At the time of the Roman conquest,Julius Caesar, who defeated them in his campaign inGaul, describes them as making up a distinct part of Gaul:
All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which theBelgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are calledCelts, in oursGauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The riverGaronne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani[3]
Despite apparent cultural and linguistic connections to (Vascones), the region of Aquitania extended only to the Pyrenees according to Caesar:
Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Hispania: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.[4]
Late Romano-Aquitanian funerary slabs and altars contain what seem to be the names of deities or people similar to certain names in modernBasque, which has led manyphilologists andlinguists to conclude thatAquitanian was closely related to an older form of Basque. Julius Caesar draws a clear line between the Aquitani, living in present-day south-western France and speaking Aquitanian, and their neighboring Celts living to the north.[2] The fact that the region was known as theVasconia in the EarlyMiddle Ages, a name that evolved into the better known form ofGascony, along with other toponymic evidence, seems to corroborate that assumption.
Tribes inAquitania (as was defined in the 1st century BC)Late distribution of tribes inNovempopulania at the end of the 6th century AD, formerAquitania proper (as was defined in the 1st century BC)
Although the region where the original Aquitanians lived came to be namedNovempopulania (nine peoples) in the late years of the Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages (up to the 6th century), the number of tribes varied (about 20 forStrabo, but comparing with the information of other classical authors such asPliny,Ptolemy andJulius Caesar, the total number were 32 or 33):[citation needed]
Boiates/Boates Boii Boiates/Boviates in the coastal region ofPays de Buch and Pays de Born, in the Northwest ofLandes
Camponi (may have been the same tribe as the Oscidates Campestres)
Cocosates or Sexsignani in the west of Landes département
Consoranni in the tributary streams of the highGaronne river in the former province ofCouserans, today's west half of the Ariège department and extreme south ofHaute-Garonne
^Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006).Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. p. 38.ISBN9781438129181.The Aquitani [...] lived in Gaul in the region between the Garonne River and the Pyrenees in present-day southwestern France [...].
^These are indeed the opening lines of Caesar’s account of his war in Gaul:Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen [...] dividit. Julius Caesar,De bello Gallico 1.1, edition ofT. Rice Holmes
^Aquitania a Garumna flumine ad Pyrenaeos montes et eam partem Oceani quae est ad Hispaniam pertinet; spectat inter occasum solis et septentriones.
