r/europe • u/wigglepizza • Aug 01 '25
Map Why this triangle near Bordeaux is so sparsely populated compared to the surroundings?
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u/Thorbork Europe Aug 01 '25
It was swamps, turned into pine forests. Now a very good camping place.
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u/Neveed France Aug 01 '25
It was a natural forest turned into swamps due to overexploitation, turned into an artificial pine forest.
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u/Noirceuil Aug 01 '25
Do you have any source about that, because I can't find a trace that Landes was à forest before à swamp.
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u/Neveed France Aug 01 '25
This is from the top of my head from when I visited a museum there. But a quick search on wikipedia seems to confirm this.
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u/s3rila Aug 02 '25
cette forêt persiste jusqu’au début du Moyen-Age (vers 600 av. J.-C.), période à partir de laquelle l’intensification des activités humaines entraîne dans certains secteurs sa disparition et laisse la place à des landes
middle age started in 600 Before Christ ?
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u/Neveed France Aug 02 '25
I think that's a typo and they meant 600 ap. J.-C. which is in the beginning of the middle ages
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u/BahutF1 Aug 01 '25
Not so much. Prone to wild forest fires, it's heavily restricted and monitored.
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u/PoorlyCutFries Aug 01 '25
I mean this might be related to the camping to be fair
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u/Nukiko Aug 02 '25
I went camping and surfing there many times during my teens. Lacanau and Vieux Boucau are amazing! I still very vividly remember the pine smell, so good
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u/Thorbork Europe Aug 02 '25
Hell yeah same! I've been every year with my parents for like... 15-20 years. Too bad camping there can roast you with 42 degrees. Cannot have an old caravan anymore.
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u/Athleon Aug 01 '25
Fuck they found out about the triangle. Initiate procedure.
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u/TheBlacktom Hungary Aug 01 '25
How did they find it? Triangulated it?
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u/GreasedUpTiger Aug 01 '25
Fiere se missailles!
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u/IjonTichy85 Aug 01 '25
But I'm Le tired
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u/moi_xa Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Well, have a nap... THEN FIRE Z MISSILES!!
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u/danonck Aug 01 '25
Wtf mate? ^ ^
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u/Tacosaurusman Aug 01 '25
So now we got missiles flying everywhere, passing each other.
"Yo"
"What up"
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u/-Numaios- Aug 01 '25
I love how it kind of sound french but none of those words exist.
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u/piggiebrotha Romania Aug 01 '25
Wetlands and a big national park Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park - Wikipedia
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u/Usual-Vermicelli-867 Aug 01 '25
Its wasnt like dunes until a few decades ago?
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u/besuited Aug 01 '25
Swampy and sandy. The shepherds had long stilts so they could see long distances.
It was begun to be forested about 2 centuries ago but the process took a long time. Now there is one massive very famous dune remaining, and growing, due to all the human change.
Worth a watch: https://youtu.be/J6VwZwzpRiQ?si=IOChLk-QY5LIg1Mt
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u/hagnat 29d ago
i was going to post this exact same video.
OP should really watch this video in order to understand the Landescc. u/wigglepizza
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u/Nibb31 France Aug 01 '25
A few centuries ago more like. There's also a large missile range along the coast.
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u/Separate-Ear4182 Aug 01 '25
Theres also the biggest dune in europe there https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_du_Pilat
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Aug 01 '25
I live on the coast right below the Bermud-Landes Triangle, so here's an anecdote:
This big artificial forest (the Landes) created its own microclimate. So where I live you can literally see the forest's limits in the sky
Second anecdote: an awful lot of Parisians got trapped there, thinking life in the forest would be glorious. Turns out forest + ancient marshes = comically high humidity eating your walls, clothes, etc. The coast is awesome though
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u/Exterminator-8008135 Aug 01 '25
I'm from that exact place.
Lots of Forest. Were swamps centuries ago ( up until the 1800's )
Wine. Lots of them. Lots of castle, some being very renowned.
Low density outside of Bordeaux and the small cities ( above 10.000 inhabitants but under 100.000 ) who are along the coast. Inside ? Lots of tiny village under 2.500 inhabitants )
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u/ProposalWaste3707 Aug 01 '25
Wine. Lots of them. Lots of castle, some being very renowned.
Interestingly, there are actually almost no castles in this pocket of land - certainly not relative to other parts of France. Oddly enough, that's how I learned about it, searching for castles to visit in Google Maps.
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u/matt_h2o Aug 01 '25
I think this is a mistranslation of chateaux, which can also mean a large stately home (such as the type that would have vineyards)
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u/ProposalWaste3707 Aug 01 '25
It's equally sparse on those as well. I like to visit both.
