Catalan countries

Catalan Countries Països Catalans
Roussillon Catalonia Alghero La Franja Valencia Balearic Islands Carche Italy Spain France Mediterranean Sea Balearic Sea Andorra (In darker grey, Catalan-speaking area) The concept of the Catalan Countries includes territories of the following regions:
Nation	Territory
Spain	Catalonia  Valencian Community  Balearic Islands  Aragon (for Western Strip or La Franja)  Murcia (for Carche)
France	Roussillon in the Pyrénées-Orientales department
Andorra	Where Catalan is the sole official language
Italy	Alghero ( Sardinia)

Catalan Countries (Catalan: Països Catalans, Eastern Catalan: [pəˈizus kətəˈɫans], Western Catalan: [paˈizos kataˈlans]) refers to those territories where the Catalan language, or a variant of it, is spoken. It is commonly used for the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, but also includes parts of Aragon, Roussillon in France, the Principality of Andorra, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). It does not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.

The "Catalan Countries" have been at the centre of both cultural and political projects since the late 19th century. Its mainly cultural dimension became increasingly politically charged by the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Francoism began to die out in Spain, and what had been a cultural term restricted to connoisseurs of Catalan philology became a divisive issue during the Spanish Transition period, most acrimoniously in Valencia during the 1980s. Modern linguistic and cultural projects include the Institut Ramon Llull and the Fundació Ramon Llull. Politically, it generally involves a pan-nationalist project to unite the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics (and possibly also the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales (Roussillon)), often in the context of Catalan independence. The political project does not enjoy wide support, particularly outside Catalonia, where it is viewed as an expression of Catalan expansionism. The term "Catalan Countries" is itself controversial, and even pro-Catalan Valencian nationalists avoid using it. In Valencia, a poll found that a majority of the population considered Valencian to be a different language to Catalan.