Catalans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 5.5 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Spain(people born in Catalonia) |
4,800,000 |
 Argentina(estimates vary) |
188,000 |
 France
|
110,000 |
 Mexico
|
63,000 |
 Germany
|
48,000 |
 Peru
|
39,000 |
 Andorra
|
29,000 |
 Italy(Algherese Catalans in Alghero, Sardinia) |
23,000 |
 Chile
|
16,000 |
 Venezuela
|
6,200 |
 Cuba
|
3,600 |
 USA(estimates vary) |
700-1,738 |
 Ecuador
|
850 |
| Languages | |
| Catalan (native); Spanish and French (as a result of immigration or language shift) | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Catholicism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Aragonese, Andorrans, Balearics, Occitans, Valencians, other Latin peoples | |
The Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: catalans; Italian: catalani; Spanish: catalanes) are a Romance ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia, who form a nationality in northern Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France (known in Catalonia proper as Catalunya Nord and in France as the Pays Catalan) are included in this definition. Also, Catalan is sometimes used to define people from the so-called Catalan Countries, expression used to include other areas where the Catalan is spoken.
In addition to the people hailing from Catalonia proper, even other Catalan-speaking people, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic islands, eastern Aragon and the city of Alghero in Sardinia, are sometimes identified as being part of the same Catalan ethnic group. The aforementioned territories are often designated Països Catalans, "Catalan Countries", by Catalan nationalists.
The area that now is known primarily as Catalonia was, as the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, invaded in 1500 BCE by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought the rite of burning the dead. These Indo-European people were absorbed by the Iberians beginning in 600 BCE in a process that would not be complete until the fourth century BCE. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who set up colonies along the coast, including Barcino (present-day Barcelona) itself. Following the Punic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the official language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon the local population, which merged with Roman colonists from the Italian peninsula. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popular Latin before and during the collapse of the Roman Empire. Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the Roman province of Tarraconensis. The Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century and would rule the area until 718 when Muslim Arabs and Berbers conquered the region and held it for close to a century. The Franks held back small Muslim raiding parties, which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France; Frankish suzerainty extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began with the Spanish March which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista (Reconquest) by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. Barcelona became an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula.
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Wikipedia