Auch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers department.

Geography

Localization

The commune of Auch is located in the arrondissement of Auch and in the Gers valley, roughly in the centre of the Gers département. Auch is 69 km west of Toulouse, the capital of the Occitanie region, and 74 kmfrom Montauban, 63 km from Agen, 92 km from Mont-de-Marsan, 86 km from Pau and 62 km from Tarbes, the capitals of the neighbouring départements. It is 162 km from Bordeaux, 390 km from Marseille and 409 km from Lyon, the capitals of the neighbouring regions, and 595 kmsouth-west of Paris. The commune covers an area of 7,248 ha.

Surrounding communes

Auch borders thirteen other communes: Barran, Castillon-Massas, Castin, Duran, Lasséran, Leboulin, Montaut-les-Créneaux, Montégut, Ordan-Larroque, Pavie, Pessan, Preignan and Roquelaure.

Geology and relief

Auch has a minimum altitude of 115 m and a maximum of 281 m. Its average altitude is 198 m, while that of its town hall is 134 m The town and its surroundings have a hillside landscape. The commune covers an area of 7,248 ha, making it the third largest in the département. Centred on the middle Baïse valley, Armagnac is distributed along an east-west axis between Eauze and Auch. It includes Fezensac and Vic. The commune is located in seismicity zone 1 (very low seismicity).

Hydrography

The Gers, a tributary of the Garonne, flows through the town and divides the city between the upper town, on the left bank, the site of the medieval city built on a hill where most of the ancient monuments are to be found, and the lower town, built on the plain on the right bank. The upper town is linked to the banks of the Gers by the medieval "pousterles", typical narrow streets with steep inclines, and by the monumental staircase inaugurated in 1863. The north of the town is also watered by the Arçon and Talouch rivers, tributaries of the Gers. The lower town was devastated on several occasions (1897, 1952 for the most significant river overflow) before the course of the Gers was recalibrated following the 1977 floods in Gascony.

Transportation

Auch is well connected to nearby cities and towns such as Agen, Toulouse and Tarbes by Routes Nationales and by train to Toulouse.

Climate

History and population

Auch is a very ancient town, whose settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the 50s BC. At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as the Ausci. Their name for the town was Climberrum or Elimberris. This has been tentatively etymologized from the Iberian iltir ("town, oppidum") and a cognate of the Basque berri ("new"), although another Iberian settlement in Granada recorded by the Romans as "Iliberi" probably had no contact with proto-Basque speaking peoples. The Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum or Ausciorum ("Augusta of the Ausci"). Augusta Auscorum was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana (Gascony) and became the provincial capital after the 409 destruction of Eauze by the Vandals. The common term Augusta was eventually dropped and the name evolved into the modern Gascon Aush and French Auch. In 732, Abdul Rahman's army inflicted severe damage upon the town as they advanced towards Bordeaux, securing victory over Odo in the Battle of the River Garonne, and ultimately meeting defeat in the crucial Battle of Tours. The town became the seat of a Catholic archdiocese which lasted until the French Revolution. Its archbishops claimed the title of Primate of Aquitaine, Novempopulana, and Navarre.

Sites of interest

Notable people

Auch was the birthplace of: