List of Comarques of Catalonia
Catalonia is divided into 41 Comarques (circles, Sing. Comarca ). They represent the supra-communal area of local administration in Catalonia.
The Val d'Aran district has a special autonomous status, as it is the only one that does not belong to the Catalan but to the Gascognic language area.
history
The current division of Catalonia into circles goes back to a decree of the autonomous government ( Generalitat ) of Catalonia from 1936. As a result of the abolition of Catalonia's autonomy after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War , it was abolished again in 1939.
Many of the district names existed during the Franco era - in Spanish spelling - not only as unofficial names for the respective area, but also remained in use as an addition to the place names, which corresponds to the practice that has prevailed in many areas of Spain to this day, the name of Circle (Spanish: Comarca ) to the municipality name. After the restoration of the autonomy of Catalonia, the Comarques received an official status as administrative districts again in 1987. In 1988 the districts of Pla de l'Estany , Pla d'Urgell and Alta Ribagorça were newly formed and in 1990 some of the district boundaries were changed slightly. In 2015 the Moianès district was re-established.
The four Catalan provinces of Barcelona , Girona , Lleida and Tarragona, created in 1833 as administrative units of the Spanish central state, continue to exist parallel to the districts . The division into Comarques is not based in all cases on the provincial borders, but there are several Comarques , which comprise municipalities of different provinces.
Northern Catalonia
In Northern Catalonia , which belongs to France, there are six historical districts that together make up what is now the Pyrénées-Orientales department . In addition to the five Catalan-speaking Comarques , the Occitan Fenouillèdes ( cat . : Fenolleda ) is also included. However, the external borders of the entire area do not exactly correspond to the administrative boundaries of today's department, and in contrast to Spanish Catalonia, the districts have no administrative function here.
The six French Catalan comarques (including Fenouillèdes ) are:
- Rosselló with 92 municipalities, capital Perpignan ( catal . Perpinyà )
- Vallespir with 21 municipalities, capital Céret ( Ceret )
- Conflent with 53 parishes, capital Prades ( Prada ).
- Capcir with 7 municipalities, capital Formiguères ( Formiguera )
- Alta Cerdanya with 27 parishes, capital Mont-Louis ( Montlluís ).
- Fenouillèdes with 28 parishes, capital Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet ( Occit . Sant Pau de Fenolhet ).
More Catalan-speaking comarques
The two larger of the other Països Catalans also have comarques:
- List of comarcas in the Region of Valencia , some Valencian regions inland and in the south belong to the Castilian-speaking area
- List of comarcas in the Balearic Islands
Overview table
Figures from 2004 according to the "Institute for Statistics Catalonia"
Web links
- http://www.idescat.es/ Statistics Institute of Catalonia