Located in the northereast corner of Spain, Catalonia is one of the most heavily industrialized regions in Spain.  This heavy concentration of industry dates back to the Reconquest.  As the war raged in Castile, the Moors had already been defeated in Catalonia.  This allowed the Catalans to develop a society centered around textiles and trade rather than agriculture.  Barcelona became a major port and the heart of Spain's commercial system.  Barcelona was also the birthplace of the Llibre del Consolat, a code which regulated the trade of the entire Mediterranean.

 

In addition to a trade-based economy, Catalonia was able to establish a very liberal political system, which was based on the idea of a contract between the ruler and his subjects.  The Cortes of Catalonia provided representation for Catalan subjects.  Additionally, laws could only be made and repealed  by mutual consent of the King and the Cortes.  This system gave an unusually large amount of power to the people, especially for the time period, the 12th and 13th centuries.

Mural depicting a meeting of  the King and the Cortes, dating about 1495.

 
 
 

In 1469, the heir to the throne of Aragon, a loose federation to which Catalonia belonged, married the heir to the throne of Castile.  The marraige of Ferdinand and Isabella signified a union between Castile and Aragon and the creation of a new Spain.  However, the union would not remain an equal one and the new Spain would eventually attempt to erase Catalonia's unique economic, social, and governmental structures.