See also: the Gironde (homonymy)

The department of the Gironde (33) is a French Département located in the south-west of the country in Aquitaine. This department owes its name with the Estuaire of the Gironde (in Occitan Gascon Gironda , in Saintongeais Ghironde ) which occurs after the junction of the the Dordogne and the the Garonne to the nozzle of Ambès, downstream from Bordeaux. The Gironde is the greatest department of Metropolitan France and 2nd after the Guyana.

History

detailed Article: History of the Gironde

The department was created with the French revolution, the March 4th 1790 pursuant to the law of the December 22nd 1789, starting from part of old the provinces of Guyenne and Gascogne.

It was also called Nozzle-in Ambès, of 1793 with 1795, at the time where the term the Gironde indicated the origin of the parliamentary group of the Girondin S which all were then stopped.

  • the Gironde is made up of 3 distinct entities, with a historical heritage which is clean for them:

Bordeaux and its close area
  • part of the Moors of Gascogne (Medoc, Country of Buch, Moors of Bordeaux, the Bazadais and part of the Large-Moor)
  • the Guyenne of Gironde (Livornese, Between two seas…)

    Between 1789 and 1850, the Western part of the department was covered of badly drained moors (on approximately 60% to 70% of space). This moor was maintained by burn-beating in order to provide in food the large herds of Mouton S, supervised by Berger S assembled on stilt S; the use of these last made it possible to achieve more easily of long distances (15 to 20 kilometers per day), while supervising the herd. Before 1857, date of the Law of cleansing and setting in culture of the Moors of Gascogne, the mode agropastoral is generalized: it draws its force in the free use of communal majority. Then the systematization of the plantations of pine S exploited for their Resin (Gemmage) and their wood, accompanied by the sale by communal during second half of the XIXe century, completely modified the landscape and the economy of half of the department.

    Policy

    detailed Article: Political of the Gironde
    • Intercommunalités of the Gironde
    • List of the deputies of the Gironde
    • List of the senators of the Gironde
    • List of the general advisers of the Gironde
    • List of the prefects of the Gironde

    Geography

    detailed Article: Geography of the Gironde

    The Gironde belongs to the area Aquitaine. It is bordering on the departments of the Landes, of Lot-et-Garonne, the the Dordogne and the Charente-Maritime.

    The Gironde is crossed by the the Dordogne and the the Garonne.

    The territory structure in 4 distinct entities:

    • the littoral, where some seaside resorts very animated in summer are dispersed. The dunes of the littoral have summers fixed by the man at the XIXe century. The Côte of Money is famous for the Surf.
    • the drill landaise, covering the western half of the department. This forest was partly planted at the XIXe century, which marked the end of the agro-pastoral system, largely widespread in the Moors at that time (the image characteristic of this time is that of the shepherd on its stilts). One will practice there the Gemmage until the end of the XXe century.
    • the of Bordeaux, wine-producing area where one finds the large farms which make the fame of the wines of Bordeaux.

    • Bazadais, structured around the town of Bazas. Without real wine production, it is a country of Polyculture; production of Corn, Tobacco, Tomato S, Asparagus S and breeding of the Bazadaise race, as well as wood plantations. The Gascon traditions are goods there anchored. It is the country of Clément V, Gascon pope essentially. It is in this country that one finds the greatest number of historic buildings of the Gironde: Cathedral of Bazas (world heritage of UNESCO), the Castle of Roquetaillade, Trunk, Cazeneuve, Budos, Fargues, Villandraut, collegial of Uzeste.

    A western and southern majority of the department belongs to the Gascogne and shelters most of the drill of the Landes of Gascogne. The Gironde profits from a broad coastal opening of 126 km on the Atlantic Ocean, of the Pointe of Low register in the south of the Bassin of Arcachon. The Girondin littoral opened with balneal tourism, in particular around the Bassin of Arcachon. Principal the Seaside resorts is North in the South:

    The Dune of Pilat is the principal tourist attraction of the Girondin littoral.

    See too


    Climate

    detailed Article: Climate of the Gironde

    Economy

    detailed Article: Economy of the Gironde

    Demography

    detailed Article: Demography of the Gironde

    The inhabitants of the Gironde are the Girondins .

    Culture

    detailed Article: Culture in the Gironde

    Languages

    The Gironde knows two traditional languages:
    • the Occitan is the traditional language of almost all Gironde. It is spoken there in three dialectal forms: the Gascon mainly (Bazadais, Medoc, High Moor Of Gironde, Country of Buch), the Languedocien Occitan (Between-Two-Seas, Livornese) and the the Limousin with Puynormand.
    • the Poitevin-saintongeais , which belongs to the group of oil, is spoken in three smaller territories:
      • in a fringe with the North-East of the department which one calls the Pays Gabay or the Grande Gavacherie . It includes/understands Blaye, Guîtres and Coutras.
      • in an enclave in occitan field, in the east of the department, which one calls the Petite Gavacherie (towards Montségur, between Libourne and Réole). But the occitan is also spoken in this zone.

    Since the beginning of the XXe century, the State imposed the practice of the French.

    Gastronomy

    Construction

    August 1st

    Symbol

    Tourism

    detailed Article: Tourism in the Gironde

    Of Gironde famous

    See too

    Internal bonds

    External bonds

    • Prefecture of the Gironde

    • General advice of the Gironde
    • tourist Guide of the Gironde
    • Gallery of air photographs carried out in the Gironde.
    • the Inheritance of the Medoc

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