The Barcelonés is the region around Barcelona, between the Hill Collserola and the sea and between deltas
del Llobregat and Besós. Its limits county transcend the course of Besós to encompass Santa Coloma de Gramanet,
Badalona, and Sant Adrià del Besós. Barcelona is the smallest region of Catalonia, but also the most populous, concentrating most of the population of
the Principality and centralizing economic activity in Catalonia.
The first traces of population in the area of the city dating back to the late Neolithic period (2000 to 1500 BC). However, the
first prominent not appear to VII-VI centuries BC, layetanos, an Iberian village. During the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians took
the town, refounded by Amilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal. Following the defeat of the people by the growing domination of the
Romans, they took the town and baptized as Julia Augusta Paterna Faventia Barcino in the year 218 BC Barcino took the form
of castrum or military fortification in its early stages although trade was redirecting the importance of the city, in the second
century was walled in order of Claudius and in the third century had a population of between 4,000 and 8,000 inhabitants.
The city was one of the main economic centers in the western Mediterranean during the Middle Ages and since the late eighteenth
century became the engine of the Industrial Revolution. These moments of splendor explain the appearance of Gothic style and
modernism, artistic symbols of Barcelona, as well as where the industry at present highlights metallurgy, chemistry,
paper, construction, graphic arts, textiles, electronics and informatics. Barcelona has been the scene of several global events that helped shape the city and give international expansion. The
most significant has been the Universal Exhibition and International 1888 and 1929 respectively, the Summer Games of
1992, the Forum 2004 or Universal Forum of Cultures, these events and others have turned to Barcelona in
a first-rate tourist destination. Other stocks whose growth is due to the proximity of the mainland, have no assets except
comparable Badalona, and flourishing city in Roman times.
