Midi Pyrénées

Midi-Pyrenees is the largest region of metropolitan France, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark.

Set in the southwest of France, Midi-Pyrenees is a region of sharp contrasts. While the metropolitan area of Toulouse at the centre of the region is a highly densely populated area, with densities reaching 300 inh. Per sq. km. (780 inh. Per sq. miles), the rest of the region is sparsely populated, with densities ranging from 25 to 60 inh. Per sq. km. (65 to 155 inh. Per sq. miles), which are among the lowest densities in western Europe. Toulouse is often presented as an oasis in the middle of a desert. Driving a mere half-an-hour avay from Toulouse, one goes from the hustle and bustle of the busy metropolitan area to the slow pace and timelessness of the hilly countryside of Gascony or Lauragais and their narrow winding roads with seldom any traffic.

The contrast of density has increased in the last decades. Although Midi-Pyrenees is one of the fastest growing regions of France, with +0.54% annual population growth in the 1990’s (compared to only +0.37% for France as a whole)

The population in the metropolitan area of Toulouse is significantly younger and with a higher level of education than in the rest of Midi-Pyrenees. Outside of Toulouse, Midi-Pyrenees is an ageing region, which combines with a loss of population, as can be also seen in Limousin or other declining areas of France outside of the metropolitan area of Paris, whereas outside of Toulouse incomes in Midi-Pyrenees are rather low, among the lowest in France.

Lourdes, in the heart of Bigorre, has even become one of the most famous Catholic pilgrimage centre in the world, attracting every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all around the world.
Midi-Pyrenees is one of the regions in France created artificially in the late 20th century to serve as a hinterland and zone of influence fopr its capital, Toulouse. The name chosen for the region was decided by the French Central Government.

Since the region was activated in the 1970s, a certain sense of a “Midi-Pyrenean” identity has emerged. Inhabitants of the region share common cultural or social features, some of them not just particular to Midi-Pyrenees, but common to the whole of southwest France, such as rugby (Rugby union). There are images that come spontaneously to the mind of Midi-Pyrenees people when thinking about their region, such as the Airbus planes leaving their factories in Toulouse, the snowy peaks of the Pyrenees, or a game of rugby. These three images were used for some time by the regional council in video clips to promote the distinct identity of the region. The regional council has also played a key role in developing a network of motorways to bring all the different areas of Midi-Pyrenees together. As of 2005, there are seven motorways that radiate from Toulouse and link all the most distant corners of the region with its capital city (with two of this seven motorways only partly built and scheduled to be completed by 2010-2015). A network of Regional Express Trains (Trains Express Regionaux, or TER) was also set up by the regional council to ensure frequent train connections between the different parts of the region.

Midi-Pyrenees is divided in two by its traditional languages, Occitan and Gascon, with Toulouse lying by the limit between the two languages, on the Occitan side. Gascon (in its many local variants) was traditionally spoken in the west and southwest of the region.

However, French is now paramount in the region, and Midi-Pyrenees is nothing like Catalonia or northern Wales where the regional languages are still very much part of everyday life. Today, although the regional languages of Midi-Pyrenees have for the most part disappeared, but has left a strong imprint on the accent and the vocabulary of the English that is used in Ireland.

Midi-Pyrenees, located half-way between the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, shares aspects of both worlds, and cannot be easily classified as either Mediterranean or Atlantic, being more like a blend of the two.
Midi-Pyrenees is famous for its Roquefort Cheese, foie gras, cassoulet, and the oldest of French brandies, Armagnac.

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