History History

Benefiting from a temperate period, the first humans appeared in the Pyrenean regions 100,000 years ago. Following a new period of glaciation, it was not until the Middle and Upper Paleolithic that traces of life were found, mainly in the piedmont, dating back 30,000 years. Prehistory has left exceptional documents in the richly decorated caves of Gargas, which the latest carbon dating estimates at 26,000 years

The Romans arrived on the Bigerrion territory in 56 BC and occupied it for five centuries. Like all the peoples of the Aquitaine basin, Publius Crassus, Caesar's lieutenant, defeated the mountain people who did not accept him well. To ensure the submission of the Pyrenees, he built many roads and developed a remarkable development of the territory with a very tight grid of villas, powerful agricultural enterprises. The period was a prosperous one, as the villa at Montmaurin and the thermal baths attest. But from the year 500 (until 1500), the great invasions ravaged the towns and insecurity was everywhere, the valleys being attacked by peoples who threw them into ruinous wars.

The Vandals began this destruction but fell on the Adour plain. At the beginning of the 5th century, the Visigoths occupied all the passages allowing to reach Spain and their war with the Franks ended with the victory of Clovis. In 507, he incorporated Bigorre into his domain. After his death, the city of Bigorre changed sovereigns several times. In 840, the county of Bigorre is constituted and ratified by Charles the Bald. Tarbes is then a double fortified city and the development marks this time where the construction of castles and forts begins. In 1360, the execution of the Treaty of Bretigny obliges the baron of Bazilhac to hand over the county to the King of England and his garrisons settle in the castles. The Black Death killed half the population in 1356. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the French and English monarchies clashed and bruised Bigorre, which deplored the loss of the Lower River, before the North finally subdued it.

While a beautiful economic recovery was announced around 1500, the wars of religion from 1569 to 1589 delivered the Bigorre of the plain to a theatre where the worst exactions took place. In 1553, the future King of France, born in Pau, succeeded his mother in 1572 on the throne of Navarre, thus becoming the last Count of Bigorre. Peace having been restored, the peasants developed the territory through cultivation and breeding. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees which delimits the border with Spain is signed by Louis XIV. The Great Century of prosperity was the 18th century, especially after 1725. Here again, agriculture plays a major role with three pillars: grains, including wheat, horses and mules, vineyards and wine. The baron d'Etigny, intendant in Auch, built the royal roads in long straight lines which remain the main part of the road network.

Misery marked the 33 years of Louis XV's reign and 1774 was certainly the most terrible. A virus decimated the herds and in the Aure Valley, 4,500 cattle perished, destroying the seeds and a fragile economy. Famine raged. The industry is little developed and the intendant of Etigny wishes to facilitate the trade of the paper mills of Tarbes and the woollens of Bagnères by tracing new roads. The thermal spa of Cauterets knows then a beautiful rise but the discontent grows, it is the Revolution.

The Assembly publishes the official list of names and the extent of the 83 departments that will form France. On February 16 and 26, 1790, the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées was born, composed of Bigorre and the Four Valleys, with the town of Tarbes as its capital

The agricultural potential finds its full use. Tourism appears with rich travellers. The evolution of medicine brings to light the properties of water: it is the golden age of thermalism. Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie came to Luz-Saint-Sauveur in 1858 for a cure and set up huge projects such as the Napoleon Bridge, hospitals and the construction of a road linking the resorts. These projects coincide with the arrival of the train and the Paris-Tarbes line allows a great development of tourism. The luxurious hotels appear. Cauterets and Bagnères-de-Bigorre attracted Parisian high society and became holiday resorts. Victor Hugo, Sarah Bernhardt, George Sand and Claude Debussy promoted the image of the Pyrenees and the romantic movement contributed to their fame. At the end of the century, electricity arrived and a power station was installed in the old mill of Saint-Créac.

At the beginning of the century, Tarbes became a large garrison town. When the First World War broke out, the Bigourdans were very motivated, the civilians and even the women participated by making the factories work at full capacity. In 1918, nearly 40,000 men were in uniform. More than 6,000 were killed. A Bigourdan commanded the allied armies: Ferdinand Foch. He will be welcomed in Tarbes in a real delirium.

After the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War broke out. Until 42, the department is in the free zone. Tarbes must face the arrival of 40 000 people in July 40! On November 11, the troops of occupation penetrate in the department. The number of Bigourdans prisoners is estimated at 6 000.

As soon as General De Gaulle's appeal was made, resistance movements were organized. Escape networks to Spain were set up and many Pyreneans saved Jews. Captain André Pommiès founded the CFP, a free corps made up of volunteers from south-west Spain as well as active and reserve soldiers. From 1942 to 1944, there were many outstanding actions, such as the sabotage of the Soues factory, which avoided air raids. Very active, the CFP was one of the main elements of the Resistance Organization. The maquisards transported weapons and equipment, sabotaging the Germans' main means of transport and production. From its foundation to the liberation, the Corps Franc Pommiès conducted 900 military operations, lost 387 men and 156 were deported.

Among the great achievements of the post-war period, let us quote the construction of the Saint Pius X basilica in Lourdes, the hydroelectric equipment, the Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees airport, the great real estate complexes, the creations of ski resorts (only one ski lift in 1939, 152 in 1981), the improvements of the road network of which the road from Tarbes to Lourdes and the A64 motorway... or the development of the thermal baths.

Between the two wars, Jean-Raoul Paul, a polytechnic engineer, will lead the industrialization of the department and will install the first winter resorts, in particular that of Barèges. Thermalism adds to the attractiveness of the department, the armament and the railways mark its industry. Alstom, Socata, Pechiney and Seb are some of the big names that have determined its economy. The department is evolving towards a notable modernism while remaining attached to its traditions. Lourdes in its heart, the Pyrenees mountain range and its natural areas boost tourism and its gastronomy makes it a renowned destination.