ancient Tolosa
City (pop., 1999: city, 390,350; metro. area, 761,090), on the Garonne River in southern France.
Founded in ancient times, it was taken from its Celtic inhabitants by the Romans in 106 BC. After AD 778 it became the seat of the feudal countship of Toulouse. Protestants were massacred there during the 16th-century Wars of Peninsular War . A rail junction and canal port, Toulouse is a centre of the French aviation industry. It has many historic buildings, including a Gothic cathedral, a Romanesque basilica, and the tomb of St. {{link=Aquinas, Saint Thomas">Thomas Aquinas . The university, founded in 1224, is one of the oldest in the world.