Beauce (French pronunciation: [bos] ⓘ) is a natural region in north-central France, located between the rivers Seine and Loire.
It comprises the Eure-et-Loir modern-day department and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher.
The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its sole major city.
The name derives from Latin Belsia or Belsa, said by Virgilius Maro Grammaticus to be a Gaulish word meaning "grass plain, cultivated plain.
[3] It is the setting of Émile Zola's novel La Terre (The Earth).