Aragon

This article looks at today's autonomous community. For the medieval state community in the broader sense see Crown of Aragon , for further terms see Aragon .

Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón  ( Spanish ) Comunidat Autonoma d'Aragón  ( Aragonese ) Comunitat Autònoma d'Aragó  ( Catalan ) Aragon
flag coat of arms
Basic data
Country :	Spain
Capital :	Saragossa ( Zaragoza )
Area :	47,698  km²
Residents :	1,319,291  (January 1, 2019)
Population density :	27.7 inhabitants / km²
Expansion:	North – South: approx. 340 km West – East: approx. 212 km
ISO 3166-2 :	ES-AR
Website :	www.aragon.es
Politics and administration
Official language :	Spanish , regionally also Aragonese and Catalan
Autonomy since:	August 16, 1982
President :	Javier Lambán ( PSOE )
Representation in the Cortes Generales :	Congress : 13 seats Senate : 14 seats
Structure :	3 provinces 33 comarcas

Aragon or Aragon ( Spanish and Aragonese Aragón , Catalan Aragó ) is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain . It borders in the north on the main ridge of the Pyrenees on France , in the east on Catalonia , in the southeast on Valencia and in the west on Castile-La Mancha , Castile and León , La Rioja and Navarra . The capital is Saragossa .

The area of ​​today's autonomous community corresponds to the former Kingdom of Aragon in the narrower sense, which in turn owes its name to the Aragón River .

geography

The north of Aragon is characterized by the Pyrenees , the main ridge of which forms the northern border of the autonomous community along its entire length.

See also : List of mountains in the Pyrenees

The middle course of the Ebro runs through the plain of central Aragon , to whose catchment area most of the region belongs.

In the south of the region are parts of the Iberian Rim Mountains .

With a land area of ​​47,698 km², Aragon is about the same size as Estonia or Slovakia . It thus covers 9.4% of the Spanish land mass, but with a population density of 28 inhabitants per square kilometer, only 2.9% of the inhabitants of Spain live here.

Rivers

Other significant rivers in the region besides the Ebro are the Aragón , the Gállego and the Segre (all three left tributaries of the Ebro), the Cinca (a tributary of the Segre), the Jalón (a right tributary of the Ebro), the Jiloca (a Tributary of the Jalón) as well as the Mijares and Turia , which flow from the south of Aragon through the Valencia region directly into the Mediterranean.

population

Formigal (Huesca) in winter

Aragon is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Spain. The only major city is the capital, Zaragoza , where around half of the region's inhabitants live.

languages

Languages ​​in the Aragon region

In addition to Spanish , the autochthonous Aragonese language is spoken in some valleys of the Pyrenees , which differs from the Aragonese dialect of Spanish. In addition, Catalan is spoken in some districts in eastern Aragon along the border with Catalonia (the Franja de Aragón ) . The official language is only Spanish, Aragonese and Catalan do not have this status.

Biggest cities

Saragossa (span. Zaragoza ) (620.419) Huesca (47,923) Teruel (31,506) Calatayud (18,531) Ejea de los Caballeros (16,183) Barbastro (15,592)

Monzón (15,457) Alcañiz (13,708) Fraga (13,035) Jaca (12,322) Utebo (12,100) Tarazona (10,667)

Political structure

Aragon includes the three provinces of Huesca , Saragossa ( Zaragoza ) and Teruel , which in turn are divided into a total of 33 districts ( comarcas ).

See also : List of Comarcas of Aragon

history

Antiquity

The area belonged to since 201 BC. To the Roman province of Tarraconensis and became Visigothic around 415 .

middle Ages

County of Aragon

After a short period of Moorish rule, parts of the area became Franconian in 812 . The county , which is independent of the Emirate of Córdoba and closely linked to the Carolingian Empire , developed under the first Count Aznar I. Galíndez (around 809 to 820). Under the leadership of García Galíndez the Evil (around 820 to 844) the county freed itself from the Frankish guardianship.

The area of ​​the County of Aragón initially included the valleys of Hecho , Canfranc , Borau , Aísa and Araguás and soon also those of Ansó and Acumuer .

