Canéjan (; , before 1987: ''Canéjean'')Décret du 13 mai 1987 portant changement de nom de communes
''

Journal officiel de la République française The ''Official Journal of the French Republic'' (), also known as the ''JORF'' or ''JO'', is the government gazette of the French Republic. It publishes the major legal official information from the national Government of France, the French Pa ...

'' n° 0154, 5 July 1987, p. 7359. is a commune in the

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

department in

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 ...

in southwestern

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

Canéjan is located 11.4 km southwest of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. It is on the

A63 autoroute A63 or A-63 may refer to: * A63 road, a road in England connecting Leeds and Hull * A63 motorway (France), a road connecting Bordeaux and the border with Spain * A63 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Mainz and Kaiserslautern * A63 motorway (Spai ...

, as well as the

Route nationale 10 Route nationale 10, or RN 10, is a trunk (Route Nationale (France), route nationale) in France between Paris and the border with Spain via Bordeaux. Reclassification Unlike many other ''routes nationales'', the road retains its status along the ...

. The commune borders

Cestas Cestas (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Population Economy Cestas Solar Park was the biggest solar park in Europe when Neoen opened it in December 2015. See also *Communes of the ...

(southwest),

Gradignan Gradignan (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. It is a suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is located on its southwest side. Thus, it is a member of the Bordeaux Métropole. Population Education institutions ...

(northeast),

Pessac Pessac (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a member of the metropolis of Bordeaux, being the second-largest suburb of Bordeaux and located just southwest of it. Pessac is also home to ...

(north), and Léognan (southeast).

History

Gallo-Romans' relics has been discovered which attest human presence around the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century. On 20 August 1949, 29 people from Canéjan died at Le Puch (Cestas), while fighting a fire which killed 82 and burned . In September 1949, General

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

came in Canéjan to visit firefighters' graves.

Name

There used to be two different ways of spelling the name of the city, Canéjean or Canéjan, in July 1987 it has been decided to keep only one: Canéjan.