Prehistory
The Gironde territory was inhabited in prehistoric times, as is attested by the wall engravings in the cave of Pair-non-Pair, which show horses, ibexes, deer, mammoths and bovids dating from the Aurignacian period (between 33,000 and 26,000 years before Jesus Christ). The site provides moving testimony to the artistic awakening of humanity, and is one of the most remarkable decorated caves from the early Upper Palaeolithic period.

8th century
The town of Saint-Emilion was built around the tomb of Emilion, a hermit who had come from Vannes in Brittany. He had withdrawn to this site, which was then covered by the forest.

1152
Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, who was to become King of England under the name of Henry II of England. She brought, as a dowry, the Province of Guyenne, today Aquitaine. The French Monarchy's designs on this province, and the refusal of the King of England to recognise the King of France as his overlord would be, amongst other things, at the origin of the first of the Hundred Years' Wars between France and England (1154-1258/1259)

1453
The Battle of Castillon tolled the end of the Hundred Years' War. Guyenne became French once again.

1581
Michel de Montaigne was elected as mayor of Bordeaux. He attempted to moderate relations between Catholics and Protestants in the midst of the Wars of Religion in France. He is the author of Essais.

1652
In the year 1652, the Ormée movement, made up of small bourgeois, priests, artisans, and members of the popular classes took control of Bordeaux town hall and established a Gascon Republic! More than 100 years in advance of the revolutionary ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, the Ormée movement invoked Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

1689
Birth of Montesquieu. The philosopher's works are internationally renowned and the Montesquieu château is still visited today. Montesquieu's principal work "The Spirit of the Laws" affirms the necessity of the separation of powers (legislative, judiciary and executive) for the fulfilment of democracy.

18th century
This was the golden age for the Gironde's capital. Bordeaux's architecture essentially dates from this period, however it is also the period of the "triangular trade" upon which the Atlantic slave trade was based.

During the French Revolution a group of deputies, organised around the representatives of the department of the Gironde, was formed at the Legislative Assembly: these deputies were therefore referred to as the Girondins (or Girondists). They were moderate Republicans who were opposed to political centralisation from the capital. They demanded greater autonomy for the departments and were against the centralism of the Jacobins.

The name of Nicolas Brémontier remains associated with the stabilisation of the sand dunes. Appointed chief engineer of Guyenne in 1784, he used plantations of pines to fix the moving sands. He authored a work in the form of a dissertation on the dunes in 1796.

19th century

• 1823: The Fresnel lens for lighthouses was used for the first time in the Cordouan lighthouse. This type of lens is also used in lighting instruments for films, overhead projectors and certain magnifying glasses.

• The 1850s and 1860s: Arcachon Bay became an important centre for oyster farming thanks to two inventions. One by Victor Coste, who had the idea of using tiles for the "spats" or oyster spawn to attach themselves (1858), the other by Michelet who coated the tiles with lime (1866).

• 1885: Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet, professor of botany at the science faculty of the University of Bordeaux, invented a mixture of copper sulphate and hydrated lime, known today as "Bordeaux mixture" which is used as a fungicide and bactericide in several types of farming including in vineyards.

20th century

• From September to December 1914: the French government left Paris and established itself at Bordeaux. The same situation occurred during the Second World War, in May 1940, with the government of Paul Raynaud.

• As from 1941, the German occupation was in particular marked by the construction of the submarine base, which constituted a key component of the "Atlantic Wall" aimed at preventing a possible Allied invasion. On 28th August 1944, Bordeaux was liberated without combat after an agreement between the German authorities and the forces of the Liberation.

• From the 1960s, the Northwest of the Bordeaux urban area began to attract high-tech industries (aeronautics and aerospace engineering). At Saint Médard-en-Jalles the Diamant rocket was built, which was used to send the first French satellite into orbit over the Sahara on 26th November 1965.

• 1998: The first euro was coined at the Pessac monetary establishment.