Under Count Galindo I. Aznárez (around 844 to 867) the county came under the suzerainty of the kings of Pamplona . That is why Aznar II. Galíndez (around 867 to 893) probably married Onneca Garcés of Pamplona . A son from this marriage, Count Galindo II. Aznárez (893-922), tried to escape the influence of the Kingdom of Navarre with the help of the Muslims of Huesca , the Counts of Gascony and the Counts of Ribagorza . The marriage to Sancha Garcés from the royal family of Navarre shows the futility of this attempt. The ever closer connection of the county of Aragón with the Kingdom of Navarre is shown by the marriage of his heiress Andregoto Galíndez (922–970) with the king of Navarre García I , who was her cousin. This united Aragón and Navarre, although the county of Aragón retained its political and administrative unity. It was administered as a fief by a count from the House of Navarre.

Kingdom of Aragon (1035)

Castillo de Loarre, built in the 11th century on the orders of King Sancho Ramírez

After the death of Sancho III. in 1035 his son Ramiro I inherited Aragon, which became an independent kingdom . Ramiro expanded his dominion, which was previously restricted to the Jacetania , through the acquisition of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe and through successful battles against the Moors.

His successors Sancho Ramírez (1063-1094) and Peter I (1094-1104) successfully continued the war against the Moors. An army under Alfonso I (1104–1134) conquered Saragossa in 1118 and made it the capital of Aragon.

The will of Alfonso I, in which he bequeathed the land to religious orders of knights , was not recognized by the Aragonese estates. His brother Ramiro II , the monk who was bishop of Roda-Barbastro at the time, was made king in 1134. He then married Inés von Poitou , a noble French widow who gave birth to a daughter, Petronella , on August 11, 1136 . In 1137 Ramiro II regulated the succession to the throne to the effect that he betrothed Petronella to Count Raimund Berengar IV of Barcelona (the marriage was only concluded in 1150 when Petronella was 14 years old). A little later Petronella became queen, while Raimund Berengar IV ruled as Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon, which prepared the unification of Aragon with Catalonia. Ramiro II retired to a monastery.

Union with Catalonia to form the Crown of Aragon 1162/64

Petronellas and Raimund Berengar's son Alfonso II (* 1157) took over the rule of Catalonia as Count Alfonso I in 1162 and, after his mother's abdication in 1164, the royal crown of Aragon, which then remained united with Catalonia. The resulting state community, which in addition to Aragon itself also included Catalonia and later extended to a large part of the Mediterranean area, is known as the Crown of Aragon (Spanish Corona de Aragón , Catalan Corona d'Aragó ).

Within this state community, the individual sub-areas - the Kingdom of Aragon in the narrower sense, Catalonia and later the Kingdom of Valencia and other areas - retained their internal independence, only in foreign policy areas they were united under a common monarch.

The crown of Aragon thus became the second important Christian empire in Spain alongside Castile . Peter II (r. 1196–1213) took his crown from the Pope as a fief. Jacob I (r. 1213–1276) issued a constitution for Aragon and intended the division of the country among his sons. But this did not materialize: the eldest son Peter III. (reigned 1276–1285) forced his brother James II , who had received the Balearic Islands, Roussillon, Cerdanya, etc., on the feudal obligation.

Peter III Acquired Sicily in 1282 , but was embroiled in a war with France as a result. When he decided on pressing taxes for this and for other reasons, the estates of Aragon met in 1283 to defend their old freedoms. They forced the general privilege of Saragossa from the king , which, later expanded, clearly restricted royal power. 1285 followed Peter's eldest son Alfons III. (r. 1285–1291) followed in the Spanish empires, while the younger, Jacob, succeeded in Sicily. Alfons deposed his uncle James II on Mallorca and got into protracted armed conflicts with Castile and France, while the Aragonese estates were able to expand their power. After Alfonso died childless, he was followed by his brother James II (ruled 1291-1327), who acquired Sardinia as a papal fief and in 1319 established the indivisibility of the Spanish Empire. Yet Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia retained their own Cortes .

