Nouvelle-Aquitaine replaces Aquitaine
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (French pronunciation: [nuvɛl akitɛn] (listen); Occitan: Nòva Aquitània [ˈnɔβɔ akiˈtanjɔ] or Novèla Aquitània [nuˈβɛlɔ akiˈtanjɔ]; Basque: Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Novéle-Aguiéne) is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions: Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,036 km2 (32,446 sq mi) – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has 5,956,978 inhabitants (municipal population on 1 January 2017). The new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015.It is the largest region in France by area (including overseas regions such as French Guiana), with a territory slightly larger than that of Austria. Its prefecture and largest city, Bordeaux, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the seventh-largest metropolitan area of France, with 850,000 inhabitants. The region has 25 major urban areas, among which the most important after Bordeaux are Bayonne (288,000 inhabitants), Limoges (283,000), Poitiers (255,000), Pau (241,000) and La Rochelle (206,000), as well as eleven major clusters.
New Aquitaine has five universities (Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Limoges, Poitiers and Pau) and several Grandes Écoles. It has three of the four historic resorts on the French Atlantic coast: Arcachon, Biarritz and Royan, as well as several ski resorts (most notably Gourette).
Its economy is based on agriculture and viticulture (vineyards of Bordeaux and Cognac), tourism, a powerful aerospace industry, digital economy and design, parachemical and pharmaceutical industries, financial sector (Niort) and industrial ceramics (Limoges). The new region includes major parts of Southern France ("Midi de la France"), marked by Basque, Occitan, Poitevin and Saintongeais cultures. Historically, it is the "indirect successor" to medieval Aquitaine; it extends over a large part of the former Duchy of Eleanor of Aquitaine.Toponymy
The region's interim name Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes was a hyphenated placename, known as ALPC, created by hyphenating the merged regions' names – Aquitaine,  Limousin and Poitou-Charentes – in alphabetical order.In June 2016, a working group headed by historian Anne-Marie Cocula, a former vice-president of Aquitaine, proposed the name "Nouvelle Aquitaine". The decision came after the popular favourite, "Aquitaine", faced resistance by regional politicians from Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. The other popular favourite, "Grande Aquitaine", was rejected for its connotation with a feeling of superiority. Alain Rousset, president of the region, concurred with the working group's conclusion, reaffirming that he considered the acronym "ALPC" no choice at all. For those deploring the loss of "Limousin" and "Poitou-Charentes", he noted that the predecessor region of Aquitaine subsumed the identities of the Périgord or the Pays Basque, which did not disappear during its 40 years of operation.On 27 June 2016, just a few days ahead of 1 July deadline, the Regional Council almost unanimously adopted Nouvelle-Aquitaine as the region's permanent name. France's Conseil d'État approved Nouvelle-Aquitaine as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, effective two days later.
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