Occitan
Occitan
is a Romance language spoken in the southern third of France, used by about
one-fourth of the French population. Occitan developed an eminent literature in
the 11th to 15th centuries, including the poems of the troubadours. In a
move to preserve regional heritage and culture, the French government in 1993
instructed state schools to start teaching Occitan and other indigenous
languages. Occitan is very similar to Catalan and in fact, many scientists
think Occitan and Catalan should be regarded as different dialects of the same
Catalo-Occitan language.
Click on flag for map
![France - Click for Information]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/fr-flag.gif){kind=small}