Modern industrial city
At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, Barcelona continued to be a dynamic city linked to other parts of the world but it suffered some long sieges during some protracted wars that left deep scars. However, thanks to the fighting spirit of its inhabitants, it enjoyed a resurgence at the end of the 18thcentury as the driving force of an industrial development that took root in the course of the 19th century.
A new model
The medieval Barcelona of merchants and craftsmen had established itself as a major maritime power. But when the Crown of Aragon became part of the new Spanish monarchy, and the conquest of America pushed trade towards the Atlantic, the city's maritime activity was weakened. The monarchy moved to Castile, while Barcelona remained in the hands of aviceroy.
Tensions with the central power were common throughout the 16th and 17th centuries and, as a result of the war Philip lV was waging against France, which imposed a big economic burden on the counties in the Principality of Catalonia, in 1640 the Catalan people revolted. It took place on the Feast of Corpus Christi and has gone down in history as Bloody Corpus, the day that marked the start of the Guerra dels Segadors (the Reaper's War). This war lasted 11 long years, during which Barcelona was put under siege for 14 months, a siege that proved decisive in bringing an end to the conflict. As a result of that war, France and Spain signed the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, which saw the counties in the north of the Principality – Rosselló (Roussillon), Conflent and part of Cerdanya (Cergagne) – pass into French hands.
The Barcelona of 11 September
When Charles ll of Spain, the last monarch of the House of Austria, died without leaving a legitimate heir, a major international conflict was unleashed in 1701: the War of the Spanish Succession. Castile was in favour of the Bourbon line and Europe was split between those who wanted to put the Bourbon pretender Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV of France, on the throne supported by the Castilians to strengthen French expansionism, and those who favoured Archduke Charles III of Austria, who included England, Portugal and the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. In this context, Catalonia, led by Barcelona, put itself on the side of the Archduke of Austria to maintain its own statutes, aware that the Bourbons wanted to establish an absolute monarchy.
Economic force
Barcelona was seriously weakened following the War of Succession but there were many traders and entrepreneurs who set up new activities that quickly took root.