Barcelona is a city and metropolis on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of Catalonia, as well as the region of Barcelonès and the province of Barcelona, ​​and the second city in population and economic weight of the Iberian Peninsula. The municipality grows on a plain embedded between the Litoral mountain range, the Mediterranean Sea, the Besòs river and the mountain of Montjuïc. The city hosts the headquarters of the most important self-government institutions of the Generalitat of Catalonia: the Parliament of Catalonia, the President and the Government of the Generalitat. Because he was the capital of the County of Barcelona, ​​he often receives the nickname of Ciudad Condal. Also, as it has been the most important city in the Principality of Catalonia since medieval times, it often receives the nickname or title of head and house. With a population of 1,602,386 inhabitants (2014), [5] Barcelona is the most populous city in Catalonia and the eleventh in the European Union. It is the main urban center of the metropolitan region of Barcelona, ​​which brings together 4,774,561 inhabitants, and of the Metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona, ​​composed of 36 municipalities, which has a population of 3,225,058 inhabitants and an area of ​​633 km² . A study of the Department of Social and Economic Affairs of the 2005 UN places Barcelona in position 51 of the ranking of the populations with the largest number of inhabitants in the world.