Aramits (; ; ) is a commune in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

department in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

region of south-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Location

Aramits is located in part of the Barétous valley, the westernmost of the three main valleys of

Béarn Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...

crossing the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. It is located some 15 km south-west of Oloron-Sainte-Marie and 3 km north of Arette.

Access

Access is by the D919 road from Ance in the north-east to the village then continuing to Lanne-en-Baretous in the south-west. There are also the minor roads D659 from the village north to join the D159 on the northern border and the D133 which goes south from the village to Arette.Google Maps
/ref> Bus route 848 of the ''Inter-urban network of Pyrénées-Atlantiques'', which connects ''La Pierre Saint-Martin'' (a ski resort in Arette) to Oloron-Sainte-Marie, has a stop in Aramits.

Hydrography

Located in the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the Adour, the commune is bisected from south-west to north-east by : '' Le Vert'' a tributary of the

Gave d'Oloron The Gave d'Oloron () is a river of south-western France near the border with Spain. It takes its name from the city Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where it is formed from the rivers Gave d'Aspe and Gave d'Ossau. It joins the Gave de Pau in Peyrehorade ...

which gathers many tributaries of its own in the commune including the Aurone, the Lancy, the Littos, the Talou Gros, and also by the ''arrècs'' of Bugalaran, Bitole (as well its tributary the Rachet), Ibarcis, and Labaigt (and by its tributary the Audore). The tributaries of the Joos: the Arriou de Sulu and the Bouhatéko erreka (with the Dragon) also flow through the commune.

Localities and hamlets

*Aïtzaguer *Andillon *Arhanchet *Aripe *Atchouètos *Badet *Balen *Baliros *Villa Barétous *Bénébig *Bernasqué *Bigué *Bile *Bouenou *Bourette *Brincou *Fontaine Bugalaran *Bois de Bugangue *Borde Estanguet *Granges Cachau *Calangué *Camou *Capdeville *Carquet *Carrère *Casabonne *Casalet *Casemayou *Castera *Chandelle *Chicane *Chinaberry *Chourrout *Coig *Coig de Lamothe *Couéchot *Coustarou *Crapuchette *Escary *Escoubès *Escribasse *Estrate *Galard *Garay *La Gloriette *Gouloume *Gourroure *Guirail *Hondeville *Laborde *Lac de Bas *Lacazette *Lacouère *Lagarde *Lahitte *Lamothe (2 localities) *Lanne de Haut *Lanneretonne *Larrande *Lartigau *Laserre *Laude Bousquet *Grange Lerdou *Lesponne *Lhande *Loustalot *Loustaucaus *Grange de Lurbet *Mendioudou *Ménin *Mesplou *Miapira *Miramon *Mirande *Moncole *Mounolou *Les Murs *Olivé de Haut *Olivé de Baig *Oscamou *Grange d'Osse *Ounces *Oyhenard *Pastou *Les Pernes *Peyré *Grange de Pradet *Prat *Bois de Rachet *Pont de Rachou *Ripaète *Satzoury *Serres *Serreuille *Sottou *Soulou *Talou *Talou Andichou *Talou Piarroch *Tembla de la Loupère *Tos de Haut *Trébucq *Les Trois Arbres Géoportail

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Toponymy

The commune name in béarnais is ''Aràmits'' (according to classical norm of

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

). For Brigitte Jobbé-Duval, the origin of the name is from the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

''aran'' ("valley") and ''-itz'' (a locative and collective suffix) giving "place of valleys" or "confluence". It would also indicate that the inhabitants were once nicknamed ''grenouilles'' (frogs) - a name for the inhabitants of wetlands). The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune. Sources: *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

:''
''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. ''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 *Grosclaude: ''Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn'', 2006 Michel Grosclaude, ''Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn'', Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, 416 pages, *Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750Cassini Map 1750 – Aramits
/ref> Origins: *Ossau: Titles of the Ossau Valley *Luntz: *Insinuations: Insinuations of the Diocese of OloronManuscripts from the 17th century in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Aspe: Titles of the Aspe Valley *Census: Census of BéarnManuscript from the 14th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Cour Majour: Regulations of the Cour MajourCour Majour of Béarn, register manuscripts from the 15th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Military: Military Inspection of BéarnManuscript from 1376 in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques

History

Paul Raymond on page 7 of his 1863 dictionary that Aramits is the former capital of the Barétous valley and that there were two

Lay Abbey A Lay Abbey (Fr: Abbaye laïque) was a basic component of the Middle Ages in the western foothills of the northern Pyrenees. The adjective lay indicated that the property did not belong to a religious order. It is possible to identify a hundred la ...

s, vassals of the

Viscounts of Béarn The viscounts of Béarn (Basque: ''Bearno'', Gascon: ''Bearn'' or ''Biarn'') were the rulers of the viscounty of Béarn, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinc ...

: The ''Abadie-Susan'' and ''Abadie-Jusan''. He further noted that in 1385 there were 52 fires at Aramits and it depended on the bailiwick of Oloron. Shortly before (in 1375), the priest of Aramits played the role of mediator in conflicts between the Navarrese and the Bearnese which gave birth to the treaty called the ''Junta de Roncal'', leading to the yearly tribute of the three cows paid by Aramits to Isaba (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). In 1790, the Canton of Aramits also included

Esquiule Esquiule (; )ESKIULA

. On 13 March 2000 Aramits was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 4.2.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Inter-communality

Aramits is part of five inter-communal structures: *The Communauté de communes du Haut Béarn; *The SIVU for Tourism in Haute-Soule and Barétous; *The SIVU La Verna; *The Energy Association for Pyrénées-Atlantiques; *The Intercommunal association for study and management of the watershed of ''Le Vert'' and its tributaries.

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aramitsiens'' or ''Aramitsiennes'' in French. Brigitte Jobbé-Duval, Dictionary of place names - Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 2009, Archives and Culture,

Economy

The economy of the town is primarily oriented toward agriculture and livestock (cattle and sheep). It is part of the

Appellation d'origine contrôlée In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...

(AOC) zone designation of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and Heritage

Religious heritage

The Parish church of Saint-Vincent (17th century) is registered as an historical monument. It was a former

with the remains of a portal from the 17th century but the old church was demolished in 1880. The new Romanesque-Byzantine style church was built from 1884 to 1886.Ministry of Culture, Mérimée

Environmental heritage

*The Sommet de Souek is 623 metres high *The Soum d'Unars is 604 metres *The Barrat de Sottou is 556 metres.

Facilities

Education

The commune has a primary school.

Sports and sports facilities

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

: the ''Entente Aramits'' plays in

Fédérale 2 Fédérale 2 is a rugby union club championship division in France. It is the sixth division of rugby above Fédérale 3. Teams can earn promotion to Fédérale 1, and subsequently, to the National 2 and Nationale leagues, and on to the profes ...

. Pierre Capdevielle played there from 1985 to 1994.

Notable people linked to the commune

* Henri d'Aramitz lived in the commune. He was the son of Charles Aramitz and a sergeant in the company of musketeers who was the inspiration for Aramis in the novels ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'', '' Twenty Years After'' and '' The Vicomte de Bragelonne'' by

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

References

External links

Aramits Official web site

Aramits on Géoportail
National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
''Aramits'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{authority control Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques