The first historical inhabitants of the region were Iberians;
Girona is the ancient Gerunda, the city of the Auzetans.
Later, the Romans built a citadel here, called Gerunda.
The Visigoths ruled Girona until it was conquered by the Moors in 715.
Charlemagne reconquered it in 785 and made it one of the fourteen original counties of Catalonia.
It was sacked by the Moors in 827, 842, 845, 935 and 982.
In 878, Wilfred the Hairy incorporated Girona into the County of Barcelona.
In the 11th century, Alfonso II of Aragon and I of Barcelona proclaimed Girona a city.
The ancient county became a duchy within the Principality of Catalonia in 1351, when King Peter III of Aragon granted the title of duke to his first-born son, John.
In 1414, King Ferdinand I in turn bestowed the title of Prince of Girona on his first-born son Alfonso.
The title is currently held by Princess Leonor of Asturias, the second since the 16th century to do so.
The earliest documented evidence of a Jewish community in Girona dates back to around 885.
In the 12th century, the Jewish community of Girona flourished, having one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in Europe.
Girona Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Gerondi was appointed Grand Rabbi of Catalonia.
Girona's Jewish community, founded on the Jewish Call, ceased to exist in 1492 when the Catholic monarchs outlawed Judaism throughout Spain and Jews were given the choice of converting to Christianity or being expelled.
400 years earlier, a Jewish cemetery was located along the road to France, north of the old town, between the Montjuïc mountain, or the hill of the Jews in medieval Catalan, and the Ter River.
Girona survived twenty-five sieges and was captured seven times.
It was besieged by French royal armies under Charles de Monchy d'Aucincourt in 1653, under Bernardin Gigot de Bellefond in 1684, and twice in 1694 under Anne Jules de Noailles.
During the Third Siege of Girona during the Peninsular War from May to December 1809, the city was besieged by 35,000 French Napoleonic troops under the command of Verger, Augereau and Saint-Cyr.
Constantly subjected to heavy bombardment, Girona stubbornly held on under the leadership of Alvarez de Castro until disease and famine forced it to capitulate on December 12.
Girona was the center of the Department of Ter during French rule, which lasted from 1809 to 1813.
The defensive city walls on the western side were demolished at the end of the 19th century to allow for the expansion of the city, and the walls