a [[principality]] of the Aragonese Crown. During the reign of his son [[Alfonso II of Aragon|Alphons]], in 1173, Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time, while the Usages of Barcelona were compiled in the process to turn them into the law and custom of Catalonia (''Consuetudinem Cathalonie''), being considered one of the "milestones of Catalan political identity".<ref>Cingolani, Stefano Maria (2006). "Seguir les Vestígies dels Antecessors. Llinatge, Reialesa i Historiografia a Catalunya des de Ramon Berenguer IV a Pere II (1131–1285)", Anuario de Estudios Medievales, p 225.</ref> In 1258, by means of the [[Treaty of Corbeil (1258)|Treaty of Corbeil]] [[James I of Aragon]] renounced his family rights and dominions in [[Occitania]], while the king of France, [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]], formally relinquished to any historical claim of feudal lordship he might have over the Catalan counties.<ref name="Petit-Dutaillis2013">{{cite book|author=C. Petit-Dutaillis|title=The Feudal Monarchy in France and England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-20350-3|page=324|access-date=6 February 2019|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311110534/https://books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|url-status=live}}</ref> This treaty confirmed, from French point of view, the independence of the Catalan counties already established the previous three centuries.

As a coastal land, Catalonia became the base of the Aragonese Crown's maritime forces, which spread the power of the Crown in the Mediterranean, turning Barcelona into a powerful and wealthy city. In the period of 1164–1410, new territories, the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], the [[Kingdom of Majorca]], the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Kingdom of Sardinia]], the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], and, briefly, the [[Duchy|Duchies]] of [[Duchy of Athens|Athens]] and [[Duchy of Neopatras|Neopatras]], were incorporated into the dynastic domains of the [[House of Barcelona|House of Aragon]]. The expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of [[Genoa Republic|Genoa]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]].

At the same time, the [[Principality of Catalonia]] developed a complex institutional and political system based in the concept of a pact between the [[estates of the realm]] and the king. The legislation had to be passed by the [[Catalan Courts]] (''Corts Catalanes''), one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that, after 1283, officially obtained the power to pass legislation with the monarch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://usuarios.multimania.es/maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm|title=Las Cortes Catalanas y la primera Generalidad medieval (s. XIII–XIV)|access-date=21 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019003946/http://usuarios.multimania.es/Maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm|archive-date=19 October 2010}}</ref> The Courts were composed of the three estates organized into "arms" (''braços''), were presided over by the monarch, and approved the [[Catalan constitutions]], which established a compilation of rights for the inhabitants of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Catalan Courts of 1359 established a permanent representative body, known as the [[Generalitat of Catalonia|Generalitat]], which gained considerable political power over the next centuries.<ref>[https://web.gencat.cat/ca/generalitat/historia/la-diputacio-del-general/ History of the Generalitat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916163434/https://web.gencat.cat/ca/generalitat/historia/la-diputacio-del-general/|date=16 September 2020}} gencat.cat</ref>

[[File:Map of the Crown of Aragon.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Diachronic map of the [[Crown of Aragon]]. The Principality of Catalonia appears in light green]]
The domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by the [[Black Death]] pandemic and by later outbreaks of the [[plague (disease)|plague]]. Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37{{nbsp}}percent of its population.<ref>According to John Huxtable Elliott, "Between 1347 and 1497 the Principality [Catalonia] had lost 37% of its inhabitants, and was reduced to a population of something like 300,000." {{cite book|author=[[John Elliott (historian)|Elliott, John Huxtable]]|title=The revolt of the Catalans: a study in the decline of Spain (1598–1640) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26|year=1984|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=0-521-27890-2|page=26|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311111240/https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1410, the last reigning monarch of the House of Barcelona, King [[Martin of Aragon|Martin I]] died without surviving descendants. Under the [[Compromise of Caspe]] (1412), the representatives of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia appointed [[Ferdinand I of Aragon|Ferdinand]] from the Castilian [[House of Trastámara]] as King of the Crown of Aragon.<ref name=Reilly>{{cite book|last=Reilly|first=Bernard|title=The Medieval Spain|year=1993|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-39436-8}}</ref> During the reign of his son, [[John II of Aragon and Navarre|John II]], the persistent economic crisis and social and political tensions in the Principality led to the [[Catalan Civil War]] (1462–1472) and the [[War of the Remences]] (1462–1486) that left Catalonia exhausted. The [[Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe]] (1486) liberated the [[Remensa|remença]] peasants from the feudal [[evil customs]].

