The modern region of Limousin is
essentially composed of two historical French provinces which are Limousin and Marche.
Within Limousin, it contains the correze in its entirity, plus the central and south
eastern part of the Haute-Vienne.
Within Marche, you will will find most of the Creuse department and the north and north
eastern part of the Haute-Vienne. And although the old province of Marche is almost
entirely contained inside the current Limousin region, there is a small part of Marche
being now in the Centre region.
Beside these two main provinces, Limousin is also composed of small parts of other former
provinces, which are as follows:
Poitou, which is to the extreme west of
Angoumois, which is to the extreme south-west of Haute-Vienne
Berry, which is to the extreme north of Creuse
Auvergne, which is to the extreme east of Creuse
Today the province of Limousin is the most populated part of the Limousin region.
Limoges, the historical capital and largest city of the Limousin province is the capital
of the Limousin administrative region.
Limousin is an essentially rural region. This region is famed for some of the best
beef farming in the world, herds of Limousin cattle, which are a distinctive chestnut red,
are a very common sight in the region. In addition to cattle, the region is also a
major timber producing area.
Limousin is the least populated French region in Metropolitan France. Did you know that
there are fewer inhabitants in Limousin than in the city of Marseille!
Until the 1970s, Occitan was the maternal language of rural areas, and even today there
remain several different Occitan dialects in use in the Limousin region.