CATALONIA, a province of Spain. Though not the first in extent or population, it far exceeds any other in its activity, industry, wealth, and cultivation. The southern boundary is the river Cenia, which divides it from Valencia; on the east it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea; on the north by the Pyrenees, which separate it from France; and on the west by Aragon. Its surface is 1003 square leagues; and the number of its inhabitants in 1804 was 858,818. The people of Catalonia are of a different race from the rest of Spain; and the traces of their distinct origin are visible, not only in their language, which is preserved in the smaller villages and among all the labouring classes, but in their manners, their dress, and their superior activity and intelligence.

Although the province is intersected by various ranges of mountains, and many sterile tracts, yet the laborious hands of its inhabitants have subdued by cultivation even the most ungrateful districts. The soil produces vines, olives, fruit trees of all kinds, wheat, maize, rice, hemp, flax, almonds, nuts, beans, and all horticultural vegetables. Tiιe corn grown is not quite sufficient for the consumption of the province; and the deficiency in that, as well as in animal food, is supplied from the adjoining provinces. The produce of the vineyards far exceeds the domestic consumption; and its export forms a very valuable branch of commerce in wine, brandy, and vinegar. The mineral riches of Catalonia are rock-salt and some coals; and very good marbles of various kinds are found in some parts of the province. The quantity of wool and of silk which the province yields is insufficient for the various manufactories of those articles which are established in it; but they procure such abundant supplies of the former from Castile, and of the latter from Valencia and Murcia, as to keep the numerous looms in perpetual activity. Many articles of cotton are manufactured here better than in any other part of the dominions of Spain. The paper of Catalonia is conveyed to every part of Spanish America, where it is preferred to every other description. Ironmongery, cutlery, laces, and leather, are prepared here to a considerable extent, and form valuable branches of the export trade to America. Its woods also furn'sh materials for commerce, both in the timber they yield for the construction of ships, and in the bark of that species of oak distinguished by the name of alcomoqui, which furnishes cork, with which in general upwards of twenty-five vessels are annually loaded for foreign ports. The fisheries on the coast are valuable sources ofwealth, and are conducted with success and to a great extent. The numerous ports on the coast of Catalonia are favourable for the promotion of navigation; and accordingly the ships belonging to the different ports of this province are found in great numbers in every part of the Mediterranean, and are also employed in the more distant voyages to foreign countries.

The principal rivers of Catalonia are the Ebro and the Llobregat. The first of these, rising in Castile, and crossing Navarre and Aragon, and in its course receiving tributary streams from all the ranges of mountains between which it runs, enters this province near Llerida, and, increased by the waters of the Segre, enters the Mediterranean sea near Tortosa. The attempts to improve the lower navigation of this river, to people the delta which exists at its mouth, and to create a good harbour at San Carlos, have cost enormous sums, but hitherto with very little obvious success. The river Llobregat is of short course, and navigable only for small craft. The history of this province is highly interesting. The ardent attachment of its natives to their customs and liberties, as displayed in their early opposition to the Moors, in their reluctant submission to the Bourbon family, and their persevering resistance to the attempts of Bonaparte, will be found in the general history under the article Spain. Its yearly exports amount in value to 3,409,081 guldens’ worth of woollen and half woollen goods, 2,362,500 guldens’ worth of brandy, 2,186,907 guldens’ worth of cork, 708,750 guldens’ worth of shoes, 590,625 guldens’ worth of silks, 240,000 guldens’ worth of oil, 254,000 guldens’ worth of filberts, 61,875 guldens’ worth of house-brooms, 24,000 casks of wine, 12,000 pairs of woollen stockings, worth 4500 guldens, besides flints, pins, almonds, and various small articles, making together 11,607,301 guldens’ worth.