Aquitaine

With more then 700,000 inhabitants Bordeaux is the biggest city in Aquitaine region of France. While the Bordeaux region was populated since Neolithic times the first archeologically attested human dwellings date from 6th century BC. In the first century BC the Romans founded Aquitaine - "the land of waters" - as a Gaul provinceon the vast territory bordered by the Loire river at the north, the Pyrenean Mountains in the south, the Massif Central at east and the Atlantic Ocean on its west side. Bordeaux under the name of Burdigala becomes a flourishing Roman city, an important ocean port and even the capital of the roman administrative province "Aquitaine II". Towards the end of the Roman occupation the population of Aquitaine region embraces
Even shaken by these historic events the Aquitaine of the Middle Ages is wealthy territory. In the 10th century the theologian and historian Heriger of Lobbes (925-1007) describes it: " With plenty of fish in its rivers, its rich farmland, its vineyards sweet as nectar, dotted with forests, teeming with fruit, abundantly endowed with pasture, filled with gold, silver and other metal resources, taking benefit of vessel traffic and market dues, Aquitaine knows more than other provinces the ardor of all the pleasures". A crucial event in the history of Aquitaine takes place on the 18th of May 1152. This was the day when Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine - who had previously married and divorced the King of France Louis VII - marries Henri, later called Plantagenet, heir to the throne of England, bringing her duchy under the English rule. It is the beginning of a series of armed conflicts for the sovereignty of the region between France and England that will last for the next 3