Hey guys! I'm Laia again and i'm going to explain some things of Catalonia. I'm also going to upload some videos about Catalonia history, tourism in Blanes, la Costa Brava and ''els castellers'', the last video in german.
First of all, let's see our history.

Republic and civil war

After the electoral victory of the left in the Spanish national elections of February 1936 came the July 1936 armed insurrection that led to the Spanish Civil War. The defeat of the initial military rebellion in Catalonia placed Catalonia firmly in the Republican camp. During the war, there were two rival powers in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and the de facto power of the armed popular militias. Violent confrontations between the workers' parties culminated in the defeat of the CNT-FAI and POUM, against whom the PSUC unleashed strong repression. The local situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat was losing its autonomous power within republican Spain.
The military forces of the Generalitat were concentrated on two fronts: Aragon and Majorca. The latter was an utter disaster. The Aragon front resisted firmly until 1937, when the occupation of Lérida and Balaguer destabilized it. Finally, Franco's troops broke the republican territory in two by occupying Vinaròs, isolating Catalonia from the rest of republican Spain. The defeat of the Republican armies in the Battle of the Ebro led in 1938 and 1939 to the occupation of Catalonia by Franco's forces, who abolished Catalan autonomy and brought in a dictatorial regime, which took strong measures against Catalan nationalism and Catalan culture. Only forty years later, after Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of a democratic constitution in Spain (1978), did Catalonia recover its autonomy and reconstitute the Generalitat (1979).

Franco's dictatorship

As in the rest of Spain, the Franco era (1939–1975) in Catalonia saw the annulment of democratic liberties, the prohibition and persecution of parties, the rise of thoroughgoing censorship, and the banning of all leftist institutions. In Catalonia, it also meant the annulment of the statute of autonomy, the banning of many specifically Catalan institutions, and the complete suppression of the Catalan-language press, although the publication of Catalan books was allowed from 1941. During the first years, all resistance was energetically suppressed, the prisons filled up with political prisoners, and thousands of Catalans went into exile. In addition, 4000 Catalans were executed between 1938 and 1953, among them the former president of the Generalitat Lluís Companys i Jover.

NOW YOU CAN WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT WHAT MEAN BEEN INDEPENDENT IN THE CASE OF CATALONIA (it's in English)

Here you've got another video about Catalonia :)



And now i'm going to explain some things about La Costa Brava.

The Costa Brava is a coastal region of northeastern Catalonia,in the comarques of Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà and Selva, in the province of Girona. Costa is the Catalan and Spanish word for 'coast', and Brava means 'rugged' or 'wild'. The Costa Brava stretches from Blanes, 60 km northeast of Barcelona, to the French border.

Small towns like Cadaqués, which is close to the French border and close to the foothills of the Pyrenees, have attracted artists, such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. The Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres is one of the most important and visited museums in Catalonia. One can also visit Dalí's House-Museum in Port Lligat, near Cadaqués and the Castle of Púbol in Púbol. The coast between Roses and Tossa de Mar has many delightful small coastal towns

Here you've got two videos, the first one is about Tourism in Blanes

.......and the second one is about La Costa Brava.

Finally i'm going to explain ''Els Castellers'' .

The castles are the human towers that build traditionally, since does more than two hundred years ('n find references already to the century XVIII), to the Countryside of Tarragona, and that afterwards extended to the Penedès, , and during the century XX for all Catalonia, north Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, especially from the years 80. A casteller is a person that forms part of a ‘’colla castellera’’, where take part tens or hundreds of people with l'aim of raising different human buildings, with no mechanical help, of diverse complexity and that have reached to have until ten flats of high. Since the 16 of November of 2010 the castles are Immaterial Cultural Heritage of the Mankind for the UNESCO .

Origin

In the ancient ‘’Dance of the Valencian’’, one of the that realized in the surroundings of the religious processions. These dances ended with a figure constituted by the raising of a human buildin.

Here i leave a video in German about ''Els Castellers''. You obviously be able to understand it better than me :D

Thanks for reading that, i hope you learn things you didn't know before. See you in a week !
Any questions... you know i'll be here, so..just ask! ^^

Laia , Sophia's partner