Occitania (Occitan: Occitània [utsiˈtanjɒ], locally [u(k)siˈtanjɒ], [ukʃiˈtanjɒ] or [u(k)siˈtanja], French: Occitanie) is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except the French Basque Country and French Catalonia) as well as part of Spain (Aran Valley), Monaco, and parts of Italy (Occitan Valleys).

Occitania has been recognized as a linguistic and cultural concept since the Middle Ages. The territory was united in Roman times as the Seven Provinces (Latin: Septem Provinciae) and in the Early Middle Ages (Aquitanica or the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse, or the share of Louis the Pious following Thionville divisio regnorum in 806).

Currently, the region has a population of 16 million, and between 200,000–800,000 people are either native or proficient speakers of Occitan. More commonly, French, Piedmontese, Catalan, Spanish and Italian are spoken. Since 2006, the Occitan language has been an official language in Catalonia, which includes the Aran Valley, where Occitan gained official status in 1990.

At the time of the Roman empire, most of Occitania was known as Aquitania. The territories conquered early were known as Provincia Romana (see modern Provence), while the northern provinces of what is now France were called Gallia (Gaul). Under the late Roman empire, both Aquitania and Provincia Romana were grouped in the Seven Provinces or Viennensis. Provence and Gallia Aquitania (or Aquitanica) have been in use since medieval times for Occitania (i.e. Limousin, Auvergne, Languedoc and Gascony).

The historic Duchy of Aquitaine should not be confused with the modern French region called Aquitaine: this is a reason why the term Occitania was revived in the mid-19th century. The terms "Occitania" and "Occitan language" (Occitana lingua) appeared in Latin texts from as early as 1242–1254 to 1290 and during the early 14th century; texts exist in which the area is referred indirectly as "the country of the Occitan language" (Patria Linguae Occitanae). The name Lenga d'òc was used in Italian (Lingua d'òc) by Dante in the late 13th century. The somewhat uncommon ending of the term Occitania is most likely from a French clerk who joined the òc [ɔk] and Aquitània [ɑkiˈtanjɑ] in a portmanteau term, thus blending the language and the land in just one concept.

On 28 September 2016, Occitanie became the name of an administrative region that succeeded the regions of Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon; it is a small part of Occitania.

Geographic extent

The extent of Occitania may vary according to the criteria used:

• Based on a geolinguistic definition, Occitania is the area of Occitan language as surveyed at the end of the 19th century. The formerly Occitanophone regions are not included.

On the other hand one always speaks Occitan in the French Basque Country and in the Catalan Countries (the Val d'Aran and the Fenolheda), and internal allophone enclaves (Petite Gavacharie of Poitevin-Saintongeais language, ancient Ligurian enclaves of eastern Provence, the quasi-Ligurian-Occitan enclave of Monaco ...). This leads to variations in whether small internal or external enclaves are taken into account. The definition of a contiguous and compact Occitan-speaking territory is currently the most widespread.

• Occitanian culture flourished in the High Middle Ages. Many writers, poets, and exponents in the troubadour movement used Occitan as their language of choice, and their works prominently featured courtly love as well as, at times, ideas of religious and social tolerance. According to this definition taken up by historians and anthropologists, the domain is extended north to the Loire including former Occitanophone regions (Aguiaine, Boischaut, Bourbonnais, etc.).

Northern Italy and the Catalan Countries were also homes of troubadour using the Koiné Occitan literary. In the same way, the Basque Country and Aragon benefited from Occitan stands, old or newer, which notably gave rise to the appearance of an Occitan dialect south of the Pyrenees. We can also note the historical use of an Occitan scripta as official language.

The name Occitanie appeared in the Middle Ages on the basis of a geographical, linguistic and cultural concept, to designate the part of the French royal domain speaking the langue d’oc.

