Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast

Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast Aiziritze-Gamue-Zohazti
Commune
Chateau of Camou
Coat of arms
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Coordinates: 43°20′16″N 1°01′21″W / 43.3378°N 1.0225°W / 43.3378; -1.0225Coordinates: 43°20′16″N 1°01′21″W / 43.3378°N 1.0225°W / 43.3378; -1.0225
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Bayonne
Canton	Pays de Bidache, Amikuze et Ostibarre
Intercommunality	Pays Basque
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Chantal Erguy[1]
Area 1	9.60 km2 (3.71 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2018)[2]	669
• Density	70/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64010 /64120
Elevation	26–155 m (85–509 ft) (avg. 83 m or 272 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast (Basque: Aiziritze-Gamue-Zohazti) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.^[3]

The people of the commune are known as Aiziriztar.^[4]

Geography[]

Location[]

The commune is part of the Mixe country in the French Basque Country of Lower Navarre. It is located immediately north of Saint-Palais. Highway D29 runs north from Saint-Palais through the entire commune from south to north and passing through the town. The D529 Highway runs east from the commune to its junction with Highway D134. Highway D933 enters the commune in the southeast and runs north along the eastern side of the commune to exit in the north.^[5]

Hydrography[]

The commune is located in the Drainage basin of the Adour and is watered by the Bidouze, a tributary of the Adour, and it has its tributaries: the Joyeuse and the Eyherachar and Recalde streams.

Places and Hamlets[]

^[7]

Toponymy[]

The commune's name in Basque is Aiziritze-Gamue-Zohazti.

For Aïcirits, Jean-Baptiste Orpustan proposed the Basque etymology aitz, meaning "high" and aratze, meaning "fern patch", giving "high fern patch" or "rocky fern patch".^[8]

He also indicated that Suhast may come from zuhaztoi, meaning "plantation of trees".

The inhabitants of Camou are known as Gamuar and the inhabitants of Suhast are known as Zohaztiar.

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Aïcirits	Sanctus Martinus de Assiriz	1160	Orpustan			Village
	Ayxiritz	1316	Orpustan
	Aysiriz	1350	Orpustan
	Aychiritz	1413	Orpustan
	Ayxeriis	1472	Raymond	3	Notaries
Camou	Sactus Petrus de Camono	1160	Orpustan			Village
	Camou-Mixe	13th century	Raymond	39	Bayonne
	Camo	1304	Orpustan
	Chamo	1309	Orpustan
	Gamo	1350	Orpustan
	Camo	1413	Orpustan
	Camur	1472	Raymond	39	Notaries
	Camo en Micxe	1479	Raymond	39	Ohix
	Camo	1519	Raymond	39	Navarre
	Camu	1621	Raymond	39	Biscay
	Camon	1621	Ldh/EHESS/Cassini		Biscay
	Camou-Mixe	1863	Raymond	39
Suhast	Sancta Maria de Suhast	1160	Orpustan			Village
	Suhast	1316	Orpustan
	Suast	1350	Orpustan
	Suhast	1413	Orpustan
	Suast	1513	Raymond	164	Pamplona
Salha	Çalaha	1384	Raymond	153	Duchesne	Chateau and Fief, subject to the Kingdom of Navarre
	La maison deu senhor de Salha en lo pays de Micxe	1547	Raymond	164	Navarre
Uhart-Juson	Uhart-Juson	1863	Raymond	170		Fief, vassal of the Kingdom of Navarre

Sources:

• Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy^[8]
• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[6]

Origins:

• Notaries: Notaries of Labastide-Villefranche^[9]
• Bayonne: Cartulary of Bayonne or Livre d'Or (Book of Gold)^[10]
• Ohix:^[11]
• Navarre: Titles of the Kingdom of Navarre^[12]
• Biscay: Martin Biscay^[13]
• Pamplona: Titles of Pamplona^[14]

History[]

The commune Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast was formed in 1972 by the merger of the former communes Aïcirits and Camou-Mixe-Suhast. Between 1972 and 1984, this commune was referred to as Aïcirits.^[3] The commune Camou-Mixe-Suhast was formed in 1842 by the merger of the communes Suhast and Camou-Mixe.^[15]

Heraldry[]

