Map of the historical and cultural area of Gascony.
Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced /gaskɔɲ/ ; Gascon Occitan: Gasconha, pronounced /gasˈkuɲɔ/)
is an area of southwest France that constituted a province
of France prior to the French Revolution. It is currently divided between the
Aquitaine région (départements of Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, south and west of Gironde, and south of
Lot-et-Garonne) and the Midi-Pyrénées
région (départements of Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées, southwest of Tarn-et-Garonne, and west of
Haute-Garonne).
Gascony was historically inhabited by Basque related people. It is home to the
Gascon language. It is also the land of d'Artagnan,
who inspired Alexandre Dumas's character in the Three Musketeers. It is also home of hero of the play Cyrano de Bergerac (but this character has not much in common with the real Cyrano de Bergerac, who was a Parisian).
Gascony is also famed for its douceur de vivre ("sweetness of life"): its food (Gascony is home to foie gras and Armagnac brandy), its medieval towns and villages
locally called bastides nested amidst green rolling hills, its sunny weather, the beauty
of its landscape, with the occasional distant views of the Pyrenees mountain range, all
contribute to the popularity of Gascony as a tourist destination. Due to rural exodus,
Gascony is one of the least populated areas of western Europe, and so it has recently become a haven for stressed urbanites of
northern Europe (chiefly France, England, and the Benelux nations) who, in search of quiet and
peace of mind, are increasingly buying second homes in Gascony.
History
- See also: Duke of Gascony
Typical view of the hilly countryside of Gascony, with the
Pyrenees mountains in the far
distance
Aquitania
In pre-Roman times, the inhabitants of Gascony were the Aquitanians (Latin: Aquitani), who spoke a language related to the Old
Basque language (which predates the modern Basque language).
The Aquitanians inhabited a territory limited to the north and east by the Garonne River, to
the south by the Pyrenees mountain range, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Romans called this territory Aquitania, either from the Latin word aqua (meaning "water"), in reference to the many rivers flowing from the Pyrenees through the
area, or from the name of the Aquitanian Ausci tribe (whose name seems related to the Basque root
eusk- meaning "Basque"), in which case Aquitania would mean "land of the Ausci".
In the 50s BC, Aquitania was conquered by lieutenants of C.
Julius Caesar and became part of the Roman Empire.
Later, in 27 BC, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the
province of Gallia Aquitania was created. Gallia Aquitania was far larger than the
original Aquitania, as it extended north of the Garonne River, in fact all the way north to the Loire River, thus including the Celtic Gallic
people that inhabited the regions between the Garonne and the Loire rivers.
These Gallic people (with their Gaulish language) were quite different from the
non-Indo-European Aquitanians. This was a deliberate policy of Rome, which sought
to gather people from different ethnic backgrounds into a single province, in order to avoid the development of a regional
identity.
In 297, as Emperor Diocletian reformed the administrative
structures of the Roman Empire, long claims of the now Romanized descendants of the Aquitanians, who had long desired to be
separated from the now also Romanized descendants of the Gallic people inhabiting north of the Garonne, were finally heard and
Gallia Aquitania was split into three provinces.
The territory south of the Garonne River, corresponding to the original Aquitania, was made a province called Novempopulana (that is, "land of the nine tribes"), while the part of Gallia Aquitania north of the
Garonne became the province of Aquitanica I and the province of Aquitanica II. The territory of Novempopulana corresponded quite well to what we call now Gascony.
From 297 on, the name "Aquitaine" was never used again for Gascony, despite it having been its original name, and instead
became used only for territories north of the Garonne River.[citation needed]
Novempopulana
Novempopulana suffered like the rest of the Western Roman Empire from the invasions of Germanic tribes, most notably the Vandals in 407-409. In 416-418,
Novempopulana was delivered to the Visigoths as their federate settlement lands and became
part of the Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse.
The Visigoths were defeated by the Franks in 507, and fled into
Spain. Novempopulana then became part of the Frankish Kingdom like the rest of southern France.
However, Novempopulana was far away from the home base of the Franks in northern France, and was only very loosely controlled by
the Franks.
Wasconia
-
It is then, around 600, that taking advantage of the power vacuum thus created, the
Basque clans descended from their refuge in the western Pyrenees and established their
hegemony over Novempopulana. This is why Novempopulana became known as Vasconia (that is, "land of the Vascones", the
Latin word "Vasco" later evolving into the word "Basque"). The word Vasconia evolved into Wasconia, and then into
Gasconia (w- often evolved into g- under the influence of Romance languages,
cf. warrantee and guarantee, William and Guillaume).
Although the Basque clans dominated Gascony, the gradual abandonment of the Basque-related Aquitanian language in favor of a
local vulgar Latin, a process which was well under its way, was not reversed. This local
vulgar Latin later evolved into Gascon.
However, Gascon was heavily influenced by the original Aquitanian language (for example, Latin f- became h-, cf. Latin
fortia, French force, Spanish
fuerza, Occitan fòrça, but Gascon hòrça).
Viking invasions (840-982)
Viking raiders conquered several Gascon towns in 842-844, including
Bordeaux and Bayonne, from where they were only expelled in
982-986.
Their attacks in Gascony may have helped the political disintegration of the Duchy. Their presence nevertheless left a mariner
legacy that Basques and Gascons would later exploit in their cod-fishing and whale-hunting activities that would bring them as
far as Newfoundland.
Geography
The most important towns are :
Economy
Main industries are :
- fishing
- stock raising
- wine making
- brandy distilling
- tourism
External links
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