Arbouet-Sussaute (Basque: Arboti-Zohota) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine of south-western France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arbotiar.

Geography

Arbouet-Sussaute is located in the former province of Lower Navarre some 30 km south-east of Peyrehorade and 5 km north-east of Saint-Palais. The D933 road from Saint-Palais in the south-west passes north through the western part of the commune and continues to Osserain-Rivareyte. Access to the village is by the D134 road from the D29 in the north passing south through the village and the commune and continuing south to join the D11 just west of Domezain-Berraute. The intercity bus network of Pyrénées-Atlantiques currently has a stop on its route 865 which goes from Saint-Palais to Orthez. There is also the hamlet of Sussaute to the south-east of the village. A disused line of railway passes from the north to the south-west through the commune.

Located in the Drainage basin of the Adour, the commune is traversed 3 by tributaries of the Bidouze: the Ruisseau de Récalde and the Lauhirasse and its tributary the Berd.

Historical places and hamlets

Toponymy

The commune name in basque is Arboti-Zohota.

According to Jean-Baptiste Orpustan Arboti is the spelling preserved in basque but the meaning is uncertain. If it is from the Latin (borrowed from arbor(e)), the name may signify a wooded place. For Zohota (Sussaute) he suggests a basque origin of zozoeta meaning "Place of blackbirds".

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Arbouet	Arbet	1119	Orpustan	67		Village
	Arbut	1125	Orpustan	67
	Sanctus martinus de arbut	1160	Orpustan	67
	Arbbet	1268	Orpustan	67
	Arboet	1316	Orpustan	67
	Arboet	1350	Orpustan	67
	Arboet	1413	Orpustan	67
	Arboet	1472	Raymond	9	Notaries
	Arbuete	1621	Raymond	9	Biscay
	Arbuet	1621	Raymond	9	Biscay
	Arboüet	1750	Cassini
Sussaute	Sansctus martinus de sosaute	1160	Orpustan	66		Village
	Sosaute	1219	Orpustan	66
	Sosaute	1350	Orpustan	66
	Sosaute	1384	Raymond	165	Navarrenx
	Sossaute	1405	Raymond	165	Navarrenx
	Sossaute	1413	Orpustan	66
	Susauta	1513	Raymond	165	Pamplona
	Susaute	1519	Raymond	165	Mixe
	Sußaute	1750	Cassini
	Sussante	1793	Ldh/EHESS/Cassini
Beheity	Béhéity	1863	Raymond	26		Hamlet
Élichetche	Eliceche	1621	Raymond	58	Biscay	Farm
Etcheverry	Etcheverry	1863	Raymond	63		Fief falling under the Kingdom of Navarre
Mauhourat	Mauhourat	1863	Raymond	110	Biscay	Hamlet
Sallaberry	Salaverri	1621	Raymond	153	Biscay	Farm

Sources:

• Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan,New Basque Toponymy p. 66-67
• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750
• Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Sussaute, EHESS (in French).

Origins:

• Notaries: Notaries of Labastide-Villefranche
• Biscay: Martin Biscay
• Navarrenx: Notaries of Navarrenx
• Pamplona: Titles of Pamplona
• Mixe: Titles of Mixe

History

The village of Sussaute was joined with Arbouet on 14 June 1842.

Administration

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name
1995	2001	Jean-Marie Larroque
2001	2026	Éric Narbais-Jauréguy

Inter-communality

The commune is part of six inter-communal structures:

• The Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque;
• the AEP association of Mixe Country;
• the Education regrouping association of Arbérats-Sillègue, Arbouet-Sussaute, Aroue, and Etcharry;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for the functioning of schools in Amikuze;
• the association for the promotion of Basque culture.

Demography

In 1350 there were 11 fires in Sussaute.

The fiscal census of 1412–1413, made on the orders of Charles III of Navarre, compared with the census of men and weapons that are in this Kingdom of Navarre below the ports in 1551 reveals a demography with strong growth. The first indicated the presence in Arbouet of 12 fires, the second with 31 (24 + 7 secondary fires). Similarly in Sussaute, the census of 1412-1413 had 7 fires while that of 1551 had 23 (19 + 4 side lights).

The census of the population of Lower Navarre in 1695 counted 52 fires in Arbouet and 50 in Sussaute.

In 2017 the commune had 322 inhabitants. The population data given in the table and graph below include the former commune of Sussaute, absorbed in 1842.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 615 —     1800 559 −1.35% 1806 593 +0.99% 1821 572 −0.24% 1831 568 −0.07% 1836 554 −0.50% 1841 530 −0.88% 1846 510 −0.77% 1851 522 +0.47% 1856 479 −1.70% 1861 495 +0.66% 1866 504 +0.36% 1872 475 −0.98% 1876 461 −0.75% 1881 654 +7.24% 1886 502 −5.15% 1891 480 −0.89% 1896 444 −1.55%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 437 −0.32% 1906 477 +1.77% 1911 479 +0.08% 1921 415 −1.42% 1926 373 −2.11% 1931 342 −1.72% 1936 335 −0.41% 1946 368 +0.94% 1954 337 −1.09% 1962 320 −0.64% 1968 324 +0.21% 1975 293 −1.43% 1982 289 −0.20% 1990 252 −1.70% 1999 227 −1.15% 2007 253 +1.36% 2012 296 +3.19% 2017 322 +1.70%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS and INSEE

Economy

The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and Heritage

Religious heritage

The Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist (1860) is registered as an historical monument.

• 
  The church front
• 
  The Church Steeple
• 
  The Church Steeple and War Memorial

Amenities

Education

The town has a kindergarten.

Picture Gallery

• 
  D134 road bridge over the old railway cutting
• 
  A cross near the railway cutting
• 
  Old railway bridge near the D134 road
• 
  Town Hall
• 
  Towards Sussaute in the distance
• 
  The Fronton
• 
  Entrance to Arbouet
• 
  Old railway cutting
• 
  Old railway cutting

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department