Portal:Andorra

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Benvingut al Portal d'Andorra!

Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is currently headed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and the president of France. Its capital and largest city is Andorra la Vella.

Andorra is the sixth-smallest state in Europe, with an area of 468 square kilometres (181 sq mi) and a population of approximately 79,034.0 The Andorran people are a Romance ethnic group closely related to Catalans. Andorra is the world's 16th-smallest country by land and 11th-smallest by population. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 feet) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, but Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.

Tourism in Andorra brings an estimated 10.2 million visitors to the country annually. Andorra is not a member state of the European Union. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. (Full article...)

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The politics of Andorra take place in a framework of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, and a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government, with the Head of Government of Andorra as chief executive. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Before 1993, Andorra's political system had no clear division of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. A constitution ratified and approved in 1993 establishes Andorra as a sovereign parliamentary democracy that retains the Bishop of Urgell and president of France as co-princes and heads of state. However, the head of government retains executive power. The two co-princes serve coequally with limited powers that do not include an individual veto over government acts (however, a bill can in effect be "vetoed" if both do not sign the legislation). They are each represented in Andorra by a personal representative.

The fundamental impetus for this political transformation was a recommendation by the Council of Europe in 1990 that, if Andorra wished to attain full integration in the European Union (EU), it should adopt a modern constitution that guarantees the rights of those living and working there. A Tripartite Commission – made up of representatives of the co-princes, the General Council, and the Executive Council – was formed in 1990 and finalized the draft constitution in April 1991, making the new constitution a fact. (Full article...)

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... that the Casa Rull in Andorra was said to be occupied by "fat peasants"?

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Andorra is the only country where Catalan is the sole official language, even though only about 31,000 of the 11,530,160 speakers live there.

Andorra is the only country in the world to have an elected monarch. (One of the Co-Princes of Andorra is elected as the President of France by the people of that country).

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General images

The following are images from various Andorra-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Encamp (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)
Image 2The centre of government in Andorra la Vella (from Andorra)
Image 3The town of Encamp, as seen from the Vall dels Cortals (from Andorra)
Image 4Map of Andorra with its seven parishes labelled (from Andorra)
Image 5The New Parliament of Andorra, headquarters of the General Council since 2011, next to Casa de la Vall (from Andorra)
Image 6Boris Skossyreff, briefly self-proclaimed King of Andorra in 1934 (from Andorra)
Image 7View of Andorra la Vella with mountains (from Geography of Andorra)
Image 8Andorran flag on a balcony, Ordino (from Andorra)
Image 9Grandalla flower, the national symbol (from Andorra)
Image 10Population of Andorra by settlement in 2013 (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)
Image 11Manor house of the Rossell family in Ordino, Casa Rossell, built in 1611. The family also owned the largest ironwork forges in Andorra as Farga Rossell and Farga del Serrat. (from Andorra)
Image 12RTVA, the public service television and radio broadcaster in Andorra (from Andorra)
Image 13Folk costume (Le val d'Andorre) (from Andorra)
Image 14Altar of Sant Romà de Vila (from Andorra)
Image 15Guillem d'Areny-Plandolit led the New Reform of 1866. (from Andorra)
Image 16Streets of the city centre of Andorra la Vella in 1986. From the same year until 1989 Andorra normalized the economic treaties with the EEC.
Image 17Charlemagne instructing his son, Louis the Pious (from Andorra)
Image 18View of Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Andorra)
Image 19The embassy of Andorra in Brussels (from Andorra)
Image 20Co-Prince Charles de Gaulle in the streets of Sant Julià de Lòria in Andorra, October 1967 (from Andorra)
Image 21Andorra Telecom, the national telecom company in Andorra (from Andorra)
Image 22National Police patrolling the central area of the capital city (from Andorra)
Image 23Map of Andorra (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)
Image 24Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport, located 12 kilometres (7 mi) away from Andorra, in Montferrer i Castellbò (Catalonia, Eastern Spain) (from Andorra)
Image 25Santa Coloma d'Andorra (from Andorra)
Image 26Enlargeable, detailed map of Andorra (from Geography of Andorra)
Image 27Topographic map of Andorra (from Andorra)
Image 28Enthronement as Co-Prince in 1942 of Bishop Ramón Iglesias (centre). The local comite was led by Francesc Cairat (left), the First General Syndic with the longest regencie, from 1936 to 1960. (from Andorra)
Image 29Casa de la Vall, the historical and ceremonial Andorran Parliament (from Andorra)
Image 30Roc de les Bruixes prehistorical sanctuary in Canillo (detail) (from Andorra)
Image 31Foreign Minister of Andorra Gilbert Saboya meeting Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2014 (from Andorra)
Image 32A train at Latour-de-Carol (La Tor de Querol), one of the two stations serving Andorra. Andorra has no railways, although the line connecting Latour-de-Carol and Toulouse, which in turn connects to France's TGVs at Toulouse, runs within two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the Andorran border. (from Andorra)
Image 33Pas de la Casa (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)