Aquitani
Encyclopedia
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in the region between the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
, the Atlantic ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
. Julius Cæsar, who defeated them in his campaign in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, describes them as making up a distinct part of Gaul:
Despite apparent cultural connections to Iberia, the area of Aquitania, as a part of Gaul ended at the Pyrenees according to Cæsar:
The presence of what seem to be names of deities or people in late Romano-Aquitanian funerary slabs similar to modern Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
have led many philologists
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and linguists to conclude that Aquitanian
Aquitanian language
The Aquitanian language was spoken in ancient Aquitaine before the Roman conquest and, probably much later, until the Early Middle Ages....
was closely related to an older form of Basque. The fact that the region was known as Vasconia
Duchy of Vasconia
The Duchy of Vasconia , or Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed by 602 to keep the Basques in check. It comprised the former Roman province of Novempopulania and, at least in some periods, also the lands south of the Pyrenees centred on Pamplona.In the ninth century, civil war within...
in the Early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, a name that evolved into the better known form of Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
, along with other toponymic evidence, seems to corroborate that assumption.
Although the country where the original Aquitanians lived came to be named Novempopulania
Novempopulania
Novempopulania was one of the provinces created by Diocletian out of Gallia Aquitania, being also called Aquitania Tertia. The area of Novempopulania was historically the first one to receive the name of Aquitania, as it was here where the original Aquitani dwelt primarily...
(nine peoples) in the late years of the Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages (up to the 6th century), the number of tribes varied (about 20 for Strabo); among them:
- Tarbelli in the coastal side of Landes, with Dax (Aquis Tarbellicis)
- Cocosates in the west of Landes département
- Boiates probably around Arcachon BayArcachon BayArcachon Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest coast of France, situated between the Côte d'Argent and the Côte des Landes, in the region of Aquitaine. The bay covers an area of 150 km² at high tide and 40 km² at low tide...
and norwest of Landes département - Vasates in the north around BazasBazasBazas is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.-Geography:Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of Marmande.-History:...
(south of GirondeGirondeFor the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
department) - Sotiates in the north around Sos-en-Albret (south of Lot-et-GaronneLot-et-GaronneLot-et-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot and Garonne rivers.-History:Lot-et-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
department) - Lactorates in and around LectoureLectoureLectoure is a commune in the Gers department in the Midi-Pyrénées in southwestern France.It is located north of Auch, the capital of the department, south of Agen and approximately northwest of Toulouse.-History:...
- ElusatesElusatesThe Elusates were an ancient Gaul tribe of the Aquitani, located in the northeast of the Aquitaine territory, around Eauze .They were subdued by Publius Crassus, legatus of Caesar in 56 BCE.-See also:*Aquitanian language*Novempopulania...
in the northeast around EauzeEauzeÉauze is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-History:Éauze takes its names from the Gaulish Aquitani tribe of the Elusates....
(former Elusa) - Ausci in the east around AuchAuchAuch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.-The Ausci:...
(metropolis of Aquitaine) - Convenae, a “groupement” in the southeast (high GaronneGaronneThe Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
valley) - Bigerriones or Begerri in the west of the French département of High PyrenneesHautes-PyrénéesHautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...
(medieval county of BigorreCounty of BigorreThe County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Aquitaine in the ninth through fifteenth centuries. Its capital was Tarbes.The county was constituted out of the dowry of a Faquilène, an Aquitainian princess, for her husband Donatus Lupus I, the son of Lupus III of Gascony...
) - SuburatesSuburatesThe Suburates or Sibulates, also named Sibusates by Julius Caesar, or Sybillates by Pliny the Elder, were the Aquitanian people who lived in the Basque province of Soule....
probably around SouleSouleSoule is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present day Pyrénées-Atlantiques département...
/Xüberoa; the same of CæsarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
’s Sibuzates?
See also
- Aquitanian languageAquitanian languageThe Aquitanian language was spoken in ancient Aquitaine before the Roman conquest and, probably much later, until the Early Middle Ages....
- NovempopulaniaNovempopulaniaNovempopulania was one of the provinces created by Diocletian out of Gallia Aquitania, being also called Aquitania Tertia. The area of Novempopulania was historically the first one to receive the name of Aquitania, as it was here where the original Aquitani dwelt primarily...
- Gallia AquitaniaGallia AquitaniaGallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis...
- Duchy of VasconiaDuchy of VasconiaThe Duchy of Vasconia , or Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed by 602 to keep the Basques in check. It comprised the former Roman province of Novempopulania and, at least in some periods, also the lands south of the Pyrenees centred on Pamplona.In the ninth century, civil war within...
- Vascones
- CantabriCantabriThe Cantabri were a pre-Roman Celtic people which lived in the northern Atlantic coastal region of ancient Hispania, from the 4th to late 1st centuries BC.-Origins:...
- GasconyGasconyGascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
- Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian PeninsulaPre-Roman peoples of the Iberian PeninsulaThis is a list of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian peninsula .-Non-Indo-European:*Aquitanians**Aquitani**Autrigones - some consider them Celtic .**Caristii - some consider them Celtic ....