Aquitaine
former administrative region of France
Aquitaine (UK: , US: ; French: [akitɛn] ; Occitan: Aquitània [akiˈtanjɔ]; Basque: Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Aguiéne), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (Occitan: Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is situated in the southwest corner of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It is composed of five departments: Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, and Gironde. The Romans established Gallia Aquitania as a province. In the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. For most of Aquitaine's written history, Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative centre.
History
Ancient history
There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south-west were the Aquitani, who were not considered Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania). Although a number of different languages and dialects were in use in the area during ancient times, it is most likely that the prevailing language of Aquitaine during the late pre-historic to Roman period was an early form of the Basque language. This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by the Romans, and which are currently easily readable as Basque.
The public source identifies “Aquitaine” as former administrative region of France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Aquitaine, former and administrative.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Aquitaine”, the useful work is to connect “former administrative region of France” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1179. VIAF identifies the subject as 149105192. The Library of Congress control number is n81015575. Authority coordinates are 44.600, 0.000. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Aquitaine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.