Dordogne - wikipedia Dordogne For the homonym river, see Dordogne ( river ). Dordogne Department Prefecture building of the Dordogne department, in Périgueux Flag Coat of arms Location of Dordogne in France Coordinates : 45 ° 0 ′ N 0 ° 40 ′ E ﻿ / ﻿ 45.000 ° N 0.667 ° E ﻿ / 45.000 ; 0.667 Coordinates : 45 ° 0 ′ N 0 ° 40 ′ E ﻿ / ﻿ 45.000 ° N 0.667 ° E ﻿ / 45.000 ; 0.667 Country France Region Nouvelle - Aquitaine Prefecture Périgueux Subprefectures Bergerac Nontron Sarlat - la - Canéda Government President of the General Council Germinal Peiro ( PS ) Area Total 9,060 km ( 3,500 sq mi ) Population ( 2013 ) Total 416,909 Rank 58th Density 46 / km ( 120 / sq mi ) Time zone CET ( UTC + 1 ) Summer ( DST ) CEST ( UTC + 2 ) Department number 24 Arrondissements Cantons 25 Communes 520 ^ 1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km Dordogne ( French pronunciation : ​ ( dɔʁdɔɲ ) ; Occitan : Dordonha ) is a department in southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. The department is located in the region of Nouvelle - Aquitaine between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, and is named after the great Dordogne river that runs through it. It roughly corresponds with the ancient county of Périgord. Contents 1 History 2 Geography 3 Politics 4 Demographics 5 Tourism 6 See also 7 In popular culture 7.1 Films 7.2 Literature 8 References 9 External links History This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( May 2013 ) The county of Périgord dates back to when the area was inhabited by the Gauls. It was originally home to four tribes, the name for `` four tribes '' in the Gaulish language was `` Petrocore ''. The area eventually became known as the county of Le Périgord and its inhabitants became known as the Périgordins ( or Périgourdins ). There are four Périgords in the Dordogne : the `` Périgord Vert '' ( Green Périgord ) with its main town of Nontron, consists of verdant valleys in a region crossed by many rivers and streams ; the `` Périgord Blanc '' ( White Périgord ) situated around the department 's capital of Périgueux, is a region of limestone plateaux, wide valleys and meadows ; the `` Périgord Pourpre '' ( Purple Périgord ) with its capital of Bergerac, is a wine region ; and the `` Périgord Noir '' ( Black Périgord ) surrounding the administrative center of Sarlat, overlooks the valleys of the Vézère and the Dordogne, where the woods of oak and pine give it its name. Dordogne River near Castelnaud - la - Chapelle The Petrocores took part in the resistance against Rome. Concentrated in a few major sites are the vestiges of the Gallo - Roman period - -- the gigantic ruined tower and arenas in Périgueux ( formerly Vesone ), the Périgord museum 's archaeological collections, villa remains in Montcaret and the Roman tower of La Rigale Castle in Villetoureix. The earliest cluzeaux, artificial caves either above or below ground, can be found throughout the Dordogne. These subterranean refuges and lookout huts were large enough to shelter entire local populations. According to Julius Caesar the Gauls took refuge in these caves during the resistance. After Guienne province was transferred to the English Crown under the Plantagenets following the remarriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, Périgord passed by right to English suzerainty. Being situated at the boundaries of influence of the monarchies of France and England, it oscillated between the two dynasties for more than three hundred years of struggle until the end of the Hundred Years ' War in 1453. The county had been torn apart and, as a consequence, that modeled its physiognomy. During the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Castillon plain on the banks of the Dordogne saw a development in urban architecture. The finest Gothic and Renaissance residences were built in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat. In the countryside, the nobility had the majority of the more than 1200 chateaux, manors and country houses erected. In the second half of the sixteenth century however, the terrors of war again visited the area, as the attacks pillaging and fires of the Wars of Religion reached a rare degree of violence in Périgord. At the time, Bergerac was one of the most powerful Huguenot strongholds, along with La Rochelle. Following these wars, Périgord, fief of Henry of Navarre, was to return to the Crown for good and would continue to suffer from the sudden political changes of the French nation, from the Revolution to the tragic hours of the Resistance. We also encounter the memory of its most illustrious literary figures : Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born, Michel de Montaigne, Étienne de La Boétie, Brantôme, Fenelon, Maine de Biran, Eugene Le Roy and André Maurois ; its great captains : Talleyrand, Saint - Exupery, Biron... and even Josephine Baker. A number of ruins ( La Chapelle - Faucher, I'Herm... ) have retained the memory of the tragedies which took