CATALONIA
"With the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon (the kingdom under whose
nominal aegis the Catalan merchants worked and sailed) to Queen Isabel
of Castile at the end of the 15th century, the fate of the two kingdoms
became increasingly conjoined. It is safe to say that the architects of
this union saw it as a marriage of equals. The idea was for both
monarchs to continue exercising control over their respective realms
while seeking possible areas of mutual cooperation."
