Museo d´Historia de Catalunya: February 17, 2010

For my Spanish Civilization and Culture class, I visited the Museum of Catalan History to understand the heritage and identity of Catalonia. The museum narrates a story beginning with ¨The Roots¨and ending with the ¨Retrat de la Catalunya contemporània¨. I typically am not a huge fan of museums, but this particular one was quite interesting. The way it was set up was as if you were walking through the history of Catalonia. The maps, pictures, and artifacts brought the story to real life which made it more interesting and easier to understand. It´s remarkable to think that a single region of Spain has so much history behind it. Also, it explains how Barcelona came to be the capital of Catalonia.

The Roots began with the most remote era in prehistory, the Lower Palaeolithic period. The spread of agriculture and husbandry changed the shape of the land and led to the emergence of new cultures. Greek and Phoenician societies in the 7th century BC led to the development of Iberian culture which is one of the most important civilizations of the western Mediterranean. By the end of the 5th century, the defeat of the Western Roman Empire paved the way for the Visigothic Kingdom.

In 711, the Muslim army began its conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom and a new country,al-Andalus, came to exist. Al-Andalus bordered the Catalan counties, which were part of the Hispanic March, the frontier territory of the Carolingian Empire. At the end of the 10th century, the Catalan counts became independent from the Franks, with the House of Barcelona as the dominant family of counts. A phase of economic growth began in Catalonia, though the struggle between the Hispanic monarchy and France led to constant border conflicts. By 1830, Catalonia began to industrialize.

During the first 30 years of the 20th century, Catalan industry went through a period of diversification, characterised by the spread of electricity and oil products. By 1959, the opening up of the economy led to major economic and social changes: foreign capital came into the country; industry diversified; tourism developed; waves of immigration from within Spain occurred; and the consumer society became established. The death of Franco meant the return of self-government and the governing institutions of Catalonia. With so much history in Catalonia, it is now clear why there is so much passion and pride for its region.