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Midi-Pyrénées (; Occitan: ''Miègjorn-Pirenèus'' or ''Mieidia-Pirenèus''; (スペイン語:Mediodía-Pirineos)) is the largest region of Metropolitan France by area, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark. Midi-Pyrénées has no historical or geographical unity. It is one of the regions of France created in the late 20th century to serve as a hinterland and zone of influence for its capital, Toulouse, one of a handful of so-called "balancing metropolises" (''métropoles d'équilibre'').〔In the 1960s, eight large regional cities of France (Toulouse, Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseille) were made "balancing metropolises", receiving special financial and technical help from the French government in order to counterbalance the excessive weight of Paris inside France.〕 Another example of this is the region of Rhône-Alpes which was created as the region for Lyon. The name chosen for the new region was decided by the French government without reference to the historical provinces (too many of them inside the region). The name was based on geography, Midi (i.e. "southern France") - Pyrénées (Pyrenees mountains that serve as the region's southern boundary), although the region also includes the southernmost part of the Massif Central, which has better communications with Languedoc-Roussillon than with Toulouse. The French adjective and name of the inhabitants of the region is: ''Midi-Pyrénéen''. == Geographical composition == Historically, Midi-Pyrénées is made up of several former French provinces: * 24.2% of the Midi-Pyrénées territory formed part of Gascony: western half of Haute-Garonne department, southwest of Tarn-et-Garonne, Gers in its entirety, extreme north of Hautes-Pyrénées. Gascony here includes the province of Comminges, which historically was a Pyrenean province, but later expanded all the way north to Muret in the southern suburbs of Toulouse, then was fragmented, and became an eastern fringe of Gascony. Gascony also extends over the Aquitaine region. * 23.4% of Midi-Pyrénées was part of Languedoc: the eastern half of Haute-Garonne, southeast of Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn in its entirety, northwest and northeast of Ariège. Languedoc includes the sub-province of Albigeois (Tarn department), which is sometimes considered as a province separate from Languedoc. Languedoc also extends over the Languedoc-Roussillon region. * 19.9% of Midi-Pyrénées was formerly Rouergue: Aveyron department in its entirety, and extreme east of Tarn-et-Garonne. The former province of Rouergue lay entirely within the modern Midi-Pyrénées. * 15.4% of Midi-Pyrénées was Quercy: department of Lot in its entirety, and northern half of Tarn-et-Garonne. The province of Quercy was entirely contained inside Midi-Pyrénées. * 16.6% of Midi-Pyrénées was a collection of small Pyrenean provinces, from east to west: the County of Foix (eastern half of Ariège), Couserans (western half of Ariège), Nébouzan (extreme south of Haute-Garonne and extreme east of Hautes-Pyrénées), Quatre-Vallées (i.e. "Four Valleys") (east of Hautes-Pyrénées), and Bigorre (west and center of Hautes-Pyrénées). All these provinces are entirely contained inside Midi-Pyrénées. * 0.5% of Midi-Pyrénées is Agenais: extreme west of Tarn-et-Garonne. Agenais extends essentially over the Aquitaine region. The historical makeup of Midi-Pyrénées is even more complex, as the provinces listed here are further subdivided into ''pays''–used interchangeably in French for ''country,'' ''area,'' ''land,'' etc.–each with its own particular identity, such as Armagnac, Astarac, or Lomagne inside the Gascogne part of Midi-Pyrénées, Lauragais or Volvestre inside the Languedoc part of Midi-Pyrénées, Bonezan inside County of Foix, Lavedan inside Bigorre, and so on. The Pyrenean provinces of Couserans, Nébouzan, Quatre-Vallées, and Bigorre (but not the County of Foix) are sometimes considered to be part of Gascony. These provinces were all formed from the old Roman province of Novempopulana, later known as ''Vasconia'' (because of the Basque influence), and later as Gascony, from which they seceded over time. Furthermore, after the 16th century these Pyrenean provinces were made part of the military region of Gascony, and later in the 18th century they were ruled from Auch by the intendant of Auch, as with the rest of Gascony. If these Pyrenean provinces are included inside Gascony, then 35.4% of Midi-Pyrénées is Gascony, outweighing Languedoc and its 23.4%. This point is still a matter of debate. The Pyrenean provinces developed strong peculiarities over time, protected by their isolated valleys, and they looked quite distinct from the rest of Gascony. What's more, Bigorre, Quatre-Vallées, Nébouzan, and even Comminges kept their provincial states until the French Revolution, while Gascony had no provincial states. These Pyrenean provinces sent their representatives to the Estates-General of 1789 in Versailles at the beginning of the Revolution, whereas the various other parts of Gascony sent their own representatives. Finally, it should be noted that in demographic terms, given the overwhelming demographic weight of Toulouse (located in the historical Languedoc), the majority of the inhabitants of Midi-Pyrénées live in the Languedoc part of Midi-Pyrénées. As a matter of fact, the historical flag of Languedoc, the Occitan cross, was adopted as the official flag of the Midi-Pyrénées region by the regional council. This historic flag design is itself derived from the coat of arms of the old county of Toulouse. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Midi-Pyrénées」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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