Cerdanya is a natural comarca

Natural region

A Natural region is one which is distinguished by its natural features of geography and usually more important, geology. The natural ecology of the region is likely to be significant but one of these factors tends to influence the others....

 and historical region

Historical region

Historical regions are delimitations of geographic areas for studying and analysing social development of period-specific cultures without any reference to contemporary political, economic or social organisations....

 of the eastern Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

 divided between France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Historically it has been one of the counties of Catalonia

Catalan counties

The Catalan counties were the administrative divisions of the eastern Carolingian Marca Hispanica created after its Frankish conquest. The various counties roughly defined what came to be known as the Principality of Catalonia....

.

Cerdanya has a land area of 1086 km² (419 sq mi), divided almost evenly between Spain (50.3%) and France (49.7%). In 2001 its population was approximately 26,500, of whom 53% lived on Spanish territory. Its population density of 24 residents per km² (63 per sq. mile) is one of the lowest in Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

. The only urban area in Cerdanya is the cross-border urban area of Puigcerdà

Puigcerdà

Puigcerdà is the capital of the Catalan comarca of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the river Segre and the border with France .- History :...

-Bourg-Madame

Bourg-Madame

Bourg-Madame is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies right on the border with Spain. It abuts directly onto the Spanish town of Puigcerdà, and is near the Spanish exclave of Llívia....

, which contained 10,900 inhabitants in 2001.

The area enjoys a high annual amount of sunshine – around 3,000 hours per year. For this reason, pioneering large-scale solar power projects have been built in several locations in French Cerdagne, including Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via

Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via

Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via , or Odeillo, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France.It also is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the oldest in the Pyrenees.- Solar Power :...

, the Themis plant

Themis (solar power plant)

The THEMIS solar power tower is a research and development centre focused on solar energy. It is located near the village of Targassonne, in the department of Pyrénées-Orientales, south of France, 3 kilometres from the world's largest solar furnace in Odeillo.-Siting of the plant:THEMIS Solar...

 near Targassonne

Targassonne

Targassonne is a commune of Cerdanya in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in south of France. It is located at 1,600 meters near the villages of Égat and Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via....

, and Mont-Louis Solar Furnace

Mont-Louis Solar Furnace

The Mont-Louis Solar Furnace is an experimental solar furnace - a solar thermal energy facility that was built in 1949. It was the first facility of its kind in the world, and was a precursor of the Odeillo Solar Furnace...

 in Mont-Louis

Mont-Louis

Mont-Louis is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.In 2008, the citadel and the city walls of Mont-Louis were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of the "Fortifications of Vauban" group....

.

Antiquity

The first inhabitants of Cerdanya probably spoke a language related to the old Basque language

Basque language

Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

 and to Aquitanian

Aquitanian language

The Aquitanian language was spoken in ancient Aquitaine before the Roman conquest and, probably much later, until the Early Middle Ages....

. Many place names testify to this. In the first millennium BC came the Iberians

Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...

 from the south. Although their identity is still a matter of debate, some theories posit that they spoke an Afro-Asiatic language, and that they separated from the Berbers

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

 in North Africa and moved into Spain and then further north to the south of modern-day France.

In Cerdanya they mixed with the native inhabitants, and the resulting people were known as the Kerretes, from the native word ker or kar, meaning rock, related to old Basque karri (modern Basque harri), stone. The Kerretes were probably essentially of Basque and Aquitanian-related stock, as the Iberian clans who mixed with the native inhabitants can have comprised only small numbers of people. The Kerretes retained a language related to old Basque and Aquitanian, although some Iberian words may have entered the language, and Iberians probably occupied positions at the top of the Kerrete society.

The main oppidum

Oppidum

Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...

 of the Kerretes, commanding the whole country, was called Kere and was built on the hill above the modern-day village of Llívia

Llívia

Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a Spanish exclave within the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

 (a Spanish exclave in French territory). Later the Kerretes came under Roman rule, and the Romans renamed the oppidum Julia Libyca, with a significant number of Roman citizens settling there. During the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, the area of Cerdanya was a pagus known as pagus Liviensis (a name derived from its capital Julia Libyca), part of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of Spain along with the central plateau. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia, was the province of Hispania Baetica...

. The pagus Liviensis was itself divided in two: the eastern part around Julia Libyca was known as Cerretania Julia, while the western part was known as Cerretania Augusta. The name Cerdanya comes from Cerretania, itself coming from the old name of the inhabitants, the Kerretes. As for Julia Libyca, the name evolved into Julia Livia and then Llívia.

