Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
According to a medieval legend, Barcelona was founded by Hercules himself. Although
versions differ, all tell of nine 'barcas' (boats), one of which separates from the others in a
storm, and is piloted by Hercules to a beautiful spot on the coast where he founds a city,
naming it Barca Nona (Ninth Boat).
TRAGEDY IN EL CALL
Tucked away in the Barri Gòtic, the narrow medieval lanes of El Call were once home
to a thriving Jewish population. Catalan Jews worked as merchants, scholars, carto-
graphers and teachers. By the 11th century, as many as 4000 Jews lived in El Call.
Despite the civic contributions made by Jews, during the 13th century a wave of
anti-Semitism swept through Catalonia (and other parts of Europe). In 1243 Jaume I
isolated El Call from the rest of the town, and required all Jews to wear identifying
badges. When famine struck in the 1330s followed by plague in 1348, it left a wake of
devastation, with thousands dead. Trying to make sense of the Black Death, many res-
idents blamed the Jews - for poisoning the wells, sacrificing babies and other grot-
esque imaginings. Hundreds were tortured to 'confess' their crimes. The harassment
continued through the following decades.
The anti-Semitism peaked in 1391 when a frenzied mob tore through El Call, looting
and destroying private homes and murdering hundreds of Jews - perhaps as many as
a thousand. El Call never recovered, and most of the remaining Jews fled the city.
A New Boom
After the initial shock, Barcelona found the Bourbon rulers to be comparatively light-
handed in their treatment of the city. The big break came in 1778, when the ban on trade
with the Spanish American colonies was lifted. In Barcelona itself, growth was modest but
sustained. Small-scale manufacturing provided employment and profit, and wages were
rising.
Barcelona's growth was briefly slowed by the French invasion in 1808, but gradually re-
turned after Napoleon's defeat in 1814. The cotton trade with America helped fuel the boom.
In the 1830s, the first steam-driven factories opened in Barcelona, heralding a wave of de-
velopment that would last for most of the century. Wine, cork and iron industries flourished.
From the mid-1830s onwards, steamships were launched off the slipways. In the following
decade Spain's first railway line was opened between Barcelona and Mataró.
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