Roussillon
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Roussillon © William Shen wwshen.com

The area that makes up the eastern fringe of the Pyrenees and the flatter stretch of land down to the Mediterranean coast is known as Roussillon, or French Catalonia. Catalan power first came into its own in the tenth century under the independent counts of Barcelona, who then became kings of Aragon as well in 1162. They attempted to create a joint power base with Occitan France under the counts of Toulouse, but that came to an unhappy end with the death of Pedro II at the battle of Muret in 1213, when he came to the aid of Raymond VI of Toulouse against Simon de Montfort during the anti-Cathar crusade. The height of Catalan power was reached in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the Franco-Catalan frontier was fixed along the base of the Corbières hills north of Perpignan. But Jaime I made the mistake of dividing his kingdom between his two sons at his death. What is now the French part became the kingdom of Majorca with its capital at Perpignan, but, coveted by the rival brother, the king of Aragon, it sought alliance with the kings of France, who saw this as a splendid opportunity to straighten out their southern border, thus ensuring continuous squabbling that was only finally ended by the Treaty of the Pyrenees, negotiated by Louis XIV in 1659.

After the treaty, the French began a ruthless process of Frenchification, which was successful in Perpignan where the bourgeoisie tended to identify their commercial interest with a central power; the mountain hinterland, however, was left largely untouched until modern times, when the collapse of traditional agriculture, the introduction of compulsory education and the devastation of the vineyards by phylloxera combined to drive the people off the land – a process which still continues today, albeit at a slower rate.

Although there's no real separatist impetus among French Catalans today, their sense of identity is still strong: the language is very much alive, and the national colours of yellow and red are much in evidence wherever you go. The Pic du Canigou, which completely dominates Roussillon, seems much larger in presence than its actual 2784m, and it remains a powerful symbol of Catalan nationalism, attracting hordes of Catalans from Barcelona to celebrate the summer solstice. And in the little town of Prades, which, as the place of exile from Franquista Spain of the cellist Pau Casals, became a symbol of Catalan resistance.

Most of the region's attractions are easily reached from the region's one major town, Perpignan. The coast and immediate hinterland above the Spanish frontier is beautiful, though predictably crowded, and the finest spots are in the Tech and Têt valleys which cut back west into the Pyrenees, where you can view the Romanesque monasteries of Serrabonne, St-Michel-de-Cuxa and St-Martin-du-Canigou, Vauban's fortress town of Villefranche-de-Conflent, the museum at Céret with its unique series of Picasso ceramics and Mont Canigou itself and its foothill orchards of peaches and cherries.