Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
c 4000 BC
A Neolithic settlement may have thrived around the present-day Plaça de Sant Jaume
at this time, as indicated by jasper implements discovered around Carrer del Paradís.
218 BC
In a move to block supplies to the Carthaginian general Hannibal, Roman troops under
Scipio land at Empúries, found Tarraco (Tarragona) and take control of the Catalan
coast.
15 BC
Caesar Augustus grants the town of Barcino, possibly established under his auspices,
the rather long-winded title of Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino.
AD 415
Visigoths under Athaulf, with captured Roman empress Galla Placidia as his wife,
make Barcino their capital. With several interruptions, it remains so until the 6th cen-
tury.
718
Only seven years after the Muslim invasion of Spain launched from Morocco at Gibral-
tar, Barcelona falls to Tariq's mostly Arab and Berber troops on their blitzkrieg march
north into France.
801
After a year-long siege, the son of Charlemagne and future Frankish king Louis the
Pious wrests Barcelona from Muslims and establishes the Spanish March under local
counts.
878
Wilfred the Hairy consolidates power throughout Catalonia and founds a long-lasting
dynasty with his capital in Barcelona.
985
Al-Mansur (the Victorious) rampages across Catalan territory and devastates Bar-
celona in a lightning campaign. Much of the population is taken as slaves to Córdoba.
