Last modified: 2024-05-11 by olivier touzeau
Keywords: pyrenees-atlantiques | basque country | bearn |
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Code: 64
Region: Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Aquitaine until 2014)
Traditional provinces:
Béarn,
Guyenne and Gascony and basque provinces of Lower-Navarre, Labourd and Soule
Bordering departments: Gers,
Landes,
Hautes-Pyrénées
Bordering country: Spain (Autonomous
Community of Aragon [Province of
Huesca], Autonomous Community of
Navarra, and Autonomous Community of
Basque Country [Province of
Guipuzcoa])
Area: 7,645 km2
Population (2017): 677,309 inhabitants
Préfecture: Pau
Sous-préfectures: Bayonne, Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 27 cantons, 546 municipalities.
The department is named after the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
Formerly known as Pyrénées-Inférieures (Lower Pyrenees), the department was renamed Pyrénées-Atlantiques on 10 October 1969.
On 1 June 1857, the municipality of Saint-Esprit was transferred from the department of Landes to the department of Pyrénées-Inférieures.
Ivan Sache, 14 November 2009
The department's territory covers the French Basque
Country and the Béarn traditional province.
The three former historic provinces in the north-east of the traditional
Basque Country total 2,967 km²:
- Lower-Navarre (French: Basse-Navarre; Basque: Nafarroa Beherea), until
1789 nominally Kingdom of Navarre, with 1,284 km²;
- Labourd (Lapurdi), with 800 km²;
- Soule (Zuberoa), with 785 km².
They represent today 310,000 inhabitants distributed in 158 municipalities.
Olivier Touzeau, 4 June 2022
The basque flag is widely in use and can be observed on many city halls in this area.
The flag of Béarn is also widely observed in the department.
Olivier Touzeau, 4 June 2022