Andorran history

The first mentions of the territory that would form Andorra date from the I century BC. c.

The territory was later incorporated into the Roman Empire as part of the Hispania Tarraconense province, created in 27 BC. C. to which it belonged even after the creation of the Visigothic kingdom. After the Muslim conquest, the Andorran valleys were part of the Marca Superior de Al Ándalus. This territory was the scene of the struggle between the Franks and the Andalusians until the invasion of Charlemagne, the traditional date of Andorra's independence (year 788).

The first preserved document in which Andorra is named is the act of consecration of the Urgell cathedral, from the IX century, where it is noted that Andorra was a fiefdom of the county of Pau.

On January 27, 1133, Count Armengol VI of Urgel ceded his property and rights in the valleys of Andorra to the Bishop of Urgel. Subsequently, the various wars forced the bishop to submit to the protection of the Caboet house, whose heir was the Count of Foix. In 1278, and due to numerous disputes, the Paréage was signed between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix, a reconciliation document with which the institution of the co-principality arose. In 1288 the second Paréage was signed.

Signature of the second paréage.

In the paréages an agreement of co-sovereignty was signed between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix. Andorra paid a feudal tribute to the Count of Foix and the Bishop of Urgell. The constitutional nature of the Paréages is disputed and, in fact, some authors^[who?] consider them the first European constitution; however, the nature of this concord between the Count of Foix and the Bishop of Urgell seems to be more related to one of many feudal agreements and concords than to a constitution in a contemporary sense.

The current Parliament, called the General Council (in Catalan, Consell General), was constituted in 1419, with the creation of what was then called the Consell de la Terra (in Spanish, 'Earth Council').

18th and 19th centuries

Andorra in the Napoleonic Empire (1812-1814).
Department of Segre (Département du Sègre)

At the beginning of the 18th century, Andorra remained neutral in the war of the Spanish succession. In 1715, the Bishop of Urgell, Simeon de Guinda, issued various regulations in which the Consuls of the Valleys of Andorra were instructed not to obey any order that was not issued by the King of France.

In 1748, Antoni Fiter i Rossell, a doctor of law and a native of Ordino, compiled the uses and customs of Andorra in the Manual Digest. In this book he transcribed everything that the Andorran archives kept.

In 1789, the outbreak of the French Revolution placed Andorra between two opposing powers, France and Spain. The French revolutionaries refused to maintain the paréage due to its feudal origin and it was interrupted, also suspending relations with France and the collection of taxes from the Qüestia. In 1794, during the war with Spain, a French detachment penetrated as far as Soldeu in an attempt to occupy Seo de Urgell. An Andorran representation went to Puigcerdá and convinced General Chabret to give up that operation. In 1806, Napoleon reestablished the feudal tradition and the co-seigneurship rights of France over the Principality of Andorra.

Between 1812 and 1814, when the French Empire nominally annexed Catalonia and divided it into four departments (Segre, Ter, Montserrat and Bocas del Ebro), Andorra was part of the Puigcerdá district, within the Segre department.

During the Carlist wars that took place throughout the XIX century in Spain, Andorra served as a refuge for both liberals and carlists

In 1866, a noble and wealthy Andorran landowner, Guillem d'Areny-Plandolit, spearheaded a reform in government institutions, the Nova Reforma. This reform of the institutions granted a limited participation of the heads of the family in the government of the country. The General Council was made up, from then on, of 24 directors chosen by the trustees. In 1866 the reform was accepted by the Bishop of Urgell, and in 1869 by the French co-prince Napoleon III.

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, economic difficulties forced many Andorrans to emigrate.

20th century

A discreet modernization

Until the XX century, Andorra was a very isolated, rural territory, with very harsh living conditions and a regime feudal politician with institutions and laws rather typical of the Middle Ages.

In 1914 the first road connecting Andorra with foreign countries was built, specifically with Spain (Seo de Urgel). In 1933 the route to Pas de la Casa, on the border with France, was completed.