The Kerretes seem to have kept their old language until very late, probably as late as the 8th or 9th century. Romanization in the area was extremely slow, even though eventually the native language gave way, and the people in Cerdanya ended up speaking Catalan

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

, a language derived from Latin. At the end of the Roman Empire, Julia Libyca entered a period of decadence, and lost much of its importance. It is around this time that the town of La Seu d'Urgell

La Seu d'Urgell

La Seu d'Urgell is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of Bishop of Urgell, one of the Andorra co-princes...

 (in Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, but outside of Cerdanya) started to replace Julia Libyca as the main center of population in that area of northern Catalonia, and in the 6th century when the diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 (bishopric) of Urgell was founded, Cerdanya was inside its limits.

Devastated by the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

 and other Germanic tribes, Cerdanya was part of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

 and later Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, until eventually it was conquered by the Muslims. After Muslim expansion was halted by Odo the Great in the Battle of Toulouse (721)

Battle of Toulouse (721)

The Battle of Toulouse was a victory of an Aquitanian army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine over an Umayyad army besieging the city of Toulouse, and led by the governor of Al-Andalus, Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani...

, the Berber commander Uthman ibn Naissa established a small realm in Cerdanya and allied with Odo, so that the Aquitanian leader could secure his south-eastern borders. However, Uthman ibn Naissa came next under Umayyad attack and the Berber lord was defeated, opening the way to Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi

Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi

Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi , also known as Abd er Rahman, Abdderrahman, Abderame, and Abd el-Rahman, led the Andalusian Muslims into battle against the forces of Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours on October 10, 732 AD. for which he is primarily remembered in the West...

's expedition into Aquitaine. Under Carolingian pressure, Cerdanya became a Frankish vassal about 785.

County of Cerdanya

The county of Cerdanya has its origin in the Spanish Marches

Marches

A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....

 established by Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

. In the 9th century Cerdanya was one of the lordships united in the person of the counts of Barcelona, who were also counts of Girona

Girona

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...

, Narbonne

Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Urgell

Urgell

The County of Urgell is one of the historical Catalan counties, bordering on the counties of Pallars and Cerdanya.The county was carved by the Franks out of a former section of the Mark of Toulouse when the Alt Urgell area became part of the Carolingian Empire between 785 and 790.The original...

. Wilfred the Hairy

Wilfred the Hairy

Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy, was Count of Urgell , Cerdanya , Barcelona , Girona , Besalú , and Ausona ....

 (count 870-897) had three sons and established the youngest, Miron (died 927), as Count of Cerdanya, a sovereign state.

The sovereign county of Cerdanya bordered the county of Urgell, the county of Barcelona, the county of Besalú

Besalú

Besalú is a town in the comarca of Garrotxa, in Catalonia, Spain.The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current comarca of Garrotxa but sometime extended as far as Corbières, Aude, in France....

, the county of Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

, and the county of Razès

Razès

Razès is a historical area in southwestern France, in today's Aude département.Several communes of the département include Razès in their name:* Bellegarde-du-Razès* Belvèze-du-Razès* Fenouillet-du-Razès* Fonters-du-Razès...

. The county of Cerdanya was made up of Cerdanya proper with the addition of other areas which it managed to acquire over time through inheritance, such as Capcir

Capcir

Capcir is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. The capital of the comarca was Formiguera, and it borders the historical comarques of Conflent and Alta Cerdanya...

 and Conflent

Conflent

Conflent is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent....

. Thus, the county of Cerdanya was actually quite an important county. The counts of Cerdanya were great patrons of abbeys, most famously Saint-Michel de Cuxa (Catalan: Sant Miquel de Cuixà), dating back to the 10th century and located in Conflent, and Saint-Martin-du-Canigou (Catalan: Sant Martí del Canigó), dedicated by Count Guifred of Cerdanya in 1009.

However, the line of the counts died out in 1117 and the county was inherited by the counts of Barcelona, later to become kings of Aragon.

Current division

Cerdanya proper was split between Spain and France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees

Treaty of the Pyrenees

The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed to end the 1635 to 1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries...

 of 1659, with the north of Cerdanya becoming French, while the south of Cerdanya remained Spanish. The counties of Rosselló

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

, Capcir

Capcir

Capcir is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. The capital of the comarca was Formiguera, and it borders the historical comarques of Conflent and Alta Cerdanya...

 and Conflent

Conflent

Conflent is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent....

 also became French at that time.

Today, the Spanish side of Cerdanya is a Catalan comarca

Comarques of Catalonia

This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...

 known as Baixa Cerdanya (i.e. "Lower Cerdanya"), and whose capital is Puigcerdà

Puigcerdà

Puigcerdà is the capital of the Catalan comarca of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the river Segre and the border with France .- History :...

