Camp de Tarragona
The Camp de Tarragona is a historical region, but also currently one of seven territories ( àmbits funcionals territorials ) in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia , which was passed by law in 1995 with the regional plan ( Pla territorial general de Catalunya ). The historical region is not congruent with today's Àmbit.
Camp de Tarragona today
The Àmbit Camp de Tarragona has 466,068 inhabitants (2009) and an area of 2,928 km². The region is located in the south of Catalonia, on the Mediterranean Sea , in the province of Tarragona . It is usually only called "el Camp" by its residents . The main cities are Tarragona and Reus . The Camp de Tarragona is bounded by the Mediterranean in the south and by the mountain ranges of Argentera, Colldejou and Laberia in the west, Prades and Miramar in the north and Montagut and Montmell in the east. It consists of 25% mountainous land.
Comarcas
Status: 2009
| Comarca | Residents | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|
| Old camp | 35,771 | 479.99 |
| Baix Camp | 146,585 | 687.56 |
| Baix Penedès | 66,407 | 295.37 |
| Conca de Barberà | 18,780 | 649.00 |
| Priory | 9,228 | 499.00 |
| Tarragonès | 189,296 | 315.00 |
Àmbits funcionals territorials (AFT)
- Old Pirineu i Aran
- Àmbit Metropolità de Barcelona
- Ponent
- Comarques Central
- Comarques gironines
- Terres de l'Ebre
The historic Camp de Tarragona
The historic Camp de Tarragona is now divided into the comarcas Alt Camp , Baix Camp and Tarragonès and has almost 380,000 inhabitants on 1,570 km². The main towns are Tarragona , Reus and Valls ; the most important rivers are the Francolí and the Gaià .
history
The region occupied by the Moors in the 8th century was recaptured by the Counts of Barcelona in the 10th century. It already received the name "Camp of Tarragona". The region, which has been almost depopulated for several centuries, was subsequently settled by people from the county of Barcelona and numerous fortresses were built.
1118 gave Count Ramon Berenguer III. the rule of Tarragona and the "camp" to Oleguer , the Bishop of Barcelona and Archbishop of Tarragona. This in turn transferred the property to the Norman knight Robert d'Aguiló in 1129 , but without the churches with their goods and the people who depend on them and without the tithe for all houses, castles, crops and animals. The Count of Barcelona confirmed this donation.
Soon disputes between Robert d'Aguiló and Archbishop Bernat de Tort, who succeeded Oleguer, led the latter to return the city and the camp to Count Ramon Berenguer IV in 1151 so that he could divide up the area. After several conflicts with Robert, who had not waived his rights, he finally had to cede two thirds of his rights to the archbishop and the count in 1153.
The quarrels between the three gentlemen continued. Both the Archbishop and the Count of Barcelona owned the lands without considering the descendants of Robert d'Aguiló. This dispute finally led to the murder of Robert's son Wilhelm in 1168 , and in 1171 to the murder of Archbishop Hug de Cervelló in revenge . The Norman family then lost all property and rights.
In 1173, the new Archbishop Guillem de Torroja and King Alfonso II reached an agreement that formed the basis for the government and administration of the city and the camp . It lasted until King John I sold his share to the diocese in 1391.
The monasteries Poblet and Santes Creus , which emerged over time, reduced the territory of the camp by a few places with their possessions . The construction of the first hospital in Valls is documented in 1259 and another three by the 15th century. The construction of the Cistercian monastery of Santes Creus near Aiguamúrcia between the 12th and 15th centuries should also be emphasized .
Comuna del Camp de Tarragona
When in 1305 Archbishop Tello asked the parishes of the camp to contribute three-fifths to the cost of repairing the city walls of Tarragona, they resisted and gathered in La Selva del Camp . From the repeated gathering of these communities, the community of interests of the Comuna del Camp de Tarragona emerged as a counterpart to episcopal rule. In 1330 Archbishop Joan d'Aragó had to grant representatives of the parishes a right of participation. All measures concerning the Camp de Tarragona now had to be coordinated with the municipalities and not only with the Council of the City of Tarragona. In the midst of feudalism, the Comuna del Camp de Tarragona worked like a forerunner of a parliament. Although the Comuna mainly performed administrative tasks, the decisions made often also had political weight.
From 1358 the communities of the Comuna under Count Pere III. of Barcelona (Peter IV of Aragón) independently collect some consumption taxes and determine their amount. In 1399 Count Martin I - and in 1402 also the Archbishop - allowed the communities to form vigilante groups to prosecute crimes. Finally, at the beginning of the 14th century, they also recognized the Comuner , the president of the community of the Comuna del Camp de Tarragona , whose task it was to defend the privileges that had been won.
The communities were represented in the Comuna according to the number of their households. The delegates were nominated independently by each parish and were elected by the heads of families from the 15th century onwards.
In 1498 the Comuna opposed the taxation of bread and meat to finance the expansion of the port in Tarragona. The entire movement of goods in the Camp de Tarragona was directed towards the port of Salou . As a result, the council of the city of Tarragona obtained a ban on Ferdinand II from transporting goods to the port of Salou in 1509 . This increased the Comuna's resistance to the city.
In 1558 the Comuna demanded measures against the numerous raids by the pirates . Their contribution to this consisted in providing board and lodging for the armed forces, combating smuggling, maintaining public order, defending and, in particular, fortifying the port of Salou. The main source of income was the export of wine.
Besides Tarragona , Valls became the second most important city in the north . During the 16th and 17th centuries, the whole region experienced a strong wave of immigration from France .
The Comuna was dissolved in 1716 by the decrees of the " Nueva Planta ".
Modern times
In the following two centuries the country erleidete economic decline due to crop failures , plagues of locusts (1686-88) and troops passing through in the war against France. Numerous battles in the War of Independence against Napoleon took place in the region, in particular the bloody Battle of Valls on February 25, 1809 under the generals Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr and Theodor von Reding . Under Ferdinand VII there were clashes between liberals and absolutists in the Camp de Tarragona and in 1833 a volunteer army was set up against the Carlist .
From the middle of the 19th century, the history of the camp was marked by the first workers' uprisings in Valls (1864), the establishment of committees for the revolution of 1868 (called la Gloriosa , "The Glorious") and various battles of the Third Carlist War , especially the Battle of Vilabella on May 18, 1874, in which the Carlist defeated the Liberals. The public auction of non-productive agricultural land owned mainly by the Catholic Church and various orders under the Godoy government (the so-called desamortización ) affected many properties in the region, such as the Santes Creus monastery , which was subsequently partially abandoned in 1835. In the last decade of the 19th century, with the formation of cooperatives, corporatism emerged ( Societat de Treballadors del Camp 1888, Cooperativa de Vila-rodona 1895) and from the beginning of the 20th century syndicalism emerged .
In 1936, in the Second Spanish Republic , the Camp de Tarragona was divided into the comarques Alt Camp , Tarragonès and Baix Camp .
Camp de Tarragona train station
"Camp de Tarragona" is also the name of the newly built station on the new Madrid – Barcelona – French border line . The station, which opened on December 19, 2006, is located between the towns of La Secuita and Perafort , about 8 km north of Tarragona. It opens up an area with around 400,000 inhabitants. Before February 20, 2008, the high-speed line from Madrid ended east of the station. On February 20, 2008, the rest of the route to Barcelona went into operation.