Geography of Aquitaine
Aquitaine, a historic region of southwestern France, also known from the 10th century as Guienne. The region's boundaries varied; roughly, it reached from the Garonne River halfway to the Loire, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Auvergne Mountains. When the Romans conquered it in the first century B.C., it was inhabited by an Iberian people. The Visigoths occupied it in the fifth century. Later it came under Frankish rule and grew into a powerful French duchy that dominated all the surrounding domains, including Poitou to the north and Gascony to the south.
The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) first to Louis VII of France and then to Henry II of England resulted in the duchy's being claimed by both countries. France gained permanent possession of Aquitaine in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453).