The counties that eventually made up the Principality of Catalonia were gradually unified under the rule of the count of Barcelona. At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity.

The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle (written between 11) of the conquest of Majorca by a joint force of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans. Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s, when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division, but remained in popular and informal contexts.

Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. The Principality of Catalonia ( Catalan: Principat de Catalunya Occitan: Principat de Catalonha Spanish: Principado de Cataluña Latin: Principatus Cathaloniæ) was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

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