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Pyrénées-Atlantiques
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in France
Coordinates: 43°15′N 00°50′E / 43.25°N 0.833°E / 43.25; 0.833Coordinates: 43°15′N 00°50′E / 43.25°N 0.833°E / 43.25; 0.833
Country	France
Region	Aquitaine
Prefecture	Pau
Subprefectures	Bayonne Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Government
• President of the General Council	Jean-Jacques Lasserre
Area1
• Total	7,645 km2 (2,952 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• Total	647,420
• Rank	37th
• Density	85/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	64
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	52
Communes	547
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Pyrénées-Atlantiques (French pronunciation: [pi.ʁe.ne.at.lɑ̃.tik]; Gascon: Pirenèus-Atlantics; Basque: Pirinio-Atlantiarrak or Pirinio-Atlantikoak) is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

History[link]

Basses-Pyrénées is one of the original 83 departments of France created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne, Béarn, and Gascony and included the three traditional provinces of the northern Basque Country: Labourd, Soule, and Basse-Navarre. It also included two tiny exclaves of Bigorre which were located within Béarn.

The previous history of the region, under the Ancien Régime, can be found at those individual articles.

On October 10, 1969, Basses-Pyrénées was renamed Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Geography[link]

Pyrénées-Atlantiques is part of the Aquitaine region of Southwest France. It is bordered by the Landes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers departments and the Bay of Biscay.

Principal settlements include Pau, Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Orthez, Biarritz, Bayonne, Anglet, Urrugne, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Hendaye.

Lac Gentau is located here.

Economy[link]

Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a border province, has cultivated a number of economic and cultural links with Spain.

Two urban concentrations exist in the east and west of the département: Pau, which has 145,000 inhabitants, and 344,000 workers in the local area; and Bayonne - Anglet - Biarritz which has 166,400 inhabitants and 235 000 workers in the local area

Culture[link]

The parts of the department that were part of Guyenne and Béarn have a culture heavily influenced by the Basque people.

Both the Gascon and Basque languages are indigenous to the region. Gascon is a dialect of Occitan, formerly the main language of southern France. It is more closely related to Catalan than it is to French. Basque is a language isolate, not related to any known language. Today, French, the sole official language of the French Republic, is the predominant native language and is spoken by virtually all inhabitants.

Heraldry[link]

The coat of arms of Pyrénées-Atlantiques combines those of four traditional provinces:

1. Lower Navarre
2. Béarn
3. Labourd
4. Soule

See also[link]

• Cantons of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
• Arrondissements of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Basses-Pyrénées.

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Pyrenees-Atlantiques at the Open Directory Project
• (English) Pyrenees-Atlantiques Monuments, Villages, Walks and Attractions

Pierre Saint Martin (born September 4, 1957 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) is a former Canadian handball player who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

He was part of the Canadian handball team which finished eleventh in the 1976 Olympic tournament. He played all five matches and scored three goals.

References[link]

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