Catalonia before Catalonia
Already inhabited in prehistoric times - the first known fossil remains belong to the Middle Paleolithic period -, the Catalan territory was colonized by the Greeks who founded towards 600 BC the Emporion factory (Empúries) , which with that of Rode (Roses), would become the two westernmost Greek towns. The presence of Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginian along the Catalan coast exerted a decisive influence on the formation of the culture of Iberians, name given by the Greeks and Romans to the hinterland native people. During the Punic Wars, Emporion kept a strong alliance with Rome, and in its port the Roman armies of Gnaeus Scipio (218 BC), Scipio (210 BC) and of Cato (197 BC) disembarked to begin the conquest and Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Romanization, which left a strong imprint on Catalonia, was fairly established at the end of the 1st century BC, when the introduction of Latin, the legislative system and the social structures were already consolidated - that is, when the urban and rural organization was tied up by the network of communication channels. The town of Tarraco (today Tarragona) became the capital of Tarraco province - which comprised a large territory from the Pyrenees to Cartagena-, and was one of the most important political and religious centers in Hispania. It maintained its importance during the Low Empire, something that can be observed in the important archeological remains kept. With the arrival of Christianity, it became the centre of an archbishopric.
The Visigothic reign, following the Roman dominion, strived to keep the structures of a centralized empire with its seat in Toledo, but it came to an end with the Moorish conquest of the peninsula: the first Arab-Moorish penetration in Catalan territory took place in 714. The Islamic penetration, that went as far as Poitiers (732), involved the Arabization of a good part of the Iberian Peninsula, including the future Catalonia. However, the territory bordering the Frank Empire was progressively conquered from the north. In 785, the town of Girona was given over to the Franks; and in 801, Barcelona was conquered by the Carolingians. It was precisely around the county of Barcelona, whose first counts were Franks, that the rest of the Pyrenean counties united. These were the so-called Hispanic March. After Guifré el Pelós, Wilfred the Hairy, (878-897), the County of Barcelona became hereditary, which was the first step towards the sovereignty and constitution of a Catalan state.
The Romanization, which left a strong imprint on Catalonia, was fairly established at the end of the 1st century BC, when the introduction of Latin, the legislative system and the social structures were already consolidated - that is, when the urban and rural organization was tied up by the network of communication channels. The town of Tarraco (today Tarragona) became the capital of Tarraco province - which comprised a large territory from the Pyrenees to Cartagena-, and was one of the most important political and religious centers in Hispania. It maintained its importance during the Low Empire, something that can be observed in the important archeological remains kept. With the arrival of Christianity, it became the centre of an archbishopric.
The Visigothic reign, following the Roman dominion, strived to keep the structures of a centralized empire with its seat in Toledo, but it came to an end with the Moorish conquest of the peninsula: the first Arab-Moorish penetration in Catalan territory took place in 714. The Islamic penetration, that went as far as Poitiers (732), involved the Arabization of a good part of the Iberian Peninsula, including the future Catalonia. However, the territory bordering the Frank Empire was progressively conquered from the north. In 785, the town of Girona was given over to the Franks; and in 801, Barcelona was conquered by the Carolingians. It was precisely around the county of Barcelona, whose first counts were Franks, that the rest of the Pyrenean counties united. These were the so-called Hispanic March. After Guifré el Pelós, Wilfred the Hairy, (878-897), the County of Barcelona became hereditary, which was the first step towards the sovereignty and constitution of a Catalan state.
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