Occitania

Political map of Occitania. Featured with black spots the cities of Toulouse, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Marseille, Viella and Clermont-Ferrand.

Occitania (Occitan: Occitània, pronounced /utsiˈtanjɔ, uksiˈtanjɔ, ukʃiˈtanjɔ, uksiˈtanja/) is a historical region located in the southwest of Europe that includes the area of territories where the Occitan language was the vernacular language, along with the culture developed in the areas of greatest influence of said Romance language.

It corresponds in its greatest extension to the French South, although it also includes the Aran Valley, located in the Pyrenees mountain range (northern Spain), and some alpine valleys called Occitan Valleys, belonging to the Italian region of Piedmont, as well as the Principality of Monaco.

Etymology

Occitania is a word that emerged at the end of the 13th century in Latin literature. It originates from the contraction of two expressions, Occ alluding to the language d'oc itself spoken, a name given by Dante and the ending -tania probably in imitation of the word Aquitaine corresponding to the respective duchy.

History

Occitania has been since ancient times a strategic crossroads between all kinds of cultures, mainly thanks to its particular microclimate favorable to human settlement. In the Occitan territory there are deposits dating from the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. Phoenicians and Etruscans, Mediterranean mercantile cultures, traded on the Occitan shores. The Greeks established colonies by founding cities like Marseille, Nice or Agda. The Celtic peoples were relatively few in this land, but the influence of their traditions was notable in the methods of fishing and hunting, music, the cremation of the dead or the elaboration of metal.

The later Roman Empire invaded the Occitan territories in two stages, introducing among the population its concept of State, administration, social organization, customs such as the cultivation of the vine, urbanization and language, Latin, language Occitan mother. After waves of barbarian invasions (Alans, Suevi and Vandals), the region experienced the passage and occupation of Visigoths and Ostrogoths, Scandinavians (Normans, Vikings), Vascones and Muslims.

During the Middle Ages, heir to Latin culture and a part of Celtic elements, Occitania became one of the most active centers of Romanesque culture from the 9th century on. Thus, Occitan was one of the first languages to replace Latin in many acts, documents, literary pieces and scientific works: the first grammars such as the Leys d'amors, prior to that of Nebrija, were written in that language.

Three consecutive centuries, from the 11th century to the XIII, were the heyday of Occitan culture. The written Occitan language, thanks to its refined culture, became a type of model language particularly with the birth of troubadour literature and its spread throughout most of Western Europe, mentioning the influence it exerted on Catalan-speaking lands until the time of the popular writer Ausiàs March. It also exercised transmitted political influences, such as the elaboration of the charters of the territories of the Kingdom of Navarra and the Crown of Aragon, similar to the model of "de facto independence", and prosperity that this granted, which existed in Occitan territory (County and later Viscounty of Carcassonne, County of Tolosa, County of Foix, County of Provence and Duchy of Aquitaine), although the unity of the Occitan territories was actually a cultural and linguistic unit, but not intrinsically political in itself.

During the Albigensian Crusade, the French Army led by Simón de Montfort attacked and looted the main cities that cradled the Occitan culture, invading the territory of the Count of Tolosa Ramón VI. The count gathered and summoned his allies, among whom was King Pedro II of Aragon. The Battle of Muret, which occurred in September 1213, marked the end of the Golden Age of Occitan culture with the death of the King of Aragon on the one hand and, above all, with the defeat of the Occitan-Aragonese troops; stopping the expansion of the Crown of Aragon in the area of the French South. The Languedoc thus became a dependency of the crown of France. From the mid-13th century to the early 17th century, almost all the territories of the Occitan lords were incorporated into the Kingdom of France.

Territory and regions

Toponymic map of Occitania in Occitan.

Political map of Occitania according to Occitan nationalism.

Uzerche, Lemosin town, one of the territories considered part of Occitania.

Occitania is located between the Bay of Biscay and the Western Alps, and between the French Massif Central (in Occitan: Massís Central), the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees (in Occitan Pirineus) central. Three river basins stand out in Occitania: the Rhône in the east and a tributary of the Mediterranean and the Garonne and Loire in the west, these two western basins flow directly into the Atlantic Ocean, the Lèger roughly marks the historical limits between the area of the language of Oc, that is, Occitania (to the south) and the language of oil or French (the area to the north of this river, where the French language, is the territory called Francimania by the Occitans).

In this way, the "Occitan Country" covers an approximate area of about 200,000 km², in which about 15 million inhabitants live.

It comprises seven historical regions, most of which speak some dialect of Occitan: Gascogne and Guyenne in the west; Limousin and Auvergne in the north; Dauphiné and Provence to the east and Languedoc to the south. Occitania does not have any unified political entity, therefore it is not possible to identify a capital. However, Occitan nationalism has always tended mainly to locate the capital of a possible independent Occitania in the city of Toulouse, as it is the main economic center of the country.

Administratively, the Occitan cultural area extends over:

• The French regions of Occitania (except the department of the Eastern Pyrenees, which is of Catalan language and culture), Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and part of Auvernia-Ródano-Alpes, Centro-Valle de Loire and New Aquitaine.

