The history of Barcelona

Barcelona begins with the Romans. They are the first people that find interest in Barcelona. But not until Catalonia is united with Aragon (1137) does the city's greatness begin.

This event was to be the start of an expansion period that would make the Catalan language the most important language in the Mediterranean from around 1200 to the middle of the 14th century.

But in the early 1400’s difficult times started for Catalonia and the area was annexed to the crown of Madrid. Only in the 1800’s Catalonia began to experiencing yet another period of greatness again. This time the result was the so-called renaissance and the birth of modernism - a flowering period of art, culture, language and architecture.The Roman founded Barcelona with a typically Roman city structure with streets, city walls, aqueducts, theaters, etc. The city was built from 15 BC, and was primarily an administrative town that not big enough to accommodate many residences. A large proportion of the population lived outside the city. At this moment cities like Tarragona (to the south) and Emporion, Nimes and Orange (north of Barcelona) were larger and more important towns.