Périgord ( , ; ; or ) is a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

and former province of

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 ...

, which corresponds roughly to the current

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of

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 ...

. It is divided into four areas called the Périgord Noir (Black), named so for the truffles that can be found there, the Périgord Blanc (White), for chalk cliffs and quarries, the Périgord Vert (Green), for forests and forestry and the Périgord Pourpre (Purple), for wine and viticulture. The geography and natural resources of Périgord make it a region rich in history and wildlife, and the newly created Parc Naturel Régional Périgord-Limousin aims to conserve it as such. Périgord is noted for its

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

, especially its

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

and

goose A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egy ...

products, such as '' confit de canard'' and ''

foie gras ; (, ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a Domestic duck, duck or Domestic goose, goose. According to French law, ''foie gras'' is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by ''gavage'' (force feeding). ''Foie gras'' i ...

''. It is known as a centre for

truffle A truffle is the Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, one of the species of the genus ''Tuber (fungus), Tuber''. More than one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''P ...

s in France. Périgourdine wines include Bergerac (red and white) and Monbazillac.

History

There are Roman ruins in Périgueux which have been restored and the whole area is known as the 'cradle of mankind' due to its wealth of

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

sites, of which the most famous prehistoric site is the painted cave of

Lascaux Lascaux ( , ; , "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, Dordogne, Montignac, in the Departments of France, department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 Parietal art, parietal cave painting, wall paintin ...

, whose depictions of

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and other animals (but not of humans) date back some 17,000 years. The centre of prehistoric studies is the small town of

les Eyzies Les Eyzies (; ) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and terri ...

, home to the newly rebuilt Museum of Pre-History, where 19th century archaeological investigations established the valley of the

Vézère The Vézère (; ) is a 211-km-long river in southwestern France. It is an important tributary to the Dordogne (river), Dordogne. Its source is in the northwestern part of the elevated plateau known as the Massif Central. It flows into the Dordog ...

as an unusually rich array of pre-historic sites dating back some 40,000 years. One of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's World Heritage locations, the valley contains 147 prehistoric sites dating from the

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

era and 25 decorated caves. During the Roman

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, the area was organized as the territory of the Petrocorii () with its capital near modern Périgueux. This was known as Vesunna, apparently after a local

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

fertility goddess of the same name. Under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, it formed part of

Gallia Aquitania Gallia Aquitania (, ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a list of Roman provinces, province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France and the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Val d'Aran in northeast Spain, wher ...

and then, after the Diocletianic

Reforms Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

, Aquitania Secunda. The area was known in the early Middle Ages as the Petragoric lands () and then, after the 8th century, as the

county of Périgord The County of Périgord was a historical region of France. The name Périgord derived from the Gauls, Gaul Gallic tribes, tribe of the Petrocorii, who resisted the Roman Republic, Roman Roman conquest of Gaul, conquest. It was preserved in the ea ...

. The

counts Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

were

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s of the dukes of

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

, making them part of the English

Angevin Empire The Angevin Empire (; ) was the collection of territories held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England, half of France, and parts of Ireland and Wal ...

during the 13th century. The area was one of the main battlegrounds of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

over the next two centuries. It passed into the hands of the dukes of Orleans in the 15th century, the d'Albrets in the 16th, and then finally crown land of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

upon the accession of Henri IV. Owing to its contentious history, Périgord has numerous medieval castles and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

chateaux, including Puymartin, Losse, Hautefort, and Beynac, Jumilhac-le-Grand, Fénelon, Biron, Bourdeilles, Castelnaud, Puyguilhem, and Rouffiac.

Geography

Périgord surrounds and is named after the '' préfecture'' (capital) of the Dordogne, Périgueux, and also includes Bergerac in the south and Sarlat in the east. File:DPT 120809 594.jpg, Château des Milandes in the '' commune'' of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, built in 1489. File:2015 Jardins de Marqueyssac (1).jpg, Gardens of the Château de Marqueyssac, classified amongst the Notable Gardens of France by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

In popular culture

A visit to the province inspired the English novelist Julia Stuart to write her novel ''The Matchmaker of Périgord''.

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...

's novel ''

Timeline A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representing t ...

'' is partially set in 1357 Périgord.

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

filmed his classic thriller '' Le Boucher'' here in 1970, with references to Bergerac and the cinema at Sarlat. The Martin Walker crime novels featuring Bruno Courreges, chief of police, are set in the fictional town of St. Denis on the Vézère river. In Christian Vincent's 2012 film ''

Haute Cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

'' (French title: ''Les Saveurs du Palais''), the protagonist Hortense Laborie is a chef from Périgord. The 2013 documentary film '' After Winter, Spring'' follows the lives of family farmers in Périgord, including their struggles in the face of real estate development, government agriculture policy, and large

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

.''After Winter, Spring
Seattle International Film Festival
. Accessed May 10, 2014. In the eighth film in the MI7 film series, the main story is set in Perigord in a fictional version of the region where it becomes a country. It is run by the

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

sympathiser Leon Napoli in the film.

References

Citations

General and cited references

External links

Dordogne Tourist Highlights

Dordogne France Information

Préfecture website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perigord Former provinces of France Geography of Charente Geography of Dordogne Geography of Gironde Geography of Lot (department) Geography of Lot-et-Garonne History of Nouvelle-Aquitaine History of Occitania (administrative region) History of Charente History of Dordogne History of Gironde History of Lot (department) History of Lot-et-Garonne Natural regions of France Guyenne