Catalan is a Western Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain. It is the only official language of Andorra, a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia, it has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero. It is spoken in the eastern strip of Aragon, in some villages of the region of Murcia called Carche and in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France; these territories are called Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries". Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival. The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of itself of disputed etymology; the main theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the name Gothia or Gauthia, since the origins of the Catalan counts and people were found in the March of Gothia, whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived.

In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain. It is attested a language name since at least 1652; the word Catalan can be pronounced in English as, or. The endonym is pronounced in the Eastern Catalan dialects, in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community, the term valencià is used instead; the names "Catalan" and "Valencian" are two names for the same language. See status of Valencian below. By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims, bringing their language with them; this process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988. In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written completely in Romance appearing by 1080.

Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance, diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries. During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded up to north of the Ebro river, in the 13th century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands; the city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language reached Murcia, which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century. In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull, the Four Great Chronicles, the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March. By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a standardized language. Catalan was used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, in Sardinia until the 17th.

During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the'great languages' of medieval Europe". Martorell's outstanding novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can be seen in Metge's work; the first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan. With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon, the use of Spanish became more prestigious and marked the start of the decline of Catalan. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, the urban and literary classes became bilingual. With the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France, soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French, which in 1700 became the sole official language of the region. Shortly after the French Revolution, the French First Republic prohibited official use of, enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Breton, Occitan and Basque.

Following the French capture of Algeria, that region saw several waves of Catalan-speaking settlers. People from the Spanish Alacant province settled around Oran, whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Menorca, their speech was known as patuet. By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000. After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962 all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia or Alacant. Nowadays, France recognizes only French as an official language. On 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department and seeks to further promote it in public life and education; the decline of Catalan continued in the 17th centuries. The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain. In parallel, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival, which has continued up to the present day.

This period starts with Aribau's Ode to the Homeland.

The White Lightning WLAC-1 is an American four-seat single-engined monoplane designed for amateur construction by Nick Jones and sold as kits by the White Lighting Aircraft Corporation of South Carolina. In the 1990s the aircraft design was sold in kit form by Reflex Fiberglass Works of Walterboro, South Carolina; the WLAC-1 is a low-wing monoplane powered by a 210 hp Continental IO-360 piston engine. Of composite construction, it has a retractable nose-wheel landing gear; the four-seats had an unusual arrangement. Kits to build the aircraft were sold for amateur construction; the project is managed by Will and Bill Fields. Will has raced the plane in the Reno National Championship races with two wins since 2002; the prototype first flew on 8 March 1986 as the Jones White Lightning. Data from TaylorGeneral characteristics Crew: 1 Capacity: 3 passengers Length: 23 ft 4 in Wingspan: 27 ft 8 in Empty weight: 1,350 lb Gross weight: 2,400 lb Powerplant: 1 × Continental IO-360 piston, 210 hp Recommended enginePerformance Maximum speed: 280 mph Cruise speed: 247 mph Stall speed: 91 mph Range: 2,000 mi Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min

Bourne Wood is an area of predominantly coniferous woodland just south of Farnham, England and a film location. Locally it was known as the Clumps, was called this until the forestry commission changed the name in the 1950s when fire breaks were introduced, Charles Darwin may have written about the area in Appendices of Natural Selection-describing the trees in clumps. A promontory above a large heathland clearing provides views over the surrounding woodland. Much of the wood was heathland at the western end of the Greensand Ridge, developed during the 20th century as commercial conifer plantations; this part of the wood has been purchased by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is being restored to heath, with retention of some woodland of wildlife significance, as Farnham Heath nature reserve. Their aim is to benefit scarce heathland species such as nightjar, Dartford warbler and tree pipit as well as species such as sand lizard. Since 1999, part of Bourne Wood has been used as a location for filming movies, television series and music videos, most notably the opening battle scenes of the film Gladiator which helped the location to gain popularity.

In addition, television adverts for products such as Marmite and IKEA have been filmed at the woods. In September 2012 the Forestry Commission announced plans to allow filming to take place in the Bourne Wood for up to eight months a year, noting that the site was a "nationally strategic film industry resource". In October 2013 Waverley Borough Council planning committee granted permission for filming to be allowed at Bourne Wood for up to six months in one year or eight months over two years, with night filming for no more than seven days a year. Use of helicopters during filming will require additional permission from the council. Temporary structures may not exceed 25 m in height; the decision will be reviewed after five years. In chronological order, the following productions have included scenes filmed in the Bourne Wood. All films are feature films. During the Second World War a searchlight post was established in the woodland, the concrete base of, marked and still visible today. Three structures were erected by Canadian soldiers in the northernmost section of the woods bordering Dene Lane, consisting of a mess hut and barracks for those manning the searchlight.

Two of these buildings became separate dwellings owned by the Forestry Commission providing accommodation for employees before becoming private houses. Much of the wood was heathland at the western end of the Greensand Ridge, developed during the 20th century as commercial conifer plantations; the headwaters of the Wey converging on the town to the north are locally known as The Bourne, which accordingly has helped to name Lower Bourne, a ward and neighbourhood of Farnham. Two round tumuli are south-east of Forest Cottage in the wood, they are late Bronze Age, 21m and 26m in diameter and 1.7m and 2m high and one has suffered some disturbance in the centre and the south-eastern quadrant. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument; this is no longer visible at ground level, having become infilled over the years, can be seen in a geophysical survey as a buried feature about 3m wide