In the historical moment that we are currently experiencing, many people are wondering what the true history of Catalonia is, if it can really be considered a nation or not. What is your opinion?
Catalonia is located in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, a community that is made up of four provinces: Lleida, Gerona, Barcelona and Tarragona.
During prehistoric times, Catalonia was colonized like the rest of the peninsula, by the Greeks and the Carthaginians.
The territories that formed it throughout history have varied until the moment of the dynastic union in the 12th century, in which the County of Barcelona was united with the Kingdom of Aragon, which finally meant that all the territories were part of the Crown of Aragon.
The Catalan territory provided the Crown with all maritime accessibility and thanks to the importance of Aragon and its economy, they acquired extraordinary importance in maritime trade.
We could continue displaying all the knowledge about the history of Spain and the position that Catalonia has occupied within it, but it would be repeating content that you can easily find in previous articles.
The most important thing and the question we all ask ourselves is, was Catalonia really a nation at some point? We must understand by nation the independence of a territory, its own economic solvency, etc.
Despite the fact that this is currently causing a real controversy in the world of politics, it will depend on the historian we read, but if we talk about percentages, most historians have always spoken of Catalonia as an area of great importance within the different kingdoms that have existed in Spain but never as an independent area.
We each have to make our own reading of history and conclude with what seems most coherent to us. Looking for books by objective historians would be the best advice I could offer you and, of course, as always we are interested in your personal opinion about the history of Catalonia as a nation and also, which historians you like to read the most.