Catalan leader Artur Mas has urged the world to help him persuade Spain to allow an independence referendum, after more than two million people took part in a symbolic ballot.
"We ask the world to help us to convince Spanish institutions that Catalonia deserves to vote in a referendum to decide its future," he said after polls closed in the symbolic referendum.
"We deserve to vote in a legal and binding referendum and this is what we are going to try to do."
Early results showed just over 80% of the roughly two million people who took part in the vote in the wealthy northeastern region backed independence.
In Barcelona and other cities, voters of all ages formed long queues before polling stations opened.
The poll was held in the face of fierce opposition from the Spanish government, and despite a constitutional court ruling to suspend the exercise.
It was organised by thousands of volunteers.
Most anti-independence parties were opposed to the poll and urged their backers to not take part.
Catalan leaders admit the vote has no direct legal consequences, but hope that a high turnout will bolster their political case with the Spanish government and other European governments.
The Catalan National Assembly, a grass-roots group that has pushed for an official referendum, collected signatures at polling stations on a petition that will be sent to the United Nations and the European Commission asking for their help to convince Spain to let Catalonia hold an official referendum.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the vote would have no effect and urged the region to return to "sanity".
