Libourne, the wine-making capital of northern Gironde, is a French commune in the Aquitaine region. Its population in 1999 was 22,457 inhabitants. Jump to: navigation, search A glass of red wine Wine is an alcoholic beverage that is made by fermenting grapes or grape juice. ... Gironde is a département in the southwest of France named after the Gironde Estuary. ... The commune (in French: commune, word appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, gathering of people sharing a common life, from Latin communis, things held in common) is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... Capital Bordeaux Area 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset ( PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 6th) 3,049,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Départements Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Aquitaine...

Geography

It is located at the confluence of the Isle and Dordogne rivers. Isle is a 235 km long river in south-western France. ... The Dordogne is a river in south-central France. ...

History

In 1270, Leybornia was founded as a bastide by Roger de Leybourne (of Kent), an English seneschal of Gascony, under the authority of King Edward I of England. It suffered considerably in the struggles of the French and English for the possession of Gironde in the 14th century, and joined France in the 15th century. Bastides are fortified towns built in medieval France starting around 1229, the date of the first recorded bastide. ... Roger de Leybourne or Roger Leyburn was a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Sheriff of Kent, and was known as a general administrator. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced  ; Gascon: Gasconha, pronounced ) is an area of southwest France that constituted a royal province prior to the French Revolution. ... Edward I; illustration from Cassells History of England circa 1902. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

Sights

The Gothic church, restored in the 19th century, has a stone spire 232 ft high. On the quay there is a machicolated clock-tower which is a survival of the ramparts of the 14th century; and the town-house, containing a small museum and a library, is a quaint relic of the 16th century. There is a statue of the Duc Decazes, who was born in the neighborhood. Besides its original meaning, of or relating to the Goths (Gothos, Getas), a Germanic tribe and thus the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet, the word Gothic has been used to refer to distinctly different things: From a Renaissance perspective (originally Italian, gotico, with connotations of rough, barbarous), it conveyed...