62-682: Bordeaux ( / b ɔːr ˈ d oʊ / bor- DOH ; French: [bɔʁdo] ; Gascon Occitan : Bordèu [buɾˈðɛw] ; Basque : Bordele ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department , southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called " Bordelais " (masculine) or " Bordelaises " (feminine). The term "Bordelais" may also refer to
124-466: A humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ). However, the Trewartha climate classification system classifies the city as solely humid subtropical, due to a recent rise in temperatures related – to some degree or another – to climate change and the city's urban heat island . The city enjoys cool to mild, wet winters, due to its relatively southerly latitude , and the prevalence of mild, westerly winds from
186-474: A sociolect of Gascon with special phonetic and lexical features, which linguistics named Judeo-Gascon . It has been superseded by a sociolect of French that retains most of the lexical features of this former variety. Béarnais , the official language when Béarn was an independent state, does not correspond to a unified language: the three forms of Gascon are spoken in Béarn (in the south, Pyrenean Gascon, in
248-571: A bourgeois misappropriation of the Revolution, they executed a great number of Girondists. During the purge, the local Montagnard Section renamed the city of Bordeaux "Commune-Franklin" (Franklin-municipality) in homage to Benjamin Franklin . At the same time, in 1791, a slave revolt broke out at Saint-Domingue (current Haiti ), the most profitable of the French colonies.In the lively era of
310-496: A century beyond the municipal borders of Bordeaux due to the small size of the commune (49 km (19 sq mi)) and urban sprawl . By January 2020 there were 1,376,375 people living in the overall 6,316 km (2,439 sq mi) metropolitan area ( aire d'attraction ) of Bordeaux, only a fifth of whom lived in the city proper. Gascon language Gascon ( English: / ˈ ɡ æ s k ə n / ; Gascon: [ɡasˈku(ŋ)] , French: [ɡaskɔ̃] )
372-613: A cultural center for exhibitions. In 2007, 40% of the city surface area, located around the Port of the Moon , was listed as World Heritage Site . UNESCO inscribed Bordeaux as "an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris". Bordeaux
434-509: A museum as well as a place of exhibitions, shows, movie projections and academic seminars on the theme of wine opened its doors in June 2016. The Laser Mégajoule will be one of the most powerful lasers in the world, allowing fundamental research and the development of the laser and plasma technologies. Some 15,000 people work for the aeronautic industry in Bordeaux. The city has some of
496-419: A wine glut ( wine lake ) in the generic production, the price squeeze induced by an increasingly strong international competition, and vine pull schemes , the number of growers has recently dropped from 14,000 and the area under vine has also decreased significantly. In the meantime, the global demand for first growths and the most famous labels markedly increased and their prices skyrocketed. The Cité du Vin ,
558-738: Is a major centre for business in France as it has the sixth largest metropolitan population in France. It serves as a major regional center for trade, administration, services and industry. The vine was introduced to the Bordeaux region by the Romans, probably in the mid-first century, to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since. Bordeaux wine growing area has about 116,160 hectares (287,000 acres) of vineyards , 57 appellations , 10,000 wine-producing estates (châteaux) and 13,000 grape growers. With an annual production of approximately 960 million bottles,
620-457: Is a tourism company operating in the Bordeaux wine region. Access to the port from the Atlantic is via the Gironde estuary . Almost nine million tonnes of goods arrive and leave each year. This list includes indigenous Bordeaux-based companies and companies that have major presence in Bordeaux, but are not necessarily headquartered there. In January 2020, there were 259,809 inhabitants in
682-515: Is called claret in the United Kingdom. Red wines are generally made from a blend of grapes, and may be made from Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Cabernet Franc , Petit verdot , Malbec , and, less commonly in recent years, Carménère . White Bordeaux is made from Sauvignon blanc , Sémillon , and Muscadelle . Sauternes is a sub-region of Graves known for its intensely sweet, white, dessert wines such as Château d'Yquem . Because of
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#1732781160358744-524: Is located close to the European Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. It is around 500 km (310 mi) southwest of Paris. The city is built on a bend of the river Garonne , and is divided into two parts: the right bank to the east and left bank in the west. Historically the left bank is more developed because when flowing outside the bend,
806-717: Is the change from "f" to "h". Where a word originally began with [f] in Latin, such as festa 'party/feast', this sound was weakened to aspirated [h] and then, in some areas, lost altogether; according to the substrate theory, this is due to the Basque dialects' lack of an equivalent /f/ phoneme , causing Gascon hèsta [ˈhɛsto] or [ˈɛsto] . A similar change took place in Spanish . Thus, Latin facere gives Spanish hacer ( [aˈθer] ) (or, in some parts of southwestern Andalusia , [haˈsɛɾ] ). Another phonological effect resulting from
