 Edouard Manet: Harbour at Bordeaux, 1871
Bordeaux is the capital of the Aquitaine region,
Bordeaux is a port city in the south-west of France, with 925,253 inhabitants in the metropolitan area at the 1999 census, now an estimated one million inhabitants in 2006. Its inhabitants are called Bordelais.
Bordeaux wine draws its name from the city around which it has been produced since the 8th century. Thus the city is known as the planet's wine capital, hosting the wine industry's biggest event worldwide: Vinexpo.
Bordeaux is the centre of much military, space and aeronautics research and construction.
With almost 100,000 students, the city's university is renowned for its research units in crop science, new materials and nanotechnology.
Bordeaux is located near the European Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. The city is built on a bend of the river Garonne, and is thus divided into two parts: the right bank to the East and left bank in the West. Historically, the left bank is the more developed. In Bordeaux, the Garonne River is accessible to ocean liners.
Between 30,000 and 90,000 years ago the area of Bordeaux was inhabited by the Homo neanderthalensis, whose remains have been found at a famous cave known as Pair-non-Pair, near Bourg sur Gironde, just north of Bordeaux.
In historical times, around 300 BC it was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, who named the town Burdigala, probably of Aquitainian origin. The name Bourde is still the name of a river south of the city. The city fell under Roman rule around 60 BC, its importance lying in the commerce of Tin and Lead towards Rome. Later it became capital of Roman Aquitaine, flourishing especially during the Severan dynasty (3rd century). In 276 it was sacked by the Vandals. Further ravage was brought by the same Vandals in 409, the Visigoths in 414 and the Franks in 498,
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