Gard department

Gard
region	Occitania
prefecture	Nîmes
Sub-prefecture (s)	Alès Le Vigan
Residents	744.178 (Jan. 1, 2017)
Population density	127 inhabitants per km²
surface	5,852.90 km²
Arrondissements	3
Community associations	17th
Cantons	23
Communities	351
President of the Department Council	Jean Denat
ISO-3166-2 code	FR-30
Location of the Gard department in the Occitanie region

The Gard [ gaːʀ ] department is the French department with serial number 30. It is located in the south of the country in the Occitanie region and was named after the Gard river , a tributary of the Rhône .

geography

The administrative unit includes very different natural areas. In the south of the department there is access to the Mediterranean , which is followed by Aigues-Mortes and the small Rhone ( Petit Rhône ) in the flat landscape of the Petite Camargue to the north . Somewhat higher up in the center of the department are the Costières and Garrigues natural areas . In the northwest the landscape merges into the Cevennes Mountains , which represent the southeasternmost part of the Massif Central . The Mont Aigoual located there, with a summit height of 1,567 meters, is the highest point in the department.

The Gard department borders on the Hérault , Lozère , Aveyron , Bouches-du-Rhône , Vaucluse and Ardèche departments .

history

The department was formed on March 4, 1790 from part of the Languedoc province .

From 1960 to 2015 it belonged to the Languedoc-Roussillon region , which in 2016 became part of the Occitania region.

coat of arms

Description : A gold Tolosan cross under a silver shield head in red with a thorn cut .

Population and cities

The prefecture of Nîmes is the largest municipality in the department and with 150,610 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) its only major city. Alès follows a long way behind with 40,219 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017). Otherwise, all other municipalities had fewer than 20,000 inhabitants in 2013. These include central locations such as Bagnols-sur-Cèze , Beaucaire or Pont-Saint-Esprit . In the arrondissement of Le Vigan , which takes up around a quarter of the area of ​​the department and lies in its sparsely populated west, the most populous municipalities Le Vigan and Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort each have just under 4,000 inhabitants in 2013. Although there is only one big city in the Gard and, on the other hand, relatively sparsely populated regions, in 2013 it was just above the French average with 733,201 inhabitants and a population density of 125 inhabitants per square kilometer.

A trend of population growth can be observed for the département both in the long term and in relation to the 21st century. After it was founded in 1790, the following year a population of 313,464 was determined. In the following 60 years the number grew to over 400,000 and remained at this level with certain fluctuations until around 1960. From then on, a clear and steady growth set in, so that in 1999 there were already 623,125 people living in the Gard. As of 2013 there were 733,201 inhabitants. The average annual population growth in the period from 2007 to 2012 was 1.0%. The number of births significantly exceeded that of deaths in 2014.

Administrative division

Communes and arrondissements in the Gard department

Arrondissement	Cantons	Communities	Residents January 1, 2017	Area km²	Density of population / km²	Code INSEE
Alès	6th	97	148,487	1,304.17	114	301
Nîmes	18th	180	556.372	3,158.18	176	302
Le Vigan	2	74	39,319	1,390.55	28	303
Gard department	23	351	744.178	5,852.90	127	30th

See also:

• List of communes in the Gard department
• List of cantons in the Gard department
• List of associations of municipalities in the Gard department

climate

Nîmes
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     62   10 2     62   12 2     62   15th 5     54   18th 7th     55   21st 11     44   26th 14th     25th   29 17th     45   28 17th     79   25th 14th     110   19th 10     69   14th 5     64   10 3 Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: climate-data.org: Climate in Nîmes klima.org: Climate table Nîmes

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Nîmes Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 9.9 11.5 14.7 17.6 21.4 25.9 29.4 28.4 24.6 19.4 14.0 10.4 O 19th Min. Temperature (° C) 1.6 2.0 4.7 7.2 10.9 14.3 17.0 16.5 13.9 9.7 5.4 2.7 O 8.9 Temperature (° C) 5.7 6.7 9.7 12.4 16.1 20.1 23.2 22.4 19.2 14.6 9.7 6.5 O 13.9 Precipitation ( mm ) 62 62 62 54 55 44 25th 45 79 110 69 64 Σ 731 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 4th 6th 7th 8th 9 11 13 10 8th 6th 5 4th O 7.6 Rainy days ( d ) 7th 5 6th 6th 5 4th 2 4th 4th 7th 5 6th Σ 61 Source: climate-data.org: Climate in Nîmes klima.org: Climate table Nîmes

Days per year with

• Rainfalls over 1 mm: 58
• Frost: 10
  • First frost: December 22nd
  • Last frost: February 14th
• Snow: 2
• Thunderstorm: 14
• Hail: 1

(As of 1991.)

literature

• Thierry Suire: Les protestants dans le Gard face au régime de Vichy . C. Lacour, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-84406-285-7 (French).

Web links

Commons : Gard department  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• General Council of the Gard Department (French)
• Prefecture of the department of Gard (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Historique du Gard , splaf.free.fr
2. ↑ Chiffres clés: Département du Gard (30) , insee.fr
3. ↑ Climate data from: Jean-Noël Darde: Plages et côtes de France. Éditions Balland, Paris 1991.

Coordinates: 43 ° 57 '  N , 4 ° 17'  E