Cerdanya (landscape)
The Cerdanya ( French Cerdagne , Spanish Cerdaña ) is a wide high valley in the eastern Pyrenees that historically formed one of the Catalan counties , the county of Cerdanya , and has been divided between France and Spain since the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.
The Cerdanya has an area of 1086 square kilometers, of which 50.3 percent is on the Spanish and 49.7 percent on the French territory. In 2001 the Cerdanya had about 26,500 inhabitants (53.4 percent on Spanish, 46.6 percent on French territory), which results in a population density of 24 inhabitants per square kilometer. The only urban area in the Cerdanya is the cross-border area of Puigcerdà - Bourg-Madame with 10,900 inhabitants in 2001 (41 percent of the population of the Cerdanya).
The northern, French part of the Cerdanya, in Catalan Alta Cerdanya ('High Cerdanya'), called Cerdagne française in French, does not form a separate administrative unit within France, but is part of the French department Pyrénées-Orientales . Due to its location south of the main watershed , this corner of France is geographically the only one on the Iberian Peninsula .
The southern, Spanish part of the Cerdanya today forms the Catalan comarca Cerdanya , which is unofficially often referred to as Baixa Cerdanya ('Lower Cerdanya').
The wide high valley on the upper reaches of the Segre is a unique natural area and on a smaller scale for the Pyrenees what the Engadin represents for the Alps, albeit without lakes. Many celebrities live here too, especially in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via and Bolvir . In the latter village, with a royal golf club and near the Cerdanya airfield, pop singer Shakira and soccer player Piqué have had a chalet since 2016.
source
- Philippe Conrad, Les origines de la Catalogne, de la marche d'Espagne carolingienne au comté de Barcelone sur Clio.net