Aragón is one of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities, with a population of 1,183,234 according to a 1998 census. Aragón is located at the foot of the Pyrenees in northeast Spain, and comprises the provinces of Zaragoza, Huesca, and Teruel.
Aragón is small and largely rural, with a low population density (24/km2) which lives in the few major cities of the community or in fairly isolated villages in Pyrenean valleys. Its inhabitants speak any of three languages - Castilian (Spanish), Catalan, and Aragonese, although the last is in great decline due to the supremacy of the first.
Geography
Aragón is landlocked, bordering Catalonia on the east, Valencia on the southeast, Castilla-la-Mancha on the southwest, Castilla y León and Navarre on the west, with France to the north. Its physical size of 47,645 km2 makes it one of Spain's larger autonomous communities, and it's larger than many European countries. Its more northerly parts are mountainous, bearing the highest peaks of the Pyrenees.
Through the center of Aragón flows the Ebro River, whose name bears traces of Spain's oldest inhabitants, the Iberians. This basin forms the center of Aragon; it south is the western part of Spain's central plain. Aragón is largely desert or semiarid; most of its agriculture is supported by irrigation.
Aragón's capital is Zaragoza (Saragossa in Catalan and sometimes in English as well), a city of 600,000. Zaragoza bears a university, a Roman forum, and a wonderful, Spanish atmosphere, largely untouched by tourism. Other important cities are the provincial capitals, Huesca and Teruel.
The Provinces
Zaragoza (pop. 841,438)
Capital: Zaragoza (pop. 603,367)
Zaragoza is the largest province in Aragón, over 17,000 km2 in size, and stretching from the foothills of the Pyrenees to the edge of the Sistema Ibérico range in the west. It is sandwiched between Huesca to the north and Teruel to the south. The Ebro River is navigable, which brings shipping to its capital city. Zaragoza the city is cultured and metropolitan, much less visited than most of Spain's cities but an important economic center for northeast Spain.
Huesca (pop. 204,956)
Capital: Huesca (pop. 46,000)
Huesca is the northern province of Aragón and it is most recognizable for its mountains, some of the Pyrenees' largest peaks. As such, skiing is one of its most popular activities. The steep mountains and beautiful valleys are sparcely inhabited, and Huesca, with its cool climate, is home to the last few speakers of Aragonese. The capital city retains many Roman ruins, bearing witness to Huesca's past as center of the Kingdom of Aragon.
Teruel (pop. 136,840)
Capital: Teruel (pop. 30,000)
Teruel is quite hot and dry, and as such is very thinly populated. It is home to much of the Sistema Ibérico range, although parts of the province are quite flat. Little tourism reaches Teruel, which is sad given the bounty of wonderful architecture to be seen there. The capitol sits upon a terrace, overlooking the Turia River. The city of Teruel boasts a famous cathedral, which is a triumph of the mudéjar architecture for which the city is known.
History
Aragón has an interesting history, particularly in the middle ages, when it was an important European kingdom, considerably larger that the community's current size. Aragón was one of Spain's three kingdoms during the medieval period, and it was a major player in European politics, as evidenced by some names that are still remembered from the middle ages: Catherine of Aragon, Eleanor of Aragon, Martin of Aragon, Ferdinand of Aragon . . .
Its beginnings
Aragón's early history is the same as that of the entire Iberian Peninsula. Spain's first inhabitants were the Iberians, who entered the peninsula around 1600 BCE, first in the south and later up the eastern coast up into Catalonia and Aragón, and even into the south of France. Their origin is not entirely certain.
Spain's next group of inhabitants were the Celts, who entered in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE from the north, crossing the Pyrenees in modern-day Aragón and Catalonia. They merged quickly with the Iberians to form the Celtiberian culture. These groups formed the basic genetic stock of Iberia.
The Carthaginians invaded later, but their settlement had little effect on Aragón besides provoking the Punic Wars with Rome. The subsequent Roman invasion led to a Roman base in Tarragona in Catalonia, and by 200 BCE Spain became a Roman territory, one of the most important turning points in Spanish history.
During the Roman years, Aragón was part of the province of Tarraconensis. During this period, the ancient city of Salduba was renamed Caesar Augusta in honor of the Roman emperor, and this name later changed to Zaragoza. Osca, later Huesca, was also an important city during this period.
After the collapse of the Roman empire in the early 5th century, the Germanic kingdom of Suevi reigned in Spain. This kingdom was centered in the northwest; Aragón was at its fringes and its inhabitants were a mixture of Celtiberian and Germanic tribes. Soon after the Visigoths created a kingdom in Spain, driving the Suevi out of Spain, and ruling for 250 years or so, until the Moorish occupation began in 711.
In 711, a group of north African Muslims known as the Moors entered Spain, starting in the south and continuing until all of Iberia save Asturias was under its sway. Moorish Spain had its cultural center in Andalucia, the southern region of Spain, but Zaragoza was an important capital of its northern march. Aragon served as the center of Muslim rule in the northwest, as evidenced by the large number of mudéjar buildings in Teruel, demonstrating the large Muslim population of the area.
