Andorra

The Catalan border area among the high peaks of the Pyrenees includes two unique political units, Llivia and Andorra. Llivia has about two thousand inhabitants. It is a Spanish community lying more than two miles inside French territory. Capital of Roman Sardanium, it was overlooked in the drafting of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, which left the villages of Cerdagne to France. Since Llivia was no village, it did not come under the terms of the transfer.

Andorra is not a part of Spain, but is a co-principality or condo minium jointly ruled by the president of France and the Bishop of Urgel in the Catalan province of Lerida. Its population of seven thousand is Catalan. Tradition says that Charlemagne granted a charter to the people of Andorra in return for service against the Moors. The territory of Andorra was claimed by the Bishops of Urgel as Cathedral land and by the Counts of Foix as heirs of the Counts of Urgel. The dispute led to joint seignorage in 1278. The president of France exercises his right as heir to Henry II of Navarre, who was also Henry IV of France.

The principal occupations of the people of Andorra are mining, lumbering, herding and smuggling. For much of the year the princi pality is snowbound, since it rises to a height of 10,170 feet.