A History of Barcelona
from the Visigoths to the Conquest of America
Barcelona, an ancient city located on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain, was once part of the large and economically vibrant Mediterranean empire of Catalonia. Until its independence in 988, Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia was conquered and dominated by a number of empires. From its independence to the Conquest of America, Barcelona flourished economically and culturally as Catalonia's trade in the Mediterranean expanded.
Barcino before Visigoth Invasion
The coast of Catalonia had been settled long before the Romans. It was first settled by the Phoenicians and the Greeks, but it was not until the Carthaginians established Barcino on an old Celtiberian in the third century BC that the city’s modern name began to emerge. The Romans conquered the Carthaginians in 206 BC and ruled Spain for the next six centuries. During their rule, Roman law, language, architect and culture flourished.
Barcinona
Roman domination ended in the early fifth century with the Visigoth invasion. After the sacking of Rome in 410 AD, the Germanic Visigoths hastily conquered the Romans in Spain. They renamed the city of Barcino, Barcinona and made it their capital until they moved to Toledo in 554. The city was invaded by the Muslims from Africa in the mid eighth century. However, Muslim domination in Barcinona, and throughout all of Catalonia, ended in 732 when the Franks defeated the Moors.
Barcelona as Part of Western Europe
King Charlemagne and his Knights conquered Barcelona in the event of their Spanish March—the Frankish conquest of the coastal strip of north-eastern Spain. Once this feat was accomplished, Charlemagne divided his held territory into counties. One of his feudal lords, Guifre el Pilos, became the Count of Barcelona in 878. While the rest of Spain remained under Moorish domination, Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia remained a part of Western Europe.
Throughout the tenth century, Barcelona and the Catalunyan coast were threatened by Moorish invasion. The counts of Barcelona beseeched Louis V to send an army to help repel the Moors. Louis, however, refused to help repel the Moorish invaders. As a result, the Counts of Barcelona announced their independence from the Franks.
The Expansion of Catalonia
Catalonia’s independence from the Franks celebrated their birth as a nation state. It was rapidly enlarged through a series of marriages and military campaigns. The marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila, queen of Aragon, initiated the unification of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon and a period of expansion and conquest of territories north of the Pyrenees. In the early thirteenth century, King Jaume I turned his attention to the Mediterranean. He hastily conquered the Island of Mallorca, Ibiza and the territories of the Kingdom of Valencia. During this time, Barcelona also expanded and a second fortified wall was built around the parameters of the expanding city.
Barcelona as a flourishing city
Until the mid sixteenth century, Barcelona flourished culturally and economically. A number of magnificent Gothic cathedrals, palaces and monuments were built. During these centuries, Barcelona was the center where scholarly and scientific knowledge was shared between the Muslim and Christian worlds. The expansion of foreign trade in the Mediterranean also led to the establishment of shipbuilding yards in Barcelona.
The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in the mid fifteenth century was instrumental in the unification of Spain as a whole. After the conquest of Granada in 1492, Barcelona was made one of the seats of the Catholic monarchs. This year also witnessed the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, financed by Queen Isabella. Upon his return to Spain, he was received by the Catholic Monarchs at their palace in Barcelona.
The conquest of Mexico in the early sixteenth century turned the Crown’s economic interests to its new Atlantic colony. Spain’s shift in trade from its Mediterranean colonies to New Spain on the Atlantic shores, resulted in a severe decline in Barcelona’s economy which lasted until the eighteenth century.
Sources
Barcelona Online, “History”
http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/turisme/historia.htm# (accessed 14 January 2009).
StudyBarcelona.com, “The History of Barcelona, Catalunya,” (2006) http://www.studybarcelona.com/history-of-barcelona.html (accessed 14 January 2009).
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