Val d'Aran

Aran (Occitan: [aˈɾan]; Catalan: [əˈɾan]; Spanish: [aˈɾan]) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: Vath d'Aran or Vau d'Aran, in Catalan: Vall d'Aran, in Spanish: Valle de Arán) is an administrative entity (formerly considered a comarca) in northwest Catalonia, Spain, consisting of 620.47 square kilometres (239.56 sq mi) in area, located in the Pyrenees mountains, in the Alt Pirineu i Aran region and in the province of Lleida. The capital is Vielha e Mijaran.

This valley constitutes the only contiguous part of Catalonia located on the northern side of the Pyrenees. Hence, this valley holds the only Catalan rivers to flow into the Atlantic Ocean (for the same reason, the region is characterized by an Atlantic climate, instead of a Mediterranean one). The Garonne river flows through Aran from its source on the Pla de Beret (Beret Flat) near the Port de la Bonaigua. It is joined by the Joèu river (from the slopes of Aneto mountain) which passes underground at the Forau d'Aigualluts. It then reappears in the Val dera Artiga de Lin before reaching the Aran valley, then through France and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. The Noguera Pallaresa river, whose source is only a hundred meters from that of the Garonne, flows the opposite way towards the Mediterranean.

Aran borders France on the north, the Autonomous Community of Aragon to the west and the Catalan comarques of Alta Ribagorça to the south and Pallars Sobirà to the east. Its capital, Vielha e Mijaran, has 5,474 inhabitants (2014). The entire population of the valley is about 9,991 (2014). As of 2001, a plurality of people in Aran spoke Spanish (38.78%) as their native language, followed by Aranese (34.19%), then Catalan (19.45%) with 7.56% having a different native language. While Aranese is the mother tongue of 62.87% of people born in the region, it is less frequent among residents born outside the valley.