Soule

Soule Xiberoa or Zuberoa
Province
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Soule within the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departement and the Northern Basque Country.
Country	France
CA	Pays Basque
Capital	Mauléon-Licharre (Maule-Lextarre)
Area
• Total	785 km2 (303 sq mi)
Population  (2012)
• Total	17,018
• Density	22/km2 (56/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Soule (French pronunciation: [sul]; Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; Occitan: Sola) is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques département. It is divided into two cantons of the arrondissement (district) of Oloron-Sainte-Marie (Mauleon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus), and a part of the canton of Saint Palais (arrondissement of Bayonne^{[clarification needed]}).

Its provincial capital is Mauléon, which combined with Licharre in 1841 to form "Mauléon-Licharre", but today is often known as "Mauléon-Soule". Historically, Soule is the smallest province of the Basque Country (785 km²; 303 sq. mi.). Its population has been decreasing (23,803 in 1901; 16,006 in 1990; 15,535 in 1999).