
Lleida province.
'Lleida' or 'Lérida' is a
province of north-eastern
Spain, in the western part of the
autonomous community of
Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of
Girona,
Barcelona,
Tarragona,
Zaragoza and
Huesca and the countries of
France and
Andorra.
Of the population of 385,092 (
2004), about 30% live in the capital,
Lleida. Some other towns in Lleida province are
La Seu d'Urgell (site of the archbishop who is the coprince to
Andorra),
Mollerussa,
Cervera,
Tàrrega,
Balaguer. There are 231 municipalities in Lleida. (See ''
List of municipalities in Lleida'').
In this province there is the
Val d'Aran, a special
comarca with more autonomy and which has
Aranese, a variety of
Gascon as its official language.
The
Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park is located in the province.
The province enjoys a thriving fruit-growing industry, including pears and peaches.
''Lleida'' is the local
Catalan name, and also the official
Spanish name according to the Spanish Constitution. However only the form ''Lérida'' is acceptable in
Spanish[1] .
It has a characteristic Catalan dialect popularly known as ''lleidatà'', with ''lo'', ''los'' used as the masculine
definite article instead of ''el'', ''els''. The local dialect, properly known as
North-Western Catalan is part of the
Western Catalan block, and as such, shares some features with
Valencian (whose dialects are also part of that group).
References
1. "Lleida/Lérida" in the official Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas