Bigordans is the term for the inhabitants of
Bigorre
Bigorre ({{IPA-fr, biɡɔʁ; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of t ...
.
At least into the first half of the 20th century the Bigordans maintained a separate ethnic and cultural identity from other French people. There were very adamant in claiming differences from the neighboring
Béarn
The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno 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 southwest France. Along with the three Bas ...
ais. However, by the start of the 20th century the springs and baths of Bigorre were attracting many visitors from other parts of France, and the local ethnic uniqueness was threatened.
In the 1984 edition of the ''
Britannica'', Bigordans are still shown as a separate ethnic group on the map "Primary European Ethnic Culture Areas". However this same map still shows
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
and
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
as inhabited by Germans, as well as the
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
. Since these areas had mass deportations of their German population after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, it is evident that the map does not reflect the reality of ethnic concentrations in Europe for any year after 1945.
Sources
Miltoun, Francis. ''Castles and chateaux of old Navarre and the Basque Provinces: including also Foix, Roussillon and Béarn''. (Boston: L C. Page & Company, 1907) p. 85*''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 1984 Edition. Vol. 6, p. 1122.
Michelet, Jules. (trans. G. H. Smith). ''History of France''. (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1869) p. 162
Ethnic groups in France