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Lleida (Catalan: Lleida, Spanish: Lérida) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name, and has 119,935
inhabitants as of 2004. Its main industries are agriculture and tourism.
The Catalan government has adopted Lleida as the official name, even in the official documents in Spanish. Obviously, it remains correct to refer to it as Lérida in Spanish, this toponym having at least as much historical validity in Spanish as the Catalan form in Catalan.
It is a predominantly Catalan-speaking town and province, with a characteristic dialect (known as Western or, more specifically, North-Western Catalan) with features such as lo and los for the definite article.
In ancient times it was named Iltrida and Ilerda (after the Ilergets, an Iberian tribe). The Battle of Ilerda, fought between Julius Caesar and Pompeius took place in 49 BC. It was conquered from the Moors by the Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona in 1148. It was the seat of a major university until 1717. Lleida served as a key defense point for Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, and fell to the Insurgents in 1938.
Lleida is currently the eastern terminus of the Spanish state railway's AVE high-speed rail line, serving Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, and Madrid. The line is expected to be extended to Barcelona in the next few years.
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