Val d'Aran
The Val d' Aran ( Aranese official designation; catalan Vall d' Aran, Spanish Valle de Aran, German Aran Valley ) is a valley in the heart of the Spanish Pyrenees, on the border with France. With the French Gascony, the valley is not only geographically, but also traditionally linked culturally and economically. Val d' Aran today forms a Comarca with special status within the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia.
Geography
The Val d' Aran has an area of 633.6 km ² and 8,832 inhabitants ( 2004). Capital of Valle is Vielha ( aranesischer name; Catalan / Spanish: Viella ) with 4,838 inhabitants ( 2004). The Comarca is bordered to the north by France, on the east by the Pallars Sobirà, in the south of the comarca of Alta Ribagorça and to the west by the Comarca Ribagorza ( katalan. Baixa Ribagorça ) of the Aragonese province of Huesca. Together with the Comarcas Alta Ribagorça, Alt Urgell, Cerdanya, Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà forms the region 's territory Alt Pirineu i Aran.
The community association is located in the northernmost tip of Catalonia, in the mountains of the Pyrenees, with numerous peaks over 2,000 m. The highest elevation is the Herbasabina North ( 3014 m ), while the lowest point on the Pont del Rei / Pont du Roi (560 m) is located, the transition of the Garona to France.
In the Val d' Aran the rivers Noguera Ribagorzana, Noguera Pallaresa and Garona, the leaves in the French Gascony the valley to the northwest. As the only major part of Spanish territory it is located north of the main ridge of the Pyrenees, and thus belongs to the catchment area of the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean.
Population and languages
The inhabitants call themselves Aranes; they are classified by the Organization for the European Minorities as seeking for recognition ethnic minority. The languages of the valley are the indigenous Aranese ( a dialect of Gascon, which in turn is part of the Occitan ), Catalan and Spanish. All three languages today have the status of an official language.
Until the 11th century Basque was spoken in the Aran Valley. This is evidenced numerous field names such as " Aran ", the Basque word for "valley".
Communities
Booth: 2009
Traffic
The land route to Central Catalonia led earlier mountain passes ( Port de Vielha, 2,450 m; Port de Bonaigua, 2,070 m, Street since 1924). In winter, the valley was only accessible from the French side. This changed with the construction of a tunnel ( Tunel de Vielha, opening in 1948, open year-round since 1965).
Invasion in the Val d' Aran in 1944
After losing the civil war battles for Spain had long since ceased. By 1959, operated a antifranquistische guerrillas, often referred to as the maquis. The main success of this guerrilla invasion in the Val d' Aran is to see that was possible during the liberation of France from the occupation by Nazi Germany. A total of 4,000 guerrillas, including predominantly Spanish Communists fell from France on 19 October 1944 in the valley one, but were forced to retreat by Franco's troops from 28th to 30th October.
Winter sports
The area of Baqueira- Beret in the Val d' Aran is one of the largest ski areas in the Pyrenees and the whole of Spain. In the Val d' Aran was 2004, the second World Cup in ski mountaineering in 2004 held, in which the Swiss team followed by Italy and France as the best national team wore 20 medal wins it. In addition, in the Val d' Aran were discharged a few World Cup races ski mountaineering.