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Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , ; 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'' ( la, 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 200,000–800,000Fabrice BERNISSAN (2012). "Combien l'occitan compte de locuteurs en 2012 ?", ''Revue de Linguistique Romane'', 76 (12/2011-07/2012), pp. 467-512« De fait, le nombre des locuteurs de l’occitan a pu être estimé par l’INED dans un premier temps à 526 000 personnes, puis à 789 000, » ("In fact, the number of occitan speakers was estimated by the French Demographics Institute at 526,000 people, then 789,000") Philippe Martel, "Qui parle occitan ?" i
''Langues et cité''
n°10, December 2007. 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 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'' and ''Aquitània'' 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., ''Théorie de l’aliénation et émancipation ethnique. Suivi de: Pour en finir avec le Mammouth'', Circle Alfons Mias, 2014, 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,Robert Lafont (1971, 1977, 1987), "Clefs pour l'Occitanie", Paris: Seghers, 1987: ."Histoire d'Occitanie" under the direction of André Armengaud and Robert Lafont. Paris: Hachette, 1979 Rober Lafont (2003). ''Petita istòria europèa d'Occitània'', Canet: El Trabucaire we also find references to a common history, an ethnic group,Universalis Encyclopedia – Occitan Language and Literature
"Language of an Ethnicity Who Was Not A Nation, Its history is the constant quest for awareness that the most diverse imperatives have constantly challenged. 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%).Yvon Bourdet. Maria Clara Viguier Occitans sense o saber (Occitan without knowing it), Language and society, 1980, vol. 11, number 1, pp. 90-93
Maria Clara Viguier Occitans sense o saber (Occitans without knowing it)
/ref> 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.We can quote in particular the demographer Hervé Le Bras and the historian Emmanuel Todd who often use it in several of their works. It is used particularly in a historical sense and anthropological by designating a region extending north to the Loire, ignoring contemporary linguistic boundaries.'' L'Origine des systèmes familiaux: Volume 1 Eurasia'', Emmanuel Todd, publisher Gallimard, col. "NRF Essais", 2011 , 768 pages 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 '' quitania'' (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