Arancou (; eu, Erango;ERANGO
Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia oc, Aranco) is a commune in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

department in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is located in the former province of

Lower Navarre Lower Navarre ( eu, Nafarroa Beherea/Baxenabarre; Gascon/Bearnese: ''Navarra Baisha''; french: Basse-Navarre ; es, Baja Navarra) is a traditional region of the present-day French ''département'' of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the ...

Geography

Hydrography

The Lauhirasse, a tributary of the

Bidouze The Bidouze is a left tributary of the Adour, in the French Basque Country (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in the Southwest of France. It is long. Geography The Bidouze rises at the base of ''Eltzarreko Ordokia'' in the Arbailles massif. It drains ...

, and the Baniou, a tributary of the Gave de Pau cross this commune.

Hamlets

* Garai * Le Burrou * Xabai

Bordering communes

Came A came is a divider bar used between small pieces of glass to make a larger glazing panel. There are two kinds of came: the H-shaped sections that hold two pieces together and the U-shaped sections that are used for the borders. Cames are most ...

to the Northwest *

Labastide-Villefranche Labastide-Villefranche (; eu, Bastidaxarre; oc, La Bastida) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 546 commu ...

to the East * Bergouey-Viellenave to the Southwest

Toponymy

The Gascon name for "Arancou" is ''Arancon''; the Basque name is ''Erango''. The name ''Arancou'' appears in the forms ''Arranque'' (1119–1136), Paul Raymond, ''Dictionnaire topographique Béarn-Pays basque'' ''Arancoen'' (13th century), ''Arancoey'', ''Arancoenh'' (around 1360), ''Arrancoeynh'', ''Arancoinh'' (1372), ''Aranquoen'' (1403, titles of

Titles of the commune of

- Departmental archives of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques), and ''Aranco'' (1584, alienation of the

Diocese of Dax The Diocese of Dax or Acqs was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Gascony in south-west France. According to tradition it was established in the 5th century. It was suppressed after the French Revolution, by the Concordat of 1801 betw ...

Registres d'aliénations - ancienne bibliothèque impériale -

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

). The name of Arancou comes from the Basque ''arangoien'', for "higher valley".

History

Prehistory

Tools from the

Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madel ...

era, one of the later cultures of the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

era of Western Europe, were found in the Bourrouillan cave in the territory of Arancou. Several thousand bones from hunted animals were found in the cave, as well as thousands of flint and bone tools.

Modern history

On January 1, 1973, the communes of Arancou, Bergouey, and Viellenave-sur-Bidouze were joined together. On 15 November 1977, Arancou regained its independent status, while Bergouey and Viellenave-sur-Bidouze remained together.

Arancou and Basque country

Jean-Baptiste Orpustan mentions Arancou in 1309 in a list of parishes paying dues to the royal power in

Navarrenx Navarrenx (; oc, Navarrencs, ; eu, Nabarrengose, eu, label=Zuberoan, Nabarrenkoxe) is a town and commune in the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Béarn) and the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The demonym is Navarre. Since 2014, the ...

. Arancou was also mentioned by Eugène Goyheneche towards the end of the Middle Ages. He wrote that "because of the Gramont's power, he situation of the neighboring parishes, including Arancouis ambiguous." However, starting with the modern age, no evidence of Arancou's allegiance to the

Kingdom of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...

can be found. Nor is there evidence of any links to the dukedom of Gramont or of the sovereign principality of Bidache. The chapter of the collegiate Saint-Jacques de Bidache was the lord of the lands; the parish was situated in France in the administrative district of Lannes, where it came under the control of the administrative region of Hastingues. Although Arancou falls without a doubt within modern districting, it is nonetheless included in a list of the communes of Basse-Navarre. While presenting the town in 2009 on his website, the mayor, Alexandre Bordes, did not take sides. Rather, he emphasized the "mix of deep-rooted cultures" and the "location of the town at the borders of Gascogne, Béarn, Basque Country, and the Navarre." His website describes the town as "basquo-béarnais."

Administration

List of Mayors

Intercommunality

Arancou belongs to four different intercommunal territories: * The

Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque The communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque ( eu, Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa), is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Bayonne and Biarritz. It is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques depa ...

* The Adour Syndicate * Syndicate AEP of Arancou - Bergouey-Viellenave - Bidache - Labastide-Villefranche * Syndicate for the department of electricity

Population

Economy

Arancou's economy is primarily agricultural. Arancou is part of the

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...

(a French regional certification) of the cheese,

Ossau-Iraty Ossau-Iraty is an Occitan-Basque cheese made from sheep milk. Origin Ossau-Iraty or Esquirrou is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque Country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béa ...

. There is a limestone quarry in Arancou. Until 1993, it provided the stone for the cemetery, Ciments de l'Adour, in Boucau. The stone was carried in barges down the Bidouze and Adour rivers.

Sights

Civil Heritage

* Farms and houses from the 17th and 18th centuries, * A farm from the 18th century in the lieu-dit Chabay, * The well, wash-house, and fountain of Garay.

Religious Heritage

The church of l'Assomption-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie from the 13th century is listed as an historical monument. It has characteristics of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The church is located on the road, Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle ( Via Turonensis). A wellspring runs underneath the church, feeding a washing-place in the basement. An 18th century Madonna statue called Notre-Dame-d'Arancou can be found in the church, as well as an

hilarri Hilarri (from Basque ''hil'' 'dead' and ''harri'' 'stone') is the name given to disk-shaped funerary steles that are typical of the Basque Country. These funerary steles present a disc-shaped head facing the rising sun on a trapezoidal sta ...

(a disk-shaped funeral

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek language, Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ...

) from Labets-Biscay, and different furnishings registered in the inventory of the Minister of Culture (a tabernacle, font, and cross). The church also has a registered stained glass window.