Tensions between Barcelona and Madrid are escalating as the Spanish government prepares to impose direct rule to stop Catalonia breaking away.
Catalonia’s regional authority today voted to declare independence in the wake of a recent independence referendum, which Madrid ruled was illegal.
But why does Catalonia want independence so much?
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has long argued that Catalonia had a moral, cultural, economic and cultural right to self-determination.
Catalonia is home to the vibrant city of Barcelona and pro-separatists see independence as way to cut itself loose from Spain’s economic woes.
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Support for independence has grown in recent years, especially after the Spanish constitutional court controversially amended Catalonia’s statue of autonomy.
In 2006, a reformed version of Catalonia’s autonomy statute described Catalonia as a ‘nation’ and gave the regional government greater power.
But in 2010 the constitutional court in Madrid struck down part of the statute, finding there was no legal basis for recognising Catalonia as a nation.
This decision sparked mass protests and widespread anger, giving the independence movement a new lease of life.
Nevertheless the current stand-off between Catalonia and Spain goes a lot further back.
Catalonia has a proud cultural heritage, its own language and a centuries-long history of antagonism towards Spain.
There are also dark memories of repression under dictator Francisco Franco who brutally suppressed Catalonia’s culture and autonomy.
In fact, Catalonia’s drive toward regional autonomy was one of the reasons behind Franco’s rebellion which began the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
Aside from the long, turbulent historical context, deep divisions also exist within Catalonian politics and society in the present day.
Political scientist Roger Senserrich has argued that crisis is not a fight between Spain and Catalonia but stems from divisions within Catalonia.
“At its core, the Catalan conflict is about deep divisions within Catalonia, with both sides divided along somewhat familiar political fault lines,” he wrote on an LSE blog.
He said that Catalans who want a clean break with Spain tend to live in rural areas, outside Barcelona, where the Catalan language is far more prevalent than Spanish.
He added unionists tend to be more urban, live in more diverse communities, speak Spanish at home instead of Catalan, and have less education, as well as lower incomes.
“As usual, the Regional Government has claimed, over and over, that they are speaking for all Catalans and that this is a conflict between two nations,” he said.
“The truth, however, is far more nuanced.”