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ANDORRA, or ANDORRE
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See also:ANDORRA, or ANDORRE , a small, neutral, autonomous, and semi-See also:independent See also:state, on the Franco-See also:Spanish frontier, and chiefly on the See also:peninsular See also:side of the eastern See also:Pyrenees. Pop. (Iwo) about 5500; See also:area about 175 sq. m. Andorra is surrounded by mountains, and comprises one See also:main valley, watered by the Gran Balira, Valira or Balire, a tributary of the Segre, which itself flows into the See also:Ebro; with several smaller valleys, the most important being that of the Balira del Orien, which joins the Gran Balira on the See also:left. The territory was once densely wooded, and is said to derive its name from the Moorish Aldarra, " the See also:place thick with trees "; but almost all the forests have been destroyed for See also:fuel. The See also:climate is generally See also:cold, with very severe winters. The See also:land is chiefly devoted to pasture for the numerous flocks and herds; but on the more sheltered See also:southern slopes it is carefully cultivated, and produces See also:grain, potatoes, See also:fruit and See also:tobacco. See also:Game and See also:trout are plentiful; See also:milk, See also:butter, hams, hides and See also:wool are exported, principally to See also:France. The See also:local See also:industries are of the most See also:primitive See also:kind, merely domestic, as in the See also:middle ages. Lack of See also:capital, of See also:coal, and of See also:good means of communication prevents the inhabitants from making use of the See also:iron and See also:lead in their mountains. During the coldest See also:winter months their communications are much easier with See also:Spain than through the See also:snow-clad passes leading into See also:Ariege. The only roads are bridle-paths, and one municipal road by the Balira valley, connecting Andorra with the high road to Seo de Urgel and See also:Manresa; but in 1904 France and Spain agreed to build a railway from Ax to Ripoll, which would greatly facilitate See also:traffic. The Andorrans are a robust and well-proportioned See also:race, of an independent spirit, See also:simple and severe in their See also:manners. They are all See also:Roman Catholics. Apart from the wealthier landowners, who speak See also:French fluently, and send their See also:children to he educated in France, they use the Catalan See also:dialect of Spanish. Andorra comprises the six parishes or communes of Andorra Vicilla, Canillo, Encamp, La Massana, Ordino and See also:San See also:Julian de Loria, which are subdivided into fifty-two hamlets or See also:pueblos. Preserved from innovations by the mutual See also:jealousy of See also:rival potentates, as well as by the conservative See also:temper of a See also:pastoral See also:population, Andorra has kept its See also:medieval usages and institutions almost unchanged. In each See also:parish two consuls, assisted by a local See also:council, decide matters See also:relating to roads, See also:police, taxes, the See also:division of pastures, the right to collect See also:wood, &c. Such matters, as well as the See also:general See also:internal See also:administration of the territory, are finally regulated by a Council General of 24 members (4 to each parish), elected since 1866 by the suffrages of all heads of families, but previously confined to an See also:aristocracy composed of the richest and See also:oldest families, whose supremacy had been preserved by the principle of See also:primogeniture. A general See also:syndic, with two inferior syndics, chosen by the Council General, constitutes the supreme executive of the state. Two viguiers—one nominated by France, and the other by the See also:bishop of Urgel—command the See also:militia, which consists of about 600 men, although all capable of bearing arms are liable to be called out. This force is exempt from all See also:foreign service, and the See also:chief See also:office of the viguiers is the administration of criminal See also:justice, in which their decisions, given simply according to their See also:judgment and See also:conscience, there being no written See also:laws, are final. See also:Civil cases, on the other See also:hand, are tried in the first instance before one of the two aldermen, who See also:act as deputies of the viguiers; the judgment of this See also:court may be set aside by the civil See also:judge of See also:appeal, an officer nominated by France and the bishop of Urgel alternately; the final appeal is either to the Court of Cassation at See also:Paris or to the Episcopal See also:College at Urgel. The French viguier is taken from the French See also:department of Ariege and appointed for See also:life, but the viguier of the bishop must be an Andorran, holding office for three years and re-eligible. There are notaries and clerks, auditors for each parish elected by the heads of families, police agents and bailiffs, chosen and sworn in, like all the above See also:officers, by the Council General. The archives are mostly kept in the " See also:house of the valley " in the capital, Andorra Vicilla, a struggling See also:village of 600 inhabitants. In this See also:government house the Council General meets and has a See also:chapel. Here also the aldermen, viguiers and judge of appeal administer justice and assemble for all purposes of administration. Two magistrates, styled rahanadores, are appointed by the Council General to see that viguiers and See also:judges preserve the customs and privileges of Andorra. The parishes have a permanent See also:patrol of six armed men besides the militia. Spain and the bishop of Urgel are veryjealous of French encroachments, and claim to have a better right ultimately to annex the little state. In the meanwhile it continues to pay each of the suzerain See also:powers £4o a See also:year, levied by a tax on pastures. Andorra is the See also:sole surviving specimen of the See also:independence possessed in medieval times by the warlike inhabitants of many Pyrenean valleys. Its privileges have remained intact, because the See also:suzerainty of the See also:district became equally and indivisibly shared in 1278 between the bishops of Urgel and the See also:counts of See also:Foix, the divided suzerainty being now inherited by the French See also:crown and the See also:present bishop of Urgel; and the two powers have mutually checked innovations, while the insignificant territory has not been See also:worth a dispute. Thus Andorra is not a See also:republic, but is designated in See also:official documents as the Vallees et Suzerainetes. Before 1278 it was under the suzerainty of the neighbouring counts of Castelbo, to whom it had been ceded in 1170 by the counts of Urgel. A See also:marriage between the heiress of Castelbo and See also:Roger See also:Bernard, See also:count of Foix, carried the rights of the above-named Spanish counts into the house of Foix, and hence subsequently to the crown of France, when the heritage of the feudal See also:system was absorbed by the See also:sovereign; but the bishops of Urgel claimed certain rights, which after See also:long disputes were satisfied by the " Act of Division " executed in r 278. The claims of the bishopric dated from Carolingian times, and the independence of Andorra, like most other Pyrenean anomalies, has been traditionally ascribed to See also:Charlemagne (742-814). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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