In the later Middle Ages, [[Catalan literature]] flourished in Catalonia proper and in the kingdoms of Majorca and Valencia, with such remarkable authors as the philosopher [[Ramon Llull]], the Valencian poet [[Ausiàs March]], and [[Joanot Martorell]], author of the novel ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'', published in 1490.

=== Modern era ===
[[File:Cataloniae principatus 1608.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Principality of Catalonia]] (1608)]]
[[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], the grandson of Ferdinand I, and Queen [[Isabella I of Castile]] were married in 1469, later taking the title the [[Catholic Monarchs]]; subsequently, this event was seen by historiographers as the dawn of a unified Spain. At this time, though united by marriage, the Crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] maintained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, parliaments, laws and currency.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Imperial Spain 1469–1716 |last=Huxtable|first=Elliott, J. H. (John)|date=2002|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0141007036|location=London|oclc=49691947}}</ref> Castile commissioned expeditions to the [[Americas]] and benefited from the riches acquired in the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonisation of the Americas]], but, in time, also carried the main burden of military expenses of the united Spanish kingdoms. After Isabella's death, Ferdinand II personally ruled both crowns. By virtue of descent from his maternal grandparents, Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1516 [[Charles I of Spain]] became the first king to rule the Crowns of Castile and Aragon simultaneously by his own right. Following the death of his paternal ([[House of Habsburg]]) grandfather, [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]], he was also elected [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1519.<ref>{{cite web|last=Encyclopædia Britannica online|title=Charles V|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V|access-date=3 October 2012|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001224341/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Els segadors.jpg|thumb|''[[Corpus de Sang]]'' (7 June 1640), one of the main events of the Reaper's War. Painted in 1910]]
Over the next few centuries, the Principality of Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of wars that led steadily to an increased centralization of power in Spain. However, between the 16th and 18th centuries, the participation of the political community in the local and the general Catalan government grew (thus consolidating its constitutional system), while the kings remained absent, represented by a [[List of viceroys of Catalonia|viceroy]]. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the monarchy began to arise. The large and burdensome presence of the Spanish royal army in the Principality due to the [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)|Franco-Spanish War]] led to an uprising of peasants, provoking the [[Reapers' War]] (1640–1652), which saw Catalonia rebel (briefly as a [[Catalan Republic (1640–1641)|republic]] led by the president of the Generalitat, [[Pau Claris]]) with French help against the Spanish Crown for overstepping Catalonia's rights during the [[Thirty Years' War]].<ref>Gelderen, Martin van; Skinner, Quentin (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=H1ZgD7vlFLYC&pg=PA284 Republicanism: Volume 1, Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe: A Shared European Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016133313/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1ZgD7vlFLYC&lpg=PA284&hl=en&pg=PA284|date=16 October 2020}}. Cambridge University Press. p. 284. {{ISBN|9781139439619}}</ref> Within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia. Most of Catalonia was reconquered by the Spanish monarchy but Catalan rights were mostly recognised. [[Roussillon]] and half of Cerdanya was lost to France by the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]] (1659).<ref name=pyrconditions>{{cite book|last=Maland|first=David|title=Europe in the Seventeenth Century|publisher=Macmillan|year=1991|edition=Second|pages=227|isbn=0-333-33574-0}}</ref>

The most significant conflict concerning the governing monarchy was the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–1715), which began when the childless [[Charles II of Spain]], the last Spanish Habsburg, died without an heir in 1700. Charles II had chosen [[Philip V of Spain]] from the French [[House of Bourbon]]. Catalonia, like other territories that formed the Crown of Aragon, rose up in support of the Austrian Habsburg pretender [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor]], in his claim for the Spanish throne as Charles III of Spain. The fight between the houses of Bourbon and Habsburg for the Spanish Crown split Spain and Europe.

