Catalonia declares independence!

[FatAndFaithless]

Can anyone tell me why Catalonia wanted secession?

From what I see in the article, "But many Catalans feel they pay more to Madrid than they get back...". Is this an issue of redistribution of wealth and power that they don't like?

I'll try to give it my quickest TL;DR:

• Catalonia has had its own language, customs, and laws for a long, long time.  In 1714 King Phillip V conquered (or united, depending on who you ask) Catalonia and added it to the newly formed Spain that we know today.
  
• Since 1714, Spanish Kings had tried to impose Spanish language, customs, and laws on the Catalonia region, and had failed every time.  They finally gave up in 1931 (yes, over 200 years later), and let Catalonia have its regional government. Catalonia still pissed about the last two centuries of shittiness from the Spanish national government.
  
• In 1938 General Francisco Franco re-conquered the Catalonia region, killed 3500+ people and exiled a bunch more.  Destroyed their regional government. Catalans even more pissed now.
  
• In 1977 democracy returns, they get some of their autonomy back.  Calls for independence increased since then up to the situation we have now - they want nothing to do with the Spanish national government, and their grievances are much more recent than most people think in terms of history. Catalonia still really fucking pissed.
  
• The shitty economy in Spain makes things worse, since the Catalonia region accounts for ~20% of the country's GDP (industry, finance, hi-tech stuff), and they feel like they're being milked to support the shittier, poorer parts of the country against their will. Catalonia still really fucking pissed, and now they feel like Spain is stealing their money.
  

So it's a big mess of historical grievances and economic strain and a fucking ton of poorly managed and poorly executed attempts at both conquering and governing the region.