I.

Introduction

Barcelona, city in north-east Spain, capital of Barcelona Province and the autonomous region of Catalonia, a port on the Mediterranean Sea between the Llobregat and Besós rivers. Barcelona is the second-largest Spanish city in population and the principal industrial and commercial centre of the country. Barcelona Province, the most populous and industrialized of the Spanish provinces, is mountainous, with fertile plains and a sandy coast. The population of the city of Barcelona is 1,595,110 (2007).