place within their walls. Several of the castles and châteaux are open to visitors and some of them such as Bourdeilles and Mareuil, house remarkable collections. In addition to its castles, chateaux, churches, bastides and cave fortresses, the Périgord region has preserved from centuries past a number of wonderful villages which still have their market halls, dovecotes, bories ( stone huts ) ( 2 ), churches, abbeys and castles. Saint - Léon - sur - Vézère, Connezac, Saint - Jean - de-Côle, La Roque - Gageac and many others are real jewels of architecture. As for the old quarters of Périgueux or Bergerac, restored and developed into pedestrian areas, they have regained their former charm. A number of small towns, such as Brantôme, Issigeac, Eymet and Mareuil, have withstood the often brash changes of modern times. A special mention should be made in this respect to Sarlat and its Black Périgord area. Dordogne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from the former province of Périgord, the county of Périgord. Its borders continued to change over the subsequent decades. In 1793 the communes of Boisseuilh, Coubjours, Génis, Payzac, Saint - Cyr - les - Champagnes, Saint - Mesmin, Salagnac, Savignac, Saint - Trié and Teillots were transferred from Corrèze to Dordogne. In 1794 Dordogne ceded Cavarc to Lot - et - Garonne. Later in 1794 ( albeit during the subsequent year under the Republican Calendar in use at the time ) Dordogne gained Parcoul from Charente - Inférieure. Following the restoration, in 1819, the commune of Bonrepos was suppressed and merged with the adjacent commune of Souillac in Lot. In 1870, shortly after France went to war against Prussia in a war that the enemy was winning, a young aristocrat called Alain de Monéys was savagely tortured and then burned by a crowd of between 300 and 800 people for two hours on 16 August in a public square in the village of Hautefaye in the north - west of the department. Details of the incident remain unclear : the leading participants appear to have been drunk, and before the introduction of mass education most of the witnesses would have been unable ( and possibly unwilling ) to write down what they saw. But at some stage the victim died, and following a trial four individuals identified as culpable were in turn condemned to die by guillotine. The sentence was carried out in the same public square on 13 February 1885. It was suggested that the victim had reported the ( bad ) news of the war in a way that implied support for the enemy, although subsequently it became clear that his patriotic credentials were beyond reproach. It was also suggested that the mob had been antagonized when he called out, `` Vive la République ! '' ( Long live the republic ) at a time when the patriotic villagers valued the imperial regime, which Parisian revolutionaries were in the process of destroying. The incident was widely reported at the time and has been extensively researched subsequently. This summary relies on the work of Alain Corbin, a modern historian specializing in the nineteenth century who analysed the incident and the mass psychology behind it. Geography The department is part of the region of Nouvelle - Aquitaine and is surrounded by the six départements of Haute - Vienne, Corrèze, Lot, Lot - et - Garonne, Gironde, and Charente. Dordogne is the third - largest department of metropolitan France. Politics The President of the General Council is Germinal Peiro of the Socialist Party. Party seats Socialist Party 34 Union for a Popular Movement 5 French Communist Party Miscellaneous right 5 Union of Democrats and Independents Demographics The population peaked at 505,789 in 1851 according to that year 's census. After 150 years of steady decline it fell below 400,000 by the year 2000. This reflected the long term population decline observed in many of the rural departments resulting from changes in agriculture and the lure of higher industrial wages available in more urbanized regions. However, during the first decade of the twenty - first century the decline has been reversed. Dordogne has earned the nickname `` Dordogneshire '' for its thriving British community. The region counts between 5,000 and 10,000 British residents, and 800 British entrepreneurs, drawn by a laid - back lifestyle, warm climate, and lower cost of living. With 200 British families out of 2,600 inhabitants, the village of Eymet is at the heart of the trend. Tourism Périgueux Château de Beynac Lascaux Canoeing on Dordogne River La Roque - Gageac Cabanes du Breuil There are more than 1,500 castles in Dordogne, making it `` The Other Chateau Country '' including the following : Beynac Biron Bourdeilles Castelnaud - la - Chapelle Commarque Hautefort Jaurias La Besse La Mothe La Petite Filolie La Renaudie La Roche La Roque Milandes Monbazillac Pécany Puymartin The famous caves of Lascaux have been closed to the public, but a replica of Lascaux II is open to visitors and is a major tourist attraction. Périgueux