History and Language

BySanti Rodriguez Cano

AndEric Sheldon Ellis Martinez

History and Language

Ancient Age

The first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic. The oldest known trace of human occupation is a mandible found in Banyoles,

described by some sources as pre-Neanderthal some 200,000 years old.

Catalonia was colonized by Ancient Greeks and Carthaginians and participated in the pre-Roman Iberian culture. With the rest of Hispania, it was part of the Roman Empire, then came under

Visigothic rule after Rome's collapse.

History and Language

Middle Ages

Identifiably Catalan culture developed in the Middle Ages under the hegemony of the Counts of Barcelona. As part of the Crown of Aragon, the Catalans became a maritime power, expanding by

trade and conquest into Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and even Sardinia and Sicily.

The marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1469) unified Christian Spain with the crown of Aragon.

History and Language

Contemporary era

One of the most important conflicts was the war of the Spanish Succession. King Carlos II died with no heir, so Spain was

divided between the ones who wanted Charles to be king and the ones who wanted Felip of Anjou. Most of Spain wanted

Philip but Catalonia didn't, after some years of war the catalan people couldn't resist any more and lost, Philip the V became king of Spain and wrote the “Decrets de nova planta”, which

were meant to destroy catalan culture.That was not the last try to demolish Catalonia, Franco also tried to

make the people forget the language and the traditions, but none of this men could.

History and Language

We are going to talk about the four main languages talked in Spain:

-Spanish -Catalan -Euskera -Galician

History and Language

Spanish: Is the most spoken language in Spain. The language comes from Latin, the first text in Spanish are from the “jarchas”

that are small anotations written in some arabian poems and songs.

Catalan: Is a language spoken in Catalonia, the Balearic islands, Valencia and some parts of Aragon, it also comes from Latin

and its similar to Spanish because of that, one of the first texts are the “Homilías de Organyà”

History and Language

Euskera: Is a language only spoken in the Basque Country and in some parts of Navarra, it

seems to be a very ancient language that was introduced by pre-Roman villages comming from the north.

Galician: Is a language that is spoken in Galicia, like Spanish and Catalan it comes form Latin as well. It was a language used to

write, poetry and songs in the middle ages.

THE END