James II was followed by his son Alfons IV (ruled 1327-1336), who opposed the Genoese and together with his father-in-law Alfons XI. of Castile successfully fought against the Moors. His successor Peter IV (1336-1387) ended the war with Genoa, which had severely impaired trade in Aragon. He reunited Mallorca (1344) with Aragon, but lost Sardinia, where especially the Arborea judiciary offered combative resistance, partially. During his struggles with Castile and dissatisfied brothers, the Cortes gained greater and greater independence. In 1348, however, Peter IV triumphed at Épila against rebellious nobles and thus achieved a renewed consolidation of his royal power.

His son John I (r. 1387-1396) lost all of Sardinia to Eleonora di Arborea . After Johanns and his brother Martin I (reigned 1396-1410) childless deaths arose in Aragon as a result of the appearance of various pretenders violent throne disputes (Interregno aragonés) , from which finally by the verdict of mixed arbitrators, the compromise of Caspe , the Infant Ferdinand of Castile, a nephew of John, emerged as king who ruled as Ferdinand I (1412–16). He worked diligently to eliminate the great church schism.

Ferdinand I was followed by his son Alfonso V (1416–58). He left the government largely to his wife María of Castile and his brother John, while he himself waged wars. He united Naples and Sicily with Aragon, but left only one natural son, Ferdinand , who was legitimized by the Pope and who succeeded him to the throne in Naples.

The Spanish empires along with Sardinia and Sicily and the Balearic Islands were inherited by John II (ruled 1458–1479) by his brother, who was also King of Navarre through his wife Blanca. John's government was harsh and arbitrary, he asked for help from France against his own subjects and paid for it by ceding Roussillon and Perpignan. He died in 1479.

The Catholic Kings and the union with Castile

On Johann III. was followed in 1479 by his son Ferdinand II , consort of Isabella from 1469 , heir to the throne of Castile , whereby the two crowns were united for the first time.

Medieval constitutional history

Mallos de Riglos rock formation

Of particular interest is the constitutional history of Aragon, where the free bourgeoisie first developed in Spain. Already in 1118 the citizens of Zaragoza got all the rights of born hidalgos , and in 1136 delegates of the Aragonese congregations at the meeting of estates of the Cortes discussed with ecclesiastical and secular liege lords about taxes and state regulations.

From then on, the cities of Aragon and Catalonia were particularly concerned with maintaining their class privileges and freedoms. The Cortes of Aragon, visited at the same time by the representatives of the nobility and clergy, separated into a higher ( ricos hombres ) and lower ( infanzones, caballeros, hidalgos ) class, had war and peace, alliances and treaties, taxes, coins, old and new new laws and judgments from the lower courts.

King Alfonso III had to recognize the annual appeal of the Cortes to Saragossa in 1287 as a constitution and to grant them the right of duty and constitutional resistance to arbitrary violation of the class members. He was even forced to acknowledge that if the king was guilty of tyranny, all residents of Spain from the 14th to the 60th year should take up arms together to overthrow the king.

Peter IV forced the repeal of these statutes in 1348, but approved the appointment of a mediator of the Justicia de Aragón , who, standing between monarch and people, was to protect the rights of the latter against attacks by the former and to decide in disputes between the crown and the estates. This person was chosen by the king from knighthood for life. He was only accountable to the Cortes.

The general estates of the Aragonese Crown, which were initially formed annually and since 1307 every two years by the delegates of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, consisted of the four departments ( brazos = arms or estamentes = benches) of the clergy, the high ( brazo de nobles ) and lower nobility ( brazo de caballeros e hidalgos ) and the municipalities ( brazo de universidades ). For a decision of the Cortes to be valid, unanimity of the crown and all members was necessary. A standing committee of eight members always stayed together to protect people's rights.

Modern times

From 1485 to 1699, Aragón was ruled by its own viceroys on behalf of the Spanish kings . It retained its old internal institutions and freedoms and only lost them after taking sides with the Austrian Habsburgs in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).