The arms are made up of the three shields of Aïcirits, Camou, and Suhast. Blazon: Argent, three inescutcheons posed 2 and 1. The first Azure with two keys of Or saltirewise to dexter an orb the same banded and crossed at chef argent charged with three crosses pattées of gules; the second of Azure a wolf passant in Or armed and langued in gules, bordure the same charged with eight crosses of St. Andrew of Or 2 at chief, 3 at dexter and 3 at sinister; the third Or with three oaks eradicated vert shaft Tenné

Administration[]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors of Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast ^[16]

From	To	Name	Party
1995	2014	Guy Énéco	CPNT
2014	2026	Chantal Erguy	CPNT

Administrative Associations[]

The commune is linked to the following administrative bodies (non exhaustive list):

• the catchment area of Saint-Palais
• Local Agency for Employment (ALE) of Biarritz
• the social welfare fund of Bayonne
• the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bayonne Basque Country
• the sanitation sector of Bayonne Saint-Palais-South-West-Landes
• the subdivision of the Departmental Equipment management of Saint-Palais-Bidache

Judicial Districts[]

The town depends on the district court of Bayonne, the High Court of Bayonne and the Court of Appeal of Pau.

Inter-communality[]

The commune belongs to six inter-communal structures:^[17]

• the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque
• the AEP union for the Mixe country
• the energy union of Pyrenees-Atlantiques;
• the intercommunal union for regrouping of teaching "Ikas bidea"
• the intercommunal union for the operation of the schools of Amikuze
• the union to support Basque culture.

Population[]

Data before 1972 in the table and graph below refer to the old commune Aïcirits, before the merger with Camou-Mixe-Suhast.^[18]

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 206 —     1800 211 +0.34% 1806 236 +1.88% 1821 186 −1.57% 1831 262 +3.49% 1836 252 −0.78% 1841 261 +0.70% 1846 256 −0.39% 1851 281 +1.88% 1856 252 −2.15% 1861 240 −0.97% 1866 225 −1.28% 1872 211 −1.06% 1876 207 −0.48% 1881 228 +1.95% 1886 254 +2.18% 1891 226 −2.31% 1896 270 +3.62%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 249 −1.61% 1906 238 −0.90% 1911 238 +0.00% 1921 234 −0.17% 1926 249 +1.25% 1931 235 −1.15% 1936 240 +0.42% 1946 202 −1.71% 1954 179 −1.50% 1962 204 +1.65% 1968 219 +1.19% 1975 564 +14.47% 1982 531 −0.86% 1990 531 +0.00% 1999 559 +0.57% 2007 648 +1.86% 2012 656 +0.25% 2017 670 +0.42%
Source: EHESS[18] and INSEE[19]

Economy[]

Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast is classified by the INSEE as part of the urban area (unité urbaine) of Saint-Palais, and of the employment area of Oloron-Sainte-Marie.^[3]

The registered office of the Lur Berri company, a large food cooperative group, is located in Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast.

The town is part of the designated zone of Ossau-iraty.

It also hosts other companies in the agri-food sector as one of the first fifty two communes of the department:

• Union agricultural coop feed livestock (feed manufacturing for farm animals);
• Haraguy-Bayonne ham (industrial preparation of meat products);
• LBO (food production for farm animals);
• Lajournade SAS (industrial preparation of meat products).

Culture and heritage[]

Languages[]

According to the Map of the Seven Basque Provinces published in 1863 by Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, the dialect of Basque spoken in Aicirits-Camou-Suhast is eastern low Navarrese.

The village has a cave at Camou (the grotto Oltzibarre) closely linked to the Basque legend of Txahalgorri,^[20] the young red bull.

Civil heritage[]

• The former Chateau of Camou (17th century).^[21] It contains collections of ancient tools and models of machines from plans of Leonardo da Vinci.

Religious Heritage[]

• The Church of Saint Martin(1841).^[22]

Notable People linked to the commune[]

• Martin Landerretche, born on 26 July 1842 at Bussunarits-Sarrasquette and died on 29 January 1930 at Espelette was a bascologue, a priest, writer and a Basque French academic in the Basque language. He was the pastor at Aïcirits.

See also[]

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

External links[]

• AIZIRITZE-GAMUE-ZOHAZTI in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa) (in Spanish)
• Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast on Lion1906
• Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Aïcirits, Camou, and Suhast on the 1750 Cassini Map

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aïcirits-Camou-Suhast.