Garrotxa
Encyclopedia
Garrotxa is a comarca (county)
in Catalonia
, Spain
. Its population in 2001 was 47,747, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot
. It is roughly equivalent to the historical comarca of Besalú
.
, Osona
, Selva
, Gironès
, Pla de l'Estany
, Alt Empordà
, and Vallespir
. It includes the upper basin of the River Fluvià
and the headwaters of the rivers Muga, Amer and Llémena.
From both the human point of view and that of physical geography, the comarca has a clear division into two subcomarques. Extending north from the valley of the Fluvià, is Alta Garrotxa (Upper Garrotxa), while the southern part is sometimes called the comarca of Olot, after the capital city.
The Fluvià flows toward the Mediterranean, and has a relatively small flow of water (1.07 m³/s at Olot).
The high humidity of Garrotxa contrasts with the that of the neighboring comarques. Annual rainfall is over 1000 mm (about 40 inches). It is said that "Si no plou a Olot, no plou enlloc" ("if it's not raining in Olot, it is not raining anywhere."). Winter temperatures hover around freezing; in August, temperatures average 27.7°C (about 80°F). Thermal inversions are relatively common; Alta Garrotxa and Puigsacalm, particularly, have more of a mountain climate, with snowfall figuring more prominently.
Vegetation varies with the climate. Alta Garrotxa and the east part of the comarca have typically Mediterranean climate and vegetation; the rest has a sub-Mediterranean climate, tending toward an Atlantic climate in the most humid areas.
contains some 40 well-preserved volcanic
cones at Croscat, important flows of basalt
ic lava
, and the volcano of Santa Margarida. This zone is protected within the 120.07 km² Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa.
The principal focus is the plain and hillsides of Olot. A field of lava covers most of the plain (some 25 km²), and lava flows continue down the valley of the Fluvià to Sant Jaume de Llierca
. Another important sector is in the tectonic valley of the River Ser, at the foot of the faultline escarpment of the Corb
and Finestres ranges, with the volcanos of Santa Margarida and Croscat. The lava flows down the valley past the Sallent de Santa Pau to the mill of Gibert
. There is a third group of volcanos in the valley of the river Llémena and the stream of Adri.
There appear to have been old eruptions around Olot
, because one can find basalt
boulder
s from the Pliocene
era in the valley of the Fluvià.
In 1982, the Generalitat de Catalunya (the government of Catalonia) declared the zone comprising the valleys of the Fluvià and Ser and the upper part of the valleys of Aiguavella and Sant Iscle to be Natural Places of National Interest. They also declared most of the volcanic cones and the Fageda d'en Jordà (a beech
woods rooted in lava) to be Integral Geobotanical Reserves.
. The livestock sector is actually expanding, especially pig
s and cattle
.
Industry, centered around Olot, Sant Joan les Fonts
, and Besalú
, has been generally on the rise since 1940. The most important industries are textiles, especially knitwear, the processing of locally grown food, and metallurgy. Behind these come papermaking, chemistry, and plastics.
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...
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...
, 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...
. Its population in 2001 was 47,747, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot
Olot
Olot is the capital of the comarca of the Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.- Etymology :The etymology of Olot is not clear and there are several hypotheses...
. It is roughly equivalent to the historical comarca 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....
.
Geography
Garrotxa borders the comarques of RipollèsRipollès
Ripollès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Ribes and Camprodon river valleys. , its population is 25,744, about 40% of whom live in the capital, Ripoll....
, Osona
Osona
County of Osona was one of the Catalan counties of the Marca Hispanica in the Early and High Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city of Vic and the corresponding diocese, whose territory was roughly the current comarca of Osona....
, Selva
Selva
Selva is a coastal comarca in Catalonia, Spain, located between the mountain range known as the Serralada Transversal or Puigsacalm and the Costa Brava . Unusually, it is divided between the provinces of Girona and Barcelona, with Fogars de la Selva being part of Barcelona province, and all other...
