Aquitaine
Encyclopedia : A : AQ : AQU : Aquitaine
| |||||
| |||||
| Capital | Bordeaux | ||||
| Ranked_list_of_French_regions#By_area>Land area¹ | 41,309 km² | ||||
| President of the regional council>Regional President | Alain Rousset (PS) (since 1998) | ||||
| Population - Jan.1, 2005 estimate - March 8, 1999 census - Density | (Ranked 6th) 3,072,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2005) | ||||
| Arrondissement in France>Arrondissements | 18 | ||||
| Canton in France>Cantons | 235 | ||||
| Commune in France>Communes | 2,296 | ||||
| Département in France>Départements | Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques | ||||
| 1 French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers | |||||
Aquitaine (Gascon and Occitan: Aquitània; Basque: Akitania) (anciently "Guyenne") now forms a région in south-western France along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain.
Geography
Area: 41,400 km2 (7.6 % of France's total area)
The region is bounded to the south by Spain, to the east by Midi-Pyrénées, to the north by Poitou-Charentes and Limousin and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean ( Bay of Biscay ).
Major cities in Aquitaine include Bordeaux, Pau, Bayonne, Mont-de-Marsan, Biarritz, and Périgueux. Smaller major city : Agen.
Major geographical features include:
- The Côte d'Argent, one of the most famous coasts in France.
- The Basin d'Arcachon, a large lagoon where collecting shellfish is common.
- The confluence of the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers which leads to the vast Gironde estuary.
- The south of the region includes parts of thePyrenees mountains.
- The Dune de Pilat, near Arcachon is the largest sand dune in Europe.
History
In Roman times, the province of Gallia Aquitania originally comprised the region of Gaul between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Garonne River, but Augustus Caesar added to it the land between the Garonne and the Loire River. At this stage the province extended inland as far as the Cevennes and covered an area about one third of the size of modern France. Aquitaine was quite thoroughly Romanized in its culture, unlike northern Gaul.
The 4th century AD saw the Roman province of Aquitaine divided into three separate provinces:
- Aquitania prima, the north-eastern portion, including the territories which later became Berry, Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Velay, Gévaudan, Rouergue, Albigeois, Quercy and Marche
- Aquitania secunda, the northwestern portion, with its capital at Burdigala (Bordeaux) and comprising the future Bordelais, Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois and western Guyenne
- Aquitania tertia or Aquitania Novempopulana (of the "nine peoples"), the southernmost and most strongly Basque portion, adjoining the Pyrennees and covering what later became Bigorre, Comminges, Armagnac, Béarn, the Basque country, Gascony, etc.
The heirs of Charlemagne divided and redivided their inheritance, and Aquitaine passed out of the control of Neustria, the western kingdom of Charlemagne's house, and in the 9th century the leading local counts gradually freed themselves of the vestiges of royal control. Bernard Plantevelue (ruling 868-86) and his son, William I (ruling 886-918), whose power base was in Auvergne, called themselves dukes of Aquitaine for a time. William V (ruling 995-1030) refounded a new duchy of Aquitaine, that was based in Poitou, and this power center survived. Aquitaine contained Poitiers, Auvergne, and Toulouse. In 1052 the duchy of Gascony (French: Gascogne) became part of "Aquitania", by personal union of duke William VIII. Aquitaine achieved a high literate court culture of courteoisie that peaked under William VIII (ruled 1058-86). Duke William IX, "the troubadour" was a poet himself, and Poitiers became a center of the musical poetry of the troubadours. When William X died (1137), his daughter Eleanor of Aquitaine, the greatest heiress of France, married her guardian, Louis VII of France and followed him on crusade, then had the marriage annulled under the pretext of kinship in 1152 to marry his greatest rival Henry II of England. She maintained an elegant chivalric court at Poitiers. Her sons, Richard I and John, and their successors as kings of England were dukes of Aquitaine (later known as Guienne).
Fighting during the Hundred Years' War enabled Edward III of England to establish the principality of Aquitaine in 1361, freed from any dependence on France, but France recaptured it by 1453. After that the history of Aquitaine became part of the history of France.
See also: Dukes of Aquitaine family tree, Rulers of Auvergne, Languedoc, History of Toulouse.
Demographics
Population: 2,967,000 (4.97% of the total French population) (2002)
Languages
French is the majority language of the region. Other native languages include the Basque Language in the far south of the region, and various forms of Occitan, including the Perigord variety. Immigrants have brought English, Spanish, Arabic and many other non native tongues into the region.Economy
- Agriculture:
- :The grape is by far the biggest product of the region.
- :Forestry is also productive in the north of the region, including Europe's largest pine forest.
- :Cattle raising.
Sport
The region is home to many successful sports teams. In particular worth mentioning are:
- Girondins de Bordeaux, one of France's most successful association football teams.
- Biarritz Olympique, finalists in the most recent Heineken Cup.
- Bègles-Bordeaux
- Aviron Bayonnais
- Section Paloise (Pau)
Food and drink
Aquitaine is famous for its wine and related products, including:
- The Bordeaux wine (known as Claret in the Anglophone world) region is perhaps the most famous red wine region in the world. Areas include Pomerol, Saint-Emilion, Graves and the Médoc.
- The region also produces Sauternes a famous sweet white wine.
- Lillet, a fortified wine, is produced in Bordeaux.
- The south-west also produces wine, although it is not nearly as recognised as Bordeaux.
- The Armagnac brandy producing area lies within the region.
- Bergerac wine is produced in the Dordogne.
- Pâtés, including pâté de fois gras and pâté basque.
- Cèpes are commonly used in the region's cuisine.
- The Dordogne is famed for its truffles.
- Cassoulet
- Magret de canard
- Canelés
See also
External links
- [History of Aquitaine]
- [Conseil Régional d'Aquitaine]
- [AngloINFO Aquitaine] - information in English
- [link]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.