History History

The fossilized skeleton of a plesiosaur was found in 1986 in Tournemire. Among the most complete discovered in France, this aquatic reptile testifies to the presence of a sea in these places nearly 180 million years ago!

As for the first humans, they settled on the Causses as early as the post-glacial era. Gatherers and hunters have left various traces of their passage: notably flint points on the Larzac; the Foissac cave, situated between Capdenac and Figeac; and later, funerary buildings or statue-menhirs. Aveyron is the French department with the most dolmens.

Around 700 BC, the Rutens, a Celtic tribe, came to settle in the centre of the area that would become Rouergue. At the top of a hill, they established their capital, Rodez, which was then called Segodonum. In 54 BC, Gaul was invaded by the Romans. The Rutenes fought alongside Vercingetorix. In vain. The Roman administration squares their former territory and exploits it. To the south, the town of Condatomagus (now Millau), taking advantage of the clay and water of the Tarn, developed the production of sigillated ceramics, creating one of the first large complexes dedicated to mass production. This site of the Graufesenque is still visible in Millau.

At the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th, like the rest of the empire, the cities under the influence of Rome declined. It was also the time of the barbarian and Saracen invasions.

The period of the High Middle Ages is that of evangelization, monks or hermits launch out to the conquest of this ground, located on the way of the pilgrims going to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. The land of Rouergue seemed to be reborn. Many abbeys were founded, Conques, Aubrac, Sylvanès, Loc-Dieu. The 12th century also saw the arrival of the military orders who took possession of numerous domains in the Larzac and Lévézou. Some 300 Romanesque churches or chapels remain from the splendour of this period. The Middle Ages also saw the development of several small fiefs established in bastides or sauvetés (or ecclesiastical boroughs). Numerous castles, more than 500, were built on the highest points of the department. The struggles for local influence, marriages and alliances made and unmade the limits of the domains. The great upheavals of these centuries had little influence on this territory, which was somewhat sheltered from the great exchanges. During the Hundred Years' War, after the Treaty of Brétigny, Rouergue passed into the hands of the English without any great upheaval for the population, which adapted quite well to this occupation.

In modern times, the Wars of Religion have more impact and divide the country into two opposing blocks: the north and Rodez, unfailingly Catholic, and the south, influenced by Protestant doctrine! Millau, Saint-Affrique and Camarès had to suffer the dragonnades. But it seems that the opposition to the central power was stronger than these religious oppositions and the two entities keep a certain unity.

The Revolution has only slight repercussions in the department, except for a late episode: the assassination in Rodez, in 1817 of an imperial prosecutor. This gave rise to the famous Fualdés judicial affair, which had an enormous impact in France and Europe. Some towns started to industrialise or exploit the riches of the subsoil. This is how the towns of Decazeville and later Capdenac were created. After having known its maximum population around 1886, the department inexorably undergoes the rural exodus. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, its inhabitants began to move away in search of work. This was the time when the Aveyronnais "went up" to the capital. In Paris, they constituted a strong community which took over the market of the drinking establishments.

In Aveyron, 1971 marks the beginning of the Larzac struggle. The farmers of southern Aveyron, joined by activists from all walks of life, embarked on a collective battle that would last 10 years, to oppose the extension of the military camp at La Cavalerie.

In spite of its predominantly rural character and a certain isolation, the Aveyron department knows how to make the most of its many assets and resources. Dynamic, ambitious, modern, the territory shines with its wide open spaces, its heritage, its agriculture, its traditions and its quality of life.