Gironde
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Gironde
| |
|---|---|
| Prefecture building in Bordeaux Prefecture building in Bordeaux | |
| Template:Infobox settlement/columns | |
| Location of Gironde in France Location of Gironde in France | |
| Coordinates: 44°50′N 0°40′W / 44.833°N 0.667°WCoordinates: 44°50′N 0°40′W / 44.833°N 0.667°W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Prefecture | Bordeaux |
| Subprefectures | Arcachon Blaye Langon Lesparre-Médoc Libourne |
| Government | |
| • President of the Departmental Council | Jean-Luc Gleyze[1] (Template:Polparty) |
| Area | |
| • Total | Template:Infobox settlement/areadisp |
| Population | |
| • Total | Template:France metadata Wikidata |
| • Rank | 6th |
| • Density | Template:Infobox settlement/densdisp |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | FR-33 |
| Department number | 33 |
| Arrondissements | 6 |
| Cantons | 33 |
| Communes | 534 |
| ^1 French Land Register data, which excludes estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2. | |
Gironde (/ʒɪˈrɒnd/ zhih-ROND,[2] US usually /dʒɪˈ-/ jih-;[3][4] fr; Template:Langx, oc) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2023, it had a population of 1,690,493.[5] The famous Bordeaux wine region is in Gironde. It has six arrondissements, making it one of the departments with the most arrondissements (Nord also has six, while Pas-de-Calais has the most of any department, with seven).
History
[edit | edit source]Gironde is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.
From 1793 to 1795, the department's name was changed to Bec-d'Ambès to avoid the association with the Girondist political party of the French Revolution.
In July 2022, Gironde was affected by large wildfires.[6]
Geography
[edit | edit source]Gironde is part of the current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Charente-Maritime and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. With an area of 10,000 km2, Gironde is the largest department in metropolitan France, and the second-largest in entire France. Its size is larger than Lebanon or the province of Banten. If overseas departments are included, however, Gironde's land area is dwarfed by the 83,846 km2 of French Guiana.
Gironde is well known for the Côte d'Argent beach which is Europe's longest, attracting many surfers to Lacanau each year. It is also the birthplace of Jacques-Yves Cousteau who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.
The Great Dune of Pyla in Arcachon Bay near Bordeaux is the tallest sand dune in Europe.[7]
Demographics
[edit | edit source]Template:Historical populations
Principal towns
[edit | edit source]The most populous commune is Bordeaux, the prefecture. As of 2023, there are 7 communes with more than 30,000 inhabitants,[8] all of which are part of the Bordeaux agglomeration:
| Commune | Population (2023) |
|---|---|
| Bordeaux | 267,991 |
| Mérignac | 78,090 |
| Pessac | 67,339 |
| Talence | 46,338 |
| Villenave-d'Ornon | 42,545 |
| Saint-Médard-en-Jalles | 32,910 |
| Bègles | 31,831 |
Politics
[edit | edit source]The President of the Departmental Council is Jean-Luc Gleyze of the Socialist Party.
| Party | seats | |
|---|---|---|
| • | Socialist Party | 45 |
| The Republicans | 12 | |
| • | French Communist Party | 3 |
| Miscellaneous Right | 1 | |
| MoDem | 1 | |
| Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition | 1 | |
Current National Assembly Representatives
[edit | edit source]Tourism
[edit | edit source]-
Château de la Brède, birthplace of Montesquieu
-
The Gironde estuary seen from the citadel of Blaye
See also
[edit | edit source]- Cantons of the Gironde department
- Communes of the Gironde department
- Arrondissements of the Gironde department
- Bordeaux wine regions
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 4 May 2022.
- ↑ "Gironde". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-08-01.
- ↑ "Gironde". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ↑ Template:Cite Merriam-Webster
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedpophist - ↑ "Wildfires in Gironde, France, burn through 10,000 hectares". Sky News. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
- ↑ C.G. (14 August 2009). Les Adresses de Mathilde Seigner et Fabien Onteniente. Le Figaro Magazine. (in French)
- ↑ Populations de référence 2023: 33 Gironde, INSEE
- ↑ Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.
External links
[edit | edit source] |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gironde. |
- (in French) Departmental Council website
- (in French) Prefecture website
- (in English) Tourism Office website