The [[Siege of Barcelona (1713–14)|fall of Barcelona]] on 11 September 1714 to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] king [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]] militarily ended the Habsburg claim to the Spanish Crown, which became legal fact in the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] (1713). Philip felt that he had been betrayed by the Catalan Courts, as it had initially sworn its loyalty to him when he had presided over it in 1701. In retaliation for the betrayal, and inspired by the French model, the first Bourbon king enacted the [[Nueva Planta decrees]] (1707, 1715 and 1716), incorporating the realms of the Crown of Aragon, including the Principality of Catalonia in 1716, as provinces of the Crown of Castile, terminating their status as separate states along with their parliaments, institutions and [[Public law|public laws]], as well as their {{not a typo|pactist}} politics, within a French-style centralized and [[Absolute monarchy|absolutist]] kingdom of Spain.<ref>Mercader, J. ''Felip V i Catalunya''. (Barcelona, 1968).</ref> After the War of the Spanish Succession, the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon in the Castilian Crown through the Nueva Planta Decrees was the first step in the creation of the Spanish [[nation state]].<ref>Simon, Antoni. [http://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/34591 "Els orígens històrics de l’anticatalanisme".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605094401/https://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/34591|date=5 June 2022}}, páginas 45–46, ''L'Espill'', nº 24, Universitat de València.</ref> These nationalist policies, sometimes aggressive,<ref>{{cite book|isbn=978-8429723632|last=Ferrer Gironès|publisher=Edicions 62|language=ca|first=Francesc|pages=320|title=La persecució política de la llengua catalana|year=1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|isbn=84-7826-620-8|last=Benet|date=1995|publisher=Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat|language=ca|first=Josep|title=L'intent franquista de genocidi cultural contra Catalunya}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|isbn=9788418434983|last=Lluís|publisher=Base|language=ca|first=García Sevilla|pages=300|title=Recopilació d'accions genocides contra la nació catalana|year=2021}}</ref><ref name=":03">{{cite book|isbn=9788418849107|last=Llaudó Avila|date=2021|edition=7a|publisher=Parcir|location=Manresa|first=Eduard|title=Racisme i supremacisme polítics a l'Espanya contemporània}}</ref> and still in force,<ref>{{cite web|editor=Plataforma per la llengua|url=https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/novetats_legislatives_en_materia_linguistic02_1571310685.pdf|title=Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüística aprovades el 2018 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana |access-date=22 May 2022|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020181407/https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/novetats_legislatives_en_materia_linguistic02_1571310685.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|editor=Plataforma per la llengua|url=https://plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/arxius/ambits-treball/Drets%20Ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstics/Novetats_legislatives_en_mat%C3%A8ria_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic-2019-ok.pdf|title=Novetats legislatives en matèria lingüística aprovades el 2019 que afecten els territoris de parla catalana |access-date=22 May 2022|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327162711/https://plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/arxius/ambits-treball/Drets%20Ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstics/Novetats_legislatives_en_mat%C3%A8ria_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic-2019-ok.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|editor=Plataforma per la llengua|url=https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/linguisticcossospolicials_1576579756.pdf|date=2019|title=Comportament lingüístic davant dels cossos policials espanyols|access-date=22 May 2022|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020181419/https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/linguisticcossospolicials_1576579756.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> have been and are the seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the state. In the second half of the 17th century and the 18th century (excluding the parentesis of the Succession War and the post-war inestability) Catalonia carried out a successful process of economic growth and [[proto-industrialization]], reinforced in the late quarter of the century when Castile's trade monopoly with American colonies ended.

=== Late modern history ===
[[File:Cesar Alvarez Dumont - El Gran dia de Girona.jpg|thumb|[[Third siege of Girona]] (1809), [[Peninsular War]] against Napoleon]]

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. In 1808, it was occupied by French troops; the resistance against the occupation eventually developed into the [[Peninsular War]]. The rejection of French dominion was institutionalized with the creation of "juntas" (councils) who, remaining loyal to the Bourbons, exercised the sovereignty and representation of the territory due to the disappearance of the old institutions. In 1810, Napoleon took direct control of Catalonia, creating the Government of Catalonia under the rule of [[Marshall Augereau]], and making Catalan briefly an official language again. Between 1812 and 1814, Catalonia was annexed to France.<ref>''{{cite web|url=http://www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm|title=Les modifications intérieures de la France|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=19 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519002900/http://www.histoire-empire.org/departements/france_modifications.htm|url-status=live}}''</ref> The French troops evacuated Catalan territory at the end of 1814. After the Bourbon restoration in Spain and the death of the absolutist king [[Ferdinand VII]] (1833), [[Carlist Wars]] erupted against the newly established [[Liberalism|liberal state]] of [[Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II]]. Catalonia was divided, with the coastal and most industrialized areas supporting liberalism, while most of the countryside were in the hands of the [[Carlism|Carlist faction]]; the latter proposed to reestablish the institutional systems suppressed by the Nueva Planta decrees in the ancient realms of the Crown of Aragon. The consolidation of the liberal state saw a new provincial division of Spain, including Catalonia, which was divided into four provinces (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona).

