Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
—  Department  —
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in France
Coordinates: 44°0′N 6°10′E / 44°N 6.167°E / 44; 6.167Coordinates: 44°0′N 6°10′E / 44°N 6.167°E / 44; 6.167
Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Prefecture	Digne-les-Bains
Subprefectures	Barcelonnette Castellane Forcalquier
Government
– President of the General Council	Jean-Louis Bianco (PS)
Area1
– Total	6,925 km2 (2,673.8 sq mi)
Population (2007)
– Total	156,067
– Rank	94th
– Density	22.5/km2 (58.4/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	04
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	30
Communes	200
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (Occitan: Aups d'Auta Provença) is a French department in the south of France, it was formerly part of the province of Provence.

History

Nord-de-Provence was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was renamed Haute-Provence and Basses-Alpes.

On 12 August 1793, the department of Vaucluse was created from parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes. Basses-Alpes lost the canton of Sault to Vaucluse at this point. Seventeen years later, in 1810, the canton of Barcillonnette was transferred over to Hautes-Alpes.

On 13 April 1970, the department of Basses-Alpes was renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

Geography

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is a mountainous region with peaks over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) close to the Italian border. The climate is very dry and arid but irrigation allows for a prosperous fruit-growing industry.

It is surrounded by the French departments of Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Vaucluse, and Drôme, as well as Italy.

Rivers include: Durance, Verdon, Bléone, Ubaye, Var, Buëch, Jabron, Largue.

Arrondissements and cantons

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is subdivided into 4 arrondissements, 30 cantons and 200 communes.

Arrondissement	Canton	# of communes
Barcelonnette	Barcelonnette	11
	Le Lauzet-Ubaye	5
Castellane	Allos-Colmars	6
	Annot	7
	Castellane	7
	Entrevaux	6
	Saint-André-les-Alpes	6
Digne-les-Bains	Barrême	8
	Digne-les-Bains-Est	4
	Digne-les-Bains-Ouest	10
	La Javie	6
	Les Mées	6
	Mézel	8
	Moustiers-Sainte-Marie	3
	Riez	9
	Seyne	8
	Valensole	4
Forcalquier	Banon	9
	Forcalquier	10
	Manosque-Nord	3
	Manosque-Sud-Est	3
	Manosque-Sud-Ouest	3
	La Motte-du-Caire	13
	Noyers-sur-Jabron	7
	Peyruis	4
	Reillanne	8
	Saint-Étienne-les-Orgues	8
	Sisteron	5
	Turriers	7
	Volonne	9

See also: Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department

Demographics

Inhabitants of this department are called Bas-Alpins.

The population was once distributed fairly evenly across the department, both in the mountainous regions and the agricultural ones. However, near the end of the 19th century it markedly decreased due to rural exodus to the cities. It fell from about 150,000 to below 100,000 after World War I. It was not until 1960, that the population began to grow again, from 84,335 in 1968 to 139,561 in 1999. However, although the population figures are about what they were before, the distribution is very different. The population is now centered around the larger towns, Manosque and Digne-les-Bains, and the mountainous regions are very sparsely populated.

The arrondissements of Barcelonette and Castellane are the two least heavily populated of France, the only ones with under 10,000 inhabitants. The town of Castellane is the smallest subprefecture of France.

Politics

The President of the General Council is the Socialist Jean-Louis Bianco.

Party		seats
•	Socialist Party	12
•	Miscellaneous Left	6
	Miscellaneous Right	6
•	French Communist Party	3
•	Citizen and Republican Movement	1
	Union for a Popular Movement	2

Tourism

The beautiful scenery provides the background to many activities and sights. Eleven villages have been classified as having special architectural character. In particular there are:

• The town of Sisteron with its ancient citadel and narrow streets
• The Gorge of Verdon (Europe's Grand Canyon)
• Digne-les-Bains Hot-spa town
• Moustiers-Sainte-Marie Pottery
• Forcalquier Cathedral

In summer many aerial sports use the surrounding mountains such as gliding, hang gliding and paragliding. In winter there is extensive skiing at eleven ski resorts.

See also

• Cantons of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department
• Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department
• Arrondissements of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department

External links

• Alpes-de-Haute-Provence at the Open Directory Project
• (French) Conseil général website
• Abbeys in the Alps (fr. with translator)
• (French) Prefecture website
• (English) Préfecture web-site in English
• (French) Detailed information in French
• Sisteron guide