Aragón (region, Spain)

Aragón (region, Spain), autonomous region and former kingdom, northeastern Spain, bordering on the Pyrenees Mountains. The region is now composed of the provinces of Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel; its capital is the city of Zaragoza.

After the Romans defeated the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars, Aragón became part of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis. The Visigoths conquered the region late in the 5th century, the Moors in the 8th century. Subsequently the region was incorporated with the kingdom of Navarre. In 1035 Ramiro I, a son of the Navarrese ruler Sancho III, established Aragón as an independent kingdom. Navarre was annexed in 1076, and during the next 100 years additional territory was added by successful wars against the Moors. In 1137 Aragón was united with Catalonia and Barcelona. Aragón grew into a leading Mediterranean naval power around the port of Barcelona. The kings of Aragón gained possession of the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples during the next two centuries. In 1238 the important city of Valencia was captured by Aragón from the Moors. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón (later Ferdinand V of Castile) to Isabella I of Castile united those two regions. Formal merger of the two kingdoms took place on the accession of Charles I in 1516, but Aragón retained its own administration and representative institutions until the end of the 17th century. Area, 47,720 sq km (18,425 sq mi). Population (2007) 1,296,655.