[[File:TragicWeekroundup.jpg|thumb|left|Suspects rounded up by the [[Civil Guard (Spain)|Civil Guard]] during the [[Tragic Week (Spain)|Tragic Week]], 1909]]
In the second third of the 19th{{nbsp}}century, Catalonia became an important industrial center, particularly focused on [[History of the cotton industry in Catalonia|textiles]]. This process was a consequence of the conditions of proto-industrialisation of textile production in the prior two centuries, growing capital from wine and brandy export,<ref>{{cite book|first=Francesc|last=Valls Junyent|year=2004|title=La Catalunya atlàntica: aiguardent i teixits a l'arrencada industrial catalana|trans-title=Atlantic Catalonia: brandy and textiles at the beginning of the catalan industrialisation|location=Vic| language=ca| publisher=Eumo|isbn=84-9766-044-7}}</ref>{{rp|page=27}}
and was later boosted by the government support for domestic manufacturing. In 1832, the [[Bonaplata Factory]] in Barcelona became the first factory in the country to make use of the [[steam engine]].
<ref>{{Cite book|first=J.K.J.|last=Thomson|title=A distinctive industrialisation. Cotton in Barcelona 1728–1832|year=1992|isbn=0-521-39482-1|language=en|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLfvq7-5_a8C|access-date=14 July 2022|archive-date=25 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425120734/https://books.google.com/books?id=FLfvq7-5_a8C|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|page=308}}
The first railway on the Iberian Peninsula was built between Barcelona and [[Mataró]] in 1848.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} A policy to encourage [[Company town#Industrial colonies in Catalonia|company towns]] also saw the textile industry flourish in the countryside in the 1860s and 1870s. Although the policy of Spanish governments oscillated between free trade and protectionism, {{ill|protectionist laws|es|Ley de Relaciones Comerciales con las Antillas|vertical-align=sup}} become more common. To this day Catalonia remains one of the most industrialised areas of Spain. In the same period, Barcelona was the focus of industrial conflict and revolutionary uprisings known as "bullangues". In Catalonia, a [[republicanism|republican]] current began to develop among the progressives, attrackting many Catalans who favored the federalisation of Spain. Meanwhile, the Catalan language saw a [[Romanticism|Romantic]] cultural renaissance from the second third of the century onwards, the ''[[Renaixença]]'', among both the working class and the bourgeoisie. Right after the fall of the [[First Spanish Republic]] (1873–1874) and the subsequent restoration of the Bourbon dynasty (1874), Catalan nationalism began to be organized politically under the leadership of the republican federalist [[Valentí Almirall i Llozer|Valentí Almirall]].

[[File:Proclamació Segona República Francesc Macià. Amadeu Aragay. 14 abril 1931.jpg|thumb|[[Francesc Macià]] proclaiming the [[Catalan Republic (1931)|Catalan Republic]] on 14 April 1931 in Barcelona]]
The [[anarchist]] movement had been active throughout the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century, founding the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]] trade union in 1910 and achieving one of the first [[eight-hour day|eight-hour workdays]] in Europe in 1919.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Revolutionary Left in Spain, 1914–1923]]|last=Meaker|first=Gerald H.|date=1974|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RM6rAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA158 159] ff|isbn=0-8047-0845-2}}</ref> Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the [[Tragic Week (Catalonia)|Tragic Week]] (Catalan: ''Setmana Tràgica'') in Barcelona in 1909. Under the hegemony of the [[Regionalist League of Catalonia|Regionalist League]], Catalonia gained a degree of administrative unity for the first time in the Modern era. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces were authorized to create a [[Commonwealth of Catalonia|commonwealth]] (Catalan: ''Mancomunitat''), lacking legislative power or political autonomy, which carried out an ambitious program of modernization, but it was disbanded in 1925 by the dictatorship of [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera]] (1923–1930). During the final stage of the Dictatorship, with Spain beginning to suffer an economic crisis, Barcelona hosted the [[1929 Barcelona International Exposition|1929 International Exposition]].<ref name="MonclúsFraga2006">{{cite book|author1=Monclús, Francisco Javier|author2=Francisco Javier Monclús Fraga|title=Exposiciones internacionales y urbanismo: el proyecto Expo Zaragoza 2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2d6KJ2VnfAkC&pg=PA48|year=2006|publisher=Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya|isbn=978-84-8301-893-4|page=48|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=19 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519024403/https://books.google.com/books?id=2d6KJ2VnfAkC&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the fall of the dictatorship and a brief proclamation of the [[Catalan Republic (1931)|Catalan Republic]], during the events of the proclamation of the [[Second Spanish Republic]] (14–17{{nbsp}}April{{nbsp}}1931),<ref>Roglan, Joaquim (2006). ''14 d'abril: la Catalunya republicana (1931–1939)''. Cossetània Edicions, p.13 {{ISBN|8497912039}}</ref> Catalonia received, in 1932, its [[Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932|first Statute of Autonomy]] from the Spanish Republic's Parliament, granting it a considerable degree of self-governance, establishing an autonomous body, the Generalitat of Catalonia, which included a [[Parliament of Catalonia|parliament]]. The left-wing pro-independence leader [[Francesc Macià]] was appointed its first president. Under the Statute, Catalan became an official language. The governments of the [[Autonomous Region of Catalonia (1931-1939)|Republican Generalitat]], led by the [[Republican Left of Catalonia]] (ERC) leaders Francesc Macià (1931–1933) and [[Lluís Companys]] (1933–1940), sought to implement a modernizing and progressive social agenda, despite the internal difficulties. This period was marked by political unrest, the effects of the economic crisis and their social repercussions. The Statute of Autonomy was suspended in 1934, due to the [[Events of 6 October]] in Barcelona, after the accession of right-wing Spanish nationalist party [[CEDA]] to the government of the Republic, considered close to [[fascism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Finestres|first1=Jordi|last2=López|first2=Manel|title=Entre la revolució i l'estelada|journal=Sàpiens|year=2014|location=Barcelona|language=ca|issn=1695-2014|pages=31–32}}</ref> After the electoral victory of the left wing [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] in February 1936, the Government of Catalonia was pardoned and the self-government was restored.

=== Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Franco's rule (1939–1975) ===
{{main|Revolutionary Catalonia|Francoist Catalonia}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Milicianas CNT-FAI.png
| width1 = 225
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Barcelona bombing (1938).jpg
| width2 = 223
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = Left: Anarchist militia during the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|Revolution of 1936]]. Right: [[Bombing of Barcelona]] (1938)
}}
The defeat of the [[July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona|military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona]] placed Catalonia firmly in the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican side]] of the [[Spanish Civil War]]. During the war, there were two rival powers in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and the de facto power of the armed popular militias.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spanish Civil war: Revolution and counter-revolution.|last=Bolloten|first=Burnett|author-link=Burnett Bolloten|year=1991|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|pages=388–389}}</ref> Violent confrontations between the workers' parties ([[CNT-FAI]] and [[Workers Party of Marxist Unification|POUM]] against the [[Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia|PSUC]]) culminated in the defeat of the first ones in 1937. The situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat lost most of its autonomous powers within Republican Spain. In 1938 Franco's troops broke the Republican territory in two, isolating Catalonia from the rest of the Republican territory. The defeat of the Republican army in the [[Battle of the Ebro]] led in 1938 and 1939 to the [[Catalonia Offensive|occupation of Catalonia]] by Franco's forces.

[[File:CNT-FAI Cooperative Barcelona.jpg|thumb|CNT-FAI worker [[cooperative]] in Barcelona producing wood and steel products]]
The defeat of the Spanish Republic in the [[Spanish Civil War]] brought to power the dictatorship of [[Francisco Franco]], whose first ten-year rule was particularly violent, autocratic, and repressive both in a political, cultural, social, and economical sense.<ref>[[Stanley G. Payne|Payne, Stanley]] (1999). ''Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977'', pp. 476–477. Univ. of Wisconsin Press.</ref> In Catalonia, any kind of public activities associated with [[Catalan nationalism]], [[republicanism]], [[anarchism]], [[socialism]], [[liberalism]], [[democracy]] or [[communism]], including the publication of books on those subjects or simply discussion of them in open meetings, was banned. Franco's regime banned the use of Catalan in government-run institutions and during public events, and the Catalan institutions of self-government were abolished. The president of Catalonia, [[Lluís Companys]], was taken to Spain from his exile in the German-occupied France and was tortured and executed in the [[Montjuïc Castle (Barcelona)|Montjuïc Castle]] of Barcelona for the crime of 'military rebellion'.<ref>[[Paul Preston|Preston, Paul]]. (2012). ''The Spanish Holocaust''. Harper Press. London p. 493.</ref>

During later stages of [[Francoist Spain]], certain folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the [[mass media]] had been forbidden but was permitted from the early 1950s<ref>{{cite book|author=Ross|title=Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&pg=PA139|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-46307-2|page=139|date=3 May 2007|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311112038/https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&pg=PA139|url-status=live}}</ref> in the theatre. Despite the ban during the first years and the difficulties of the next period, publishing in Catalan continued throughout his rule.<ref>{{citation|title=The Resurgence of Catalan|first=Earl W.|last=Thomas|journal=Hispania|volume=45|issue=1|date=March 1962|pages=43–48|doi=10.2307/337523|jstor=337523}}</ref>