Its current definition is variable. In the most common usage, Occitania designates the territory where the Occitan has remained in use until today, within the limits defined between 1876 and the 20th century. If Occitan language and culture are almost always associated with it, we also find references to a common history, an ethnic group, a homeland, to a people or to a nation. The first sociological study in the Occitan language to learn how the Occitan define themselves was started in 1976. The survey shows that the Occitan reality is defined by language for 95% of people, culture (94%), characterization by a common history (69%), an ethnic group (50%), a nation (20%). Occitania, as defined by the modern Occitan linguistic territory, covers most of the current Southern France, the Alpine valleys of the Western Piedmont, in Italy, Val d'Aran in Spain and Monaco an area of approximately 190,000 km2. It had about fifteen million inhabitants in 1999 with about 20% inhabitants born outside the territory and about 20% of natives who left. On the other hand, in the absence of a linguistic census, we only imperfectly know the number of speakers of Occitan.

If the preceding notions are generally limited to the modern linguistic boundaries of Occitan, this term can also be used to designate a larger territory. The term "Occitania" becomes commonplace more and more in the vocabulary of scientists. It is used particularly in a historical sense and anthropological by designating a region extending north to the Loire, ignoring contemporary linguistic boundaries. In a book written by experts in medieval history, are included in Occitania of the year 1000 both the provinces of the north (now mainly in Poitou-Charentes) and Catalonia (without the Balearic Islands and the Valencian country) – p. 484. The seven-pointed star, adopted as emblem by the Felibritge symbolized the seven provinces of Occitania, one of which was Catalan. Occitanie is indeed divided by this association into seven maintenances (sections) of which one was that of Catalonia-Roussillon.

In 2016, the name Occitanie is used for the French administrative region Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées which is located on part of the traditional Occitania and includes the Roussillon.

Toponymies

Occitania comes from the medieval Latin Occitania. The first part of the name, Occ-, comes from Occitan òc and the expression langue d'oc, in Italian lingua d'oc. It is an appellation promoted by Dante Alighieri of Occitan by the way of saying "yes" in Old Occitan-Catalan; as opposed to the "langue de si" (Italian) and the "langue d'oïl" (Old French). The ending -itania is probably an imitation of the name [Aqu] itania (Aquitaine). The term Occitania is a synonym for Languedoc and the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Ages.

The first attestation of the use of Occitanie in French dates from 1556. The first certificate of Occitania in Italy dates 1549. In German, the word Occitania was found in 1572.

All of the Occitan language countries have had various designations throughout history. The word Occitania has been the subject of whimsical etymologies (for example, Languedoc was formerly understood as "land of the Goths" or "language of the Goths"), as well as the rapprochement to the Occitan language exemplified in the names of the regions Languedoc and Occitania, we find in La Minerve Française, a collective work published in Paris in 1818, a history of name-changes of the provinces which reveals the word Occitanie to be a doublet of the word Occident formed in the Lower Empire, giving it the original meaning of "western regions", and not a region where (necessarily) the Occitan language was spoken.

• 
  Testament of Lancelot of Orgemont, 1286. The installation of a real Parliament in Toulouse in 1273 chaired by a certain Lancelot d'Orgemont is disputed. The original of the document presented here could date from the 15th century.
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  Entry oucitanìo in The Treasure of Felibritge of Frederic Mistral
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  Pars occitana in a book printed in Latin in 1530.

Like the Occitan language, Occitania has been designated under various successive names. The terms are not exclusive: one can find authors who use different terms in the same time period. Occitania or Pays d'Oc are the most frequently used terms today. However the term Provence is still used when the Felibritge sing the Copa Santa for example during the annual festival of Estello.

