Catalonia and the Spanish State

Abstract

Catalan nationalism has also been fostered by Catalonia’s relationship with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, most notably with Castile, which ultimately established political dominance. The chapter explores Catalonia’s relations with its neighbours on the Iberian Peninsula, tracing how political power ultimately was centralized in the Spanish state despite the fact that Catalonia, along with the Basque Country, remained the Spanish economy’s centre of development and innovation. The chapter also shows how within the Spanish state there developed the ideal of a single Spain nation that ultimately, under the Franco regime, engendered a comprehensive effort, amounting to ‘cultural genocide’, to eliminate not just Catalan nationalism but the Catalan nation itself.