Toulouse

For other uses, see Toulouse (disambiguation).

Toulouse
Tolosa (Occitan)
Prefecture and commune
View of Old Toulouse
the first Airbus A380
Flag of Toulouse
Flag
Coat of arms of Toulouse
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
Per Tolosa totjorn mai
(Occitan for 'For Toulouse, always more')
Location of Toulouse
Map
Toulouse is located in France
Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is located in Occitanie
Toulouse
Toulouse
Coordinates: 43°36′16″N 1°26′38″E / 43.6045°N 1.444°E / 43.6045; 1.444
CountryFrance
RegionOccitania
DepartmentHaute-Garonne
ArrondissementToulouse
Canton(11 cantons) Toulouse-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11
IntercommunalityToulouse Métropole
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Jean-Luc Moudenc[1] (LR)
Area
1
118.3 km2 (45.7 sq mi)
 • Urban
 (2020[2])
957.5 km2 (369.7 sq mi)
 • Metro
 (2020[3])
6,520.2 km2 (2,517.5 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[4]
504,078
 • Rank4th in France
 • Density4,300/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
 • Urban
 (2021[5])
1,063,235
 • Urban density1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
 • Metro
 (2021[6])
1,490,640
 • Metro density230/km2 (590/sq mi)
Demonym(s)English: Toulousian
French: Toulousain(e)
Occitan: tolosenc(a)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
31555 /
Websitemetropole.toulouse.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Toulouse (/tuːˈluːz/ too-LOOZ;[7] French: [tuluz] ⓘ; Occitan: Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ]) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km (143 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km (420 mi) from Paris. It is the fourth-largest city in France after Paris, Marseille and Lyon, with 504,078 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries (2021);[8] its metropolitan area has a population of 1.5 million inhabitants (2021).[6] Toulouse is the central city of one of the 22 metropolitan councils of France. Between the 2014 and 2020 censuses, its metropolitan area was the third fastest growing among metropolitan areas larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France.[9]

Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. It hosts the CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST) which is the largest national space centre in Europe, but also, on the military side, the newly created NATO space centre of excellence and the French Space Command and Space Academy.[10][11] Safran, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, Collins Aerospace and Liebherr-Aerospace also have a significant presence in Toulouse.

The air route between Toulouse–Blagnac and the Parisian airports is the busiest in France, transporting 3.2 million passengers in 2019.[12] According to the rankings of L'Express and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city.[13][14][15]

Founded by the Romans, the city was the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century and the capital of the province of Languedoc in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution), making it the unofficial capital of the cultural region of Occitania (Southern France). It is now the capital of the administrative region of Occitania, the second largest region in Metropolitan France.

The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229). Toulouse is also the home of prestigious higher education schools, notably in the field of aerospace engineering. Together with the university, they have turned Toulouse into the fourth-largest student city in France, with a university population of nearly 140,000 students.[16]

Toulouse counts three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Canal du Midi (designated in 1996 and shared with other cities), and the Basilica of St. Sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe,[17] designated in 1998 along with the former hospital Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques because of their significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. The city's unique architecture made of pinkish terracotta bricks has earned Toulouse the nickname La Ville rose ("The Pink city").[18][19]

  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 6 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Comparateur de territoire - Unité urbaine 2020 de Toulouse (00758)". INSEE. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Comparateur de territoire - Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Toulouse (005)". INSEE. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  5. ^ Population municipale 2021, UU2020 Toulouse, Statistiques locales, INSEE
  6. ^ a b Population municipale 2021, UU2020 Toulouse, Statistiques locales, INSEE
  7. ^ "Toulouse". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  8. ^ INSEE. "Populations légales 2021, Commune de Toulouse (31555)" (in French). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  9. ^ INSEE. "Évol. annuelle moy. de la population 2014 - 2020 (en %) 2020 - Population municipale 2020 >> Carte". Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  10. ^ CNES. "Ademe.fr" (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  11. ^ Ministry for the Armed Forces. "Defence – Establishment of the NATO space centre of excellence in Toulouse". Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Bulletin Statistique du trafic aérien commercial - année 2019" (PDF). DGAC. p. 6/24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Palmarès des villes les plus dynamiques : la revanche de la province". 11 June 2010. L'Express
  14. ^ Les villes les plus dynamiques de France Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Challenges
  15. ^ "Toulouse, métropole la plus dynamique". La Dépêche du Midi
  16. ^ "Classement 2019 des villes étudiantes les plus importantes en France". www.investirlmnp.fr. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  17. ^ "Toulouse's Saint Sernin, Largest Romanesque Church in Europe". June 2010. Europe Close
  18. ^ Averbuck, Alexis; Williams, Nicola; Berry, Oliver; Carillet, Jean-Bernard; Christiani, Kerry; Clark, Gregor; Le Nevez, Catherine; Pitts, Christopher; Robinson, Daniel; Isalka, Anita; St Louis, Regis; McNaughtan, Hugh (2017). Lonely Planet France. Franklin, Tennessee: Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781787010215.
  19. ^ France Travel Blog (25 March 2020). "Why Toulouse Is Called The Pink City". Retrieved 16 June 2022.