• Dioecesis Viennensis (Diocese de Vienne) et Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum (diocesis of the Seven provinces), under Diocletian and Constantine during a division of the Roman Empire, Gaul is divided into dioceses and that of Vienne has its border on the Loire river, bypasses the Central Massif and passes the Rhône between Lyon and Vienne. This is the beginning of the bipartition between Occitan language and langue d'oil.
• Kingdom of Aquitaine: in 781, Charlemagne creates a new kingdom of Aquitaine and names his son Louis the Pious to his head. This new state included the Aquitaine properly speaking (region between Garonne and Loire and the central Massif) as well as the Vasconia. In 806, Charlemagne shares his empire. Louis the Pious receives in addition to Aquitaine the Marca Hispanica, Septimania and Provence.
• Proensa/Proença (old Occitan forms of Provence) and Prouvènço/Provença (Occitan modern forms of Provence), from the Latin Provincia which originally designated the Roman Province is used from the 11th century: all countries of Occitan language (also called Provençal language) of the south of the Loire. The term Provence is still used in its general sense by the Felibritgists.
• Great Provence according to Palestra, Centenary of the Catalan Renaixença.
• Patria romana.
• Lingua Occitana (Occitan language) or Pars occitana (Part of oc) to designate the new royal territories conquered south of the Loire. Occitania was created in Latin by the Capetian administration with the combination of the particle 'Oc/òc' [ɔk] (yes, in Occitan) and of the 'Aquitania/Aquitània' [ɑkitanjɑ] (Aquitaine). Appeared in the 13th century, this term served, after the annexation of almost all the countries of the South by France, to designate only the Languedoc.
• Respublica Occitania (Occitania Republic) during the 14th century.
• Romania (Roumanío), in reference to the medieval usage of calling Occitan the roman.
• Homeland of the Occitan language (Latin patria linguae occitanae), in the official texts of the Kingdom of France from the 14th century.
• Provinces of the Union or United Provinces of the South: in February 1573 the huguenots and the moderate Catholics create a federal republic where each province enjoys a great autonomy vis-a-vis the central power.
• Gascony after the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, "the general name of Gascony or Gascons is used to refer to the countries and peoples to the left side of the Loire where still speaks the old Provençal". Used mainly from the access to the throne of France of Henri IV (1589) and until the French Revolution.
• Reputed foreign provinces of the south of France since the middle of the 17th century at the end of the 18th century
• Occitania in the Diderot Encyclopaedia.
• Occitanie (in the sense of all the Occitan languages): in 1732 in the collection of Capetian laws of Shake Secousse, in 1878, in the Treasure of the Felibritge, in 1911 in the Statutes of the Felibritge; in 1927, Estieu and Salvat founded the College of Occitania.
• Midi: is a vague geographical notion indicating in a rather imprecise way the regions of Occitan dialects of Southern France.
• Southern France: is another vague geographical name indicating in a rather imprecise way the regions of Occitan dialects of Southern France.
• Pays d'Oc: appeared in the 19th century under the impetus of Frederic Mistral, taken over by Antonin Perbòsc four years later.
• Estate of Oc: neologism appeared at the end of the 20th century among supporters of several Occitan languages.

The term "Occitania" now covers a linguistic region. This meaning was used in medieval times attested since 1290. On 29 May 1308, during the Council of Poitiers, it appears that the king of France was declared to reign over two nations: one of lingua gallica and the other of lingua occitana. This partition between Occitan language and langue d'oïl in the Gallo-Roman space is very ancient since it started with Romanisation itself. In 1381, the King Charles VI of France considered that his kingdom comprised two parts: the country of langue d'oc, or Occitania, and the oil-language country or Ouytanie "Quas in nostro Regno occupare solebar tam in linguae Occitanae quam Ouytanae". "Occitania" remained in force in the administration until the French Revolution of 1789. It was taken up again in the 19th century by the literary association of Felibritge then it is again claimed since the 20th century, especially since the end of the 1960s. According to Frédéric Mistral's dictionary "Treasury of Felibritge", the term Occitania is sometimes used by scholars to describe Southern France in general but mainly for the former province of Languedoc.

Historiography of the Occitania concept

The langue d'oc is a territorialized language, that is to say, spoken mainly on a territory whose boundaries can be described. This part attempts to describe the origins of the Occitanie concept, the different names that this territory has taken and the creation of the modern concept of Occitania.

A unique object of study: d'oc culture

The speakers of the Occitan language do not use a single meaning of their language because Occitan is not a monolithic language with for example a single dictionary where each speaker finds exactly their vocabulary, but a juxtaposition of dialects. Also, many studies have focused on the differences between Provençal, Languedoc, etc. We must also remember the many common features of the Occitan cultural space, which are generally considered partisans.

The consciousness of a common culture

Robert Lafont develops this idea in the introduction of the "History and Anthology of Occitan Literature". The reference to troubadours is essential. This socio-linguistic argument is modulated according to the authors but it is accepted by all the current scholarship, including the authors who speak of "domain d'oc", since by definition, their study of the d'oc domain rests on the consciousness of the existence of a common culture.

