Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the
headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite
system, and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre
in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, EADS's
satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in
Toulouse. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe
(founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is with Lille the
third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.
Toulouse
was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were
abolished during the French Revolution). It is now the capital of the
Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is
also the capital of the Haute-Garonne department
