Nueva Aquitaine (in French, Nouvelle-Aquitaine; in Occitan, Nòva Aquitània; in Basque, Akitania

Berria) is one of the thirteen regions that, together with overseas territories, make up the French
Republic. Its capital and most populated city is Bordeaux.

It is located in the southwest of the country, bordering to the north with Pays de la Loire and Center-
Valley of the Loire, to the east with Auvergne-Rhône-Alps, to the southeast with Occitania, to the
south with the Pyrenees mountains that separate it from Spain, and to the west with the Bay of Biscay
(Atlantic Ocean). With 84,061 km² it is the largest region, with 5,773,000 inhabitants. in 2012, the
fourth most populated —behind the Ile-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Haute-France— and
with 69 inhabitants / km², the fourth least densely populated, ahead of Center-Loire Valley, Burgundy-
Franche-Comté and Corsica, the least densely populated.1

It was created by the territorial reform of 2014 merging Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes,
and entered into force on January 1, 2016.2

It was called Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes for a few months and the name of New Aquitaine
is official since September 28, 2016 and effective since September 30 of the same year.3

The region has 25 large urban areas, the most important of which are - in addition to Bordeaux and
its 1,158,431 inhabitants.4 - Bayonne (288,359 inhabitants), 5 Limoges (282,971 inhabitants), 6
Poitiers (255 831 inhabitants), 7 Pau (240 857 inhabitants) 8 and La Rochelle (207 211 inhabitants), 9
as well as eleven major poles of competitiveness. The growth of its population, particularly strong on
the coast, makes it one of the most attractive areas of the French territory: the new region is ahead
of the Ile-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in terms of demographic dynamism.10

Apart from the Ile-de-France, New Aquitaine is the leading French region in research and innovation,
drawing on its five universities (Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Limoges, Pau and Poitiers) and several grandes
écoles. Europe's leading agricultural region in terms of turnover, it will also be the first French region
in terms of tourism jobs, counting in particular with the presence of three of the four historic tourist
centers of the French Atlantic coast (Arcachon, Biarritz and Royan), and several ski resorts in the
Pyrenees (Gourette, La Pierre-Saint-Martin), the third region in terms of wealth production with a GDP
amounting to 157.6 billion euros11 and the fifth region in terms of business creation (all sectors
included) 12

Its economy is mainly based on agriculture and viticulture (Bordeaux and Cognac vineyards,
internationally recognized), tourism, a thriving aeronautical and space industry, in the photography,
digital and design sectors, the parachemical industry and pharmaceuticals, the financial sector (Niort
is the fourth largest French market specialized in mutual insurance companies), and industrial
ceramics (Limoges). Its coastline has seen the establishment of many companies specialized in board
sports, mainly surfing.

From a cultural point of view, the new region is one of the main constituent regions of the French
South, marked by the Basque, Occitan and Poitevin-Santongés cultures. Historically speaking, it is the
indirect successor to medieval Aquitaine and will cover a large part of the former Duchy of Eleanor of
Aquitaine.