Bessèges
| Bessèges | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Occitania | |
| Department | Gard | |
| Arrondissement | Alès | |
| Canton | Rousson | |
| Community association | Cèze Cévennes | |
| Coordinates | 44 ° 18 ′ N , 4 ° 6 ′ E | |
| height | 146-492 m | |
| surface | 10.32 km 2 | |
| Residents | 2,844 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 276 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 30160 | |
| INSEE code | 30037 | |
| Website | citaenet.com/besseges | |
 The Cèze flows through the place |
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Bessèges is a French commune with 2844 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Gard department in the Occitanie region .
geography
It is located on the upper reaches of the touristic valley of the Cèze , near Alès .
Bessèges is the terminus of the small Alès-Bessèges railway line of the SNCF .
At the beginning of the 19th century, Bessèges was just a hamlet in the municipality of Robiac-Rochessadoule . The place gained in importance with the coal mining started in 1809. The construction of the Alès - Bessèges railway, which began under the influence of Paulin Talabot in 1855 and was completed on December 1, 1857, connected the town with the French railway network and contributed significantly to its industrial boom. Bessèges became the capital of the canton of Bessèges in 1868 , which lasted until 2015, and with more than 11,000 inhabitants was at times the third largest town in the Gard after Nîmes and Alès. In addition to mining, there was a glass factory, a foundry and a metal factory at the end of the 19th century. The downturn soon followed. The glass factory closed in 1920, the foundry in 1922. The population continued to decline to around 3,000 at present. Today the place is touristic oriented.
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2017 |
| Residents | 5720 | 5421 | 5255 | 4352 | 3635 | 3137 | 3197 | 2844 |
| Sources: Cassini and INSEE | ||||||||