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u/matt_h2o Aug 01 '25
There’s that strip along the south bank of the Gironde, but apart from those that’s a fair observation. Having cycled around that region quite a bit, it’s the chateaux that stick in my mind more than the former marshlands, which are lovely to cycle around but not particularly remarkable apart from being beautifully quiet.
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u/ProposalWaste3707 Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Yeah, makes sense, French rivers are great places for castles and chateaus. Done my fair share of cycling along them myself. But found that particular pocket to be otherwise pretty much devoid of them outside of that northern border with the Garonne.
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u/Exterminator-8008135 Aug 02 '25
Wrong dear. Two sides.
Landes ( Lower part, biggest one )
Médoc ( Upper one, near Bordeaux )
And Médoc got lots of Castle that make wine. It's one if the reason of why it's so empty. The forest are more closer of the coast around there.
It's literally written on the bottle that way.
It's not the Medieval Castle, who do exists around here, it's more modern and a bit smaller.
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u/TenderfootGungi Aug 01 '25
That sounds like paradise.
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u/me_like_stonk France Aug 01 '25
It actually is. People there are lovely, wild ocean and sand dunes, fun accent and great food.
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u/3dom Georgia Aug 01 '25
Wine. Lots of them.
Despite being a (kind of) fan of "The Three Musketeers" I didn't even know where exactly Gascony is (assumed north-east of Provence somehow) until I've searched the location to find out about the amazing wine bottle I've bought. Blow Bordeaux out of the water, one bottle at time.
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u/BapoleonNonapart Aug 02 '25
To be fair, even in France, it’s pretty difficult to say it’s “Gascony” or not. Some people will say it’s Les Landes, other Le Gers… Sometimes it’s even more marketing. From Dumas it would be more something like Auch
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u/mxmmnn Aug 01 '25
This is where the Landes forest is located.
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u/itsjustjust92 Aug 01 '25
My favourite part of France :)
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u/marmakoide Aug 01 '25
I'm from there and still live there. It's not a bad place to live, but landscape wise it's monotonous, when lot of French provinces have terrific and varied landscape like Languedoc area or Basque Country
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u/Predatopatate Aug 01 '25
Basically that was a swamp and now it's the largest man-made forest in Europe
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u/AtTheTabard Aug 01 '25
It's the Aquitaine Triangle. People here tend to disappear out of nowhere, only leaving behind the faint smell of croissants.
Once in a while cheese-shaped UFOs are seen flying over the area, although the French government denies that these sightings are real.
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u/SWK18 Basque Country Aug 01 '25
Some people believe that area is where Basque language came from.
If you go there and find out about it, you're vanished. The secret must remain hidden.
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u/BabyDog88336 Aug 01 '25
Basques- the original inhabitants of Atlantis and the only ethnic group with confirmed extraterrestrial DNA
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u/DublinKabyle Aug 01 '25
We call it “ Aire cinquante-et-un”
Something that could be loosely translated into "Area 51".
Not sure why it got this name. It probably has 51 inhabitants or 51 vineyards (?). Not sure.
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u/Nurnurum Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Interestingly as sparingly populated that area is, right beneath it, bordering Spain, lies Biarritz which was the vacation spot for european nobility, the wealthy and celebrities from 1890 into the 1960s.
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u/StephenHunterUK United Kingdom Aug 01 '25
Yep. Edward VII was enjoying his vacation in Biarritz so much that he made H.H. Asquith come out to him in 1908 to "kiss hands" and become Prime Minister instead of returning back to London for it.
The British establishment was not too happy about that and all the PM changes took place in London until 2022 when Elizabeth II stayed at Balmoral for the Johnson-Truss changeover on doctor's advice. Of course, she would die two days later.
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u/sterrre Aug 01 '25
I think thats the landes forest. It used to be a big swamp but then they planted a lot of pine trees and turned it into a forest a couple hundred years ago. Now it's used for camping, vacationing and military testing.
There used to be a subculture in the region that used stilts to get around the swamps everywhere, but when they planted the forests that subculture was erased.
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u/Potex8282 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
Spaniard here, spent many summers on holidays there.
That area is Les Landes, and is a region covered mostly by forests, dominated by pines, oaks and cork oaks. Although it has very few fixed residents, the area (particularly the coastal towns) get crowded insummer with tourists coming from diffferent parts of western Europe mostly. French, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish tourists are the most present.
It’s beautiful to visit, with a stunning 100 km long beach (yes, no error) and it’s huge extension of forests, scattered with lakes. It’s also known for being a hot spot for surfing, with Hossegor being a well known world class surfing spot that for many years has hosted the World Surfing Championship tour.
Biggest negative point? The weather is kind of unstable, similar to the north of Spain, changing quickly from sunny to rainy, sometimes with strong storms, making it a bit of a lottery to spend your vacations there.
