Catalan Fishermen of Banyuls-sur-Mer
The Catalan Fishing Village of Banyuls-sur-Mer
Banyuls-sur-Mer is a seaside village in the most southern corner of France located in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon of the Eastern Pyrenees. The village lays nestled between foothills, the steeps slopes covered with vast vineyards that dip toward the rocky bay of the Mediterranean. Living in an area known as French Catalonia, some men who fish here speak only the native Catalan language, maintaining the distinctive traditions of an ancient seafaring culture. These fishermen still sail colorful barques through the local coves, casting their nets for a sea bounty of sardines, anchovies and loupe.
The Catalan fishermen of Banyuls did more than fish for a living. Centuries of trade flowed through the Roussillon ports easily, but the mountain passes also offered routes to trade in Spain and the Atlantic coasts less monitored by French tax collectors. After the annexation of northern Roussillon to Louis XIV in 1690, Catalans resisted the monarchy’s attempts to control their culture and impose excessive taxation. The monarchy branded defiant Catalans as traitors and sentenced offenders to death. The Catalan fishermen of Banyuls developed a hidden smuggler’s cove that ran contraband goods to and from Spain through the Col de Banyuls, a historic mountain pass into Spain a few miles from the village.
Fisherman used the hidden Cove Fortada, a cave hole located along the coast between Banyuls and Cerbere, as shelter and storage for illicit goods before they smuggled the cargo through the pass. The Catalan transported a variety of highly profitable common goods such as the tobacco and salt, but also sugar, rice, leather and textiles. Appearing to live solely on a fishing trade and a growing wine industry, Catalan smuggling continued into the twentieth century.