The years after the war were extremely hard. Catalonia, like many other parts of Spain, had been devastated by the war. Recovery from the war damage was slow and made more difficult by the international trade embargo and the [[Autarky|autarkic]] politics of Franco's regime. By the late 1950s, the region had recovered its pre-war economic levels and in the 1960s was the second-fastest growing economy in the world in what became known as the [[Spanish miracle]]. During this period there was a spectacular<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Albaladejo|first1=Isabel P.|last2=Gonzalez-Martinez|first2=Maria Isabel|last3=Martinez-Garcia|first3=Maria Pilar|title=A Double Life Cycle in Tourism Arrivals to Spain: Unit Root Tests with Gradual Change Analysis|year=2020|volume=18|page=100497|journal=Journal of Destination Marketing & Management|doi=10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100497|pmc=7577662}}</ref> growth of industry and tourism in Catalonia that drew large numbers of workers to the region from across Spain and made the area around Barcelona one of Europe's largest industrial metropolitan areas.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

=== Transition and democratic period (1975–''present'') ===
[[File:Barcelona AUGUST 1992 the Olympic Games (Juegos Olímpicos de Barcelona 1992) - panoramio.jpg|thumb|200px|The Olympic flame in the [[Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys|Olympic Stadium Lluís Companys]] of [[Barcelona]] during the [[1992 Summer Olympics]]]]
After Franco's death in 1975, Catalonia voted for the adoption of a democratic Spanish Constitution in 1978, in which Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy, restoring the Generalitat (exiled since the end of the Civil War in 1939) in 1977 and adopting a [[Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979|new Statute of Autonomy]] in 1979, which defined Catalonia as a "nationality". The [[1980 Catalan regional election|first elections]] to the Parliament of Catalonia under this Statute gave the Catalan presidency to [[Jordi Pujol]], leader of [[Convergence and Unity|Convergència i Unió]] (CiU), a center-right Catalan nationalist electoral coalition, with Pujol re-elected until 2003. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the institutions of Catalan autonomy were deployed, among them an autonomous police force, the [[Mossos d'Esquadra]], in 1983,<ref>[https://mossos.gencat.cat/ca/els_mossos_desquadra/historia_de_la_pg-me/ History of the Mossos d'Esquadra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929085556/https://mossos.gencat.cat/ca/els_mossos_desquadra/historia_de_la_pg-me/|date=29 September 2020}} mossos.gencat.cat</ref> and the broadcasting network [[Televisió de Catalunya]] and its first channel [[TV3 (Catalonia)|TV3]], created in 1983.<ref>[http://www.ccma.cat/corporatiu/en/historia/ History of Televisió de Catalunya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923021301/https://www.ccma.cat/corporatiu/en/historia/|date=23 September 2020}} ccma.cat</ref> An extensive program of normalization of Catalan language was carried out. Today, Catalonia remains one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city, Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourist destination. In 1992, [[1992 Summer Olympics|Barcelona hosted]] the [[Summer Olympic Games]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://olympics.com/ioc/news/barcelona-1992-a-city-turning-towards-the-sea-and-winning-the-hearts-of-the-world|title=Barcelona 1992: a city turning towards the sea and winning the hearts of the world|publisher=[[International Olympic Committee|IOC]]|date=22 July 2022|access-date=18 February 2024|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002102449/https://olympics.com/ioc/news/barcelona-1992-a-city-turning-towards-the-sea-and-winning-the-hearts-of-the-world|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Independence movement ====
{{Main|Catalan independence movement|2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis}}
In November 2003, elections to the Parliament of Catalonia gave the government to a left-wing Catalanist coalition formed by the [[Socialists' Party of Catalonia]] (PSC-PSOE), [[Republican Left of Catalonia]] (ERC) and [[Initiative for Catalonia Greens]] (ICV), and the socialist [[Pasqual Maragall]] was appointed president. The new government prepared a bill for a [[Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia|new Statute of Autonomy]], with the aim of consolidate and expand self-government.

