[1] The territory of the former province of Limousin corresponds to an area smaller than the administrative region, comprising the current department of Corrèze, the southern half of Haute-Vienne (including Limoges, its historic capital), and a small part of the Dordogne.

Its name is derived from the name of a Gallic tribe, the Lemovices, whose main sanctuary was recently found in Tintignac and became a major research site of the Celtic world.

The most important of them, located in the southern part of the region, were the vicomtés of Limoges, Comborn (in present-day Corrèze), Ventadour (today Ussel and Plateau de Millevaches), and Turenne.

The northernmost part of Limousin belonged to the County of La Marche, while the bishops of Limoges controlled most of present-day Haute-Vienne.

It was dismantled and divided between three new departments established by the National Constituent Assembly: mostly Corrèze and Haute-Vienne, and to a lesser extent the Dordogne.