, Gironès
Gironès
Gironès is a comarca in eastern Catalonia, Spain, bordering Selva, Baix Empordà, Alt Empordà, Pla de l'Estany and Garrotxa. , more than half of the comarca's 175,148 inhabitants live in the capital, Girona, which is also the capital of the province of Girona.-Municipalities:Populations are as of...
, Pla de l'Estany
Pla de l'Estany
Pla de l'Estany is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. Its name means "plain of the lake", the lake in question being the Lake of Banyoles. Banyoles is also the name of the capital of the comarca and home to over half of its people...
, Alt Empordà
Alt Empordà
Alt Empordà is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain, one of two into which Empordà was divided by the comarcal division of Catalonia in 1936.- Municipalities :Populations are as of 2001.*Agullana - pop. 668*Albanyà - pop. 99*L'Armentera - pop. 742...
, and Vallespir
Vallespir
Vallespir is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. The capital of the comarca is Ceret, and it borders Conflent, Rosselló, Alt Empordà, Garrotxa and Ripollès...
. It includes the upper basin of the River Fluvià
Fluvià
The Fluvià is a river in Catalonia. It rises in the Serralada Transversal, passes through Olot, and flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Sant Pere Pescador.- See also :* List of rivers of Spain...
and the headwaters of the rivers Muga, Amer and Llémena.
From both the human point of view and that of physical geography, the comarca has a clear division into two subcomarques. Extending north from the valley of the Fluvià, is Alta Garrotxa (Upper Garrotxa), while the southern part is sometimes called the comarca of Olot, after the capital city.
The Fluvià flows toward the Mediterranean, and has a relatively small flow of water (1.07 m³/s at Olot).
The high humidity of Garrotxa contrasts with the that of the neighboring comarques. Annual rainfall is over 1000 mm (about 40 inches). It is said that "Si no plou a Olot, no plou enlloc" ("if it's not raining in Olot, it is not raining anywhere."). Winter temperatures hover around freezing; in August, temperatures average 27.7°C (about 80°F). Thermal inversions are relatively common; Alta Garrotxa and Puigsacalm, particularly, have more of a mountain climate, with snowfall figuring more prominently.
Vegetation varies with the climate. Alta Garrotxa and the east part of the comarca have typically Mediterranean climate and vegetation; the rest has a sub-Mediterranean climate, tending toward an Atlantic climate in the most humid areas.
Volcanic zone
In the western part of the comarca, the land around Olot and Santa PauSanta Pau
Santa Pau is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.-References:...
contains some 40 well-preserved volcanic
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
cones at Croscat, important flows of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
ic lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
, and the volcano of Santa Margarida. This zone is protected within the 120.07 km² Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa.
The principal focus is the plain and hillsides of Olot. A field of lava covers most of the plain (some 25 km²), and lava flows continue down the valley of the Fluvià to Sant Jaume de Llierca
Sant Jaume de Llierca
Sant Jaume de Llierca is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
. Another important sector is in the tectonic valley of the River Ser, at the foot of the faultline escarpment of the Corb
Corb
In Irish mythology, Corb was one of the Fomorians, a semi-divine race who inhabited Ireland in ancient times....
and Finestres ranges, with the volcanos of Santa Margarida and Croscat. The lava flows down the valley past the Sallent de Santa Pau to the mill of Gibert
Gibert
Gibert is a surname, and may refer to:* Camille-Melchior Gibert* Jean-Pierre Gibert* Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz* Montserrat Gibert...
. There is a third group of volcanos in the valley of the river Llémena and the stream of Adri.
Olot
Olot is the capital of the comarca of the Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.- Etymology :The etymology of Olot is not clear and there are several hypotheses...
, because one can find basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
s from the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
era in the valley of the Fluvià.
In 1982, the Generalitat de Catalunya (the government of Catalonia) declared the zone comprising the valleys of the Fluvià and Ser and the upper part of the valleys of Aiguavella and Sant Iscle to be Natural Places of National Interest. They also declared most of the volcanic cones and the Fageda d'en Jordà (a beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
woods rooted in lava) to be Integral Geobotanical Reserves.
