Guissona

Guissona
Municipality
Guissona - Església de Santa Maria (Saint Mary's Church)
Flag Coat of arms
Guissona Location of Guissona within Spain
Coordinates: 41°47′13″N 1°17′24″E / 41.78694°N 1.29000°E / 41.78694; 1.29000Coordinates: 41°47′13″N 1°17′24″E / 41.78694°N 1.29000°E / 41.78694; 1.29000
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Catalunya
Province	Lleida
Comarca	Segarra
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Mayor	Xavier Casoliva Pla (2015)
Area
• Total	18.1 km2 (7.0 sq mi)
Elevation	485 m (1,591 ft)
Population (206)
• Total	6,862
• Density	380/km2 (980/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	guissonenc/guissonenca
Postcode	25210
Website	www.guissona.cat

Guissona is a town and municipality located in the North of the comarca (county) of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. With 6,862 inhabitants (2015 census) Guissona (5,170 inhabitants in 2010) is the principal municipality in the Northern half of Segarra and the second most populated in the county after Cervera (9,328 inhabitants in 2009). In addition to the populated place of Guissona, the municipality integrates the smaller place of Guarda-si-venes (31 inhabitants in 2007). The municipality is split into two parts, the bigger eastern part containing almost all the population.

In the last half century the town has experienced an important economic development mainly due to meat production and the creation of a meat packing industry. Such development has run parallel to a fast demographic growth, especially intensified during the last decade (from 3,060 inhabitants in 1998 to 6,145 in 2010). As a consequence, the municipality accounts for the highest percentage of immigrant population registered in the whole province.

The economy of Guissona is based on farming (plant crops, animal husbandry) and food processing industry. In Guissona is based Grup Alimentari Guissona, an industrial and financial conglomerate originally created as an agricultural marketing cooperative that distributes and commercializes the products of the area in its own chain stores.

A table with the total population registered in Guissona in different years since 1497:

The first settlement known is the Iberian town of Iesso dating back to the early Iron Age (8th-9th century BC). Iesso was located in the Northern area of the present town (Plaça del Vell Pla). The coinage minted by the Iberian settlement, of which a few examples are found within the Iberian coin collection of the British Museum, include an unidentified Male head, to the right and to left a club and an inscription. The reverse depicts a Horseman with a palm to the right and an Iberian inscription reading ieso below. These date from the late 2nd to the early 1st century BC