. Puigcerdà was already the capital of Cerdanya before the division of 1659, having replaced Hix in 1178 as capital of Cerdanya. Hix, the place where the counts of Cerdanya resided, is now a village inside the commune of Bourg-Madame

Bourg-Madame

Bourg-Madame is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies right on the border with Spain. It abuts directly onto the Spanish town of Puigcerdà, and is near the Spanish exclave of Llívia....

 on the French side of the border. Hix had itself replaced Llívia

Llívia

Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a Spanish exclave within the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

, which was the ancient capital of Cerdanya in Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

. At the Treaty of the Pyrenees it was decided that Llívia would remain Spanish (allegedly because the treaty stipulated that only villages were to be ceded to France, and Llívia was considered a city and not a village, due to its status as the ancient capital of Cerdanya), so Llívia is now an exclave of Spain inside French territory.

The French side of Cerdanya is part of the département of Pyrénées-Orientales

Pyrénées-Orientales

Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...

 and has no particular status. People in France refer to it as Cerdagne française (that is, "French Cerdanya"), or just Cerdagne, while people on the Spanish side refer to it as Alta Cerdanya ("Upper Cerdanya"). Its main towns are Bourg-Madame and the ski resort of Font-Romeu.

Tourism

Like neighboring areas of the Pyrenees, Cerdanya relies upon tourism to provide a strong support for the economy. Spa, skiing, and hiking are long-established activities. In addition the Yellow train

Yellow train

The Ligne de Cerdagne, often called the Yellow Train , is a metre gauge railway that runs from Villefranche-de-Conflent through to Mont-Louis in France. It was started in 1903 and the section to Mont-Louis was completed in 1910, followed by an extension to Latour-de-Carol in 1927.It is long and...

 is a major tourist attraction.

Spanish side

Known as Baixa Cerdanya.

• Alp
  Alp, Spain
  Alp is a town and municipality in the comarca of Cerdanya, Girona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Its population is 1,576 ....
  
  
• Bellver de Cerdanya
  Bellver de Cerdanya
  Bellver de Cerdanya is a town in the comarca of Cerdanya, province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.-References:*Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria . Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 . ISBN 84-87135-02-1 ....
  
  
• Bolvir
• Das
• Fontanals de Cerdanya
• Ger
• Guils de Cerdanyà
• Isòvol
• Lles de Cerdanya
• Llívia
  Llívia
  Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a Spanish exclave within the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
  
  
• Meranges
• Montellà i Martinet
• Prats i Sansor
• Prullans
• Puigcerdà
  Puigcerdà
  Puigcerdà is the capital of the Catalan comarca of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the river Segre and the border with France .- History :...
  
  
• Riu de Pendís
• Urús

French side

Known as Cerdagne française (Catalan: Alta Cerdanya).

• Angoustrine-Villeneuve-des-Escaldes (Catalan: Angostrina)
• Bolquère (Catalan: Bolquera)
• Bourg-Madame
  Bourg-Madame
  Bourg-Madame is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies right on the border with Spain. It abuts directly onto the Spanish town of Puigcerdà, and is near the Spanish exclave of Llívia....
  
   (Catalan: La Guingueta d’Ix)
• Dorres
• Égat (Catalan Èguet)
• Enveitg (Catalan Enveig)
• Err (Catalan Er)
• Estavar
• Eyne (Catalan Eina)
• Font-Romeu
  Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via
  Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via , or Odeillo, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France.It also is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the oldest in the Pyrenees.- Solar Power :...
  
  -Odeillo-Via (Catalan Font-Romeu or Odelló i Vià)
• La Cabanasse (Catalan La Cabanassa)
• Latour-de-Carol (Catalan La Tor de Querol)
• Llo
• Mont-Louis
  Mont-Louis
  Mont-Louis is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.In 2008, the citadel and the city walls of Mont-Louis were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of the "Fortifications of Vauban" group....
  
  (Catalan Montlluís)
• Nahuja (Catalan Naüja)
• Osséja (Catalan Osseja)
• Palau-de-Cerdagne (Catalan Palau de Cerdanya)
• Planès (Catalan Planès)
• Porta
• Porté-Puymorens (Catalan Portè)
• Saillagouse (Catalan Sallagosa)
• Saint-Pierre-dels-Forcats (Catalan Sant Pere dels Forcats)
• Sainte-Léocadie (Catalan Santa Llocaia)
• Targassonne (Catalan Targasona)
• Ur
• Valcebollère (Catalan: Vallsabollera)

External links

• La Cerdanya from Catalan Encyclopaedia
• County of Cerdanya from Catalan Encyclopaedia
• Counts of Cerdagne: genealogical tree
• Turisme Cerdanya Portal Cerdanya