Val d'Aran
| Val d'Aran | |
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| The location of the Comarca Val d'Aran in Catalonia | |
| Basic data | |
| Province: | Lleida |
| Main place: | Vielha e Mijaran |
| Surface: | 633.6 km² |
| Residents: | 10.093 (2019) |
| Municipalities: | 9 |
The Val d'Aran (official Aranese name; Catalan Vall d'Aran, Spanish Valle de Arán, German Arantal ) is a valley in the heart of the Spanish Pyrenees on the border with France . The valley is not only connected geographically, but also culturally, linguistically and economically with the French Gascon . Today, Val d'Aran is a comarca with a special status within the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia .
geography
The Val d'Aran has an area of 633.6 km² and 10,093 inhabitants (as of 2019). The main town of the comarca is Vielha e Mijaran (Aranese name; Catalan / Spanish: Viella ) with 5559 inhabitants (as of 2019). The comarca borders in the north on France , in the east on the comarca Pallars Sobirà , in the south the comarca Alta Ribagorça and in the west on the comarca Ribagorza ( Baixa Ribagorça in Catalan ) of the Aragonese province of Huesca . Together with the comarcas Alta Ribagorça, Alt Urgell , Cerdanya , Pallars Jussà , Pallars Sobirà, the region forms the territory of Alt Pirineu i Aran .
The association of municipalities is located in the northernmost tip of Catalonia in the high mountain region of the Pyrenees with numerous peaks of over 2000 m. The highest point is the Besiberri Nord ( 3,014 m), while the lowest point is at the Pont del Rei / Pont du Roi (560 m), the transition of the Garona to France.
The rivers Noguera Ribagorzana , Noguera Pallaresa and the Garona have their source in the Val d'Aran and leave the valley to the northwest into the French Gascony and thus belong to the catchment area of the Atlantic Ocean . As the only larger part of the Spanish national territory, it lies north of the main ridge of the Pyrenees.
Population and languages
The residents call themselves Aranese ; they are classified by the Organization for the European Minorities as an ethnic minority seeking recognition . The languages of the valley are the native Aranese (a dialect of Gascon , which in turn belongs to Occitan ), Catalan and Spanish . All three languages have the status of an official language today . On the evening of Catalonia's declaration of independence on October 27, 2017, local institutions declared that in the event of Catalonia's independence they would hold their own referendum on the future of the Val.
Basque was spoken in the Arantal until the 11th century . Numerous field names such as “Aran”, the Basque word for “valley”, bear witness to this.
Communities
Status: 2019
| local community | Residents | Area (km²) |
local community | Residents | Area (km²) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arres | 65 | 11.60 | Les | 946 | 23.35 | |
| Build | 58 | 17.64 | Naut Aran | 1803 | 255.25 | |
| Bòrdes | 259 | 21.67 | Vielha e Mijaran | 5559 | 211.41 | |
| Bossòst | 1109 | 28.11 | Vilamòs | 187 | 15.38 | |
| Canejan | 107 | 48.52 |
traffic
The overland route to central Catalonia used to lead over mountain passes (Port de Vielha, 2,450 m; Port de Bonaigua, 2,070 m, road since 1924). In winter the high valley could only be reached from the French side. This only changed with the construction of a tunnel (Tunel de Vielha, opened in 1948, open all year round since 1965).
Invasion of the Val d'Aran in 1944
After the civil war was lost , the fighting over Spain was far from over. An anti-French guerrilla , often referred to as maquis , operated until 1959 . The invasion of the Val d'Aran, which became possible in the course of the liberation of France from occupation by Nazi Germany, can be seen as the greatest success of this guerrilla . A total of 4,000 guerrillas , including mostly Spanish communists , invaded the valley from France on October 19, 1944, but were forced to retreat by Franco's troops from October 28 to 30.
Almudena Grandes dealt with the invasion in her novel Ines und die Freude (German publication: 2016) and set up a literary memorial.
Winter sports
The area around Baqueira-Beret in the Val d'Aran is one of the largest winter sports areas in the Pyrenees and all of Spain. The second world championship in ski mountaineering 2004 was held in Val d'Aran in 2004 , in which the Swiss team, followed by Italy and France as the best national team, won 20 medals. In addition, some ski mountaineering World Cup races were held in the Val d'Aran.
Web links
- Comarca website (Aranese, Catalan, Spanish)
- Association of municipalities (Catalan, Spanish, English, German, French, Italian)
- gencat-Turisme (Catalan, Spanish, English, German, French)
- Turisme (Aranese, Catalan, Spanish, English, French)
Alt Camp | Alt Empordà | Alt Penedès | Alt Urgell | Alta Ribagorça | Anoia | Bages | Baix Camp | Baix Ebre | Baix Empordà | Baix Llobregat | Baix Penedès | Barcelonès | Berguedà | Cerdanya | Conca de Barberà | Garraf | Garrigues | Garrotxa | Gironès | Maresme | Moianès | Montsià | Noguera | Osona | Pallars Jussà | Pallars Sobirà | Pla de l'Estany | Pla d'Urgell | Priory | Ribera d'Ebre | Ripollès | Segarra | Segrià | Selva | Solsonès | Tarragonès | Terra Alta | Urgell | Val d'Aran | Vallès Occidental | Vallès Oriental
Coordinates: 42 ° 44 ′ 3.2 ″ N , 0 ° 46 ′ 1.8 ″ E