In 1928 the Spanish government created a postal service with Andorra. France would do it three years later.

In 1929, the first electricity generation facilities were created in the commune of Les Escaldes, which began operating in 1934. The energy produced was, initially, almost entirely exported. At the beginning of the XXI century, it was still the only power plant in the country, although it only contributed 20% of internal consumption.

French occupation

On June 17, 1933, the General Council of Andorra, pressured by popular demonstrations, agreed to universal male suffrage for Andorrans, which until then had been limited to "heads of the family". The right to vote was established at age 25, and women would not obtain it until 1970.

The Court of Cortes considered this decision a disobedience to the co-princes and dismissed the General Council. Despite this, its members refused to leave office.

The President of the French Republic, as co-prince of Andorra and following the request of the Bishop of Seo de Urgell, sent a detachment of the gendarmerie on August 8 to restore order. The detachment, commanded by Colonel René Baulard, withdrew on October 9, 1933. Jaume Sansa Nequi, named Veguer by Justí Guitart Vilardebó in 1933, continued to be so throughout the tenure of Ramón Iglesias Navarri and Ramón Malla Call, and until March 1972 with Joan Martí Alanis.

The period in which he carried out his duties as Veguer Episcopal of the Principality of Andorra was one of the most difficult in Andorran history. On the one hand, the country's precarious rural and livestock economy became an internationally known market economy, with one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe. On the other hand, it had to overcome the complex problems that had repercussions in Andorra, derived from the armed conflicts in which neighboring countries were involved due to the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.

King Boris I of Andorra

In 1934, the Russian Borís Skósyrev, with the promise of wealth and improvements for a rural and backward Andorra, proposed himself as king to the General Council. On July 8, the proposal obtained the approval of the General Council. Quickly, the Bishop of Seo de Urgel and Co-Prince of Andorra Justino Guitart y Vilardebó disavowed him and requested the intervention of Spain. Eleven days later, the government of the Spanish Republic sent a group of civil guards to the Principality (a sergeant and four agents) who arrested the Russian and took him to Barcelona and later to Madrid, where he was tried and deported to Portugal.

In 1935 the first radio station was granted, "Radio Andorra".

Andorra during the Spanish Civil War and World War II

As a result of the Spanish Civil War, from July 1936 to June 1940 (the date of the surrender of France to the German Army) there was a French detachment in Andorra, again commanded by Colonel René Baulard, to prevent attacks of the government of General Franco. Franco's troops, shortly after having occupied Gerona and having reached the French border, arrived at the Andorran border in February 1939. The good understanding between Commander Aguirre, the trustee Cairat and Colonel Baulard, with whom he met in the border bridge, guaranteed the neutrality of Andorra in the conflict.

In 1937, Andorra suffered serious floods.

During World War II, Andorra remained neutral. In 1944, a detachment of French gendarmes (without agreement with the Bishop of La Seo) and a group of civil guards established themselves in Andorra, but there was no significant confrontation between the two forces, which remained in the Principality until 1945.

In 1958, Andorra signed a peace treaty with Germany. Andorra had been forgotten in the Treaty of Versailles, so the two countries had been legally at war until then.

On October 18, 1943, the last execution carried out on Andorran lands of a man sentenced to death took place. In Andorra the vile club was used. The harshness of this mode of execution, original from the XVII century, greatly affected the population, which probably influenced the abolition of capital punishment.

1950s to 1970s

In the 1960s, there was a sharp jump in the life of Andorrans thanks to trade (favored by its status as a tax haven and by smuggling) and tourism, developing sports facilities for skiing. In 1968 the Caixa Andorrana de Seguretat Social was created and in 1976 the Institute of Andorran Studies.