• The Principality of Monaco (more because of its geographical location than the actual use of the western language in Monaco).

• The West Valades in the northwest of Italy (mainly in the Piedmont region).

• El Valle de Arán, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, northeast of Spain.

However, the so-called "de-occitanized regions" of France, such as Poitou, Saintonge and Angoumois are now considered voluntarily separated from the corresponding territorial and cultural definition of Occitania.

Culture

Language

Occitan is the most central of the Romance languages; As a result of this, while external influences have been affecting the Romance linguistic periphery, this central area has been receiving less influence, and thus Occitan was born. Another hypothesis about the birth of Occitan may be that it was a vehicular language among all the people from the neighboring areas. In any case, Occitan must have been influenced by unique circumstances (in terms of Europe) such as:

• The orographic structure: the west is blocked on all its borders by natural barriers: the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pyrenees, the Central Massif and the Alps.
• Abundance of areas not prone to agriculture, which strongly influenced the non-establishment of foreign colonies in ancient times.
• The immobility of the prehistoric peoples of the area, which generated a fairly homogeneous substrate.
• Less Celtization than neighboring regions.
• An old and long romanization.
• A weak germination.

Map of the western dialects spoken in Occitania.

The definition of this territory is given by the extension of the Occitan language. Despite this, the use of the language is not currently widespread: in a territory with thirteen million inhabitants, only three million are estimated to speak Occitan.

The Occitan language is only recognized as official, protected and promoted in the Aran Valley (Catalonia, Spain); in Italy it has the status of a protected language and in France it is only accepted in the educational network but without legal recognition.

The Fédération des langues régionales pour l'enseignement public estimated the number of students in Occitan in October 2005 at 4,326.

According to a 2002 report by the French Ministry of Culture (Rapport au Parlement sur l'emploi de la langue française, 2003), in schools, collèges and lycées, in the 2001-02 academic year there were 67,549 students enrolled in classes of or in Occitan.

Despite this precarious social position, Occitan was one of the official languages of the 2006 Turin Olympic Games.

Occitan is broadly composed of three large dialect groups:

• Gascon; oranges.
• Southern West: Languedociano and Provencal.
• Noroccitano: almsín, auvernense, vivaroalpino.

Symbols

The western flag is not official in most of the area of linguistic influence, but its use is frequent (image of the town of Saint-Hilaire).

Since the region lacks a uniform political status, the Occitan symbols hold different degrees of official status depending on the territory. Among the most used it is worth mentioning:

• The song She singswhich in its different versions constitutes a Informal hymn of the West. This song is official in the Aran Valley and its use in official ceremonies within the Occitan Valades has been regulated by Law 482-99.

• La Occitania Cross. The dynastic symbol of the ancient Counts of Tolosa whose first documented description dates from a condal seal of 1165. The cross is present in the official flags of different western territories such as the French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, the department of Altos Alpes or the Aran Valley. Its presence is very frequent in the heraldic of the communities of western culture and is often used to point out the belonging of places or communities to the western culture (e.g. in posters at the entrance of peoples).

• In addition, the same cross on a red background and without further aditation constitutes the West flag. This flag is official in the region of Mediodía-Pyrenees, and of generalized informal use to identify the western culture (for example to indicate the western version in multilingual indicative panels in tourist areas).

Occitan nationalist political movements

Western Manifestation in Carcassonne in 2005.

Occitan nationalism acquired political expression from 1959, with the creation by Francés Fontan of the Occitan Nationalist Party (currently Partit de la Nación Occitana, known by the acronym PNO), representing the concretion of the sociopolitical theories developed by the Occitanist ideologues and especially those of Robèrt Lafont.

Subsequently, many political entities of varying duration arose, among which it is worth highlighting the protest movement Volèm Viure al País (significant above all in 1974 as a result of the impulse it achieved with the demonstrations it called in Larzac) and the Partit Occità that has become submitted on various occasions to the French regional and general elections. At present, Occitan regionalism has seen part of its political aspirations materialized with the creation of the French administrative region of Occitania, however there are critical Occitan currents that demand that the French government correct the limits of the region and integrate it into it. of the department of Cantal, of purely Occitan language and culture, and which is currently integrated together with other cantons that are "mixed" in the administrative region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. Occitan regionalists are also currently calling for a greater presence of Occitan in kindergartens and primary schools, and for it to become compulsory together with French without underestimating the latter.

Symbols

Flag used by western nationalism.

The Occitan nationalist flag incorporates a golden seven-pointed star into the traditional representative flag of Occitania. It was added during the 70s at the proposal of Francés Fontan and the PNO, symbolizing the seven historical Occitan regions while representing the Félibrige cultural association founded under the dedication of the Holy Stele.

Occitan nationalist organizations

Currently there are various political parties and organizations within Occitan nationalism of different political sign, highlighting the following:

• Party of the West Nation (PNO)
• Partit Occitan (PO)
• Libertat!
• Occitan fight (LO) (disbanded in 1974)
• Anaram Au Patac (AAP) (disbanded in 2009)