Country of Buch

Geography

Located in the South-west of the department of the the Gironde, the Country of Buch is bordered in north by the Landes of the Medoc, in the east by the Landes of Bordeaux and the Grande Moor, in the west by the Atlantic Ocean on which opens the Bassin of Arcachon and in the south by the Pays of Born.

Tourist places

the Basin of Arcachon, where go each year of many tourists during the summer holidays. One can in particular practice there the fishing and of the water sports. It accommodates in addition throughout the year of the activities of Ostréiculture and lodges many species of birds.
the delta of the Leyre and the Ornithological park of the Teich
the Cape-Tag
oyster ports with Gujan-Mestras and on the peninsula of the Cape-Tag
the Dune of Pyla
Arcachon
Andernos-the-Baths
the island with the birds and its tchanquées huts
the Regional natural park of the Moors of Gascogne

Landscapes

The Country of Buch belonging to large the Forest of the Moors, the landscape is composed mainly of maritime pines. Major the part of these pines was planted at the end of the 19th century, put aside the Forêt usagère of Teste of Buch which is natural. The wetlands and near the rivers, as on the edges of the Leyre, one enters a forest where the pines leave room to a luxuriant vegetation: the forest gallery which forms a vegetable vault made up of leafy trees above water.

The grounds near the ocean have a relief marked by modern dunes, fixed partly by the man at the end of the XIXe century. While being inserted towards the interior of the grounds, with the old dunes directed of north towards the south are covered by the forest and follow themselves on ten kilometers of west in east. Passed this dune cord, one enters the sandy plain of the Moors.

The Basin of Arcachon, true breach in the forest plain, offers a great diversity of landscapes, meadows salted with the Banc of Arguin while passing by the Dune of Pyla and the island with the birds. The Basin of Arcachon constitutes the mouth of Leyre, and drains fresh water of the moor.

Etymology

" Buch" comes from the name of the people which lived in this area as of eighth century BC: the Boïates. The deformations of spoken Latin and the Gascon gave birth at the end Buch . In Gascon Occitan " Country of Buch" is said Païs of Bug

Only Tests it kept the extension “of Buch” in its Patronyme, but formerly, when one went in Country of Buch by North (coming from the Landes médocaines), one crossed “Porge in Buch” (the door of the Country of Buch). It was the same for “Rooms in Buch” and “Mothe in Buch”.

Characteristics

The characteristic of the Country of Buch compared to the others country landais, is that its history and its cultural heritage are turned not only towards the forest landaise, but also towards what one formerly called " small sea of Buch" : the Basin of Arcachon.
Contrairement with the Big lakes landais (Hourtin, Lacanau, Cazaux and Parentis) it is largely open on the the Bay of Biscay, stopping the continuity of the dune cord of the coast Aquitaine. The tide makes penetrate considerable water masses daily. The basin is partially isolated from the Ocean by a dune cord formed by the peninsula of the Cape-Tag. On other bank one finds the Dune of Pilat and the bench of Arguin (classified Natural reserve). master keys allow the circulation of water between the basin and the Ocean, some of them being navigable. This opening on the Bay of Biscay determined a culture quite specific to the Country of Buch, where mix the shepherds and résiniers of the Moors of Gascogne with the sailors and the fishermen of the Basin.

The microphone-particularism of the Country of Buch also feels in the architecture, which differs on the Basin from the remainder from the Landes from Gascogne, Arcachon is an good example.

The old Mode is strongly marked by the feudal influence: one of the lords of the Country of Buch was called the Captal de Buch, a title unique in France, and its grounds constituted Captalat de Buch whose Test-with-Buch is the capital. The Country of Buch is registered in the middle of the largest forest of Europe, covering more than one million hectares divided into the Gironde, in the Landes and in Lot-et-Garonne.

Local economy

The economy of the area today is primarily based on tourism related to the balneal activities, but also on the Ostréiculture, paper industry and research (ECA is present on the commune of Barp, one built there the Laser Megajoule).

One formerly distinguished two categories of people who rythmaient the local economic life: fishermen and the résiniers (who practiced the Gemmage), which one often painted antagonistic portraits.

Photographs

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