Barcelona has a long, eventful history, marked by periods of great splendour and by defeats that forged Catalan identity. This page traces the main stages. It is part of the Barcelona guide; for the regional picture see Catalonia.
- 1st century BCUnder Augustus the Roman colony of Barcino is founded on Mons Tàber.
- 415The Visigoths briefly make Barcelona their capital.
- 717The Muslims take the city.
- 801Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious captures Barcelona: the county is born.
- 985Al-Mansur sacks the city; the counts become de facto independent of the Franks.
- 1137Dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon creates the Crown of Aragon.
- 1229-1442Conquest of Majorca, Valencia, Sicily, Sardinia and Naples.
- 1359The Corts and the Generalitat are established.
- 1640-1652The Reapers' War against Philip IV.
- 1714On 11 September Barcelona falls after a long siege in the War of the Spanish Succession.
- 1854-1859The walls are demolished and Cerdà's Eixample plan is approved.
- 1888First World's Fair, at the Parc de la Ciutadella.
- 1909The Tragic Week, a popular revolt bloodily suppressed.
- 1929Second World's Fair, on Montjuïc.
- 1936-1939Civil war; the city falls to Franco in January 1939.
- 1992The Olympic Games transform Barcelona.
Roman Barcino
The Romans founded the colony of Barcino in the late 1st century BC on a small hill, Mons Tàber, where the cathedral now stands. It was a modest walled town with a temple to Augustus and a forum, today plaça de Sant Jaume. Its late imperial walls, partly preserved, defined the edge of the centre for centuries. See the Gothic Quarter.
The County of Barcelona
After the Visigoths and a brief Muslim period, in 801 Barcelona was taken by the Franks and became the centre of the Marca Hispanica, the Carolingian empire's frontier. The Counts of Barcelona, starting with Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy) in the 9th century, gradually became independent: legend has it that the Catalan flag, four red stripes on gold, was born when the Frankish king drew the wounded count's bloody fingers across his golden shield.
Mediterranean empire
In 1137 the marriage of Count Ramon Berenguer IV to the heiress of the Kingdom of Aragon created the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and 15th centuries Barcelona was the commercial capital of a maritime empire including the Balearics, Valencia, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples and for a time even the Duchy of Athens. This was the age of great Catalan Gothic: the cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar, the Saló del Tinell, the Drassanes, the Llotja. The Llibre del Consolat de Mar governed maritime trade across the Mediterranean.
Decline and 1714
With the union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon and the discovery of America, the economy's centre shifted towards the Atlantic and Seville. Catalonia kept its institutions, but conflicts with the monarchy were frequent, such as the Reapers' War (1640-1652). In the War of the Spanish Succession Catalonia backed Archduke Charles of Habsburg against Philip of Bourbon: after fourteen months of siege, on 11 September 1714 Barcelona fell. Philip V abolished Catalan institutions and built a military citadel over the Ribera district. 11 September is now the Diada, Catalonia's national day.
The industrial city
In the 19th century Barcelona became the "Manchester of Spain", with textile mills and a large working class. The walls came down in 1854 and Cerdà's Eixample was born. The enriched bourgeoisie funded modernisme and the Renaixença, the revival of Catalan language and culture. The World's Fairs of 1888 and 1929 transformed the Ciutadella and Montjuïc. But it was also a city of social tension, anarchism, bombings and the Tragic Week of 1909.
Republic, war and Francoism
With the Second Republic in 1931, Catalonia gained autonomy. During the civil war Barcelona was a centre of the Republic and of the anarchist revolution described by George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia, and suffered heavy bombing by the Italian and German air forces. It fell in January 1939. Francoism banned public use of Catalan and suppressed every expression of Catalan identity; Generalitat president Lluís Companys was executed at Montjuïc in 1940. See the Spanish Civil War.
Democracy and the Olympics
With democracy, Catalonia regained autonomy in 1979 and Catalan became an official language again. The 1992 Olympics were the occasion for a radical transformation: new beaches, the Port Olímpic, ring roads and the regeneration of historic districts. Since then Barcelona has become one of the world's most visited cities. In the 2010s the city was at the centre of the independence process, culminating in the unauthorised referendum of 1 October 2017. Today Barcelona debates mass tourism, housing prices and its future as a tech and creative city.
For places linked to this history see what to see in Barcelona.