Dordogne (UK: /dɔːrˈdɔɪn/ dor-DOYN, US: /dɔːrˈdoʊn/ dor-DOHN or /dɔːrˈdɔːnjə/ dor-DAWN-yə;[3][4] French: [dɔʁdɔɲ] ⓘ; Occitan: Dordonha [duɾˈduɲɔ]) is a large rural department in south west France, with its prefecture in Périgueux.

Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named after the river Dordogne, which runs through it.

During the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Castillon plain on the banks of the Dordogne saw developments in urban architecture.

In addition to its castles, chateaux, churches, bastides, and cave fortresses, the Périgord region has preserved a number of ancient villages which retain their market halls, dovecotes, bories (stone huts), and abbeys.

A young aristocrat named Alain de Monéys was brutally tortured and then burned alive, by a crowd of between 300 and 800 people on 16 August in a public square in the village of Hautefaye in the north-west region of the department.

Additionally, since the incident occurred prior to the introduction of mass education, most of the witnesses would have been unable (and possibly unwilling) to write down what they had seen.

It was suggested that the victim had reported some (bad) news regarding the ongoing war in a way that implied support for the enemy, although subsequently it became clear that his patriotic credentials were beyond reproach.

(Long live the republic) at a time when the patriotic villagers valued the imperial regime, which Parisian revolutionaries were in the process of destroying.

The department is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and is surrounded by the six départements of Haute-Vienne, Corrèze, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, Gironde, Charente-Maritime, and Charente.

This reflected the long term population decline observed in many of the rural departments resulting from changes in agriculture and the lure of higher industrial wages available in more urbanized regions.

Périgueux has important Roman ruins, including an arena which is still visible inside a public park located near the town centre.