Bayonne, France

Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Bayonne is located at the confluence of the Nive and Adour Rivers, in the northern part of the cultural region of the Basque Country. It is the seat of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque which roughly encompasses the western half of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, including the coastal city of Biarritz. The area also constitutes the southern part of Gascony, where the Aquitaine Basin joins the beginning of the Pre-Pyrenees.

Together with nearby Anglet, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and several smaller communes, Bayonne forms an urban area with 273,137 inhabitants in the 2018 census, 51,411 of whom lived in the commune of Bayonne proper.Comparateur de territoire: Commune de Bayonne (64102), Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Bayonne (partie française) (047)
INSEE It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián.

The site on the left bank of the Nive and the Adour was probably occupied before ancient times; a fortified enclosure was attested to in the 1st century, while the Tarbelli occupied the territory. Archaeological studies have confirmed the presence of a Roman castrum, a stronghold in Novempopulania at the end of the 4th century, before the city was populated by the Vascones.

In 1023, Bayonne was the capital of Labourd. In the 12th century, it extended to the confluence of the Nive River and beyond. During that time, its first bridge spanning the Adour was built. The city came under English control in 1152 through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine; it became important commercially and, to a lesser degree, militarily thanks to maritime trade. In 1177, Richard the Lion Heart of England took control of the city, separating it from the Viscount of Labourd.

In 1451, the city was taken by the Crown of France after the Hundred Years' War. The loss of trade with the English was followed by the river gradually filling with silt and becoming impassable to ships. As the city developed to the north, its position was weakened compared to earlier times. The district of Saint-Esprit developed initially from settlement by Sephardic Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish expulsions dictated by the Alhambra Decree. This community brought skill in chocolate making, and Bayonne gained a reputation for chocolate.

The course of the Adour was changed in 1578 by dredging under the direction of Louis de Foix, and the river returned to its former mouth. Bayonne flourished after regaining the maritime trade that it had lost for more than a hundred years. In the 17th century, the city was fortified by Vauban, whose works were followed as models of defense for 100 years. In 1814, Bayonne and its surroundings were the scene of fighting between the Napoleonic troops and the Spanish-Anglo-Portuguese coalition led by the Duke of Wellington. It was the last time the city was under siege.

In 1951, the Lacq gas field was discovered in the region; most of its extracted oil and sulphur are shipped from the port of Bayonne. During the second half of the 20th century, many housing estates were built, forming new districts on the periphery. The city developed to form a conurbation with Anglet and Biarritz; the agglomeration became the heart of a vast Basque-Landes urban area.

In 2014, Bayonne was a commune with more than 45,000 inhabitants, the heart of the urban area of Bayonne and of the ''Agglomeration Côte Basque-Adour''. This includes Anglet and Biarritz. It is an important part of the Basque ''Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity'' and it plays the role of economic capital of the Adour basin. Modern industries—metallurgy and chemicals—have been established to take advantage of procurement opportunities and sea shipments through the harbour. Business services today represent the largest source of employment. Bayonne is also a cultural capital, a city with strong Basque and Gascon influences, and a rich historical past. Its heritage is expressed in its architecture, the diversity of collections in museums, its gastronomic specialties, and traditional events such as the noted Fêtes de Bayonne.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Bayonnais'' or ''Bayonnaises''.

Toponymy

Etymology

While the modern Basque spelling is ''Baiona'' and the same in Gascon Occitan,''Euskaltzaindia''
Academy of the Basque language, consulted on 5 August 2014 Baiona
Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia "the name ''Bayonne'' poses a number of problems both historical and linguistic which have still not been clarified".Hector Iglesias
''Names of Places and people in Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz in the 18th century''
, éditions Elkar, Donostia-Saint-Sébastien, 2000, consulted on 25 July 2014, , p. 34 There are different interpretations of its meaning.

The termination ''-onne'' in ''Bayonne'' can come from many in hydronyms ''-onne'' or toponyms derived from that. In certain cases the element ''-onne'' follows an Indo-European theme: ''*ud-r/n'' (Greek ''húdōr'' giving hydro, Gothic ''watt'' meaning "water") hence ''*udnā'' meaning "water" giving ''unna'' then ''onno'' in the glossary of Vienne. ''Unna'' therefore would refer to the Adour. This toponymic type evoking a river traversing a locality is common. The appellative ''unna'' seems to be found in the name of the Garonne (''Garunna'' 1st century; ''Garonna'' 4th century). However, it is possible to see a pre-Celtic suffix ''-ona'' in the name of the Charente (''Karantona'' in 875) or the Charentonne (''Carentona'' in 1050).

It could also be an augmentative Gascon from the original Latin radical ''Baia-'' with the suffix ''-ona'' in the sense of "vast expanse of water" or a name derived from the Basque ''bai'' meaning "river" and ''ona'' meaning "good", hence "good river".

The proposal by Eugene Goyheneche repeated by Manex Goyhenetche and supported by Jean-Baptiste Orpustan is ''bai una'', "the place of the river" or ''bai ona'' "hill by the river"—''Ibai'' means "river" in Basque and ''muinoa'' means "hill".

"It has perhaps been lost from sight that many urban place names in France, from north to south, came from the element ''Bay-'' or ''Bayon-'' such as: Bayons, Bayonville, Bayonvillers and pose the unusual problem of whether they are Basque or Gascon" adds Pierre Hourmat.p. 3. However, the most ancient form of Bayonne: ''Baiona'', clearly indicates a feminine or a theme of ''-a'' whereas this is not the case for Béon or Bayon. In addition, the ''Bayon-'' in Bayonville or Bayonvillers in northern France is clearly the personal Germanic name ''Baio''.

Old attestations

The names of the Basque province of Labourd and the locality of Bayonne have been attested from an early period with the place name ''Bayonne'' appearing in the Latin form ''Lapurdum'' after a period during which the two names could in turn designate a Viscounty or Bishopric.Jean-Baptiste Orpustan
''New Basque Toponymy''
Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2006, p. 19, 26

''Labourd'' and ''Bayonne'' were synonymous and used interchangeably until the 12th century before being differentiated: Labord for the province and Bayonne for the city. The attribution of Bayonne as ''Civitas Boatium'', a place mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and by Paul Raymond in his 1863 dictionary, has been abandoned. The city of the ''Boïates'' may possibly be La Teste-de-Buch