BAYONNE, town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Basses-Pyrenees, 66m. W.N.W. of Pau on the Southern railway. Pop. (1931), 2 7,2I 5. A first-class fortified place, it is situated at the confluence of Adour and Nive, about 31m. from the sea. In the 3rd century Bayonne (Lapurdum) was a Roman military post and the principal port of Novempopulana. The name survives in the title Pays de Labourd, i.e., the see of Bayonne. The present name of the town, probably Basque in ori gin, appears first in the I2th century. In the early middle ages it belonged to the dukes of Aquitaine, but passed to the kings of Eng land in 1154. It received communal rights in 1216. In 1451 it strenuously opposed the French, who eventually occupied it. Its maritime commerce had suffered owing to silting and deflection of the Adour. New fortifications were constructed under Louis XII. and Francis I., and in 1523 the town held out against a Spanish army. Its position near the Spanish frontier led to its choice for diplomatic interviews, as in 1572 and 1808. In 1814, after a severe siege, Bayonne was occupied by the English (see PENINSULAR WAR). The two rivers divide the town into three nearly equal parts. Grand Bayonne, with its old arcaded streets, lies on the left bank of the Nive ; Petit Bayonne lies between the right bank of the Nive and the Adour; the new town (Faubourg St. Esprit), with the railway station, occupies the right bank of the Adour. To the north-west of the town are the Allees Marines, bordering the Adour, and the Allees Paulmy, skirting the fortifications. The Gothic cathedral of Ste. Marie in Grand Bayonne, 13th–I5th centuries, consists of a choir with deambulatory and apsidal chapels (the oldest part), a transept, nave and aisles. The west towers were completed only in the 19th century when the two con spicuous spires were added. Ste. Marie contains glass windows of the 15th and 16th centuries and other rich decoration. The 13th century cloister is over-restored but still beautiful. The Château Vieux nearby (I2th–I5th centuries) is built on Roman fortifica tions. The Château Neuf (15th and 16th centuries) serves as bar racks and prison. The commerce of Bayonne is much more important than its industries (leather and chocolate). The port consists of an outer harbour, the rade (roadstead) and the port and occupies the course of the Adour from its mouth, which is obstructed by a shifting bar, to the Pont St. Esprit, and the course of the Nive as far as the Pont Mayou. Above these bridges there is only river navigation. Vessels drawing from 18 to 2 5f t. can make the port, which, however, is tidal. Exports include wine and brandy, linen and silk materials, hams, salt, flour, mine props, resinous material from the Pyrenees and Landes, and zinc ore. Imports : coal and Spanish minerals supplying the large metallurgical works of Le Boucau at the river mouth, the raw material necessary for the chemical works of the same town, ce ment, phosphates, wine and the cereals for flour mills at Pau, Peyrehorade and Orthez. The port's tonnage has increased greatly since 1900. Bayonne is the seat of a bishopric and of a sub prefect ; it has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, and an art museum with a collection of works of the painter Leon Bonnat. There are several consulates, since Bayonne is virtually a port.