Bergerac

Related Category: French Political Geography

(bĕrzhəräk´), town (1990 pop. 27,886), Dordogne dept., SW France, in Périgord, on the Dordogne River. It is a farm-trade and processing center. It also has boiler works, foundries, chemical plants, and shoe factories. Possessed by the English in the 14th cent., it was recovered in 1450 by the French. It became a Protestant stronghold and was taken (1621) by Louis XIII. A tobacco museum and an experimental tobacco institute are there.