Landes

Sandy, low-lying area in southwest France, along the Bay of Biscay, about 12,950 sq km/5,000 sq mi in extent. Formerly covered with furze and heath, it has in many parts been planted with pine and oak forests. It gives its name to the Landes département, and extends into the départements of Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne as far as the Garonne and Adour rivers and the Armagnac hills. There is a testing range for rockets and missiles at Biscarosse, 72 km/45 mi southwest of Bordeaux. There is an oilfield at Parentis-en-Born.

The area from the southeast corner of the Arcachon basin down to Sabres is the Parc Régional des Landes de Gascogne. The ecology of the area is demonstrated at an open-air museum at Marquèze, and there is a nature reserve near Arcachon. Three-quarters of the forests were destroyed by fires between 1937 and 1952, but there has been much replanting. Paper mills have also been established.

Landes

Département in the Aquitaine region of France, on the Bay of Biscay; area 9,236 sq km/3,566 sq mi; population (1999 est) 327,300. It is divided into two parts by the River Adour, whose valley has agriculture and food industries. Oil was drilled at Parentis until 1995. There are mineral springs at Dax, and rock salt is obtained there. The administrative centre is Mont-de-Marsan.

That part north of the River Adour includes three-fifths of the département and is composed of tracts of heath and sand, interspersed with forests of pines and cork trees and numerous marshes, which gradually drain into the shallow lagoons that fringe the sea coast, also called Landes. The southern part is hilly and covered with oak plantations and vineyards.

Landes was formed from part of the former province of Gascony.