868-521: Is the vernacular Romance variety spoken mainly in the region of Gascony , France . It is often considered a variety of Occitan , although some authors consider it a different language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn ( Béarnese dialect ) in southwestern France (in parts of the following French départements : Pyrénées-Atlantiques , Hautes-Pyrénées , Landes , Gers , Gironde , Lot-et-Garonne , Haute-Garonne , and Ariège ) and in
930-575: The Battle of Burdigala was fought by the Romans who were defending the Allobroges , a Gallic tribe allied to Rome, and the Tigurini led by Divico . The Romans were defeated and their commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus , was killed in battle. The city came under Roman rule around 60 BC, and it became an important commercial centre for tin and lead . During this period were built
992-539: The Bordeaux Metropolis , an indirectly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues. The Bordeaux Metropolis, with a population of 819,604 at the January 2020 census, is the fifth most populated metropolitan council in France after those of Paris , Marseille , Lyon and Lille . Bordeaux is a world capital of wine: many châteaux and vineyards stand on the hillsides of
1054-414: The Gironde , and the city is home to the world's main wine fair, Vinexpo . Bordeaux is also one of the centers of gastronomy and business tourism for the organization of international congresses. It is a central and strategic hub for the aeronautics, military and space sector, home to major companies such as Dassault Aviation , ArianeGroup , Safran and Thales . The link with aviation dates back to 1910,
1116-603: The House of Poitiers ) brought continuity of government. From the 12th to the 15th century, Bordeaux flourished once more following the marriage of Eléonore , Duchess of Aquitaine and the last of the House of Poitiers , to Henry II Plantagenêt , Count of Anjou and the grandson of Henry I of England , who succeeded to the English crown months after their wedding, bringing into being the vast Angevin Empire , which stretched from
1178-464: The Pyrenees to Ireland. After granting a tax-free trade status with England, Henry was adored by the locals as they could be even more profitable in the wine trade, their main source of income, and the city benefited from imports of cloth and wheat. The belfry (Grosse Cloche) and city cathedral St-André were built, the latter in 1227, incorporating the artisan quarter of Saint-Paul. Under the terms of
1240-678: The Treaty of Brétigny it became briefly the capital of an independent state (1362–1372) under Edward, the Black Prince , but after the Battle of Castillon (1453) it was annexed by France. In 1462, Bordeaux created a local parliament. Bordeaux adhered to the Fronde , being effectively annexed to the Kingdom of France only in 1653, when the army of Louis XIV entered the city. The 18th century saw another golden age of Bordeaux. The Port of
1302-636: The Umayyads , eventually engaging them in the Battle of the River Garonne somewhere near the river Dordogne . The battle had a high death toll, and although Eudes was defeated he had enough troops to engage in the Battle of Poitiers and so retain his grip on Aquitaine. In 737, following his father Eudes's death, the Aquitanian duke Hunald led a rebellion to which Charles responded by launching an expedition that captured Bordeaux. However, it
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#17327811603581364-538: The Val d'Aran of Catalonia. Aranese , a southern Gascon variety, is spoken in Catalonia alongside Catalan and Spanish . Most people in the region are trilingual in all three languages, causing some influence from Spanish and Catalan. Both these influences tend to differentiate it more and more from the dialects of Gascon spoken in France. Most linguists now consider Aranese a distinct dialect of Occitan and Gascon. Since
1426-505: The 11th century over the coastal fringe of Gipuzkoa extending from Hondarribia to San Sebastian , where Gascon was spoken up to the early 18th century and often used in formal documents until the 16th century, with evidence of its continued occurrence in Pasaia in the 1870s. A minor focus of influence was the Way of St James and the establishment of ethnic boroughs in several towns based on
1488-471: The 18th century, Bordeaux emerged as a center of economic activity, particularly known at first for its successful wine trade. The city's placement along the Gironde River was very strategic, helping to facilitate the transportation of produce to markets both internationally and domestically, which led to an increase in exports and Bordeaux's economic prosperity. There was a significant transformation to
1550-600: The 2006 adoption of the new statute of Catalonia , Aranese is co-official with Catalan and Spanish in all of Catalonia (before, this status was valid for the Aran Valley only). It was also one of the mother tongues of the English kings Richard the Lionheart and his younger brother John Lackland . While many scholars accept that Occitan may constitute a single language, some authors reject this opinion and even
