The head and heart of Catalonia was the first of Iberia's cities to fully industrialize, but recent decades have brought immense hardship to the people of Iberia's largest Mediterranean city.

For two and a half years during the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona was the capital of an abortive anarchist revolution. In a city further destabilized by repressive policies targeting the Catalan people, and further jeopardized by economic stagnation, the memory of that revolution lives on.

Barcelona has suffered from steady economic decline in recent decades. Should the situation fail to improve, already widespread anti-government and separatist sentiments may become overwhelming.