Lleida

Lleida (Catalan: [ˈʎɛjðə], locally: [ˈʎejðɛ]; Spanish: Lérida [ˈleɾiða]) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain, capital city of the province of Lleida.

Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as well as the largest city in the province. It had 137,387 inhabitants as of 2010, including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs.

Lleida is one of the oldest towns in Catalonia, with recorded settlements dating back to the Bronze Age period. Until the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the area served as a settlement for an Iberian people, the Ilergetes. The town became a municipality, named Ilerda, under the reign of Augustus. It was reconquered in 1149, after being many centuries under the rule of the Moors, who had conquered the town in the 8th century. In 1297, the University of Lleida was founded, becoming the third oldest in the whole of Spain. During the following centuries, the town was damaged by several wars such as the Reapers' War in the 17th century and the Spanish Civil War in the 20th century. Since then, the city has been in a constant urban, commercial and demographic growth.