Intercomprehension

The different speakers of the language share many common traits (tonic accentuation, close vocabulary, frequent use of the subjunctive, etc.) that allow mutual understanding. For Occitanists, this intercomprehension means that Occitan is one language; for others, it means that these languages are very close but all agree that the speakers in this defined space understand each other.

Common social characteristics

The social characteristics of Occitania are not eternal and intangible because factors of endogenous mutations and European influences, especially of Northern France, can blur these social peculiarities.

The best studied example is that of Roman Law which is better maintained in the Occitan Early Middle Ages society than in Northern France thanks to the promulgations of Visigoth and Burgundians laws. From the mid-11th century, the teaching of the Corpus Juris Civilis taken shortly after Bologna in the universities of Toulouse, Montpellier, Avignon, Perpignan... will promote a massive renaissance of Roman Law in Occitania.

With regard to education: Pierre Goubert and Daniel Roche write, to explain the low literacy in Occitania in the 18th century, that there exists in these territories a confidence maintained in the old vulgar languages. The relations to education are today completely reversed between Northern and Southern France thanks to the anthropological imprint of the family strain.

From a demographic point of view, the influence of the family was still felt in 2007 because of the small number of families with many children.

In politics, many debates have also taken place around the expression Red Southern coined by Maurice Agulhon to find out if the "pays d'oc" was more "republic" than the northern half of France. Emmanuel Todd analyzing the regions that voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, calling himself a "Republican" in the 2012 presidential elections, declares that "what is obvious is his general inscription in the Occitan family[...] that loves vertical structures, the state or the church."

Finally, for André Armengaud, these common social characteristics make it possible to write a historical synthesis. But since 1979, no other "History of Occitan" has been undertaken.

The appearance of the modern concept of Occitania

If the term Occitania appeared in French from the mid-16th century, then in 1732 in a collection of laws of the ancien régime, it only becomes current at 19th century. Thus, the duke of Angoulême conspired with a view to the establishment of a Kingdom of Occitania or of a Vice-Royalty of Occitania at the time of the Restoration. The term was popularized by the publications of Raynouard and Rochegude, and known in its contemporary sense by the English historian Sharon Turner.

It appeared in the Treasury of Felibritge and in the statutes of this organization in 1911. In the Interwar period, a Felibritgan school, the Escòla Occitana was created in 1919 in the Toulousean Languedoc. The Institute of Occitan Studies was born in 1930. These initiatives (as well as others) remain closely linked, notably because of the dual membership of their main animators at Felibritge.

After the Second World War, the creation of the Institute of Occitan Studies was presided over by a resistant (at a time when the Felibritge like the SEO were tainted by lawsuits of collaboration), but above all its action in terms of linguistic reform, particularly its desire to adapt the classical norm to Provençal, marked a break with a large fraction of the Felibritge François Fontan created the first overtly Occitan nationalist party in 1959.

In France, Occitania has been confronted with a problem of recognition of Occitan since 1992; the French is the only "language of the Republic". In 1994, it was made compulsory in the public space (places of commerce and work, public transport, etc.) and in the administration (laws, regulations, documents, judgments, etc.).

In 2015, with the prospect of creating a large region gathering "Midi-Pyrénées" and "Languedoc-Roussillon", the name "Occitanie" came at the head of an online survey organized by the regional press (23% of the 200,000 voting, in front of "Occitanie-Pays catalan" 20%). Note, however, a variable support rate depending on the geographical origin of the voters. As part of the territorial reform, a consultation on the name of the region, organized by the Regional Council Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées took place in spring 2016 to give a name to the new region regrouping Midi-Pyrenees and Languedoc-Roussillon. Occitanie came first (44.90% of the vote), with 91,598 voters. Second was Languedoc-Pyrenees with 17.81% of the votes, then Pyrenees-Mediterranean (15.31%), Occitanie-Catalan Country (12.15%) and finally Languedoc (10.01%). This new region was renamed Occitanie (with the subtitle Pyrenees-Mediterranean), according to the vote of the regional councillors on June 24, 2016, and after final validation by the Government of France and Conseil d'État.

