PERPIGNAN, a town of France, capital of the department of Pyrenees-Orientales, on the Tet, 7 m. from the Mediterranean and 42 m. S. by W. of Narbonne by rail. Pop. (1931) 58,440. Perpignan dates at least from the loth century. In the nth and i 2th centuries it was a capital of the counts of Roussillon, from whom it passed in 1172 to the kings of Aragon. In the 13th century it belonged to the kingdom of Majorca, and its sovereigns resided there until, in 1344, that small state reverted to the kings of Aragon, who in 1349 founded a university at Perpignan. When Louis XI. occupied Roussillon as security for money advanced by him to the king of Aragon, Perpignan resisted the French arms and yielded only in 1475. Roussillon was restored to Aragon by Charles VIII. and Perpignan was again unsuccessfully besieged in 1542 under Francis I. Later on, however, the inhabitants, angered by the Spanish governor, surrendered the town to Louis XIII. The citadel held out until 1642, and the place was formally
ceded to France by the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). In 1602 the bishopric of Elne was transferred to Perpignan.
On the south the town is overlooked by a citadel enclosing a castle (13th century) of the kings of Majorca. The chapel is a mixture of the liomanesque, Pointed and Moorish styles. The ramparts surrounding the citadel are the work of Louis XI., Charles V. and Vauban. The cathedral of St. Jean (14th to 16th centuries) has a remarkable 17th century reredos.
Commanding the gateway of Notre-Dame (1481) is a curious machicolated stronghold of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Perpignan has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce and a board of trade-arbitrators. The higher tribunal of Andorra sits at Perpignan. Trade is in wine, iron, wool, oil and corks.