Barcelona (city)

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Port and capital of Barcelona province and of the autonomous community of Cataluña, northeast Spain; population (2001 est) 1,505,300; conurbation (2003 est) 3,889,200. Barcelona is Spain's second-largest city, its largest port, and its chief commercial centre. Industries include textiles, engineering, motor vehicles, electrical equipment, and chemicals. As the chief centre of Catalan nationalism, Barcelona was prominent in the overthrow of the monarchy in 1931 and was the last city of the republic to surrender to General Francisco Franco in 1939. The city hosted the Summer Olympics in 1992.

History
Founded by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century BC, Barcelona was ruled independently by the Counts of Barcelona from the 9th century AD, becoming a commercial centre for Aragón and Cataluña in the 13th–14th centuries and one of the leading ports of the Mediterranean, becoming a rival of Genoa and Venice. The city was devastated in the Catalan Revolt of 1652 and again during the War of Spanish Succession in 1714. At the forefront of the fight for regional autonomy during the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona suffered as a result of insurrections in 1835, 1856, 1874, and 1909. In 1923 there was a general strike, and in 1925 the city was for a time under martial law. Barcelona was held by the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, and towards the end of 1937 it replaced Valencia as the capital of the Republican government. The city remains a centre of separatism and political liberalism; since the 1970s it has reasserted its Catalan linguistic character.

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