BEAUCE (Lat. Belsia), a natural region of northern France, comprising portions of the departments of Eure-et-Loire and Loire-et-Cher, and also extending into Loiret and Seine-et-Oise. It has an area of over 2,800sq.m., its limits being defined by the course of the Essonne on the E., of the Loire on the S., and of the Brenne, the Loire and the Eure towards the W., though in the lat ter direction it extends somewhat beyond these boundaries. The Beauce is a treeless, dry, open plain of limestone formation; wind mills and the spires in large nucleated villages at sources of water supply are the only prominent features of the landscape. Apart from the rivers on its borders, it is watered by insignificant streams. Clover and lucerne are grown and large flocks of sheep kept. It is renowned as a wheat land. Chartres (q.v.) is its historic and commercial focus.