The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved after a referendum in 2006, was contested by important sectors of the Spanish society, especially by the conservative [[People's Party (Spain)|People's Party]], which sent the law to the [[Constitutional Court of Spain]]. In 2010, the Court declared non-valid some of the articles that established an autonomous Catalan system of Justice, improved financing, a new territorial division, the status of Catalan language or the symbolical declaration of Catalonia as a nation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html|title=Anàlisi de les retallades a l'estatut de Catalunya|last=associats|first=Partal, Maresma i|access-date=13 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913152842/http://www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3748884/20100629/sentencia-lestatut-obre-nova-era-politica-catalunya.html|archive-date=13 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> This decision was severely contested by large sectors of Catalan society, which increased the demands of independence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html|title=Un milió i mig de manifestants per la independència de Catalunya|access-date=13 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918025513/http://www.ara.cat/especials/gentada-centre-Barcelona-mitja-manifestacio_0_772122901.html|archive-date=18 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:President_Puigdemont,_"Ciutadans_de_Catalunya,_vénen_hores_en_què_a_tots_ens_pertocarà_de_mantenir_el_pols_del_nostre_país"_02.jpg|thumb|[[President of the Generalitat of Catalonia|Catalan president]], [[Carles Puigdemont]], addresses the crowd following the unilateral declaration of independence on 27 October.]]
A controversial [[2017 Catalan independence referendum|independence referendum]] was held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017, using a disputed voting process.<ref name="ElPais03102017">{{cite web|url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/01/inenglish/1506858911_482600.html|title=Did the referendum comply with basic voting regulations?|date=3 October 2017|work=[[El País]]|access-date=5 October 2017|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219083639/https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/01/inenglish/1506858911_482600.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/|title=What happened with Catalonia's vote for independence – and what's next|last=Epatko|first=Larisa|date=4 October 2017|work=[[PBS NewsHour]]|access-date=4 October 2017|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018212431/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/happened-catalonias-vote-independence-whats-next/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was declared illegal and suspended by the [[Constitutional Court of Spain]], because it breached the [[Spanish Constitution of 1978|1978 Constitution]].<ref name="boe2162017">{{cite web|url=https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2017/09/08/pdfs/BOE-A-2017-10287.pdf|title=Recurso de inconstitucionalidad n.º 4334-2017, contra la Ley del Parlamento de Cataluña 19/2017, de 6 de septiembre, del Referéndum de Autodeterminación. |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado|date=6 September 2017|access-date=5 October 2017|language=es|archive-date=10 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510084254/https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2017/09/08/pdfs/BOE-A-2017-10287.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-10/catalan-separatists-plot-show-of-strength-in-battle-with-madrid|title=Catalan Separatists Plot Show of Force in Battle With Madrid|last=Duarte|first=Esteban|date=11 September 2017|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=13 September 2017|language=en|archive-date=13 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913135534/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-10/catalan-separatists-plot-show-of-strength-in-battle-with-madrid|url-status=live}}</ref> Subsequent developments saw, on 27 October 2017, a symbolic [[Catalan declaration of independence|declaration of independence]] by the Parliament of Catalonia, the enforcement of [[Direct rule over Catalonia|direct rule]] by the Spanish government through the use of Article 155 of the Constitution,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/oct/22/protests-in-barcelona-against-suspension-of-catalan-autonomy-in-pictures|title=Protests in Barcelona against suspension of Catalan autonomy – in pictures|last=Fidler|first=Matt|date=22 October 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=2 August 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727075818/https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/oct/22/protests-in-barcelona-against-suspension-of-catalan-autonomy-in-pictures|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116|title=Catalans declare independence from Spain|date=27 October 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=27 October 2017|language=en-GB|archive-date=22 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122093014/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41780116|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Sam|last2=Burgen|first2=Stephen|last3=Graham-Harrison|first3=Emma|title=Spain dissolves Catalan parliament and calls fresh elections|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/spanish-pm-mariano-rajoy-asks-senate-powers-dismiss-catalonia-president|work=[[the Guardian]]|date=28 October 2017|language=en|access-date=28 February 2018|archive-date=26 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426010929/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/spanish-pm-mariano-rajoy-asks-senate-powers-dismiss-catalonia-president|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2017/10/27/directo-el-senado-vota-la-aplicacion-del-155-y-el-parlament-catalan-su-respuesta-al-mismo_a_23257831/|title=Directo: El Senado aprueba la aplicación del 155|date=27 October 2017|access-date=20 November 2017|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729205030/https://www.huffingtonpost.es/2017/10/27/directo-el-senado-vota-la-aplicacion-del-155-y-el-parlament-catalan-su-respuesta-al-mismo_a_23257831/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2017/10/27/59f2d55aca4741a0668b4646.html|title=En vivo – Rajoy disuelve el Parlament y convoca elecciones catalanas el 21 de diciembre|date=27 October 2017|access-date=20 November 2017|archive-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730004007/https://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2017/10/27/59f2d55aca4741a0668b4646.