has important Roman ruins, including an arena which is still visible inside a public park located near the town centre. See also Arrondissements of the Dordogne department Cantons of the Dordogne department Communes of the Dordogne department In popular culture Films Dordogne was the setting for the film Ever After ( 1998 ), starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston. Ridley Scott 's debut film The Duellists ( 1977 ), starring Harvey Keitel and based on a Joseph Conrad story, was filmed here, around Sarlat - la - Canéda. The film won Best Debut Film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Literature Jean M. Auel 's Shelters of Stone ( 2002 ) takes place in what is now Dordogne. Douglas Boyd, the author husband of flautist Atarah Ben - Tovim, set parts of each of his six thrillers in Dordogne. Meg Cabot 's series Queen of Babble begins with part of the book set in the Dordogne region. Glenn Cooper 's The Tenth Chamber ( 2010 ) is set and based on prehistoric cave paintings in the Vézère River Valley in the Dordogne. Michael Crichton 's science - fiction novel Timeline ( 1999 ) is placed in two time periods of Dordogne. Martin Walker 's first book in the Bruno Chief of Police series is titled Death in the Dordogne. References Jump up ^ Corbin Alain, Le village des `` cannibales '', Paris, Aubier, 1990, 204 p. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Woods, Katherine ( 1931 ). The Other Chateau Country ; the Feudal Land of the Dordogne. John Lane The Bodley Head. Jump up ^ `` Books by Douglas Boyd ''. Amazon.com. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dordogne. Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dordogne. Dordogne Tourist Highlights ( in English ) Préfecture website ( in French ) Conseil général website ( in French ) Atlaspol website. Politics of Dordogne ( in French ) Dordogne at DMOZ ( in English ) Departments of France 01 Ain 02 Aisne 03 Allier 04 Alpes - de-Haute - Provence 05 Hautes - Alpes 06 Alpes - Maritimes 07 Ardèche 08 Ardennes 09 Ariège 10 Aube 11 Aude 12 Aveyron 13 Bouches - du - Rhône 14 Calvados 15 Cantal 16 Charente 17 Charente - Maritime 18 Cher 19 Corrèze 2A Corse - du - Sud 2B Haute - Corse 21 Côte - d'Or 22 Côtes - d'Armor 23 Creuse 24 Dordogne 25 Doubs 26 Drôme 27 Eure 28 Eure - et - Loir 29 Finistère 30 Gard 31 Haute - Garonne 32 Gers 33 Gironde 34 Hérault 35 Ille - et - Vilaine 36 Indre 37 Indre - et - Loire 38 Isère 39 Jura 40 Landes 41 Loir - et - Cher 42 Loire 43 Haute - Loire 44 Loire - Atlantique 45 Loiret 46 Lot 47 Lot - et - Garonne 48 Lozère 49 Maine - et - Loire 50 Manche 51 Marne 52 Haute - Marne 53 Mayenne 54 Meurthe - et - Moselle 55 Meuse 56 Morbihan 57 Moselle 58 Nièvre 59 Nord 60 Oise 61 Orne 62 Pas - de-Calais 63 Puy - de-Dôme 64 Pyrénées - Atlantiques 65 Hautes - Pyrénées 66 Pyrénées - Orientales 67 Bas - Rhin 68 Haut - Rhin 69D Rhône 70 Haute - Saône 71 Saône - et - Loire 72 Sarthe 73 Savoie 74 Haute - Savoie 75 Paris 76 Seine - Maritime 77 Seine - et - Marne 78 Yvelines 79 Deux - Sèvres 80 Somme 81 Tarn 82 Tarn - et - Garonne 83 Var 84 Vaucluse 85 Vendée 86 Vienne 87 Haute - Vienne 88 Vosges 89 Yonne 90 Territoire de Belfort 91 Essonne 92 Hauts - de-Seine 93 Seine - Saint - Denis 94 Val - de-Marne 95 Val - d'Oise Overseas departments 971 Guadeloupe 972 Martinique 973 French Guiana 974 Réunion 976 Mayotte Metropolis with territorial collectivity statute 69M Lyon VIAF : 130156026 LCCN : n50066569 GND : 4462295 - 8 BNF : cb11934157p ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dordogne&oldid=800358833 '' Categories : Dordogne 1790 establishments in France Departments of Nouvelle - Aquitaine Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from May 2011 Coordinates on Wikidata Articles containing Occitan - language text Articles needing additional references from May 2013 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017 Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016 Articles with French - language external links Articles with DMOZ links Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikivoyage Acèh Aragonés Arpetan Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Brezhoneg Català Чӑвашла Cebuano Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gàidhlig Galego 客家 語 / Hak - kâ - ngî 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Italiano עברית Kapampangan ქართული Қазақша Kiswahili Kongo Ladino Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Limburgs Lumbaart Magyar Malagasy मराठी Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan پنجابی Piemontèis Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Русский Sámegiella Scots Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt West - Vlams Winaray 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 13 September 2017, at 01 : 32. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what region of france is the dordogne in
Answer: Nouvelle-Aquitaine between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees