La Bisbal d'Empordà

infobox catalan municipio
location_

arms = Escut de la Bisbal d'Empordà.svg


province=Girona
comarca=Baix Empordà
population=9196
population_year=2005
area=20.70
population_density=368
elevation=39
demonym="n/a"

La Bisbal d'Empordà is the capital of the "comarca" of the Baix Empordà in Catalonia, Spain.

The town is 29 km south east of Girona, 12 km west of Palafrugell and 19 km north west of Palamós. The town lies on the C-66 road between Girona and Palafrugell/Palamós where it becomes the C-31. The GI-660 to Calonge and Sant Feliu de Guíxols and GI-664 to Cassà de la Selva cross the Gavarres mountains.

The town's name is derived from the Catalan "bisbe", meaning "bishop", as the town was under the control of the bishops of Girona from the Carolingian period. It is constructed on the site of the Roman settlement of "Fontanetum", and is sometimes referred to as "Fontanet" in Old Catalan. The
Spanish name of "La Bisbal del Ampurdán" is no longer in official use.

The current settlement can be dated at least to the consecration of the church of Santa Maria de la Bisbal in 901 (the current baroque building dates from the seventeenth century). The fortified episcopal palace occupies a large part of the historic town centre.

The municipality lies on the northern edge of the Gavarres mountains and on the banks of the Darò river a tributary of the River Ter.

The town became home to a substantial number of French immigrants after the French Revolution of 1789. The saw several battles during the Napoleonic Wars (Peninsular War). General O'Donnell routed the French forces of General Schwarz at La Bisbal in 1811. The town was briefly occupied by Carlist forces in 1874 during the Third Carlist War.

The towns economy is heavily based on pottery as well as agriculture.

The town is one of the traditional centres of the sardana dance.

Demography

infobox catalan municipio demography
pop_1900=4750
pop_1930=4607
pop_1950=4538
pop_1970=6590
pop_1986=7626
pop_latest=9196

References

* Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). "Guia de Catalunya", Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).
* "Enciclopèdia catalana bàsica" (Edn. "El Periódico"), Barcelona, 1996.