Roman, medieval, gothic, modernist... History in all its corners.
The first traces of population in the city area, specifically in Montjuïc, are found in the Neolithic. Although the first settlers were the Laietans, an Iberian people. In the second century a. C the Romans founded Barcino on Mount Taber, where the Gothic Quarter currently stands. The Visigoths conquered Barcelona in the 5th century and made it the capital of the Hispanic territories. In the 8th century the Arabs invaded and destroyed the city, but in 801 Luis the Pious expelled them and created the Marca Hispánica. The city flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries and became one of the main Mediterranean powers, in competition with Genoa and Venice. Jaume I was the best known king of this time and founded the first parliament in Catalonia, Les Corts. The tensions arising from the dynastic union with Castile reached their peak with the Reapers’ War, between 1640 and 1651, and later with the War of Succession, which meant the disappearance of Catalonia’s own institutions.
Despite this, Barcelona would once again become the industrial engine of Spain, with its economic recovery and industrialization and political, economic and cultural center, at the head of the Renaixença. The Spanish Civil War paralyzed all growth and the Dictatorship delegated power to the city until Franco’s death.
Juan Carlos I was proclaimed King of Spain in a political climate of uncertainty, declaring himself a parliamentary monarchy and beginning a complicated transition process. The first democratic elections were held in June 1977, with the winning party being the “Unión de Centro Democrático” chaired by Adolfo Suarez. In 1978 the Spanish Constitution would come into force and a process of creating autonomous communities up to a total of 17 began, Andalusia, Asturias, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, the Valencian Community, Castile – La Mancha, Castile and León, Extremadura, Galicia, Balearic Islands, Navarra, La Rioja, Region of Murcia and the Basque Country.
Barcelona achieved an important international projection with the celebration of the 1992 Olympic Games. Today the city is committed to sustainable development and new technologies. A large part of this technological success must be attributed to being chosen from 2006 to 2023, the venue for the Mobile World Congress, the city and its citizens have not let this opportunity pass and a business and services network has been born focused on new technologies.