The answer to this goes back to at least 1469, when the crown of Aragon and Catalonia passed into Castilian control with the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. Catalonia had been a powerful sovereign state with its own parliament up to 1162, when it unified with Aragon. But its absorption into Castile, run from Madrid, marked something of a reverse takeover. The Catalan state was officially abolished in 1714; many Catalans believe their culture, traditions and language have been steadily eroded ever since, reaching a nadir under the dictatorship of General Franco (1939-1975).