1612-450: The Atlantic. Its summers are warm and somewhat drier, although wet enough to avoid a Mediterranean classification. Frosts occur annually, but snowfall is quite infrequent, occurring for no more than 3–4 days a year. The summer of 2003 set a record with an average temperature of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F), while February 1956 was the coldest month on record with an average temperature of −2.00 °C at Bordeaux Mérignac-Airport. Bordeaux
1674-425: The Basque substrate may have been Gascon's reluctance to pronounce a /r/ at the beginning of words, resolved by means of a prothetical vowel. Although some linguists deny the plausibility of the Basque substrate theory, it is widely assumed that Basque, the "Circumpyrenean" language (as put by Basque linguist Alfonso Irigoyen and defended by Koldo Mitxelena , 1982), is the underlying language spreading around
1736-511: The Bordeaux area produces large quantities of everyday wine as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world. Included among the latter are the area's five premier cru ( First Growth ) red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion , from Graves ), established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 : Both red and white wines are made in the Bordeaux region. Red Bordeaux wine
1798-610: The French influence over the Hispanic Mark on medieval times, shared similar and singular features are noticeable between Gascon and other Latin languages on the other side of the border: Aragonese and far-western Catalan (Catalan of La Franja ). Gascon is also (with Spanish, Navarro-Aragonese and French) one of the Romance influences on the Basque language . Allobroges Too Many Requests If you report this error to
1860-409: The Moon supplied the majority of Europe with coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton and indigo, becoming France's busiest port and the second busiest port in the world after London. Many downtown buildings (about 5,000), including those on the quays, are from this period. Bordeaux was also a major trading centre for slaves. In total, the Bordeaux shipowners deported 150,000 Africans in some 500 expeditions. At
1922-760: The Portuguese consul-general, Aristides de Sousa Mendes , who illegally granted thousands of Portuguese visas, which were needed to pass the Spanish border, to refugees fleeing the German occupation. From 1941 to 1943, the Italian Royal Navy established BETASOM , a submarine base at Bordeaux. Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from that base, which was also a major base for German U-boats as headquarters of 12th U-boat Flotilla . The massive, reinforced concrete U-boat pens have proved impractical to demolish and are now partly used as
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1984-837: The Pyrenees onto the banks of the Garonne River, maybe as far east as the Mediterranean in Roman times ( niska cited by Joan Coromines as the name of each nymph taking care of the Roman spa Arles de Tech in Roussillon , etc.). Basque gradually eroded across Gascony in the High Middle Ages (Basques from the Val d'Aran cited still circa 1000), with vulgar Latin and Basque interacting and mingling, but eventually with
2046-709: The amphitheatre and the monument Les Piliers de Tutelle . In 276 AD, it was sacked by the Vandals . The Vandals attacked again in 409, followed by the Visigoths in 414, and the Franks in 498, and afterwards the city fell into a period of relative obscurity. In the late 6th century AD the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks , but royal Frankish power
2108-476: The beginning of the Franco-Prussian war against Prussia , the French government temporarily relocated to Bordeaux from Paris. That recurred during World War I and again very briefly during World War II , when it became clear that Paris would fall into German hands. During World War II, Bordeaux fell under German occupation . In May and June 1940, Bordeaux was the site of the life-saving actions of
2170-598: The beginning of the French Revolution (1789), many local revolutionaries were members of the Girondists . This Party represented the provincial bourgeoisie, favorable towards abolishing aristocracy privileges, but opposed to the Revolution's social dimension. The Gironde valley's economic value and significance was satiated by the city's commercial power which was in dire contrast to the emerging widespread poverty affecting its inhabitants. Trade and commerce were
2232-629: The biggest companies including Dassault , EADS Sogerma , Snecma , Thales , SNPE, and others. The Dassault Falcon private jets are built there as well as the military aircraft Rafale and Mirage 2000 , the Airbus A380 cockpit , the boosters of Ariane 5 , and the M51 SLBM missile . Tourism, especially wine tourism , is a major industry. Globelink.co.uk mentioned Bordeaux as the best tourist destination in Europe in 2015. Gourmet Touring
2294-460: The center and in the east, Eastern Gascon; to the north-west, Western Gascon). A poll conducted in Béarn in 1982 indicated that 51% of the population could speak Gascon, 70% understood it, and 85% expressed a favourable opinion regarding the protection of the language. However, use of the language has declined dramatically over recent years as a result of the Francization taking place during
2356-461: The city and its surrounding region. The city of Bordeaux proper had a population of 259,809 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 49 km (19 sq mi), but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Bordeaux metropolitan area had a population of 1,376,375 that same year (Jan. 2020 census), the sixth-most populated in France after Paris , Lyon , Marseille , Lille , and Toulouse . Bordeaux and 27 suburban municipalities form