Going for a swim at the beach can also be challenging for the new visitors or the faint hearted. The beaches often have strong currents and waves. You have to be very cautious, specially if you’re not familiar with that area in particular, entering the water only in the areas marked by the lifeguards. By the way, lifeguards in Les Landes are top professionals and are very well equiped.
All in all, I love it.
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u/VieiraDTA Aug 02 '25
Marshlands and swamps and Pine Forrests. Impossible to develope high density population, due to it.
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u/SnikkyType Aug 01 '25
Short answer - it was swamps and a common flooding zone.
Long answer - there's a vid on YouTube that explains why this part of their coastline is almost perfectly flat.
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u/Cele5tialN0mad Aug 01 '25
This YouTube Vid?
I watched it last week so was easy to find in my history.
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u/raiyosss Aug 01 '25
I watched an incredible video about the forest and the nearby coast recently. Its was an artificial reforesting effort which managed to reverse anthropogenic climate collapse. I see this as the best achievement of Napoleon III and he renovated Paris during his reign. The project isn’t without its controversies but I hope I can convey my awe at the success of the effort.
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u/RaitenTaisou Aug 02 '25
Hey there : lived in the Landes for most of my life It's a big forest, not a lot of work except tourism and forest industry The region is quite good looking cause it's a mine forest next to sans, but yeah people usually stay where the work is or where big cities are And there aren't that much of both
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u/Extreme_baobun2567 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
I’ve been to Les Landes. Very sandy soil, which maybe isn’t so good for Agriculture (ok for trees) and we were told to watch out for spiders and snakes (but luckily managed to avoid such encounters the week we were there).
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u/tesfabpel Italy (EU) Aug 02 '25
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4364867,0.1109346,8z
Well, I'd say maybe because there's a Natural Park there...
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u/AcadiaNo5063 Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
There is really cool places in there like Arcachon and the Pilat Dune !
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u/LockNo2943 Aug 01 '25
It's a marsh, or was anyway, but they planted a bunch of pine trees there in fairly recent history to demarshify things, but you still can't really do much there.
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u/Colonelmoutard2 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (France) Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
It was a big swamp until Napoléon III and during his rule they plantes trees to support diverse industries like cosmetic, woodcraft for construction for the navy and for lots of other things. I learnt about this in class in college during my 3rd year of history and geography in Aix en Provence.
People having to leave because of the new wood industry implanting there and how its linked to the way we understand the environnement. Lots of influence for the "code forestier"
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u/colar19 Aug 01 '25
Some great surf/beach places there. Went to Lacanau several years and still one of my favorite vacation places.
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u/daiwilly Aug 01 '25
Its actually a fantastic spot for a holiday. Good beaches, great cycling through forests, large shallow lakes and amazing wine , especially from the medoc and surrounding areas.
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u/Systembox Aug 01 '25
During the feudal times this was owned by the English (it was called back then "Aquitaine"). The area that you drew in green is in french called "le triangle alimentaire anglais". They way of eating is still very much influenced by an English breakfast. That's why its sparsely populated.
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u/narnerve Aug 01 '25
The bay of biscay (right there to its west, in the Atlantic) has some of the rainiest windiest weather on earth.
I heard from a sailor that it was supposedly the worst part of the entire Atlantic.
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u/Ziro_020 Aug 01 '25
While scrolling through my frontpage this looked like a France shaped pizza at first glance, I don’t know why
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u/Thelmredd Aug 02 '25
I'm pretty sure that in most cases the answer to questions like this is swamp / desert / mountains
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u/BonelessTaco Aug 01 '25
What about the Germany-bordering region? Was it always like this or only after the war?
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u/RECTANGULAR_BALLSACK Sweden Aug 01 '25
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u/ouath Europe Aug 01 '25
Not it is not, it is a terrible documentary full of lies, missleading informations, non-scientific guess mixed with some truth.
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u/helgestrichen Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
I'm not gonna bother to watch it, i just really enjoy the harsh response
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u/ouath Europe Aug 01 '25
Oh but it is entertaining but you should watch this like: "I asked chatGPT to wrote a fiction about why the coastline is straight in this region"
We already discuss about that on the french reddit a couple of week or month ago
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u/Amogasamogas Aug 01 '25
Marshlands and from what I've seen on other graphs very dense forestation.
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u/Dokky People's Republic of Yorkshire Aug 01 '25
Space set aside for the English to resume their 316 reign, rudely interrupted by France annexation. The first wave will be the Boriswave that France has so steadily been providing.
"Who are they who fight boldly? The Angevins. Who are they who overcome enemies? The Angevins. Who are they who spare the vanquished? The Angevins."
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u/Goulerote Aug 01 '25
Historically, it was a biotope called "Landes", a bunch of peat ridden marshlands. It was also subject to high winds. It made for poor human settlement. The place got transformed in a forest-factory during the last centuries, but still, little human settlement.