Occatine Region

Occatanie Region

The Conseil d’État approved Occitanie as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, coming into effect on 30 September 2016.^[4]

The modern administrative region is named after the larger cultural and historical region of Occitania, which corresponds with the southern third of France. The region Occitanie as it is today covers a territory similar to that ruled by the Counts of Toulouse in the 12th and 13th centuries. The banner of arms of the Counts of Toulouse, known colloquially as the Occitan cross, is used by the modern region and is also a popular cultural symbol. In 2015, Occitanie had a population of 5,839,867.

Geography

Occitanie is the second-largest region in mainland France, covering an area of 72,724 km² (28,079 sq mi); it has a population of 5,845,102 (2017).^[12] It has a Mediterranean coast on the southeast and is neighboured by Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur on the east, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on the northeast and Nouvelle-Aquitaine on the west and northwest, as well as foreign borders of Andorra (Canillo, Encamp, La Massana, Ordino) and Spain (Aragon and Catalonia) on the south.