The commune of Auch is located in the arrondissement of Auch and in the Gers valley, roughly in the centre of the Gers département. Auch is 69 kilometres (43 miles) west of Toulouse, the capital of the Occitanie region, and 74 kilometres (46 miles)from Montauban, 63 kilometres (39 miles) from Agen, 92 kilometres (57 miles) from Mont-de-Marsan, 86 kilometres (53 miles) from Pau and 62 kilometres (39 miles) from Tarbes, the capitals of the neighbouring départements. It is 162 km from Bordeaux, 390 kilometres (240 miles) from Marseille and 409 kilometres (254 miles) from Lyon, the capitals of the neighbouring regions, and 595 kilometres (370 miles)south-west of Paris.

The commune covers an area of 7,248 hectares (17,910 acres).

Auch borders thirteen other communes: Barran, Castillon-Massas, Castin, Duran, Lasséran, Leboulin, Montaut-les-Créneaux, Montégut, Ordan-Larroque, Pavie, Pessan, Preignan and Roquelaure.

Auch has a minimum altitude of 115 metres (377 ft) and a maximum of 281 metres (922 ft). Its average altitude is 198 metres (650 ft), while that of its town hall is 134 metres (440 ft) The town and its surroundings have a hillside landscape.

The commune covers an area of 7,248 hectares (17,910 acres), making it the third largest in the département.

Centred on the middle Baïse valley, Armagnac is distributed along an east-west axis between Eauze and Auch. It includes Fezensac and Vic.

The commune is located in seismicity zone 1 (very low seismicity).

The Gers, a tributary of the Garonne, flows through the town and divides the city between the upper town, on the left bank, the site of the medieval city built on a hill where most of the ancient monuments are to be found, and the lower town, built on the plain on the right bank. The upper town is linked to the banks of the Gers by the medieval "pousterles", typical narrow streets with steep inclines, and by the monumental staircase inaugurated in 1863. The north of the town is also watered by the Arçon and Talouch rivers, tributaries of the Gers.

The lower town was devastated on several occasions (1897, 1952 for the most significant river overflow) before the course of the Gers was recalibrated following the 1977 floods in Gascony.

Auch is well connected to nearby cities and towns such as Agen, Toulouse and Tarbes by Routes Nationales and by train to Toulouse.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 8,444 —     1800 7,696 −1.32% 1806 8,918 +2.49% 1821 9,670 +0.54% 1831 9,801 +0.13% 1841 10,867 +1.04% 1846 12,323 +2.55% 1851 12,141 −0.30% 1856 12,001 −0.23% 1861 11,899 −0.17% 1866 12,500 +0.99% 1872 13,087 +0.77% 1876 13,785 +1.31% 1881 14,186 +0.58% 1886 15,090 +1.24% 1891 14,782 −0.41% 1896 14,838 +0.08% 1901 13,939 −1.24%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 13,526 −0.60% 1911 13,638 +0.17% 1921 11,825 −1.42% 1926 12,272 +0.74% 1931 12,567 +0.48% 1936 13,313 +1.16% 1946 15,253 +1.37% 1954 16,382 +0.90% 1962 18,918 +1.82% 1968 21,462 +2.13% 1975 23,185 +1.11% 1982 23,258 +0.04% 1990 23,136 −0.07% 1999 21,838 −0.64% 2007 21,704 −0.08% 2012 21,960 +0.23% 2017 21,935 −0.02% 2018 22,200 +1.21%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017)

Auch is a very ancient town, whose settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the 50s BC. At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as the Ausci. Their name for the town was Climberrum or Elimberris. This has been tentatively etymologized from the Iberian iltir ("town, oppidum") and a cognate of the Basque berri ("new"), although another Iberian settlement in Granada recorded by the Romans as "Iliberi" probably had no contact with proto-Basque speaking peoples. The Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum or Ausciorum ("Augusta of the Ausci"). Augusta Auscorum was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana (Gascony) and became the provincial capital after the 409 destruction of Eauze by the Vandals.

The common term Augusta was eventually dropped and the name evolved into the modern Gascon Aush and French Auch.

In 732, Abdul Rahman's army inflicted severe damage upon the town as they advanced towards Bordeaux, securing victory over Odo in the Battle of the River Garonne, and ultimately meeting defeat in the crucial Battle of Tours.

The town became the seat of a Catholic archdiocese which lasted until the French Revolution. Its archbishops claimed the title of Primate of Aquitaine, Novempopulana, and Navarre.

• Renaissance Cathédrale Sainte-Marie with its magnificent organ, carved stalls and rose stained-glass windows
• La Tour d'Armagnac, a 14th-century prison, as well as a statue of d'Artagnan who was based on the real life person, Charles de Batz, Comte d'Artagnan born nearby in the château de Castelmore, and written about by Alexandre Dumas.
• Musée des Amériques (Auch) [fr], formerly known as the Musée des Jacobins
• Maison Henri IV (Auch) [fr]
• Escalier monumental Built in the 19th century

Auch was the birthplace of:

• Jacques Fouroux (1947–2005), rugby union player
• Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (1750–1812), admiral
• Dominic Serres (1719–1793), painter
• Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), Dominican and prominent Neo-Thomist theologian
• Nicolas Portal (1979–2020), Professional cyclist for AG2R Prévoyance and Director Sportif of World Tour cycling team Ineos (ne Sky)
• Patrick Pilet (born 1981), racing driver
• André Daguin (1935–2019), chef

• Gascony Show – English language radio in Auch
• Communes of the Gers department

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Auch.

• Official website (in French)
• Unofficial website about Auch (in French)