Languedoc-Roussillon, popularly known as the Languedoc, is the central region of the south of France; it stretches from the Rhone valley in the east, to the Spanish border in the south west, and comprises five departments: four of these are Mediterranean coastal departments: the Gard, the Hérault, the Aude and the Eastern Pyrenees or Pyrénées orientales. The fifth department is rather different, being the upland department of Lozère, which forms the southern bastion of the Massif Central.
Historically, the area known as "Languedoc" covered a large part of southern France; Roussillon is a much smaller area, being more or less the area covered by the Eastern Pyrenees department. Roussillon, in the past, was the northern part of Catalonia, and people here still speak Catalan as well as French.
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