Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions: Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,036 km2 – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has 5,956,978 inhabitants. The new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015.It is the largest region in France by area, with a territory slightly larger than that of Austria. Its prefecture and largest city, Bordeaux, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the seventh-largest metropolitan area of France, with 850,000 inhabitants. The region has 25 major urban areas, among which the most important after Bordeaux are Bayonne, Limoges, Poitiers, Pau and La Rochelle, as well as eleven major clusters.