The city of Barcelona, of Catalonia, Spain and its outskirts show the first beginnings of life around the Neolithic Age, but the Ibearians were the first major group in the area, around 7 centuries before Christ.

The history of the city of Barcelona began being written around the 7th century before Christ, when these lands were called Los Layetanos, an Iberian town that began to populate the area. The land was later overcome by the Cartagines, whom laid claim after the second Punic War. Later came the Romans, whom baptized Barcelona as Julia Augusta Paterna Faventia Barcino in the year 218 B.C. Years later, the city grew to 10,000 inhabitants.

The Romans stayed on these lands until the arrival of the Visigoths in the 5th Century, but their reign was short, because in the 8th Century, the Arabs, lead by Al-Hurr, conquered the area and prospered in it for centuries. Barcelona was later taken by Borrel II, the Carolingian Emperor, and he converted the city and its inhabitants to Christianity. This was a flourishing period for Barcelona and, not in vain, it became one of the most important cities of the Mediterranean Sea in the 13th and 14th Centuries, next to Genoa and Venice.

From this time on towards the 19th Century, Barcelona suffered ups and downs in its wealth and prosperity; first with the union of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castilla y Leon, to the War of Succession in the 18th century, and later in the 19th century with the Industrial Revolution affecting the city in a major way with urban slums and industry rising into existence.

In the 20th century, the construction of the marina, one of the most important in Europe, and of the metro, helped contribute to the growth of the city. In the first decades of the 20th century, Barcelona prospered. Then came Franco with him much repression . After Franco died, democracy flowered once more, and the Olympics of 1992 gave the city a worldwide boost in popularity and thus, a major rise in tourism.