Andorra

Andorra is a landlocked co-principality in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Tradition holds that Charlemagne created it, and its valleys were ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when they passed to the diocese of Urgell. A charter of 1278 formed Andorra as a polity, a lordship within the Principality of Catalonia until 1715, under a unique co-lordship shared by the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix; the count's rights later passed to the French crown, so the state is still headed by two co-princes, the bishop of Urgell and the president of France. Through the 1500–1945 period shown on the map it remained a small mountain society of the Pyrenees, largely spared by Europe's wars. Andorra is the sixth-smallest state in Europe and the largest of the European microstates, with an area of 468 square kilometres. Its sole official language is Catalan, and its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe. It joined the Council of Europe and the United Nations in 1993.