2418-419: The city proper (commune) of Bordeaux. The commune (including Caudéran which was annexed by Bordeaux in 1965) had its largest population of 284,494 at the 1954 census. The majority of the population is French, but there are sizable groups of Italians, Spaniards (Up to 20% of the Bordeaux population claim some degree of Spanish heritage), Portuguese , Turks , Germans . The built-up area has grown for more than
2480-527: The city with the most listed or registered monuments in France. The "Pearl of Aquitaine" has been voted European Destination of the year in a 2015 online poll. The metropolis has also received awards and rankings by international organizations such as in 1957, Bordeaux was awarded the Europe Prize for its efforts in transmitting the European ideal. In June 2007, the Port of the Moon in historic Bordeaux
2542-467: The concerned region. It is mainly in Béarn that the population uses concurrently the term "Béarnais" to designate its Gascon forms. This is because of the political past of Béarn, which was independent and then part of a sovereign state (the shrinking Kingdom of Navarre ) from 1347 to 1620. In fact, there is no unified Béarnais dialect, as the language differs considerably throughout the province. Many of
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2604-435: The differences in pronunciation can be divided into east, west, and south (the mountainous regions). For example, an 'a' at the end of words is pronounced "ah" in the west, "o" in the east, and "œ" in the south. Because of Béarn's specific political past, Béarnais has been distinguished from Gascon since the 16th century, not for linguistic reasons. Probably as a consequence of the linguistic continuum of western Romania and
2666-487: The driving factors in the region's economic prosperity, still this resulted in a significant number of locals struggling to survive on a daily basis due to lack of food and resources. This socioeconomic disparity served as fertile ground for discontent, sparking frequent episodes of mass unrest well before the tumultuous events of 1783. [1] In 1793, the Montagnards led by Robespierre and Marat came to power. Fearing
2728-493: The economic landscape of Bordeaux in 1785, which was spurred by the attraction of large profits, traders and merchants in Bordeaux began to turn their attention to the slave trade. This was a very important moment in the city's economic history seeing as it diversified its commercial expansion, at a serious moral cost. This introduced a new layer of difficulty to Bordeaux's economic activities. Even though it brought along significant wealth to certain segments of society, it complicated
2790-500: The first bridge of Bordeaux, and customs warehouses. The shipping traffic grew through the new African colonies . Georges-Eugène Haussmann , a longtime prefect of Bordeaux, used Bordeaux's 18th-century large-scale rebuilding as a model when he was asked by Emperor Napoleon III to transform the quasi-medieval Paris into a "modern" capital that would make France proud. Victor Hugo found the town so beautiful he said: "Take Versailles , add Antwerp , and you have Bordeaux". In 1870, at
2852-593: The former replacing the latter north of the east and middle Pyrenees and developing into Gascon. However, modern Basque has had lexical influence from Gascon in words like beira ("glass"), which is also seen in Galician-Portuguese . One way for the introduction of Gascon influence into Basque came about through language contact in bordering areas of the Northern Basque Country , acting as adstrate. The other one has taken place since
2914-582: The last centuries, as Gascon is rarely transmitted to young generations any longer (outside of schools, such as the Calandretas ). By April 2011, the Endangered Languages Project estimated that there were only 250,000 native speakers of the language. The usual term for Gascon is "patois", a word designating in France a non-official and usually devaluated dialect (such as Gallo ) or language (such as Occitan ), regardless of
2976-619: The manumission law but lost the war against the army of former slaves. In 1804, Haiti became independent. The loss of this "Pearl" of the West Indies generated the collapse of Bordeaux's port economy, which was dependent on the colonial trade and trade in slaves. Towards the end of the Peninsular War of 1814, the Duke of Wellington sent William Beresford with two divisions and seized Bordeaux, encountering little resistance. Bordeaux
3038-758: The mouth of the Garonne from the Vikings when they appeared in c. 844. In Autumn 845, the Vikings were raiding Bordeaux and Saintes, count Seguin II marched on them but was captured and executed. Although the port of Bordeaux was a buzzing trade center, the stability and success of the city was threatened by Viking and Norman incursions and political instability. The restoration of the Ramnulfid Dukes of Aquitaine under William IV and his successors (known as
3100-407: The name Occitan : instead, they argue that the latter is a cover term for a family of distinct lengas d'òc rather than dialects of a single language. Gascon, in particular, is distinct enough linguistically to have been described as a language in its own right. The language spoken in Gascony before Roman rule was part of the Basque dialectal continuum (see Aquitanian language ); the fact that