The emergence of Aragón
The Moors conquered Spain very quickly, reaching its northern coast within seven years, but at that time the period known as the Reconquista, or reconquest, began, with the first victory of Spain's Christian armies, that of Pelayo, the Visigothic king of Asturias. What took the Moors seven years to conquer would take the Spanish over seven centuries to reclaim, and during this period Aragón emerged for the first time as an independent kingdom, and later a major player in Spain's (and Europe's) history.
The Carolingians pushed the Muslims out of the region in the mid 9th century, initially making Aragón a county, under the rule of Navarre. The initial purpose of the region was simply to create a buffer between the Holy Roman Empire and the Moors, who had previously entered southern France. The region was known as the Spanish March, and included Aragón, Navarre, and Catalonia, which was a group of counties. Andorra too was a March state, and it is the only one that remains a separate nation today.
Aragón was made independed of Navarre in 1035 under the rule of Ramiro I, the son of Navarre's previous king. Aragón expanded southward, taking over Zaragoza, which during this period was a Moorish emirate. Zaragoza became the capital of Aragón in the twelfth century. In addition, Aragón had annexed Navarre in 1076.
The powerful County of Barcelona was the most powerful of Catalonia's states; it took control of all of Catalonia and declared its independence of France under King Wilfrid the Hairy at the end of the ninth century. By 1100, it ruled Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and some of France. In 1137, Aragón and Catalonia became united by marriage, and while the counties maintained cultural separation, they became known as the kingdom of Aragón.
The Aragonese kingdom
After this time, Aragón became not a small kingdom but a large nation, whose control of trade in the Mediterranean made it a merchant power to vie with Genoa and Venice, and brought great wealth to the nation. During the thirteenth century, Aragón's king, Peter III ruled Sicily and later Naples. Aragón became increasingly feudal and socially stratified during this period, with various factions continuously in conflict. Catalonia never fully merged with Aragón, submitting to its rule but refusing cultural integration.
This led to a weakness of Aragón's rulers; various forces competed for control of the government and its institutions; this is a familiar pattern in the end of the Middle Ages. The plague worsened these problems, leaving the kings frequently under the control of other nobles.
Compounding the problem was the sheer size of Aragón, which included much of modern Spain, fiefs in France, the Balearic Islands, Savoy, Corsica, Sicily, all of southern Italy, areas of north Africa, and parts of Greece. The fourteenth century saw this period of great territorial conquest, which financed major victories over Muslim Spain.
The Reyes Católicos and the unification of Spain
Castile and Aragón began a period of closer relations in 1375 with the marriage of John, son of King Enrique II of Castile and Eleanor, daughter of King Peter IV of Aragón. This caused some similarities in governing style, notably in the allowance of greater regional independence. This marriage foreshadowed the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella of Castile in 1469.
Ferdinand and Isabella joined their two kingdoms under one (joint) rule; this unified modern Spain and left Portugal the only other power on the peninsula. Their marriage led to the supremacy of Castile, economically and culturally, over the rest of Spain. They were strong rulers, and often remembered for completing the Reconquista by conquering Granada, the last Muslim stronghold, sponsoring the famous voyages of Christopher Columbus, and expelling the remaining Muslims and Jews from Spain, all of these events in 1492, a pivotal year in Spain's history. For the expulsion, which left thousands homeless and displaced, they were named the Reyes Católicos, or "Catholic Kings" by the pope.
After this point, a history of Aragón is a history of Spain, because while the various kingdoms of Spain didn't fully integrate immediately, they were never independent again. Aragón would again become a battlefield during the Napoleonic Wars and the Spanish Civil War, but only in the context of its place in Spain and therefore outside the scope of this writeup.
Modern Aragón
In 1981, Aragón became an autonomous community of Spain; it has retained a certain patriotism. Still many citizens of Aragón would declare it to be their nationality, rather than Spain. However, it is one of the smaller autonomous communities, and as such is less influential in politics than many of Spain's other communities.
Symbols
Aragón's coat of arms has four parts, including four vertical red stripes on yellow, long a symbol of Aragón and Catalonia. It is below a crown.
Aragón's flag is that of Catalonia, which was shared by the entire nation of Aragón after they joined. It consists of four horizontal red stripes upon a field of yellow behind Aragón's coat of arms.
Famous Aragonese
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934)
Cajal was born in the small village of Petilla and studied medicine at the University of Zaragoza. His studies of the nervous system allowed him to discover neurons, discrete cells that compose nerves, in contrast to the accepted idea of long continuous filaments. He shared the 1906 Nobel Prize with Camillo Golgi.
Luis Buñuel (1900-1983)
Buñuel was a famous surrealist filmmaker who collaborated with such greats as Federico García Lorca and Salvador Dalí. His most famous film is Un Chien Andalou.
Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)
Goya is sometimes termed the "Father of Modern Art". He is famed for his portrayals of war as well as portraits painted as a court painter.