During the war of independence against Napoleon, Napoleon's troops besieged in the summer of 1808 without success . After another two-month siege , Zaragoza surrendered on February 20, 1809 .

In the three Carlist Wars of the 19th century, Upper Aragon (roughly the area of ​​today's province of Huesca ) decidedly supported Queen Maria Christina of Sicily , while Lower Aragon (roughly today's province of Teruel ) supported the pretender Don Carlos .

20th century

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War , southern Aragon was the scene of fierce fighting, the best known of which were the Battle of Belchite following a republican offensive on Saragossa in September and October 1937 and the Battle of Teruel between December 1937 and February 1938.

autonomy

On August 10, 1982 King Juan Carlos I and Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo signed the law passed by the Spanish Cortes Generales , which contained the Statute of Autonomy for Aragon.

The Statute of Autonomy has been reformed several times. The last and most extensive reform took place in 2007 ( Ley Orgánica 5/2007, de 20 de abril, de reforma del Estatuto de Autonomía de Aragón ), since then it has also included a section on fundamental rights .

politics

houses of Parliament

Allocation of seats in the regional parliament and regional governments (since 1983)

Since the Statute of Autonomy came into force in 1983, eight elections to the regional parliament ( Cortes de Aragón ) have taken place. In addition to the Spanish-wide parties ( PSOE , PP and IU ), two regional parties are also important: the bourgeois Partido Aragonés (PAR) and the left-wing Chunta Aragonesista (CHA) .

The results

St.-Ant. = Share of votes, S = seats

elections		PSOE		PP		PAR		CHA		IU		CDS		Podemos		C's		Seats total
		St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.	St.-Ant.	S.
I.	1983	46.21%	33	22.33%	17th	20.23%	13			3.91%	2	3.25%	1					66
II	1987	35.25%	27	15.31%	13	27.80%	19th	0.95%	0	4.84%	2	10.10%	6th					67
III	1991	40.06%	30th	20.54%	17th	24.51%	17th	2.28%	0	6.70%	3	3.06%	0					67
IV	1995	25.56%	19th	37.28%	27	20.31%	14th	4.82%	2	9.15%	5							67
V	1999	30.59%	23	37.94%	28	13.16%	10	10.97%	5	3.81%	1							67
VI	2003	37.70%	27	30.53%	22nd	11.10%	8th	13.63%	9	3.04%	1							67
VII	2007	41.03%	30th	31.09%	23	12.12%	9	8.17%	4th	4.12%	1							67
VIII	2011	28.50%	22nd	36.88%	30th	11.40%	7th	6.64%	4th	5.68%	4th							67
IX	2015	21.43%	18th	27.50%	21st	6.86%	6th	4.58%	2	4.22%	1			20.56	14th	9.42	5	67

government

The regional government is known as the Gobierno de Aragón or alternatively as the Diputación General de Aragón . It is headed by the Prime Minister ( Presidente de Aragón ), who is elected by Parliament and appoints the Ministers ( Consejeros ).

Before the 2011 elections, the PAR had decided not to join the government unless it won at least eight parliamentary seats, which did not happen (only seven seats). However, she concluded an "Acuerdo de Gobernabilidad" (tolerance agreement) with the election winner, the conservative PP. The then Prime Minister Luisa Fernanda Rudi Úbeda was elected with the votes of the PP and the PAR. The government consists of members of the PP and the non-party members, but the PAR occupies the posts of a few State Secretaries ( Directores Generales ).

Regional governments since 1983

Legislature	Period	Prime Minister	Political party	Remarks
I.	1983-1987	Santiago Marraco Solana	PSOE	Minority government
II	1987-1991	Hipólito Gómez de las Roces	PAR	PAR / AP coalition
III	1991-1993	Emilio Eiroa García	PAR	Coalition PAR / PP
	1993-1995	José Marco Berges	PSOE	Minority government
	1995	Ramón Tejedor Sanz	PSOE	Minority government
IV	1995-1999	Santiago Lanzuela Marina	PP	Coalition PP / PAR
V	1999-2003	Marcelino Iglesias Ricou	PSOE	Coalition PSOE / PAR
VI	2003-2007	Marcelino Iglesias Ricou	PSOE	Coalition PSOE / PAR
VII	2007-2011	Marcelino Iglesias Ricou	PSOE	Coalition PSOE / PAR
VIII	2011-2015	Luisa Fernanda Rudi Úbeda	PP	initially a minority government, then the PP / PAR coalition
VII	2015–	Javier Lambán	PSOE	supported by Podemos, CHA and IU

