Garrotxa () is a comarca (county) in the Girona region,

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Its population in 2016 was 55,999, more than half of them in the capital city of

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

. It is roughly equivalent to the historical County of Besalú.

Geography

Garrotxa borders the comarques of Ripollès,

Osona Osona () is a comarques of Catalonia, comarca situated in the Central Catalonia, central region of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Vic, Spain, Vic. Its population in 2001 was 129,543. Osona covers roughly the same area as the historic Catalan co ...

Selva Selva may refer to: People *Selva (surname) *Selva (name) *Selva (actor), Indian actor *Selva (director), Indian director Places *Selva (comarca), a coastal comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain *Selva, Mallorca (pop. 3,055), a municipality on Mal ...

, Gironès, Pla de l'Estany, Alt Empordà, and Vallespir. It includes the upper basin of the River Fluvià and the headwaters of the rivers Muga, Amer and Llémena. From both the human point of view and that of physical geography, the comarca has a clear division into two subcomarques. Extending north from the valley of the Fluvià, is Alta Garrotxa (Upper Garrotxa), while the southern part is sometimes called the comarca of Olot, after the capital city. The Fluvià flows toward the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, and has a relatively small flow of water (1.07 m³/s at Olot). The high humidity of Garrotxa contrasts with that of the neighboring comarques. Annual rainfall is over 1000 mm (about 40 inches). It is said that "Si no plou a Olot, no plou enlloc" ("if it's not raining in Olot, it is not raining anywhere."). Winter temperatures hover around freezing; in August, temperatures average 27.7 °C (about 80 °F). Thermal inversions are relatively common; Alta Garrotxa and Puigsacalm, particularly, have more of a mountain climate, with snowfall figuring more prominently. Vegetation varies with the climate. Alta Garrotxa and the east part of the comarca have typically Mediterranean climate and vegetation; the rest has a sub-Mediterranean climate, tending toward an Atlantic climate in the most humid areas.

Volcanic zone

In the western part of the comarca, the land around Olot and Santa Pau contains some 40 well-preserved

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

cones at Croscat, important flows of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

, and the volcano of Santa Margarida. This zone is protected within the 120.07 km² '' Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa''. The populated areas are mostly located on the plain and hillsides of Olot. A field of lava covers most of the plain (some 25 km²), and lava flows continue down the valley of the Fluvià to Sant Jaume de Llierca. Another important sector is in the tectonic valley of the River Ser, at the foot of the fault scarp of the Corb and Finestres ranges, with the volcanoes of Santa Margarida and Croscat. Lava flowed down the valley, past Sallent de Santa Pau to the Gibert mill. A third group of volcanoes lies in the Llémena river valley and the stream of Adri. The field became active about 700,000 years ago,. with the last eruption occurring 11,500 years ago. There appear to have been old eruptions around

, because one can find

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

s from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

declared the zone comprising the valleys of the Fluvià and Ser and the upper part of the valleys of Aiguavella and Sant Iscle to be Natural Places of National Interest. They also declared most of the volcanic cones and the Fageda d'en Jordà (

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

woods rooted in lava) to be Integral Geobotanical Reserves.

Population and economic activity

9.4% of the population are engaged in agriculture and primary production, 59.4% in industry and energy, and 31.2% in the service sectors. Agricultural land has been shrinking, but Garrotxa remains the leading producer of

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

. The livestock sector is actually expanding, especially pigs and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

. Industry, centered on Olot,

Sant Joan les Fonts Sant Joan les Fonts () is a municipality of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Garrotxa, located in Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain. As of 2014, the population is 2,919. Until 1949 it was known as Begudà. It is part of the Zona Volcànica d ...

, and Besalú, has been generally on the rise since 1940. The most important industries are textiles, especially knitwear, the processing of locally grown food, and metallurgy. Behind these come papermaking, chemistry, and plastics. Arts and crafts are traditional also, being the Olot Art School (

Escola d'Art i Superior de Disseny d'Olot Escola d'Art i Superior de Disseny d'Olot is the main Design and Arts & Crafts school of the region of Province of Girona, Girona (Catalonia, Spain). Since its foundation, it has maintained an active participation in the social, educational, ec ...

) one of the oldest ones in Catalonia.

Municipalities

References

Instituto Nacional de Estadística
(in Spanish). Reference for populations of municipalities as of January 1, 2005.

External links