A POTTED HISTORY OF CATALONIA The Catalans are an Iberian people, who traded with Hellas and Carthage before the 2nd century BC, and later with the Roman Empire, exporting wine, oil, beer and garum, a fermented fish condiment.

2) Greek and Roman historians’ definition of the Iberian territory covered an area similar to what is now termed the Catalan Countries. In the 2nd century BC, the Iberians were the first people of the Iberian Peninsula incorporated into the Roman Empire.

3) Roman law was maintained until the Moorish Invasion in 720 and modern Catalan is a Romance language. The Frankish Kings began the conquest of the peninsula in the year 785 reaching Barcelona in 802.

4) Borrell II, count of Barcelona, separated from the Frankish crown in the year 988 and established a dynasty that regained the whole of the territory as far as Cartagena and the Balearic Islands.

5) The Catalans had their own Courts by 1214, Constitutions by 1283, government by 1289 and separation of powers by 1413.

6) The Catalans lost their Constitutions to ally themselves with the English and Germans in 1705 against Bourbon absolutism, but were abandoned by their allies in the Treaty of Utrecht.

7) Since 1715, the Catalans have been subjects of Spain and the nation divided into three regions – Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands – and suffered wars, political persecution, linguistic genocide and remorseless fiscal plunder.