Coordinates: 42°41′55″N 2°53′44″E / 42.6986°N 2.8956°E / 42.6986; 2.8956

Perpignan (French pronunciation: [pɛʁpiɲɑ̃], Catalan: Perpinyà [pərpiˈɲa]) is a commune and the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Perpignan was the capital of the former province and county of Roussillon (Rosselló in Catalan) and continental capital of the Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th and 14th centuries.

As of 2009^[update], Perpignan had 120,100 inhabitants (Perpignanais, Perpinyanés) in the city proper. The metropolitan area has a total population of 300,221 in 2009.

Though settlement in the area goes back to Roman times, the medieval town of Perpignan seems to have been founded around the beginning of the 10th century (first mentioned in a document as villa Perpiniarum in 927). Soon Perpignan became the capital of the counts of Roussillon. In 1172 Count Girard II bequeathed his lands to the Counts of Barcelona. Perpignan acquired the institutions of a partly self-governing commune in 1197. French feudal rights over Roussillon were given up by Louis IX in the Treaty of Corbeil (1258).