Barcelona
Barcelona is the most important manufacturing and trading city in Spain. It lies on the northeastern coast of the Liberian Peninsula, and has one of the few good harbors in the country. Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain. Barcelona has been an educational center for years. It is also a center for shipping and industrial activity.
History
Tradition says that when Christopher Columbus announced his discovery of capital Catalonia, Barcelona came under French rule in 1640. Spain regained control of the city in 1652. From 1808 to 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars, the French again occupied Barcelona. Since then, it has been under Spanish control. In the 1800s, it developed into Spain’s leading industrial city. In the mid-1800s, it was the site of many revolts against the Spanish monarchy. Labor unrested to violence in Barcelona during the early 1900s. The city was the seat of the Republican government for a time during the Spanish Civil War. In September 1962, flash floods killed about 450 people in Barcelona. About 400 other people were unaccounted for. It was the worst natural disaster in Spain’s modern history.