Arbonne is a commune in French Basque Country, a region of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

Geography

Arbonne is located some 6 km south of Biarritz and 3 km east of Bidart. It is part of the Urban area of Bayonne and is located in the former province of Labourd. Access to the commune is by road D255 from Biarritz in the north passing through the village and continuing south to Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. The D655 branches off the D255 in the south of the commune and goes to Ahetze. The A63 autoroute passes through the northern tip of the commune but has no access from the commune. In the south of the commune is the hamlet of Le Hameau d'Arbonne. The rest of the commune is mainly farmland with patches of forest especially in the north. Located in the drainage basin of the Adour, the commune is traversed by the Uhabia, a small coastal river that flows into the ocean at Bidart, and its tributaries: the Zirikolatzeko erreka and the Ruisseau d'Argelos. The Ruisseau de Pemartin also flows through the commune and there is an extensive network of streams throughout the commune.

Places and Hamlets

Toponymy

The commune name in Basque is Arbona. Brigitte Jobbé-Duval indicated that 'Arbona meant "place of tree stumps". The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune. Sources: Origins:

History

The oldest lord of Arbonne whose names are known are from the Sault family, Viscounts of Labourd. At the end of the 14th century the lordship was owned by the Saint-Julien family (originally from Lower Navarre) and then in 1408 to the Amezqueta family. The Act of 4 March 1790, which determined the new administrative landscape of France by creating departments and districts, created the Department of Basses-Pyrénées to bring together Béarn, the Gascon lands in Bayonne and Bidache, and three French Basque provinces. For these three provinces three districts were created: Mauléon, Saint-Palais, and Ustaritz which replaced the Bailiwick of Labourd. The seat of Ustaritz was transferred almost immediately to Bayonne. Its Directorate pushed many municipalities into adopting new names conforming to the spirit of the Revolution. Arbonne was called Constante, Ustaritz became Marat-sur-Nive, Itxassou Union, Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry Thermopyles, Saint-Palais Mont-Bidouze, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Nive-Franche, Louhossoa Montagne-sur-Nive, Saint-Jean-de-Luz Chauvin-Dragon, Ainhoa Mendiarte, and Souraïde Mendialde.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Inter-communality

Arbonne is part of nine inter-communal structures: The commune is part of the Eurocité basque Bayonne-San Sebastian (fr) (a cross-border association to develop the area from Bayonne in France to San Sebastian in Spain).

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arbonars in French.

Economy

The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage

According to the Map of the Seven Basque Provinces by Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte the basque dialect spoken in Arbonne is northern Upper Navarrese

Religious heritage

The commune has two buildings that are registered as historical monuments:

Facilities

The commune has a general practitioner, three nurses, a speech therapist, a physiotherapist, and a dentist - all in the village centre. Arbonne has two primary schools, one public and one private (Saint-Laurent school)

Notable people linked to the commune