Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
The landlocked Principality of Andorra -- one of the smallest states in Europe and nestled high in the Pyrenees between the French and Spanish borders -- is the last independent survivor of the Hispanic March states created by Frankish King Charlemagne in 795 after he halted the Moorish invasion of Spain. The March states were a series of buffer states to keep the Muslim Moors from advancing into Christian France. For 715 years, from 1278 to 1993, Andorrans lived under a unique co-principality, ruled by French and Spanish leaders (from 1607 onward, the French chief of state and the Bishop of Urgell).
- Capital
- Andorra la Vella
- Government
- parliamentary democracy (since March 1993) that retains its chiefs of state in the form of…
- Population
- 85,370
- Area
- 468 sq km
- Location
- Southwestern Europe, Pyrenees mountains, on the border between France and Spain
- Climate
- temperate; snowy, cold winters and warm, dry summers
- Natural resources
- hydropower; mineral water; timber; iron ore; lead
- Languages
- Catalan (official) 44.1%; Castilian 40.3%; Portuguese 13.5%; French 10%…
- Religions
- Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic) 89.5; other 8.8%; unaffiliated 1.7%
- Independence
- 1278 (formed under the joint sovereignty of the French Count of Foix and the Spanish Bisho…
- Administrative divisions
- 7 parishes (parroquies, singular - parroquia); Andorra la Vella, Canillo, Encamp, Escaldes-Engordany, La Massana, Ordino…
- Currency
- euros (EUR)
- Export partners
- Spain 39%; USA 21%; France 11%; UK 5%…
- Import partners
- Spain 65%; France 11%; Germany 4%; China 3%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain