Enric Prat de la Riba
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà (Castellterçol, 1879 - 1917) was a Catalan politician. He became a member of the Centre Escolar Catalanista, where one of the earliest definitions of Catalanism was formulated.
He started his law studies at the University of Barcelona and finished and received his degree at the Central University of Madrid
He became an important member of the cultural and political organisation Unió Catalanista, in which he wrote some its most relevant manifestos, among them the famous Missatge al Rei dels Hel·lens in 1897. He penned Catalanist writings such as Compendi de la doctrina catalanista or Compendi de la història de Catalunya. He also founded the periodical La Renaixensa. From 1899 onwards he promoted Catalan nationalism in politics, at first as a member of the Centre Nacional Català and later in the Regionalist League.
Prat de la Riba served as a secretary of the assembly in charge of writing the draft for a regional constitution known as Bases de Manresa in 1892, the first step towards the development of the Catalan Constitutions. He is also known as the author of the Noucentista Catalanist manifesto La Nacionalitat Catalana in 1906.
Later on, in 1907 he became the first president of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, president of the Diputació de Barcelona and a proponent of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya, which he led until his death in April 6, 1914, having served as its first president.
