Occitanie

Occitania is a region of France that was created on 1 January 2016 from former French regions Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées. It was initially given the temporary name "Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées"; on 24 June 2016, the regional assembly in Toulouse adopted the name Région Occitanie, with the long-form Région Occitanie (Pyrénées-Méditerranée), as the name of the region. The name adopted by the regional council must be approved by the Council of State by 1 October 2016, before the name can become official.

The new region covers an area of more than 72724 km2 with a population of 5,626,858.

Toponymy
As the provisional name of the new region, the text of the law specified the hyphenated names of the region's predecessors, Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées, in alphabetical order. As for most of the merged regions, a permanent name was proposed by the new regional council; it will be confirmed by the Conseil d'Etat by 1 October 2016. The proposed name, Occitania, comes from the historical name of the broader region, which refers to the historic use of the Occitan language and its various dialects in the region, named for the use of the word "òc" as the equivalent of "yes."

Before being enacted in 2014, the territorial reform of the regions has been subject to debate for many years. A permanent name will be assigned by 1 October 2016 upon proposal of the region's new regional council; after a lengthy public consultation, the council has adopted that the name Occitania (French: Occitanie; Occitan: Occitània), which corresponds to the name of the historical region that included most of the new region's territory, be chosen.

[[Image:Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées et provinces.svg|thumb|center|upright=2|Map of the new region with its thirteen départements, colored according to the [[Provinces of France|historical provinces]] as they existed until 1790.

{{legend|#e1c44a|Languedoc}} {{legend|#84b7ca|Guyenne and Gascony}} {{legend|#efb3c7|Comté de Foix}} {{legend|#a3d283|Roussillon}} ]]

Major communities

 * Toulouse (458,298; region prefecture)
 * Montpellier (272,084)
 * Nîmes (150,564)
 * Perpignan (120,959)
 * Béziers (74,811)
 * Montauban (57,921)