Catalan Communities Abroad is the term which, since Act 18/1996 of 7th December came into force, has been used to designate relations with Catalan Communities abroad - those private groups of Catalan and foreign people the world over (casals, Catalan centres, academic and business groups etc.) that the Catalan government has recognised officially. The main objectives of these bodies are to promote Catalonia in civil society and to provide support for Catalans living outside Catalonia. At present, they are essentially a cultural window on Catalonia in the lands in which they are set up.

By enacting this Act, the Generalitat of Catalonia is recognising the great work done by CCAs in defending Catalan democracy and rights.

The history of the CCAs

Ever since the founding of the earliest of our present-day CCAs - La Sociedad de Beneficiencia de Naturales de Cataluña, founded in 1840 in Havana, Cuba - numerous communities of Catalan emigrants have founded private associations (Catalan casals, mutual societies, etc.) in order to help each other and to maintain their links with the Catalan language and culture, particularly in the Spanish colonies of Latin America.

During the Spanish Civil War and the early years of Franco's dictatorship, a large number of Catalans (republicans and others) were forced to go into exile to other countries all over the world, where they joined existing Catalan communities or formed new ones.

From exile, those Catalan communities played a prominent role in defending the principles of parliamentary democracy, the Spanish Republic, in preserving the Catalan language and culture and defending rights of Catalonia.

During the 1950s and 60s, there was a certain amount of emigration from Catalonia for economic reasons to western and northern European countries, resulting in the creation of other Catalan communities.

Nowadays, Catalonia is a country of immigration, emigration being mainly in the form of young people seeking international experience for academic, work-related or personal reasons. According to recent estimates, Catalans living outside Catalonia number some 200,000 people, while the 114 Catalan Communities recognised by the Generalitat of Catalonia have some 15,000 Catalans and 'Catalanophiles' or people interested in Catalonia.

See the list of CAAs

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