For the greater part of the eighteenth century day to day life was relatively uneventful in the Dordogne and Quercy as indeed it was in much of rural France. However, little did the inhabitants know that by the early 1790's cataclysmic changes taking place elsewhere would lead to national turmoil.

1789 famously saw the storming of the Bastille in Paris which started a chain of events which would eventually lead to the execution of the King and the proclamation of the French Republic.

The Revolutionaries were active in the big cities, especially Paris and Versailles which were the power bases of the Ancien Régime. Some resistance was evident in the Périgord, especially in Périgueux where so-called 20 enemies of the Revolution were executed, but overall the local population were happy to see the end of the Monarchy.

Very soon (1790) the old Provinces were renamed - officially Périgord became the Dordogne and Quercy became the Lot although it is interesting that the old names are still very much in use!

Following the Revolutionary period the Dordogne and Quercy continued much as before. The economy of the region was very much based on agricultural produce such as wine, cereals and tobacco and was pretty much devastated in 1868 by Phylloxera, a disease which destroyed the vineyards of Cahors and Bergerac. This caused a rural exodus as former vineyard workers emigrated to America and Algiers and it was not until the viticulteurs or winegrowers routinely grafted their vines onto the vinestock of disease resistant American varieties that the industry recovered.

Next: 1900–: The Modern Era