Occitania is an area in southern France where Occitan ( often called Provençal ) has been historically spoken.

Narrative poetry, especially, received in Occitania a great development, and, thanks to recent discoveries, a considerable body of it has already become known.

Espadrilles have been made in Pyrennean Occitania and Catalonia since the 14th century at least, and there are shops in the Basque country still in existence that have been making espadrilles for over a century.

It was part of the cultural and linguistic region named Occitania that was finally brought within the control of the French kings in the early 13th century as a result of the Albigensian Crusade after which it came under French governors.

Catalan is a language very similar to Occitan and there are quite strong historical and cultural links between Occitania and Catalonia.

Sergio Salvi, a poet, essayist, and historian of minority languages, used the term " internal colonies " in the cultural sense in Le nazioni proibite: Guida a dieci colonie interne dell ' Europa occidentale (" The forbidden nations: Guide to ten internal colonies of western Europe ") ( 1973 ), among which he included Catalonia, Scotland, Brittany and Occitania.

The somewhat uncommon ending of the term Occitania is most probably a portmanteau French clerks coined from òc and Aquitània, thus blending the language and the land in just one concept.

Gallia Aquitania ( or Aquitanica ) is thus also a name used since medieval times for Occitania ( i. e. Limousin, Auvergne, Languedoc and Gascony ), including Provence as well in the early 6th century.

Occitania was often politically united during the Early Middle Ages, under the Visigothic Kingdom and several Merovingian and Carolingian sovereigns.

Despite two hundred years of suppression by successive French centralist governments and the official prohibition of the language at school, in the administration and in the media, Occitan and Occitania have never ceased to inspire poets and authors.

Since then the country was never politically united again, though Occitania was united by a common culture which used to cross easily the political, constantly moving boundaries.

The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practicing Cathars but also a realignment of Occitania, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of Aragonese influence.

But from the 13th to the 17th centuries, the French kings gradually conquered Occitania, sometimes by war and slaughtering the population, sometimes by annexation with subtle political intrigue.

As for the word Provençal, it should not be taken as strictly meaning the language of Provence but of Occitania as a whole, as, " in the eleventh, the twelfth, and sometimes also the thirteenth centuries, one would understand under the name of Provence the whole territory of the old Provincia Romana and even Aquitaine ".

The Albigensian Crusade, which led to the brutal slaughter of approximately 20, 000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike essentially destroyed the previously flourishing civilization of Occitania and brought the region firmly under the control of the king of France.

Gallo-Roman culture, the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire, persisted particularly in the areas of Gallia Narbonensis that developed into Occitania, Gallia Cisalpina and to a lesser degree, Aquitania.

The Albigensian Crusade, which led to the brutal slaughter of approximately 20, 000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike, essentially destroyed the previously flourishing civilization of Occitania and brought the region firmly under the control of the King of France, and the Capetian dinasty from north of France.

The County of Toulouse was a territory in southern France consisting of the city of Toulouse and its environs under the Merovingians ruled by the Count of Toulouse, and the center of Occitania.

Nowadays, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitania, keeping the name Occitan for the language as a whole.

* Root of the name for the Occitan language or for its territory, Occitania.

Auvergnat ( French name ) or Auvernhat ( native name ) is one of several varieties of the Occitan language spoken in Auvergne, which is a historical province in the northern part of Occitania.

Simon was rewarded with the territory conquered from Raymond VI of Toulouse which in theory made him the most important landowner in Occitania.

This area corresponds in large part to Occitania ; that to say, the territory in which Occitan () — as distinct from the of northern France — was historically the dominant language.

Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc ( provinces were abolished during the French Revolution ), the former Visigothic Kingdom and was the capital of the historical region of Occitania ( Southern France ).

He was born in the Limousin, part of Aquitaine, Occitania, France.

Just as the word ' teknival ' was formed by merging the words ' tekno ' and ' festival ', teknivals in different countries are referred to by abbreviated names, such as the aforementioned Czechtek, and also Poltek ( Poland ), Slovtek ( Slovakia ), Southtek ( South Germany ), Bulgariatek ( Bulgaria ), Rotek ( Romania ) Helltek ( Greece, Hellas in Greek ), Dutchtek ( Netherlands ), Easttek ( East Germany ), U-Tek ( Ukraine ), Northtek ( Canada ) and Occitek ( Occitania, South France ).

Occitania (,,,, ), also sometimes lo País d ' Òc, " the Oc Country "), is the historical region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language.

Under later Roman rule ( after 355 ), most of Occitania was known as Aquitania, itself part of the Seven Provinces with a wider Provence, while the northern provinces of what is now France were called Gallia ( Gaul ).

Thus the historic Duchy of Aquitaine must not be confused with the modern French region called Aquitaine: this is the main reason why the term Occitania was revived in the mid-19th century.

In Thionville, nine years before he died ( 805 ), Charlemagne vowed that his empire be partitioned into three autonomous territories according to nationalities and mother tongues: along with the Franco-German and Italian ones, was roughly what is now modern Occitania from the reunion of a broader Provence and Aquitaine.

But things didn't go according to plan and at the division of the Frankish Empire ( 9th century ), Occitania was split into different counties, duchies and kingdoms, bishops and abbots, self-governing communes of its walled cities.

Most people of this county came from Occitania and Italy and so the Occitan language was spoken.

At the end of the Albigensian Crusade from the northern " barons " against the southern Occitania on a religious pretext ( fighting the Cathar heresy ), the Count of Toulouse was defeated and concluded the treaty of Paris in 1229.

The term can be applied to the Francization of the German-speaking inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine after this region was reannexed by France following the First World War, to the Flemings in French Flanders, to the Occitans in Occitania, as well as to Basques, Bretons, Catalans, Corsicans and Niçards.

A similar explanation is offered also for the same nickname as used by another Prince from Occitania, Arnaud Manzer, Count of Angoulême ( born 952-died 988 / 92 ) who also was a bastard.

The manuscripts reflect an " international " European movement, with songs originating from Occitania, France, England, Scotland, Aragon, Castile and the Holy Roman Empire.

Women in Christian Spain and Southern France, those regions part of the Visigothic Kingdom ( 418 – 721 ) and its various successor states ( Asturias, León, Castile, Navarra, Aragon, Aquitania ( Occitania ) and Languedoc ) Visigothic Law and Roman Law combined to allow women more rights then their contemporaries would enjoy until the 20th century.

The names " Occitania " and " Occitan language " ( Occitana lingua ) appeared in Latin texts from as early as 1242-1254 to 1290 and during the following years of the early 14th century ; texts exist in which the area is referred to indirectly as " the country of the Occitan language " ( Patria Linguae Occitanae ).

In 1204, Innocent III suspended a number of bishops in Occitania ; in 1205 he appointed a new and vigorous bishop of Toulouse, the former troubadour Foulques.

From this province were detached the province of Lyon, called Occitania ( 1862 ), that of Toulouse ( 1869 ), and that of Canada ( 1909 ).

Occitania suffered a tangle of varying loyalties to nominal sovereigns: from the 9th to the 13th centuries, the dukes of Aquitaine, the counts of Foix, the counts of Toulouse and the Aragonese kings rivalled in their attempts at controlling the various pays of Occitania.

* Ian Meadows, " The Arabs in Occitania ": The Battle of Toulouse within a Muslim context.

The team's logo displays the gold and blood-red Occitan cross, the symbol of Occitania, of which Toulouse is a historical capital.