4/ In the interests of brevity and neutrality, we will not explore the entire history of Catalonia or the independence movement in depth.
Here is a summary which brings you up to speed, taking into account the critical Independence vote of 2017.
It's complicated and there are many opinions (many very strongly held)
5/ Nevertheless, in the interest of #geoweirdness we do need to mention Tabarnia.
This fictional region of Catalonia imagines an area that opposes independence. It is a neologism whose name combines two Catalan provinces, Tarragona and Barcelona. Opponents of independence often use it to highlight the political challenges of the independence movement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabarnia