Leucate (; ) is a commune in the

Aude Aude ( ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it " ...

department in southern

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 ...

. It lies between the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the lagoon Étang de Leucate.

Geography

Leucate is on the Mediterranean coast of France. It is part of the eastern

Corbières Massif The Corbières Massif ( ; ; ) is a mountain range in the Pre-Pyrenees. It is the only true foothill of the Pyrenees on their northern side. Geography The Corbières are a mountain region in the Languedoc-Roussillon in southeastern France, loc ...

, which are called the Corbières maritimes. It is around south of

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

, and around north of

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

. On a clear day, the Phare du Cap Leucate offers a view over the French Mediterranean Sea from the Spanish border to the south to the

Camargue The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...

to the east.

Population

Urban morphology

The town stretches over five tourist attractions, from north to south: * La Franqui * Leucate village * Leucate beach (Leucate plage) * The

naturist Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

village (Village naturiste) on the island of Correggio * Port-Leucate.

Personalities

* Henry de Monfreid, adventurer and author *

Françoise de Cezelli Françoise de Cezelly (1558 – 16 October 1615) was a French war heroine during the French Wars of Religion. She distinguished herself when the village of Leucate was besieged by Spanish forces allied with the Catholic League in 1590, after her ...

(1558–1615)

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

and French female war hero * André Héléna (1919–1972) author * Christophe Neff geographer

Sources

* Nöel Hautemanière and Jacques Hiron: ''Leucate : plein cadre; livre de photographies''. Toreilles, 2004, . * Christophe Neff: ''Kulturlandschaftswandel, Fremdenverkehr und Biodiversität auf der Halbinsel Leucate (Dept. Aude / Frankreich).'' In: ''Fremdenverkehrsgebiete des Mittelmeerraumes im Umbruch. Beiträge der Tagung des Arbeitskreises "Geographische Mittelmeerländer-Forschung“ vom 11.-13. Oktober 1996 in Regensburg.'' Regensburger Geographische Schriften, Heft 27, S. 99-135, Regensburg, 1998, * Christophe Neff : ''Observation géographiques et floristiques sur la presqu'île de Leucate''. In: Bul. Soc. Et. Sc. Nat. Nîmes et Gard, T. 62, 1999, 23-34. * Christophe Neff and Peter Frankenberg : ''Reflexions géobotaniques sur les plantes échappees de jardins: L´example de Euphorbia dendroides et d´autres espèces ornementales dans la région de Leucate et dans les Corbières maritimes (Aude, France)''. In : Bul. Soc. Et. Sc. Nat. Nîmes et Gard, T. 63, 2001, 7- 10. * Christophe Neff : ''Les Corbières maritimes – forment-elles un étage de végétation méditerranéenne thermophile masqué par la pression humaine ?'' In: Eric Fouache (Edit.): ''The Mediterranean World Environment and History. IAG Working Group on Geo-archeology, Symposium Proceedings. Environmental Dynamics and History in Mediterranean Areas, Paris, Université de Paris – Sorbonne 24 – 26 avril 2002''. Paris, 2003, 191 – 202, (Elsevier France, ).

References

External links

* {{Authority control Communes of Aude