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the dismissal of the [[Executive Council of Catalonia|Executive Council]] and the dissolution of the Parliament, with a [[2017 Catalan regional election|snap regional election]] called for 21 December 2017, which ended with a victory of pro-independence parties.<ref name="eldiario.es-27Oct17">{{cite news|last=Ponce de León|first=Rodrigo|date=27 October 2017|title=Rajoy cesa a Puigdemont y su Govern y convoca elecciones para el 21 de diciembre|url=http://www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html|language=es|work=El Diario|access-date=27 October 2017|archive-date=27 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027232406/http://www.eldiario.es/politica/Rajoy-cesa-Puigdemont-Govern_0_701680927.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Former President [[Carles Puigdemont]] and five former cabinet ministers fled Spain and took refuge in other European countries (such as [[Belgium]], in Puigdemont's case), whereas nine other cabinet members, including vice-president [[Oriol Junqueras]], were sentenced to prison under various charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41871476|title=Catalonia's longest week|date=4 November 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=7 November 2017|language=en-GB|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813153635/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41871476|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/catalonia-independence/89469/catalonia-independence-nine-former-ministers-jailed|title=Catalonia Independence: nine former ministers jailed|date=3 November 2017|work=The Week|access-date=7 October 2018|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729190415/https://www.theweek.co.uk/catalonia-independence/89469/catalonia-independence-nine-former-ministers-jailed|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Quim Torra]] became the [[List of Presidents of the Government of Catalonia|131st]] [[President of the Government of Catalonia]] on 17 May 2018,<ref name="GeneralitatdeCataluny17052018">{{cite web|title=Quim Torra pren possessió com a 131è president de la Generalitat|url=https://web.gencat.cat/ca/actualitat/detall/20180517_Quim-Torra-pren-possessio-com-131e-president-de-la-Generalitat|website=Generalitat de Catalunya|language=ca|date=17 May 2018|access-date=21 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622032919/https://web.gencat.cat/ca/actualitat/detall/20180517_Quim-Torra-pren-possessio-com-131e-president-de-la-Generalitat|archive-date=22 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> after the Spanish courts blocked three other candidates.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/23/spanish-judge-jails-proposed-catalan-leader-hours-ahead-planned/|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/23/spanish-judge-jails-proposed-catalan-leader-hours-ahead-planned/|archive-date=10 January 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|title=Spanish judge jails proposed Catalan leader hours ahead of planned inauguration|first=Hannah|last=Strange|date=23 March 2018|newspaper=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2018, the [[Assemblea Nacional Catalana]] joined the [[Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization]] (UNPO) on behalf of Catalonia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UNPO: UNPO Welcomes the Assemblea Nacional Catalana as its Newest Member|work=unpo.org|access-date=31 January 2019|date=10 January 2019|url=https://unpo.org/article/21315|archive-date=28 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728192535/https://unpo.org/article/21315|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 14 October 2019, the Spanish Supreme court [[Trial of Catalonia independence leaders|sentenced several Catalan political leaders]], involved in organizing a referendum on Catalonia's independence from Spain, and convicted them on charges ranging from [[sedition]] to [[Embezzlement|misuse of public funds]], with sentences ranging from 9 to 13 years in prison. This decision sparked demonstrations around Catalonia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/spanish-supreme-court-sentences-catalan-separatists-to-jail/2019/10/14/a0590366-ee59-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html|title=Spanish Supreme Court sentences Catalan separatists to prison, sparking protests|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014110950/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/spanish-supreme-court-sentences-catalan-separatists-to-jail/2019/10/14/a0590366-ee59-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html|archive-date=14 October 2019|access-date=12 December 2019}}</ref> They were later pardoned by the Spanish government and left prison in June 2021.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Boira|first1=Paula|title=El Gobierno concede el indulto a los presos del 'procés'|url=https://www.newtral.es/indulto-presos-proces-gobierno/20210622/|work=Newtral|date=22 June 2021|language=es|access-date=28 May 2022|archive-date=31 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231012411/https://www.newtral.es/indulto-presos-proces-gobierno/20210622/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=23 June 2021|title=Los presos del 'procés' abandonan la cárcel tras el indulto del Gobierno|language=es|url=https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2021/06/23/economia/1624443952_813940.html|access-date=28 May 2022|archive-date=23 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623111825/https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2021/06/23/economia/1624443952_813940.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the early-to-mid 2020s support for independence declined.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió, Generalitat de Catalunya |title=Baròmetre d'Opinió Política |url=https://upceo.ceo.gencat.cat/wsceop/9148/Dossier%20de%20premsa_1082.pdf |website=upceo.ceo.gencat.cat |access-date=23 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Sam |title=Separatist parties set to lose power in Catalan regional election, polls show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/12/catalonia-polls-vote-gauge-support-independence-spain |access-date=23 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=12 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Polls Show Support for Catalonia Independence Declining |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/polls-show-support-for-catalonia-independence-declining/6749031.html |access-date=23 July 2024 |work=Voice of America |date=15 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Heller |first1=Fernando |title=Support for Catalan independence falls to historic low, poll reveals |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/support-for-catalan-independence-falls-to-historic-low-poll-reveals/ |work=www.euractiv.com |date=19 July 2024}}</ref>