Distinction between Occitania and Catalonia

Despite the historic and political dependencies between the 10th and 13th centuries that eventually led to the creation of a common Occitan-Catalan cultural environment during Middle Ages, neither the Principality of Catalonia nor the Catalan Countries have ever been part of Occitania. On the contrary, from the 11th century the Catalan expansion towards the Occitan regions of Languedoc and Provence (through family ties of feudal nobility) gave rise to a long-term confrontation between the countal dynasties of Barcelona and Toulouse, but finally they had to ally against the Cathar Crusade promoted by France and the Papacy in the beginning of the 13th century. The great defeat resulting from the Battle of Muret (1213) and the subsequent Treaty of Corbeil (1258) ratified the loss of Catalan influence in Occitania and its gradual replacement by the French dynasty of the House of Capet.

Regarding to linguistic affinity and closeness, after some early Romance-language scholars considered them to be the same language, Catalan intellectuals (among them Pompeu Fabra and Joan Coromines) solemnly proclaimed in a 1934 manifesto that Catalan was a distinct language from Occitan, as established by the common consensus of current scientific linguistics.

Moreover, the Parliament of Catalonia passed in 2015 a law recognizing Aran Valley's "national identity", understood as an "Occitan national reality" apart from the Catalan nation.

Geography

Occitania includes the following regions:

• The southern half of France: Provence, Drôme-Vivarais, Auvergne, Limousin, Guyenne, Gascony, southern Dauphiné and Languedoc. French is now the dominant language in this area, where Occitan is not recognized as an official language.
• The Occitan Valleys in the Italian Аlps, where the Occitan language received legal status in 1999. These are fourteen Piedmontese valleys in the provinces of Cuneo and Turin, as well as in scattered mountain communities of the Liguria region (province of Imperia), and, unexpectedly, in one community (Guardia Piemontese) in the region of Calabria (province of Cosenza).
• The Aran valley, in the Pyrenees, in Catalonia where Occitan has been an official language since 1990 (status granted by the partial autonomy of Aran Valley, then confirmed by the Catalan Statute)
• The Principality of Monaco (where Occitan is traditionally spoken beside Monégasque).

Occitan or langue d'oc (lenga d'òc) is a Latin-based Romance language in the same way as Spanish, Italian or French. There are six main regional varieties, with easy inter-comprehension among them: Provençal (including Niçard spoken in the vicinity of Nice), Vivaroalpenc, Auvernhat, Lemosin, Gascon (including Bearnés spoken in Béarn) and Lengadocian. All these varieties of the Occitan language are written and valid. Standard Occitan is a synthesis which respects soft regional adaptations.

Catalan is a language very similar to Occitan and there are quite strong historical and cultural links between Occitania and Catalonia.

Historic regions

The regions of Ancien Régime that make up Occitania are the following: Auvergne (Auvèrnhe), Forez (west and south fringe), Bourbonnais (southern half), Couserans (Coserans), Dauphiné (southern half), County of Foix (County of Fois), County of Nice (County of Nissa), Périgord (Peiregòrd), Gascony, Guyenne (Guiana), Languedoc (Lengadòc), Angoumois (eastern end), Limousin (Lemosin), Poitou (Poetou) (southeastern extremity), La Marche (la Marcha), Provence (Provença), Comtat Venaissin (lo Comtat Venaicin), Velay, Vivarais (Vivarés).

Traditional Occitan Provinces (currently in France):

1. Béarn [Bearn] (Pau) – 6,800 km2 (est.)
2. Guyenne [Guiana] & Gascony (Bordeaux) – 69,400 km2 (est.)
3. Limousin [Lemosin] (Limoges) – 9,700 km2 (est.)
4. La Marche (Limousin) [la Marcha] (Guéret) – 7,600 km2 (est.)
5. Auvergne [Auvèrnhe] (Riom) – 19,300 km2 (est.)
6. Languedoc [Lengadòc] (Toulouse) – 45,300 km2 (est.)
7. Dauphiné (Grenoble) – 8,500 km2 (est.)
8. County of Nice [County of Nissa] (Nice) – 3,600 km2 (est.)
9. Provence [Provença] (Aix-en-Provence) – 22,700 km2 (est.)
10. Comtat Venaissin [lo Comtat Venaicin] (Carpentras) – 3,600 km2 (est.)
11. County of Foix [County of Fois] (Foix) – 3,300 km2 (est.)

X. Bourbonnais (southern half) – approx. 3,200 km2 (est.)

Administrative divisions in France