3162-520: The north). During the last stage of the war against Aquitaine (760–768), it was one of Waifer's last important strongholds to fall to the troops of King Pepin the Short . Charlemagne built the fortress of Fronsac ( Frontiacus , Franciacus ) near Bordeaux on a hill across the border with the Basques ( Wascones ), where Basque commanders came and pledged their loyalty (769). In 778, Seguin (or Sihimin)
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#17327811603583224-510: The privileges bestowed on the Francs by the Kingdom of Navarre from the 12th to the early 14th centuries, but the variant spoken and used in written records is mainly the Occitan of Toulouse. The énonciatif (Occitan: enunciatiu ) system of Gascon, a system that is more colloquial than characteristic of normative written Gascon and governs the use of certain preverbal particles (including
3286-583: The socio-economic inconsistencies within the region. The entry into the slave trade brought even more tension within Bordeaux society. The trade exacerbated the divide between an elite with growing wealth and those living in poverty. This economic divide laid out the foundation for the mass unrest that would break out in the French Revolution. [2] Three years later, the Montagnard Convention abolished slavery. In 1802, Napoleon revoked
3348-468: The sometimes emphatic affirmative que , the occasionally mitigating or dubitative e , the exclamatory be , and the even more emphatic ja / ye , and the "polite" se ) has also been attributed to the Basque substrate. Gascon is divided into three varieties or dialect sub-groups: The Jews of Gascony, who resided in Bordeaux , Bayonne and other cities, spoke until the beginning of the 20th century
3410-473: The water makes a furrow of the required depth to allow the passing of merchant ships, which used to offload on this side of the river. But, today, the right bank is developing, including new urban projects. In Bordeaux, the Garonne River is accessible to ocean liners through the Gironde estuary . The right bank of the Garonne is a low-lying, often marshy plain. Bordeaux's climate can be classified as oceanic ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ), bordering on
3472-414: The word 'Gascon' comes from the Latin root vasco / vasconem , which is the same root that gives us 'Basque', implies that the speakers identified themselves at some point as Basque. There is a proven Basque substrate in the development of Gascon. This explains some of the major differences that exist between Gascon and other Occitan dialects. A typically Gascon feature that may arise from this substrate
3534-497: The year the first airplane flew over the city. A crossroads of knowledge through university research, it is home to one of the only two megajoule lasers in the world, as well as a university population of more than 130,000 students within the Bordeaux Metropolis. Bordeaux is an international tourist destination for its architectural and cultural heritage with more than 362 historic monuments , making it, after Paris,
3596-592: Was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the Duke Lupo , and possibly leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass . In 814, Seguin was made Duke of Vasconia , but was deposed in 816 for failing to suppress a Basque rebellion. Under the Carolingians , sometimes the Counts of Bordeaux held the title concomitantly with that of Duke of Vasconia . They were to keep the Basques in check and defend
3658-463: Was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List , for its outstanding architecture and urban ensemble and in recognition of Bordeaux's international importance over the last 2000 years. Bordeaux is also ranked as a Sufficiency city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Around 300 BC, the region was the settlement of a Celtic tribe , the Bituriges Vivisci , who named the town Burdigala , probably of Aquitanian origin. In 107 BC,
3720-412: Was largely anti- Bonapartist and the majority supported the Bourbons . The British troops were treated as liberators. Distinguished historian of the French revolution Suzanne Desan explains that "examining intricate local dynamics" is essential to studying the Revolution by region. [3] From the Bourbon Restoration , the economy of Bordeaux was rebuilt by traders and shipowners. They engaged to construct
3782-407: Was never strong. The city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded Frankish Duchy of Vasconia . Around 585 Gallactorius was made Count of Bordeaux and fought the Basques . In 732, the city was plundered by the troops of Abd er Rahman who stormed the fortifications and overwhelmed the Aquitanian garrison. Duke Eudes mustered a force to engage
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#17327811603583844-411: Was not retained for long, during the following year the Frankish commander clashed in battle with the Aquitanians but then left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745 Aquitaine faced another expedition where Charles's sons Pepin and Carloman challenged Hunald's power and defeated him. Hunald's son Waifer replaced him and confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city (along with Bourges in
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