economy

In 2012, the gross domestic product of Aragon was 33.5 billion euros or 25,540 euros per inhabitant. 58% of GDP was generated by the service sector, 38% by the secondary sector and 4% by the primary sector. Overall, Aragon only generated around 3% of total Spanish GDP. The exports of Aragon to foreign countries in 2012 amounted to around 8.5 billion euros. The most important trading partner was Germany and, due to the Opel plant in Figeruelas and the surrounding supplier industry, cars and auto parts were the most important export goods. In comparison with the GDP per capita in the EU , expressed in purchasing power standards, Aragon has an index of 99 (EU-27: 100, as of 2015).

With a value of 0.889, Aragon ranks 6th among the 17 autonomous communities in Spain in the Human Development Index .

The unemployment rate was 11.6% in 2017, below the Spanish average.

tourism

In 2011, Aragon attracted around 2.7 million visitors. The lack of access to the sea makes the province a little less interesting for foreign tourists than classic holiday destinations in Spain, but there are also interesting destinations here. Winter sports, for example, are of particular importance for tourism: In the Pyrenees, with the complexes of Formigal, Candanchú and Astún, there are well over 100 km of ski slopes that can be skied, and outdoor activities such as hiking or climbing in the mountains are also in demand in summer. There are a total of four nature parks and a national park in the Aragonese Pyrenees, the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and Aragon is also one of the few Spanish provinces where white water sports such as kayaking are possible.

Beyond the mountains, medieval monasteries are worth seeing for tourists, which often also have attached wineries and offer appropriate wine tastings. The most popular monasteries in the province include the Monasterio de Veruela , the Monasterio de Piedra , Nuestra Señora de Rueda and San Juan de la Peña .

After all, the city festivals are also very important for Spanish tourists. First and foremost, there is the patronage festival in honor of Our Lady on the Pillar in Saragossa, which takes place around October 12th. Also of importance is the city festival of Teruel, which takes place in one of the first two weeks of July.

literature

• Günter Holtus , Michael Metzeltin , Christian Schmitt (Hrsg.): Lexicon of Romance Linguistics . 12 volumes. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1988-2005; Volume VI, 1: Aragonese / Navarre, Spanish, Asturian / Leonese. Aragonés / Navarro, Español, Asturiano / Leonés. ISBN 3-484-50236-3 .

See also

• Aragonite
• Catherine of Aragón , first Queen of Henry VIII.
• Francisco de Goya
• Viticulture in Spain

Web links

Commons : Aragon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Government of Aragon (Spanish)
• General information about Aragon (Spanish)
• Ways of Aragon (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ José M. Salrach Marés: The County of Aragón . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters 1. Artemis, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 855f.
3. ↑ 1983: electoral alliance from Alianza Popular , Partido Demócrata Popular (PDP) and Unión Liberal (UL); 1987: Alianza Popular
4. ↑ 1982: Partido Comunista de España
5. ↑ Marco Berges was elected Prime Minister on September 15, 1993 in a constructive vote of no confidence with the votes of the PSOE, the IU and a non-attached MP who had previously left the PP.
6. ↑ After Marco Berges resigned in January 1995, parliament did not elect a new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tejedor Sanz managed government affairs until the new elections in May.
7. ↑ aragon.es (PDF; 3.6 MB)
8. ↑ Eurostat. Retrieved April 15, 2018 . 
9. ^ Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab. Retrieved August 12, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Unemployment rate, by NUTS 2 regions. Retrieved November 5, 2018 . 

Coordinates: 41 ° 33 ′  N , 0 ° 39 ′  W