Population and economic activity
9.4% of the population are engaged in agriculture and primary production, 59.4% in industry and energy, and 31.2% in the service sectors. Agricultural land has been shrinking, but Garrotxa remains the leading producer of maizeMaize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. The livestock sector is actually expanding, especially pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s and cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
.
Industry, centered around Olot, Sant Joan les Fonts
Sant Joan les Fonts
Sant Joan les Fonts is a municipality of the comarca of Garrotxa, located in Catalonia. As of 2006, the population is 2,708. Until 1949 it was known as Begudà.It is part of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park.- The municipality :...
, and 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....
, has been generally on the rise since 1940. The most important industries are textiles, especially knitwear, the processing of locally grown food, and metallurgy. Behind these come papermaking, chemistry, and plastics.
Municipalities
Populations are from 2005.- ArgelaguerArgelaguerArgelaguer is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.-References:...
- pop. 408 - BesalúBesalúBesalú 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....
- pop. 2,211 - BeudaBeudaBeuda is a Spanish municipality located in the comarca of Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the slopes near the Mont massif, to the north of Besalú.-Places of interest:*Església de Sant Feliu - Romanesque; 11th century...
- pop. 147 - Castellfollit de la RocaCastellfollit de la RocaCastellfollit de la Roca is a municipality in the comarca of Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The urban area is bordered by the confluence of the Fluvià and Toronell rivers, between which the town's basalt cliff rises...
- pop. 964 - Maià de MontcalMaià de MontcalMaià de Montcal is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 374 - Mieres - pop. 352
- Montagut i OixMontagut i OixMontagut i Oix is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 875 - OlotOlotOlot is the capital of the comarca of the Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.- Etymology :The etymology of Olot is not clear and there are several hypotheses...
- pop. 31,271 - Les Planes d'HostolesLes Planes d'HostolesLes Planes d'Hostoles is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 1,754 - Les PresesLes PresesLes Preses is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 1,657 - RiudauraRiudauraRiudaura, sometimes also spelled Riudaure, is a municipality in the comarca of Garrotxa in Catalonia, Spain.The local river, riera de Riudaura, caused a flood further downstream in Olot town in 1940.-Villages:*Bac d'en Déu, 26...
- pop. 426 - Sales de LliercaSales de LliercaSales de Llierca is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 117 - Sant Aniol de FinestresSant Aniol de FinestresSant Aniol de Finestres is a municipality in the comarca of Garrotxa inCatalonia, 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 .- External links :****...
- pop. 286 - Sant Feliu de PallerolsSant Feliu de PallerolsSant Feliu de Pallerols is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 1,223 - Sant FerriolSant FerriolSant Ferriol is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 206 - Sant Jaume de LliercaSant Jaume de LliercaSant Jaume de Llierca is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 785 - Sant Joan les FontsSant Joan les FontsSant Joan les Fonts is a municipality of the comarca of Garrotxa, located in Catalonia. As of 2006, the population is 2,708. Until 1949 it was known as Begudà.It is part of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park.- The municipality :...
- pop. 2,631 - Santa PauSanta PauSanta Pau is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.-References:...
- pop. 1,541 - TortellàTortellàTortellà is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.-References:...
- pop. 714 - La Vall d'en BasLa Vall d'en BasLa Vall d'en Bas is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....
- pop. 2,616 - La Vall de BianyaLa Vall de BianyaLa Vall de Bianya is a municipality in the comarca of Garrotxa, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. This municipality consists of the villages of the Bianya valley and the Bac valley...
- pop. 1,228
External links
- La Garrotxa Video
- Official comarcal web site (in Catalan)
- Tourist association of La Garrotxa
- Information about Garrotxa from the Generalitat de Catalunya (in Catalan)
- Official site of the Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa (in Catalan)
- Official site of the Llemena Valley (in Catalan)
- A guide La Garrotxa (in English)