Barcelona
Barcelona names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Barcelona the most important manufacturing city in Spain
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the most important manufacturing city in Spain, in the province of the same name; pop. about 625,000. The province of Barcelona has an area of 2,968 square miles, pop. about 1,195,000. The streets of the old town, forming the N. W. division, are crooked, narrow, and ill paved. Those of the new are much more spacious and regular. There is a large suburb E. of the town where the seafaring portion of the population chiefly reside. Barcelona is the see of a bishop. It has a university, and colleges and schools, the finest theater in Spain, a magnificent cathedral, which, begun in 1298, is not yet completed, and many other beautiful public and private buildings. Barcelona manufactures silk, woolens, cottons, lace, hats, firearms, etc., which form its principal exports. Next to Bilbao it is the most important port in Spain. Barcelona is a place of great antiquity, and associated with many historical events. Local tradition fixes the date of its foundation 400 years before the Romans; and it is said to have been refounded by Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal, from whom its ancient name, Barcino, was derived. An important city under the Romans, Goths, and Moors, Barcelona in 878 became an independent sovereignty, under a Christian chief of its own, whose descendants continued to govern it, and to hold the title of Count of Barcelona, until the 12th century, when its ruler adopted the title of King of Aragon, to which kingdom it was annexed. During the Middle Ages, Barcelona became a flourishing seaport, rivaled in the Mediterranean by Genoa only. In recent times Barcelona has become the center of Spanish radicalism.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a Mediterranean port of Spain. It is situated on a harbor at the mouth of two rivers about one hundred miles from the French frontier. Barcelona was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Catalonia. It is still the seat of the Spanish province of that name. The city consists of a new part and an old. By 1845 the walls that surrounded the old city had been leveled, and the space given over for new buildings. The site of the old citadel was converted into a botanic garden. The streets within the old walls are crooked and narrow. The new city is laid out on the rectangular plan. It is well paved and is provided with electric lights and electric street railways. A mole has been built to protect the harbor. The University of Barcelona, founded in 1430, now occupies buildings in the new city. Barcelona was at one time a rival of Genoa and of Venice. It is still the commercial center of eastern Spain. The city corresponds in Spain, to Marseilles, in France. Barcelona is the most important manufacturing city of Spain. It is the center of Spanish paper making. Esparto is the material chiefly used. There are manufactures also of cotton, silk, and woolen fabrics. Stoneware, soap, chemicals, cannon, firearms, leather, glass, and machinery swell the volume of manufactured products. Barcelona ranks next to Madrid in size. Population of Barcelona in 1900, 533,000.
Barcelona formerly called New Barcelona
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
formerly called New Barcelona, capital of the state of Anzoategui, Venezuela, near the mouth of the Neveri, 160 miles E. of Caracas. The surrounding ing country is fertile, but Barcelona is very unhealthy. Cattle, jerked beef, hides, indigo, cotton, and cacao are the chief exports. There are coal and salt mines in the vicinity. Pop. about 15,000. The town was founded in 1638 at the foot of the Cerro Santo, but was removed to its present location in 1671.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts describe a textile and paper town — Collier's in 1921 called it "the most important manufacturing city in Spain" and noted it had lately become "the center of Spanish radicalism." That radicalism ran to anarchist street war and to the city's role as the Republic's last major stronghold, falling to Franco in January 1939, after which Catalan was driven out of public life; since his death in 1975 Catalonia has had home rule, and the independence referendum of October 2017 brought the old question back into the streets. The 1992 Olympics turned the city toward tourism and reopened its seafront, and the population, 625,000 in 1921, is now about 1.6 million with some 5 million in the metropolitan area. Neither entry names Antoni Gaudí, who was alive and at work as they were written and died in 1926; his Sagrada Família, begun in 1882, is still unfinished and now the city's chief emblem, while the Gothic cathedral Collier's said was "not yet completed" had in fact received its facade and spire by 1913.
Written for this edition, 2026.