Place details
Place nameBiscay, Bay of
Other namesGulf of Gascony, Golfe de Gascogne, Golfo De Vizcaya, Vizcaya, Golfo de, Golf van Biscaje, Golfo di Biscaglia, Mare Cantabricum, Aquitanicus Sinus, Sinus Cantabricus, Cantaber Oceanus
Latitude44
Longitude-4
SourceThesaurus of Geographic Names
Overview
The Bay of Biscay is an inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean, bounded on the east by the west coast of France and on the south by the north coast of Spain in the Basque region. Roughly triangular in shape, it is about 86,000 square miles in size. Four major rivers flow into it, the Loire, the Adour, and the Dordogne and Garonne, which two together form the Gironde Estuary. The most important ports on its shores are Brest, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and Bayonne in France, and Bilbao, Santander, Gijón, and Avilés in Spain. Fishing is the prime local industry, and also oyster farming on the French coast's shallows and estuaries.