Emporda (from the official name in , , name in , ) is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain, divided since 1936 into two comarques, Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà. The city of Figueres, an important urban and economic center of the Empordà, was designated the capital of Alt Empordà, while La Bisbal d'Empordà, following a more geographic and historical criteria, became the capital of Baix Empordà. Empordà has been the cradle for many pictoric schools, with surrealism standing out, including artists such as Salvador Dalí, Angel Planells, Joan Massanet and Evarist Vallès. Etymology The name Empordà is a derivative of Empúries (Empòrion in Old Greek or Emporiae in Latin), which means "the markets". The name Empordà comes from a succession of phonetic derivatives of County of Empúries, a county which had its capital first in Sant Martí d'Empúries and then in Castelló d'Empúries the capital of medieval Empordà during the period of political splendor of this county. This was one of the most insurgent towards the royal power and one of the lasts to join the Crown of Aragon, and that led to a few curious episodes like the deviation of the Ter (river) or the unfinished build of the Montgrí Castle on top of the Montgrí Massif. The Baix Empordà born writer Josep Pla used to refer to the surroundings of his native Palafrugell as Empordanet, or the region that goes in between the Gavarres and the Montgrí, and that name is still used today to refer to the Baix Empordà. History The region was already inhabited in the prehistory. There are a number of caves that served as a shelter for paleolithic men in the Montgrí Massif; the most famous ones share the same name: "Cau Del Duc", one in Torroella and the other in Ullà. We also find important megalithic structures in Massís de les Gavarres or Massís de Cadiretes, as well as the dolmens in Fitor. The Greeks established themselves very close to the actual region, in Roses (possibly a colony of Rhodes, though this is uncertain) in the 8th century BC and in Empúries at the beginning of the 6th century BC. The Iberians built one of their main cities in Ullastret in the 6th century BC; the name of the tribe was Indigetes. But with the arrival of the Romans, a process of transformation was initiated that changed the occupational system