Roussillon in the context of "Northern Catalonia"

Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: catalans; Spanish: catalanes; Italian: catalani; Sardinian: cadelanos or catalanos) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in Southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and Pays Catalan in French.

Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, eastern Aragon, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia.

The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Its sovereign or prince had the title of Count of Barcelona. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s, when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division, but remained in popular and informal contexts. Today, the term Principat ("Principality") is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and often including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France.

The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle (written between 1117 and 1125) of the conquest of Majorca by a joint force of Northern Italians, Catalans, and Occitans. At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity. The counties that eventually made up the Principality of Catalonia were gradually unified under the rule of the count of Barcelona. In 1137, the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were unified under a single dynasty, creating what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon; however, Aragon and Catalonia retained their own political structure and legal systems, developing separate political communities along the next centuries. Under Alfons I the Troubador (1164–1196), Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time in 1173. Still, the term Principality of Catalonia was not used legally until the 14th century, when it was applied to the territories ruled by the Courts of Catalonia.

Perpignan (UK: /ˈpɜːrpɪnjɒ̃/, US: /ˌpɛərpiːˈnjɑːn/, French: [pɛʁpiɲɑ̃] ; Catalan: Perpinyà [pəɾpiˈɲa]; Occitan: Perpinhan [peɾpiˈɲa]) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea and the scrublands of the Corbières massif. It is the centre of the Perpignan Méditerranée Métropole metropolitan area.

In 2021, Perpignan had a population of 119,656 in the commune proper, and the agglomeration had a total population of 205,183, making it the last major French city before the Spanish border. Perpignan is sometimes seen as the "entrance" to the Iberian Peninsula.

The Council of Aragon, officially, the Royal and Supreme Council of Aragon (Spanish: Real y Supremo Consejo de Aragón; Aragonese: Consello d'Aragón; Catalan: Consell Suprem d'Aragó), was a ruling body and key part of the domestic government of the Spanish Empire in Europe, second only to the monarch himself. It administered the Crown of Aragon, which was composed of the Kingdom of Aragon, Principality of Catalonia (including Roussillon until 1659), Kingdom of Valencia, Kingdom of Majorca and Kingdom of Sardinia. The Aragonese possessions in Southern Italy (Naples and Sicily) were later incorporated into the Council of Italy, together with the Duchy of Milan, in 1556. The Council of Aragon ruled these territories as a part of Spain, and later the Iberian Union.

The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castile, and those of Henry's half-sister, Isabella, who was ultimately successful.

The war had a marked international character, as Isabella was married to Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Crown of Aragon, while Joanna was strategically married to King Afonso V of Portugal, her uncle, after the suggestion of her supporters. France intervened in support of Portugal, as they were rivals with Aragon for territory in Italy and Roussillon.

Théodore Cornut, also Cornout, was a French mathematician and military architect of the 18th century, born in Avignon, who worked for the King of Morocco.

Cornut initially worked as an architect for military fortifications in Roussillon. He then entered the service of the English Crown, and participated to the Seven Years' War. Later, based in Gibraltar, he was invited by Sidi Mohamed ben Abdallah, an Alaouite Sultan, to build the city of Mogador (modern Essaouira) in 1766.

Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: catalans; Spanish: catalanes; Italian: catalani; Sardinian: cadelanos or catalanos) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in Southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and Pays Catalan in French.

Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from all the areas where Catalan is spoken, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, eastern Aragon, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia.