Perpignan – a former capital of the Kingdom of Majorca

Perpignan (Catalan: Perpinyà) is the capital city of Rosselló and Northern Catalonia. Historically, it can be considered the capital of the county of Roussillon, the kingdom of Majorca, and the province of Roussillon.

It is divided into 6 cantons which serve as electoral districts: the 6th (Perpignan-1), 7th (Perpignan-2), 8th (Perpignan-3), 9th (Perpignan-4), 10th (Perpignan-5) and 11th (Perpignan-6), the communal territories of Bonpàs, Santa Maria la Mar and Vilallonga de la Salanca are included inside the 7th one, the one of Cabestany is within the 8th canton, the one of Cànoak in the 10th and the one of Toulouges in the 11th. These act as an electoral constituency for the elections to the General Council of the department of the Eastern Pyrenees, of which it is the prefecture.

In the last years the city has been promoted with the catchphrase Perpignan la Catalane / Perpinyà la Catalana. In 2008, the city was distinguished as the Capital of Catalan Culture.

On June 11, 2010, the municipal plenary approved, unanimously, the Municipal Charter for the Catalan language, which establishes Catalan as the official language of Perpignan, along with French.

Location and general characteristics of the territory

The commune of Perpignan, with an extension of 680,700 hectares (it is the second largest commune in Roussillon), is located in the center of the region and plain of Roussillon, although part of the territory may be considered as part of the adjacent sub-communes of the Riberal de la Tet and La Salanca. It is crossed by the Tet river, besides other water streams like the Bassa, coming from Aspres.

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Toulouse

Toulouse (fr. Toulouse) is a commune in the South-West of France, divided in half by the Garonne River and located near the border with Spain.

The violet culture development in the nineteenth century led to the fact that they chose this flower as the city’s emblem and the city itself earned its “pink city” name.

Toulouse has historically been the capital of the Visigoth kingdom (an early feudal state entity, historically the first of the so-called barbarian kingdoms that developed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire during its collapse in the 5th century. The capitals were Barcelona, Toulouse, Toledo, Narbonne, it is the Languedoc historical capital as well.

Toulouse is the capital of the Occitan’s Upper Garonne department and the Toulouse metropolis headquarters (a metropolis that unites part of the Toulouse agglomeration in Upper Garonne and has 37 municipalities) today.

Toulouse is France’s fourth most populous municipality after Paris, Marseille and Lyon. About 1.4 million residents lived in the municipality in 2015.

City History

The Gallic peoples confederation occupied West Languedoc from the middle of the third century BC, long before the Roman settlement; there is the belief that they were the first settlers of Old Toulouse, which was located several kilometers to the South from the modern Toulouse. Local settlers had trade relations with Spain, Italy and the rest of Gaul; they exchanged wine, wheat, leather and metal products.

Romans conquered Toulouse (Tolosa in Latin) in 107 BC. The Gallo-Romans built here, as in other large cities, aqueducts, as well as a theater amphitheater and roman baths buildings. They surrounded the city by the huge brick wall; some parts of it still remain.

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