The Autonomous Spanish Community of Catalonia is considered as a historical nationality, for which the Catalonians are very deep-rooted in their language. On the north, it borders with France (Mediodía-Pirineos and Languedoc-Roussillon) and Andorra, to the east with the Mediterranean Sea along a maritime strip 580 kilometers long, to the south with the Valencian Community (Castellon), and to the west with Aragon (Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel). Such a strategic situation has favored a very intense relationship of the Catalonians with the territories of the Mediterranean Basin and Continental Europe. Catalonia is formed by the provinces of Barcelona (in fact, its capital is Barcelona), Gerona, Lerida and Tarragona.

Two-thirds of the Catalonians live in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. The Autonomous Spanish Community of Catalonia constitutes a very dense and highly industrialized territory, leading the sector in Spain since the XIX century, and its economy is most important of those that make up the Autonomous Spanish Community, generating 18.6% of the Spanish GDP.
The Autonomous Spanish Community of Catalonia has a GDP of 210,853.1 million Euros, second only to the Community of Madrid. In relation to the per capita GDP, the Autonomous Spanish Community of Catalonia is found in fourth place, after Vasco Country, and the communities of Madrid and Navarra. The history and language of the Catalonians are, for many, the base of their collective identity.