The need for labor produced by economic success caused strong immigration from Spain and, to a lesser extent, from Portugal. According to the extremely restrictive nationality acquisition law in force between 1939 and 1995, only people born in Andorra whose father was Andorran nationality and resident in the country could have Andorran nationality. This rule, apart from being considered discriminatory for women (since the children of Andorran women and foreigners were denied nationality, while the children of Andorrans and foreign women were allowed them to acquire it), caused that from the 1950s the number of non-nationals exceeded those of Andorran nationality. Starting in the 1960s, the percentage of Andorran nationals became very minor; In addition, only Andorran nationals, men and over 25 years of age, could vote. In 1970, it approved the lowering of the voting age to 21 years and women were allowed to vote, although discrimination against the population that did not have nationality was accentuated. It was applied in the elections that took place on December 15, 1971.

In 1967 Co-Prince Charles de Gaulle visited the Principality. In 1973 there was the first meeting between the two co-princes since the XIII century, Georges Pompidou and Bishop Joan Martí Alanis.

In 1978 the parish of Escaldes-Engordany was separated from that of Andorra la Vella, thus becoming the seventh civil parish of the Principality.

Current evolution

On January 14, 1982, the first government of Andorra took office, separating for the first time the legislative power from the executive. That same year there were serious floods that cut off the Principality and caused a large number of deaths and injuries.

In the early 1990s, Andorra signed an agreement with the European Economic Community and a new penal code was approved, while the population continued to increase rapidly.

On March 14, 1993, the second written Constitution in its history was approved in a referendum (the first was the one created by Borís Skósyrev although it was never applied). Said constitution dismantled the last feudal reminiscences of the government of Andorra, by declaring the Andorran people as the sole sovereign of the State. The power of the co-princes was reduced and a modern parliamentary system of government was created. On July 28 of that same year, Andorra became a full member of the United Nations Organization.

In 1995, Andorra Televisió (ATV) was created and the nationality acquisition law was reformed, which continued to be very restrictive but without reaching the extremes of the 1939 norm. new law, those born in Andorra can acquire Andorran nationality, if one of their two parents has nationality, was born in the country and has their permanent residence there or one of their parents can justify their main and permanent residence in the country in the eighteen years prior to birth (reduced to ten years in a law amendment made in 2004). The rest of the people born in Andorra and foreigners who have lived in the country for more than 25 years (20 years since 2004) and pass an "integration exam", where they must demonstrate their knowledge in Catalan and Andorran culture, history, institutions and traditions; in addition, they must lose their previous nationality. As a result, the proportion of citizens with Andorran nationality increased at the end of the 1990s, especially between 1998 and 1999. During the XXI this percentage has stabilized at around 36%. It should be noted that on July 28, 1993, Óscar Ribas Reig delivered the first speech in Catalan, on the occasion of the entry of the Principality of Andorra into the UN, and on October 24, 1995, Marc Forné delivered the second, also in Catalan, on the occasion of the 50th General Assembly.

The inhabitants of Andorra who do not have Andorran nationality are denied the right to vote and the right to stand in elections. Their participation in unions is also restricted, whose executive bodies must be dominated by Andorrans, even though they are a minority in the world of work. In addition, non-nationals cannot be presidents of a private company, nor have more than 33% of its share capital. These limitations on the basic rights of residents in Andorra have been criticized for their discriminatory nature and their anachronism and are surely the biggest problem affecting internal stability and social well-being in Andorra.

In 1997 the University of Andorra was created and in 2002 the Principality adopted the euro as its official currency, at the same time as France and Spain. Andorra's economic boom continued during the first years of the XXI century, followed by broad demographic growth, having surpassed the of 80,000 inhabitants in 2006.

The Andorran elections of 2001 gave an absolute majority to the right-wing Liberal Party of Andorra. The following ones, held on April 24, 2005, gave the relative majority to this same party, with Albert Pintat occupying the presidency of the government.

After the general elections held on April 25, 2009, Jaume Bartomeu (PS) was elected to the presidency.